• The Road Warrior Report - Texas Tech Review - October 24, 2015

      NORMAN – One year ago, Texas Tech’s defense couldn’t stop a stiff fart if it came running at them. The Sooner offensive braintrust took a full half of the game, playing with a backup quarterback, to realize they didn’t need to throw it all over the yard to beat the Red Raiders. Fast forward to 2015, and Tech still cannot stop a stiff fart running at it. But in 2015, it didn’t take half the game to figure it out. As a result, Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon ran roughshod over Tech in a 63-27 romp that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated.


      Indeed, were it not for a pair of second quarter turnovers that led directly to a pair of Red Raider touchdowns, both of which occurred on promising Sooner drives, plus a dropped sure TD pass followed by Austin Seibert’s first missed field goal of the year, the Sooners would have been pushing 80 points, and Tech wouldn’t have hit 20. As it was, the Sooners scored touchdowns every time they touched the ball in the second half.


      Even more impressive than the running game was the defense, which did a very good job in shutting down the Red Raiders’ high-powered attack. Zack Sanchez went out with an ankle injury on the first play of the game, but Dakota Austin filled in admirably. Austin was left on an island on the corner on a number of occasions on quick passes, and made sure tackles every time, including several plays that would have been out the gate otherwise. Austin had a pick, as did Frank Shannon, who filled in well for the injured Jordan Evans at linebacker. The Sooner defense picked Tech QB Pat Mahomes four times, including a stunningly athletic play by Eric Striker in the first quarter. Striker jumped to block a pass and ended up catching it instead and returned it deep into Tech territory to set up a TD.

      For all the ink wasted about Baker Mayfield going up against Tech, it was really a non-factor. With the Sooners destroying Tech with the running game, Mayfield was only 15-22 for 212 yards, 2 TDs, and a pick. For the most part, he spent the day handing the ball off to Perine and Mixon, who ravaged Tech for 201 and 156 yards, respectively.

      In the end, while the Sooner offensive line looked perhaps as good as it has all year, we don’t know how much was them and how much was a poor Tech defense. On the other hand, Texas has a poor defense, and we couldn’t manage to bust a grape against them. Either way, things are getting better up front.

      This was a solid win for the Sooners, and certainly represented defensive progress from the Tulsa game against an Air Raid offense. It’s another step towards a big challenge in a few weeks in Waco. In the meantime, it’s Halloween in Lawrence next Saturday afternoon, followed by Iowa State in Norman the week after.

      Finally, we send our heartfelt condolences and best wishes to our Oklahoma State friends affected by the tragedy in Stillwater this morning. We snipe at each other over sports, but the folks in orange are, literally, our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family, and they have been through far too many of these types of things, certainly more than their share.
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