How Texas Tech can save this season

Matt Wells and his staff have proven to be woefully unprepared week after week, and incapable of managing a game.

The decision making process is inscrutable because the decisions are so baffling they only make sense to a lunatic. I chose this year to be the ultimate optimist, and Wells found a way to make that impossible. This bye week is it, the last chance for Wells and the clown car he calls a staff to straighten out the mess they have made. Being the helpful man I am, I will provide the guide below to at least salvage respectability.

Henry Colombi must start

I understood starting Bowman against ISU. When he is healthy, he is the best pure passer on the team. But he will never be mentally healthy after the beating he has taken as was demonstrated by him panicking every play.

What was inexcusable was keeping Bowman out there till the game was effectively out of reach. Here is what should piss everyone off, the defense was good in the second half. Giving up ten points is really solid for a half, and they gave the offense chance after chance to get the game back in reach.

Leaving Bowman out only made sense if the staff was fully committed to him and therefore wanted to protect his confidence for the future. By benching him, they show there is a real quarterback controversy and the whole thing stinks like they intentionally scapegoated Alan. Who by the way, deserves the utmost respect for sacrificing his body for Tech.

Colombi is just the better quarterback right now. He is not the most talented, but he stays in the pocket and can scramble when needed. Yes, he pulls the ball early sometimes but I will take those five yard carries all day. That is how the sticks get moved. His passes are crisp, and decisive with the ball out of his hand in a hurry with a purpose. Bowman nowadays is slow on his release and the ball floats on him.

No, he won’t take the top off the defense but from 25 yards in he is accurate and confident and that will allow the offense to slip one past a defense. Besides, if nothing else Colombi looks leaps and bounds more confident and the offense responds to that.

If Yost starts Bowman, he is signing his own death warrant. Only an idiot could screw this up.

Watch film on defense

Early in the game I noted on twitter how Iowa State used motion and formations to confuse Tech and get players out of position or in poor matchups. This begs the question, did we not watch a lick of film? How was the defense seemingly so unprepared for these formations when Iowa State has done this every game.

I will say the second half was far better, but Patterson looks unprepared to start games. I respect his ability to adjust, but for the love of god watch more film. If Tech can start the game looking like it understands an opposing offense, the defense is just good enough to not give up 40 points a game.

Mix it up on offense

Tech has the most simple and boring offense on the planet. We line up in one back and do one of the following: throw the slant, hand off inside, wide receiver screen, running back swing. Yost is not even trying to hide the play. He lines up in his base formations and does exactly what everyone is expecting. Iowa State ate his lunch because unlinke Tech they clearly watched film.

Once the game was basically over, he started trying to attack the holes in Iowa State’s backed off zone and oh look, it worked. Get some motion, run more than two routes, and stop being a slave to trends. It isn’t easy being a coordinator, but Yost makes his life so much harder being boring. I would rather run a Big 10 offense then the crap we have shown the last two weeks.

Grow a pair

Wells is at his best when he calls an aggressive game. See Texas, that was perfect execution of an aggressive game plan and when he went into coward mode to end the game it fell apart.

Now the end of the half on Saturday. What the hell was that? Running the clock out in a half Tech was dominated in basically admitted defeat. If Wells wants to continue to wear red and black, he needs to act like it. Players feed off their coach, and Wells’ cowardice is infecting the team.

A bye week will decide how the rest of this season goes. If the staff uses this time well, there is no reason Tech can’t win a few and salvage this year. However, if the staff does what it has been doing Tech will lose every remaining game besides Kansas.