Grading the Texas Tech game (By: Lukus Alderman)

[HornSports Staff]

Quarterback â€“ There were positives and negatives from Swoopes against Tech on Saturday night. While the Texas QB did have a very costly turnover that turned into a TD for Tech early on, he also made several fantastic throws and helped the Longhorn offense gain over 460 total yards and put 34 points on the board.

There were several dropped passes by Longhorn WRs and the gameplan wasn’t necessarily ideal in that there were very few scheduled runs for Swoopes, but the Texas QB moved the ball and made key passes on 3rd downs to move the chains. The big fumble to start the game drops Swoopes' grade, but he did show improvement over his performance against KSU.

Swoopes wasn’t great, but he did what he needed to do for Texas to come out of Lubbock with a win.

Grade: C+


Running backs – The Texas RB group has had a difficult time this season creating plays and gaining even an average amount of yardage from week-to-week. Against, Tech, however, the duo of Malcolm Brown and Jonathan Gray played their best game of the year. Brown finally surpassed the 100 yard mark for the first time this season to go with a pair of TDs and Gray complemented that with 84 yards and his own TD. Combine that with the pair of rushes for 43 yards by Daje Johnson and the RB group gets the best grade that they’ve had on the season.

Grade: A


Wide Receivers – While the RB's had a very productive game against the Red Raiders, the WR's were quite the opposite. John Harris had a great statistical performance, but the group as a whole had several breakdowns that included drops and turnovers that cost the Longhorns yards and points. The talent is there at the WR group, but it didn’t show as well as it should have on Saturday night.

Grade: C-


Offensive Line – Texas Tech started the game off by blitzing and confusing the offensive line which forced Swoopes to hurry several throws and even turn the ball over. After the game settled, the offensive line got into a groove, protected the QB well, and created big holes for the RB's. The best stat of the night, however, is that there were no penalties against the offensive line (one false start was against a TE) which is a big cause for celebration for the whole offense.

Grade: B+


Defensive Line – The D-Line produced zero sacks and only one tackle for a loss, but when you have a defense that holds the air raid attack of Texas Tech to only 7 points, every part of the defense has to be doing something right. Against the quick passing offense that Tech employs, it is very difficult to rack up stats as a defensive lineman and that proved to be the case in this game - no d-lineman recorded more than 5 total tackles and there was only one tackle for a loss. That’s not to say that the line didn’t have a chance to make more tackles...the Tech ground game found a lot of room in the middle of the game. But the Longhorns found a way to keep the Red Raider ground attack from beating them and the D-Line had a big hand in that.

Grade: B


Linebackers – Steve Edmond and Jordan Hicks had a very good statistical game against the Red Raiders. Between both LB's, the two recorded 25 total tackles to go with a big Edmond sack and pass breakup. While Tech statistically did well rushing the ball and scored their only offensive TD on the ground, Texas’ LB's did a good job of keeping receivers in front of them and forcing the young Red Raider QB's to look into the secondary to pass.

Grade: A


Defensive backs – The Texas secondary had a good night. Along with keeping the Tech air raid offense more than 100 yards below their season average. The Longhorn DB's did a good job of forcing the inexperienced Tech QB's into poor throws. One problem that reared its ugly head for the secondary was the inability to come down with interceptions. Several times a pass hit the hands of a Longhorn DB or was in the vicinity and the Longhorns never came away with the turnover. But the highlight and game changing play of the night came from senior leader Quandre Diggs as he knocked Tech starting QB, Mahomes, out of the game with a clean hit which resulted in a turnover for the Longhorns. It wasn’t a complete night for the Texas secondary, but they did their part.

Grade: A


Special Teams – Game after game this group has made a poor play here or there that gave points to the opposing team. Fortunately for Texas, this wasn’t the case in Lubbock. But several times over the course of the game, special teams blunders held the Texas offense back and even gave opportunities to Tech, which forced the defense to buckle down and overcome their mistake. Two fair catches at the 6 yard line by Shipley, a poor kick return for only 11 yards by A. Foreman, a missed field goal, and another short punt (which caused Russ to get reamed by Strong on national television) for only 25 yards were several issues that really put Texas at a disadvantage.

This wasn’t the worst game of the year for the Longhorns on special teams, but it sure wasn’t pretty.

Grade: D

 

[Marian Hinton]

Nice Lukus. Hard to disagree with any of those, truthfully. 

I was proud of the way Swoopes overcame early adversity. 

 

[doc longhorn]

You seriously gave the LB's an A?  I've re-run the game twice and not only would I have given them an F, I would have pulled their schollies.  Particularly Santo's.  Hicks had his worst game of the year and #33 makes me want to bite re-bar in half.

Also, our OL out weighed their DL by 30 lb.s on average.  Our so called super star RB's should have had a field  day against them - they didn't.  I still say the best running back on the team is Swoopes and you have to sight him on a tree to see if he is moving.  (You deer hunters will understand what this means).

Nay, our defense overall played the best this day.  Until you realize it was TTU, a noted powerhouse playing their 3rd string QB and running, roughshod, over our MLB's.

 

[Lukus Alderman]

You seriously gave the LB's an A? I've re-run the game twice and not only would I have given them an F, I would have pulled their schollies. Particularly Santo's. Hicks had his worst game of the year and #33 makes me want to bite re-bar in half.

