The regular season is in the books and now it is time for bowl season. Nine Big 12 teams will be playing over the next two weeks and Texas Tech is next up on the bowl list. The Red Raiders finished the regular season with an 8-4 record and played Arkansas in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. It was a fun evening in Memphis as Texas Tech was looking to win their ninth game of the season. Here are my three thoughts on Texas Tech’s 39-26 loss to Arkansas on Friday night.
Texas Tech’s Defense Needs Work
It’s no secret that Texas Tech has had some defensive issues this season. They finished second to last in the Big 12 in scoring defense and had the worst passing defense in the conference as well. In fact, the defense was so bad that Joey McGuire decided to fire defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter.
Those poor trends continued on Friday night in Memphis. In the first quarter alone, Arkansas ran just nine plays on offense but had over 260 yards. This defense gave up big play after big play and had no answer for slowing down the Razorbacks offense. Arkansas finished with nearly 600 yards and that is completely inexcusable. It looks like new defensive coordinator Shiel Wood will have his work cut out for him.
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No Tahj, No Problem
After star running back Tahj Brooks announced his decision to sit out of the bowl game, I thought Tech’s running game would suffer greatly. Instead, the offensive line got after the Arkansas front and opened up some running lanes for J’Koby Williams and Cameron Dickey.
Williams finished with over 120 yards on the ground while Dickey averaged nearly five yards per carry. The Red Raiders finished with over 215 yards on the ground and didn’t shy away from running the football at all in this game. Unfortunately for the offense, backup quarterback Will Hammond made some mistakes, and the defense couldn’t get a stop when they needed to. However, I was extremely impressed with the way this offense ran the football against an SEC defense.
The Bowl Streak is Over
Coming into Friday night, the Red Raiders were looking to win their fourth straight bowl game for the first time in program history. While Texas Tech ending up falling short of achieving that goal, there is still plenty to look forward to heading into next season.
During the bowl preparation, plenty of younger guys were able to get key reps in practice and due to missing a few starters, several backups got a chance to start. Experience is one thing that is hard to replace and is very important in college football.
Plus, think about what this team will look like in 2025. Starting quarterback Behren Morton is coming back along with some other key players as well. On top of that, the Red Raiders currently have the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country as they have stocked up talent on both sides of the ball. Joey McGuire has done an excellent job of building a solid foundation in his first three years in Lubbock but year four could be where this Texas Tech program finally breaks through that barrier.
