While Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech football team were able to go into Salt Lake City and snag a dominant, lopsided win over the Utah Utes, things didn’t go 100 percent perfectly for the Red Raiders. What’s fascinating is the fact that Texas Tech just got a 24-point win over the then No. 16 team in the country and there’s still so much to improve upon.
Like the disparity in penalty yards. Let’s address that first and foremost. Because it’s very, very alarming. Texas Tech had a very real penalty problem against the Utes. And that’s not anything that Utah did. Those are things that the Red Raiders absolutely have to get under control.
The Red Raiders had 14 penalties for 122 yards while the Utes had a grand total of *checks notes* TWO penalties for 10 yards. Had this game gone the other way, that’s something that would be more than alarming.
And it’s still something McGuire and the Red Raiders need to get in check.
Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders absolutely must address the penalty problems that showed up vs Utah
Some of this can be discussed in the context of the environment that Texas Tech was playing in. The Utes have a rowdy home crowd and play in an atmosphere that provides a difficult to overcome homefield advantage.
Like the multiple false start problems from the Red Raiders offensive line. Pre-snap penalties and communication problems can serve as momentum killers. Going through the stats and it’s easy to see that this was an area that has to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Will Jados and Sheridan Wilson were each tabbed with two false start penalties apiece in the first two quarters of the game alone. Jacob Ponton, Davion Carter, and Howard Sampson were all given false start penalties in the second half.
THAT’S A PROBLEM!
Yeah, it’s also bad that Behren Morton had a couple of interceptions and he fumbled while being sacked, and that’s something that we need to talk about at some point as well, but it is incredibly alarming that Texas Tech had five different offensive linemen each get caught with at least one false start in this game.
These things almost certainly aren’t going to be sustainable for the Red Raiders if they make it to the Big 12 Championship Game or the College Football Playoffs. There are also still some interesting tests up ahead on the schedule. Tech can’t assume that wins will keep coming if penalties and mental errors pile up left and right. This has to be fixed soon.