Defense lays monumental egg at DKR

I want to be very upfront. I am still a fan of Keith Patterson. I still think he is one of the better coordinators on the defensive side of the ball in Lubbock in years.

But he sure could’ve fooled me on Saturday.

This Texas Tech defense had looked good in the first three games, it had looked strong in the front seven and a little less strong in the secondary, but it had been your best unit so far this year. That unit was absolutely torched, and after 639 yards of offense surrendered, 336 of it on the ground, we are left really only wondering one thing:

What the hell happened?

The easy response is to say you were flat out-coached, which you were. But why? Why couldn’t our coordinator make those vaunted half time adjustments?

Yes, the game was out of reach by intermission, but still a sign of life would’ve been encouraging, you know?

After giving up 35 points in the first half, those changes could’ve kept this game close and manageable. We certainly wouldn’t be seeing the uproar of alumni and fans against this team like we are seeing now, and I’m certain of that.

It is an unfortunate circumstance that comes with losing by 35 to your in state rival after scoring 35 yourself. People want retribution. I can’t say I blame you.

Folks this was a rough game to watch and a rough game to grade. These will probably go like you think they will, but here are your defensive grades for the Texas meltdown:

DEFENSIVE LINE: F

You got absolutely destroyed on the line all game, there is no beating around the bush. It was an embarrassing performance and an even more embarrassing scheme. Most of the game only three guys rushed and it had literally zero effect on the Texas offense. Thy did what they wanted, when they wanted to. Texas’ O-Line had control for the entire 30:06 that they had the ball.

LINEBACKERS: F

I mean you gave up so many short passes and you simply couldn’t tackle anyone. There might have been less than ten plays where the first Red Raider to the ball made the tackle. It was like Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson had a majority of their yards after contact. Very. Very. Very. Bad.

SECONDARY: F

I don’t think Casey Thompson is very good and this secondary made him look like Joe Burrow when he played for LSU. 18-23 for 303 yards and five TD’s. It was abysmal but when you give their QB over five seconds to pass what else do you expect? No one could cover and no one could tackle.

OVERALL: F-

You were boat raced by a team that only scored 21 against Arkansas. You gave up 639 yards of total offense. 336 yards rushing. Don’t get me wrong, Bijan Robinson could very well be the best back we face all year, I sure hope he is because I would hate to see what anything worse looks like.

I can’t help but think that this defense just had everything go wrong and that they won’t just lay down the rest of the year, but I think they could benefit from rushing more than 3 guys, because it became very apparent that won’t work.

This game was ugly. Plain and simple. Let’s hope some adjustments are made because if they aren’t, its only downhill from here.