There is a great deal of continuity between the 2022 and 2023 squads for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, including a plethora of starters and a motivated second-year head coach.
In 2022, head coach Joey McGuire led Texas Tech to its first eight-win campaign in his first season. They finished the season with a Texas Bowl win against Ole Miss, blowing them out with their dynamic offense and stifling defense.
The offense is led by fifth year quarterback Tyler Shough — a former Duck — and is set for a major step forward under second year coordinator Zach Kittley. The Raiders finished second in the Big 12 in offense in 2022, which is expected to roll into this season as they are returning ten players who started games in some capacity last season. Texas Tech led the entire country last season in plays per game, so this is an offense that prides itself on being up-tempo.
After being 13-point favorites, this offense was quiet in Week One against Wyoming, scoring 17 points in the first quarter before being shut out until late in the fourth. After getting out to a hot start initially, the Red Raiders made some crucial mistakes — namely a Shough interception — that led to the Cowboys gaining back a ton of momentum in front of a fervent home crowd.
Once Wyoming had the momentum, Texas Tech went stagnant on offense, getting stopped and forced to kick field goals in all four of their trips to the red zone. However, the first three of these four field goal attempts would be unsuccessful, as two were missed and one was blocked. This allowed Wyoming to steal all the momentum and force the Raiders into overtime.
Texas Tech’s reliance on its pass game was often its downfall, as the players never established any success on the ground. This led to unsuccessful run plays in the red zone, which forced Shough to make difficult plays in order to get the ball in the end zone, something he couldn’t always do.
The Texas Tech defense is very experienced, returning six starters and a lot of other players who saw meaningful snaps last season. In 2022, Texas Tech led the Big 12 in sacks and was the ninth-best red zone defense in the country, which will be hard to maintain after losing superstar edge rusher Tyree Wilson to the draft. Texas Tech lost five of their top six leading tacklers, so they will have a very big challenge trying to stifle some of the more high powered teams on their schedule.
One of the Red Raiders’ glaring weaknesses is their run defense, as they gave up 171 yards and two touchdowns to a lackluster, one-dimensional Wyoming offense. Going into Week One, Texas Tech prided itself on its interior line group and front four, especially preseason all-Big 12 selection Jaylon Hutchings.
They were handled by the Wyoming offensive line, who found no problems protecting their quarterback Andrew Peasley and opening up holes for him to run rampant over the defense. The Texas Tech defense lacked an edge that it needed in order to beat a team they were favored heavily over, which needs to be built quickly in order for this squad to be successful.
Although they were beaten heavily on the run, Texas Tech still managed to hold Wyoming in the red zone enough to force the game into overtime. They also forced two early turnovers that led to two scores and a first quarter lead for the Red Raiders.
The Red Raiders were a force at home last season, losing only one game at Jones AT&T Stadium. They also have a lot of potential to cause chaos for Oregon in Week Two at their home opener. The Ducks should be prepared for a battle down south in Lubbock, as Texas Tech will be fired up coming off a close, overtime loss in Wyoming.