Also, our OL out weighed their DL by 30 lb.s on average. Our so called super star RB's should have had a field day against them - they didn't. I still say the best running back on the team is Swoopes and you have to sight him on a tree to see if he is moving. (You deer hunters will understand what this means).

Nay, our defense overall played the best this day. Until you realize it was TTU, a noted powerhouse playing their 3rd string QB and running, roughshod, over our MLB's.

And that's fair.

 

[Matt Cotcher]

Special Teams was better than a D. You're carrying previous grievances against them. You noted errors, but none of them were critical - in fact, the missed FG is the only one that I'd heavily count. Go find me a team that doesn't have one poor punt and one bad kick return per game...

I'd give ST around a 'C'.

You said, "Swoopes wasn’t great, but he did what he needed to do for Texas to come out of Lubbock with a win." - that's about how I'd describe ST.

 

[Lukus Alderman]

Special Teams was better than a D. You're carrying previous grievances against them. You noted errors, but none of them were critical - in fact, the missed FG is the only one that I'd heavily count. Go find me a team that doesn't have one poor punt and one bad kick return per game...

I'd give ST around a 'C'.

You said, "Swoopes wasn’t great, but he did what he needed to do for Texas to come out of Lubbock with a win." - that's about how I'd describe ST.

The biggest issues in my opinion were the 25 yard punt and the two fair catches at the 6 yard line. Those are backbreaking plays against most teams. Just because Tech didn't capitalize on them doesn't mean the ST unit gets away with it.

 

[java]

Lukus, my problem with the D on ST and Shipley's punt returns is the following.  We do not know what his instructions are from the coaches.  He is one of two senior receivers (experienced).  They have him fielding punts because he is reliable.  It is likely that he has strict instructions on when a return is on and when it is not.  In fact, I would bet on it.

A shanked punt, yes, they occasionally happen.  Otherwise, I do think they are improved, with the exception of the missed field goal.

When Big Malcom was in there, our DL was solid.  When he wasn't, the line wasn't as strong.  He is critical to this defense.

 

[texasdobbs]

Defense set the tone for the game and allowed the offense to get there dobber up... I love me some Shipley but would love have me some Daje returning some punts...

 

[Bear19]

OL = C- considering the competition.

 

[Jedi Day]

Good stuff overall Lukus.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

David Thomas on LHN, Upon Further Review;

Bragging about beating Tech is like bragging that you won a pillow fight.

 

[streettopeschel]

in the grand scheme, we have larger issues, but our kickoff and punt returns drive me effing nuts.

sometimes i'd swear the kickoff guys are blindfolded. they almost seem to run TO contact. our long is 33 with an average of 18. we should be praying the other teams kicks it thru the endzone.

and yeah, if i see another fair catch inside the ten, i'm gonna jump out of my bubble bath and lose it. the old rule was put your heels on the ten and if it's over your head, let it go. when did that stop being a good idea?

 

[dillohorn]

Good that we won, but enough errors were made that would have resulted in a loss against better teams.

 

[Aaron Carrara]

Nick Rose hit FG's from 46 & 42 yards on Saturday and missed from 37 yards out.  He's getting better but still needs work.  Texas may encounter a situation this season (in the next 2 games) where they need his leg to win a game for them.

 

[streettopeschel]

Nick Rose hit FG's from 46 & 42 yards on Saturday and missed from 37 yards out.  He's getting better but still needs work.  Texas may encounter a situation this season (in the next 2 games) where they need his leg to win a game for them.

2 outta 3. that's who he is. 9-14 on the year.

we were so spoiled for so long with clutch kickers. think of the HUGE game winners we had. 2011 atm, 2009 nu, 2004 michigan, atm, 1998, uva 95. what was the year bailey beat nu in the snow? '03?

we can only hope that he's up to the challenge if needed.

 

[Matt Cotcher]

2 outta 3. that's who he is. 9-14 on the year.

we were so spoiled for so long with clutch kickers. think of the HUGE game winners we had. 2011 atm, 2009 nu, 2004 michigan, atm, 1998, uva 95. what was the year bailey beat nu in the snow? '03?

we can only hope that he's up to the challenge if needed.

You mean like he was against ISU?  B)

 

[streettopeschel]

You mean like he was against ISU?  B)

fair enough. he was money...from 21 yards.

Hunter Lawrence had to make one from 46 for us to play for the NC. i guess this year, the only thing comparable would be needing one to go to a bowl game. how you feeling about that from 46?

 

[BevoBlake]

The biggest issues in my opinion were the 25 yard punt and the two fair catches at the 6 yard line. Those are backbreaking plays against most teams. Just because Tech didn't capitalize on them doesn't mean the ST unit gets away with it.

This. Our Specials Team was fortunate that Texas was up against a team that doesn't have the talent to capitalize on opposing team mistakes and misfortunes. If Texas is up against a team like Oklahoma, Baylor or TCU, our review of the ST would go from "meh" to "seriously?" While the ST didn't stink it up in this game, they didn't play as well as they should have given the competition. ST has been a serious sore spot for us this offseason. We've been very spoiled by the production of past STs.