Texas Tech defeated Texas A&M yesterday in their annual conference match. There is nothing surprising there. It has become routine for the Red Raiders to lay waste to the abyss that has become fightin' Texas Aggie football. There was some drama along the way so let's have a looksee.
This game was very different from first half to second half. It's hard to tell if A&M played great in the first half or if Texas Tech's defensive scheme allowed them to have success. A&M did do a good job of taking advantage of the two Tech first half turnovers.
The first was an awful pass by Graham Harrell off of his back foot and throwing deep over the middle. The pass was a bit high and easily picked off. Harrell is a senior so you hate to see these types of mistakes. He does make things look so easy sometimes that we just don't expect this type of play. He'll have to avoid these types of decisions over the next four weeks.
The second turnover was a fumble after a nice completion from Harrell to Tremain Swindall. Swindall didn't do a good job of securing the football and was stripped of it just before he hit the ground. The play was ruled a completion on the field but was overruled after it was challenged by A&M coach Mike Sherman.
Both teams had big offensive numbers in the first half. Texas A&M racked up 274 yards of offense. Most of it from the big right arm of sophomore QB Jerrod Johnson. Tech helped A&M tremendously by staying in a super soft zone which left A&M receivers wide open all over the field.
Texas Tech had 254 yards of offense in the first half. Tech only stopped itself with turnovers. The biggest play was a twenty five yard touchdown pass from Harrell to all-world receiver Michael Crabtree.
Texas Tech also continued to struggle in the kicking game when they had the extra point blocked after their second touchdown. Mike Leach and staff really need to get the kicking game figured out soon. It easily could have cost them the Nebraska game and with Kansas, Texas, OSU and Oklahoma coming up, they will need every point they can earn.
The first half ended with the Ags up 23-20. I still wasn't very worried at this point. It seemed A&M had played as well as they could and were only up by 3.
The second half was dominated by Texas Tech. They scored on their opening drive and never looked back. Once again Harrell found Crabtree in the end-zone to get things started. A simple three yard out route left him wide open.
Yes, I am surprised at how easily he gets open. Everyone knows he is the first choice around the end-zone. His incredible strength and quickness simply allow him to beat over matched defensive backs again and again.
Tech added a field goal later in the third to finish the quarter up 30-23.
Graham Harrell added two one-yard touchdown runs in the 4th quarter. The second has brought about some mild controversy, but mainly just for uneducated radio talk show hosts to have something to scream about. More on this later.
A&m's only points of the second half came off a blocked extra point. What a surprise there! After the unsurprising block it was returned by A&M to complete their final point tally.
In the second half Texas A&M accrued only 32 yards of offense. Fifteen yards of that came on the last play of the game. Tech put continuous pressure with their front four on Johnson in the half and it made a huge difference. They also seemed to man up more which put a stop to the problem of wide open receivers they suffered in the first half.
We're going to send you the most entertaining Texas Tech Football articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
15 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete