Texas Tech still searching for consistency in red zone ahead of test at Oregon State
· Yahoo Sports
LUBBOCK — No. 12 Texas Tech accumulated 471 yards of total offense against Abilene Christian on Saturday but didn’t find much success in the red zone aside from a pair of first-quarter rushing touchdowns.
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Saturday’s final box score shows the Red Raiders went 5-for-5 scoring points in red zone trips, but apart from Quinten Joyner and J’Koby Williams finding the end zone early in the game, Tech’s other three conversions came from kicker Stone Harrington. Tech stalling offensively in the red zone isn’t a new issue though, having garnered attention in the 2025 season as well.
Offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich said Monday the Red Raiders find themselves in holes because of ineffective play-calling on first and second down. He said once a drive gets to third-and-long, it’s tough for the offense to find the first down marker.
“Got to execute better,” Leftwich said. “Got to have a better plan on first and second down. Going into it, the whole focus is trying to stay out of third-and-long. So, got to call better plays on first and second down to put us in good situations where we’re not down there in those third-and-extra-long opportunities.”
When the Red Raiders were forced into third-and-long situations against the Wildcats, they struggled mightily with a 0-for-5 rate on conversion attempts of 9 yards or longer.
On the other hand, when Tech found themselves in short-yardage situations on third down — between 1 and 4 yards — it converted 4 of 6 attempts.
However, the Red Raiders found themselves in 12 third-down situations and converted only five. Tech’s average third-down distance to the first-down line was 6.5 yards.
“There was two plays for sure where I called something that I was trying to hit a big play and got a little aggressive there for sure,” Leftwich said. “So you know just doing stuff we’re good at and letting our guys go execute and have easy answers on the play is kind of what we talked about doing.”
After scoring on its first two drives, Tech didn’t reach the end zone again for the entirety of the second and third quarters following a Will Hammond interception that stunted its third drive. Eventually, the Red Raiders found the end zone late in the fourth quarter on a 64-yard touchdown reception by Malcolm Simmons.
Tech had several opportunities to score in the second and third quarters, but several missed throws from Hammond resulted in the special teams unit coming out from the sideline.
Head coach Joey McGuire said Hammond’s throwing miscues were more to do with regaining his comfort on the field, rather than lack of mechanics.
“That’s just really kind of a clock going off in his head,” McGuire said. “The more he plays that clock, you know, he’ll feel more comfortable. Also, I was proud of him. You know the times that I think if he had that ball back when he threw the interception, he would have ran for the first down. That’s one of those deals of him getting more and more comfortable.”
The Red Raiders’ next opponent is Oregon State on Saturday in Corvallis, Ore. The Beavers are coming off a 33-20 loss to No. 23 Houston.
Following Oregon State, the Red Raiders will also face the Cougars in Lubbock in their first potential AP Top 25 matchup of the season.
Ahead of the matchup with the Beavers, Leftwich said he doesn’t feel added pressure to find consistency ahead of Tech’s Big 12 conference opener but is more focused on leaving Oregon State with a win.
“I think really we’re just so locked in on Oregon State,” Leftwich said. “They went down to Houston and showed that they’re a highly competitive football team, and we can’t look ahead at all. We’re completely focused on improving what we can for this week, so we can go out and play well on the road in a tough environment at Oregon State.”
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