Saturday in Lubbock, the Texas Tech football team finally put together a dominant victory for the first time this season, taking down Sam Houston 49-14. However, the win didn't come without a bit of trepidation.
After jumping out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter, Tech went brain-dead on both sides of the ball, but especially on offense. That's when quarterback Will Hammond threw an interception on three consecutive drives, allowing the visitors to cut their deficit to 21-14 at the half.
It was again a frustrating stretch of football from the Red Raiders, who continue to struggle to put together a full game of competence on offense. That simply can't continue now that the remainder of the regular season will consist of Big 12 games. Sam Houston wasn't good enough to make Tech pay for turning the ball over four times, but teams in the conference will be.
Tech didn't play its best game of the season by any means and left fans still wondering what to make of this team after a third of the regular season has been completed. Fortunately, the Red Raiders are 4-0, though, and here are some rapid reactions to what we saw on the South Plains Saturday afternoon.
Will Hammond takes a step back after strong showing vs. Houston
Will Hammond gave us a reminder that progress is not necessarily linear in college football. One week after a terrific performance against Houston, he regressed against Sam Houston.
He completed only 17 of 29 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown. Of course, his day was partially defined by the three picks he threw in the second quarter, two of which were bad reads on his part and one of which was caused by his arm being hit as he threw the ball from his own end zone. He also ran twice for 36 more yards and another TD.
Hammond had a QB rating of just 40.2, his lowest of the season. Every QB is going to have a clunker of a performance during a season, especially those who are first-time starters like Hammond. Thankfully, Hammond's off day came against Sam Houston instead of a Big 12 opponent.
Austin Romaine finally makes a splash for Texas Tech
There's no question that Austin Romaine is struggling to fill Jacob Rodriguez's shoes this year. For much of the season, he has been solid but not as spectacular as advertised. That changed against Sam Houston.
Romaine had a pick-six on consecutive plays to stake the Red Raiders to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. Those were the second and third interceptions of his college career. The other came last season against Texas Tech when he was playing for Kansas State. He also led the team with eight total tackles, five of which were solo.
Hopefully, Romaine can now start to play more relaxed and confident football since he finally made a splash for his new team. He's capable of making game-changing plays, and that's what he did in this game to stake his team to an early lead. That's the version of Romaine we've been waiting to see all along.
Texas Tech responds in the second half
If we are going to criticize Tech for the awful second quarter they played, we have to also acknowledge the excellent second-half response they put forth. Tech outscored Sam Houston 28-0 after halftime to make a close game a blowout.
The Bearkats had only 78 yards of offense in the second half while picking up just four first downs. That's the type of dominance that this defense should show against a Group of 6 team.
On offense, Tech shook off the awful first-half performance to score TDs on four of its five drives, with the fifth drive being when they just ran out the clock to end the game. That included two touchdowns on the first eight plays of the half to essentially put the game to bed. Whatever McGuire said to his team at the break, it sure seemed to resonate.
LaDamion Guyton is going to be a superstar
Finally, another star for the Red Raiders was 17-year-old true freshman pass rusher LaDamion Guyton. The former 5-star signee has looked the part all season and has been impressive from an analytics standpoint, but prior to today, he hadn't gotten to the quarterback.
That changed when, in just his third college game, he racked up two sacks and another tackle. That's impressive for a kid who should still be sitting in high school English class.
Guyton looks like the most talented pass rusher on the roster. Though he has a long way to go to get there, if you squint, he may remind you of a young David Bailey. If he can build off of this performance, he could be the type of pass rusher that will take the Red Raider defense to a different level.
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