I just hope the run game isn’t aimed between the guards. I didn’t like what I saw against UTSA in that regard and I don’t think it will be any better against Tech. We need to get Henry and Campbell in space on the edges where they can use their speed and find seams. I’m also in favor of utilizing short and intermediate routes so Tune can get the ball out quicker. He had lots of time in the pocket against UTSA, but it didn’t seem to do much good. Maybe we need quick hitters until the WRs get better at settling into gaps in the secondary.
Short passes to your WRs / TE are almost like a handoff so maybe let’s mix some of those in as well. Get the ball into Dell’s and Golden’s hands as much as possible even with short passes and force them to make tackles. And let’s hope the dropsies from some were left in Week 1
(Side note - I liked the TE screens against UTSA but the spacing / timing needs to improve in the execution at times. There was one where it looked very jumbled at the LOS.)
I’m fairly confident in this game. Texas Tech will play to stop the pass and drop 7-8 into zone just like UTSA did so we have a advantage as we went through that in week 1 and it’ll be a similar game-plan as they had last year at NRG. Key will be to force 3 & outs quick & slow them down on offense. Our DL should be able to get pressure on Smith & hopefully bring him down more then we did with Frank Harris. We had a challenging week 1 & they didn’t so I guess we have an advantage on what we need to prep for and work on
I think too much is being made of the fact that our DL only got 3 sacks; it makes it sound like we were getting blown off the line, but the reality is that there was basically constant pressure in the backfield and Harris was just really good at escaping it. UTSA’s best RB ran the ball for less than 3 yards per carry. As much-maligned as our rushing attack was (and deservedly so) UTSA’s was worse, and that’s a credit to our defense. We held them to about half of their average from last year.
