Four Down Territory: Red Raiders crush Mountaineers

That was lots and lots of fun for the Red and Black faithful. Let’s get into it!

First Down: Behren Morton is your starter

I feel terrible for Tyler, but the reality is that quarterbacks have to lose jobs once they have them. Sick, a bit banged up, and still Morton balled out. Morton was 28/45 325 2 TDs on the day, a just crazy stat line considering Texas Tech also rushed for 239 yards on the day which would ordinarily point to a quieter outing for the signal caller.

Morton makes rookie mistakes, you saw them again in a few key moments. But the arm is live, the decision making is improving with every snap, and the offense is just moving. He can make all the throws, and once he polishes up with more reps he will be as good as any gunslinger in the nation. Shough has done nothing wrong, but the future is here in Lubbock. The job is Morton until he gives you a reason to take it away.

Second Down: The offensive line turns in their best performance

The rushing numbers in this game, as I mentioned above, are absolutely insane. Credit to both Brooks and Thompson for putting together quite the highlight reel, but you cannot forget the work of the big uglies up front to spring them

They allowed one sack on the day (on a jail break blitz) and only 3 quarterback pressures. Frankly, while this was not a perfect performance it was about as good as you can ask of this unit. Texas Tech will win 8 games this year if these guys can deliver this kind of protection going forward, book it.

Third Down: Texas Tech finally finishes on INTs

I have harped on this a lot this season, if you want to be Take 3 U you have to finish on the interceptions you have a chance to make. All year Tech has largely dropped the ball there, but not today.

Three Red Raiders would punish JT Daniels, including one of the all time great INTs you can possibly get to close out the half right when West Virginia was threatening to get back into the game. This is how you climb back into the positive on TO margin, when you have a chance to make a play on the ball you do it.

Fourth Down: Texas Tech is way better than their record suggest, and they put the conference on notice

The pre-bye week schedule was maybe the most difficult of any in college football. The Red Raiders faced a brutal nonconference slate and the best of the Big 12 (sans TCU), and came out bruised but in decent position at 3-3.

Now, the schedule softens up significantly with your most difficult match being against a charmed TCU team that has yet to play an actual healthy quarterback for 40 minutes against real competition. Texas Tech is not your average 4-3 team, they are as competitive and as good as any team in the upper crust.

And today they proved it, and it is time the conference starts to get scared of the monster growing in West Texas. I won’t say you are guaranteed 8 wins or anything crazy, but you will have a very good chance of winning every remaining game. It will be a battle, but the schedule is ripe for the taking.

If Joey McGuire can do this without his guys, just you wait till he flips the roster.