Defensive Grades: Texas Tech vs Sam Houston

The 1000th game is in the books and Texas Tech comes away with the victory. Today we take a look at what the Defense looks like so far under David Gibbs.

The defense looked at times like last year, where they could just not stop the run or a mobile quarterback, but there was some good things that we can take away from this game. Let's take a look at the grades.

Overall grade: C-

This one had me bouncing back in forth especially during the heat of the game. And while some might think this is even a little high considering the Defense gave up 317yds on the ground and 320yds in the air. There was still some improvement. The defense didn't allow for very many big plays and they did something we have not seen in some time. They won the turnover battle with 2 picks (one of those to the house!) with 2 forced turnovers and 2 sacks.

The first game from the Defense is not what we would like to see ideally, but there were some improvements from last year.

DL Grade: D

The reason behind this grade is the lack of pressure on the QB and not stopping much at the line. There was some stops here and there but overall they did not get consistent pressure. I think this will improve in time, but there is still plenty of work to do. It also doesn't help that Pete Robertson sat out this game.

LB Grade: C+

In the first half Micah Awe was flying all over the place, it seemed like he was in on almost every tackle or right next to it. He was making stops and having a great game until a forearm injury sidelined him and we hope it's nothing major and we will see him back next week. After Awe went down Keenon Ward and Kris Williams stepped up and tried to fill that void.

DB Grade: B

I think out of all the defensive groups this one had the best game of all. This group caused 2 fumbles and picked off the ball twice (again one of those to the house!) JJ Gaines had the pick six and a forced fumble. He also had a tackle for a loss. The other DB's were not being slouches either with Jah'Shawn Johnson creating a fumble and Thierry Nguema in for the other pick. The group also didn't allow for big over the top plays. Even though SHSU likes to run the ball they weren't beating our secondary in the air.

I think there is a lot of room for improvement, but I can see some good changes from last year and it is only the first game of the year, still plenty of time to correct those mistakes as the year goes on.

My final thought is Tech doesn't  have to be a feared defense to win games and to win the turnover battle.

What are your thoughts? Did I grade them too high or not high enough? Leave your comments below.