The quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff are here as we are one step closer to crowning a national champion. This year, Texas Tech faced Oregon in the Orange Bowl down in Miami as they made their first ever playoff appearance.
Here is the good, bad, and ugly from the Orange Bowl.
The Good: Texas Tech Defense
If you just look at the scoreboard, then you probably wouldn’t know that Texas Tech’s defense gave it their all and then some. The Red Raiders gave up 309 yards and held Oregon to just 4-19 on third down. Sure, they gave up a few fourth downs, but more often than not, they were able to come up with stops.
Tech completely shut down Oregon’s rushing attack holding them to 64 yards on 47 carries. For a defense who was on the field for nearly 40 minutes of this game, they showed up Thursday in Miami. Unfortunately the score didn’t tell the whole story for this defense because they played well enough to win this game. I still stand by the fact that this was one of the best defenses in the last 15 years in the Big 12.
The Bad: The Perception of the Big 12
It’s no secret that the Big 12 has had a negative reputation when it comes to the playoff. For the past three seasons now, the conference has failed to win a game in the postseason. It also doesn’t help that people continuously bring up the national championship game where TCU got their doors blown off by Georgia.
Last season, things were a lot different with Arizona State. They were a true underdog story that went from worst to first in the conference and were picked to lose by two touchdowns against Texas in the Peach Bowl. But this Tech team was different. They ran through the Big 12 like butter and dominated BYU in the conference championship game. Without a doubt, they were the best team in the Big 12 by a mile.
Not only was this team good enough to beat Oregon but some people, including myself, thought they could go all the way. Obviously, that wasn’t the case down in Miami as Tech got beat by 23. It was a bad day for Texas Tech, and it was an even worse day for the Big 12.
The Ugly: Texas Tech’s Offense
This offense picked the worst time imaginable to play their worst game of the season. They failed to score a single point for the first time in four years as this was the first playoff game shutout since 2016.
Tech finished with just 215 total yards and rushed for just 2.6 yards per carry. They weren’t able to get any push up front and failed to protect Behren Morton. Speaking of Morton, he struggled mightily. Behren turned the ball over three times as the offense finished the day with four turnovers.
It felt like anytime Texas Tech got some momentum going, they turned the ball over. One has to wonder if all that money Texas Tech spent this offseason should have gone to a quarterback. I think we got our answer on Thursday.
