5 areas where Red Raiders must be better this fall

Nov 14, 2020; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders helmets on the field before the game against the Baylor Bears at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

For the 2022 Texas Tech football season to be a success, some areas from 2021 need to be cleaned up.  Hopefully, a new coaching staff will help in the areas where the Red Raiders struggled a season ago.

But it is hard to tell what we can expect from a Joey McGuire team given that the former Baylor assistant coach has never led a program at the collegiate level.  What’s more, it is fair to wonder whether his leadership and coaching style will lead to a disciplined and fundamentally sound team at this level of the game.

Tech fans certainly are hoping that McGuire proves to be as effective at coaching up his team as he has been at two other critical aspects of building a winning program; invigorating the fan base and restocking the talent pool on the recruiting trail.

We will begin to find out those answers in just over three weeks.  And when Tech takes the field in week one, here are some statistical categories where we hope to see improvement from last year.

Total offense

There are two main offensive categories that are worth monitoring, points scored per game and total offense.  Certainly, the former of those two is the most important stat in the game but it can often be misleading when trying to discern how effective an offense is given that factoring into that statistic are such things as defensive scores, hidden yards (such as yards gained on special teams), and the effectiveness of the kicking game.

That’s why many feel that the best measuring stick of an offense is total offense, which is just the average number of yards a team gains each game.  And that’s one area where Tech was surprisingly bad last season.

Now, it must be said that around Raiderland our concept of a good and a bad offense is a bit skewed given how prolific our offenses have been since Mike Leach took over the program in 2000.  But a case could be made that last season’s offense was the worst of the modern era of the program.

Ranking just 56th nationally and 7th in the Big 12, the Red Raiders mustered a pedestrian 416.3 yards per game.  That was down from the 429.5 yards per game the program put up the previous year, good for 38th nationally.   What’s more, that’s the lowest output Tech has had on offense since the 1999 season.

Of course, much of that meager output had to do with the poor play Tech got at QB under Henry Colombi, who started five games after starter Tyler Shough went down with a collar bone injury in the Texas game in week four.  Under Shough, Tech averaged just 406.6 yards per game while three times failing to crack the 400-yard mark.  What’s more under the guidance of redshirt freshman Donovan Smith at QB, Tech would average just 346 yards per game in the season’s final four games.  (But it must be noted that Smith faced arguably the three best defenses in the conference in Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Baylor in his first three career starts.)

In other words, the play at QB matters. (Big shock.) This year, the Red Raiders will be in much better shape at that position regardless of who the starter is.  Shough and Smith now both have experience starting at the Power 5 level and both are far better options than Colombi was.

Also, Tech fans are expecting the arrival of offensive coordinator Zach Kittley to bolster the offensive attack.  Last year, his Western Kentucky team was second in the nation by putting up 563.3 yards per game.  But whether it is a new scheme or better play at the game’s most important position, Tech has to have a much more effective offense this season.