Texas Tech’s defense ranks near the bottom of the Big 12 and the nation in every traditional and analytical metric this season.
Despite Tech’s defense being as healthy as usual, the Red Raiders suffered a blowout loss in Saturday’s game against Baylor and are looking forward to this weekend’s trip down Highway 84 and Interstate 20 to Fort Worth. was brought back to square one.
For head coach Joey McGuire and defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, that starts with finding the pass rush. This one has been marred by injuries, but things haven’t gone very well since Tyree Wilson left for a first-round draft pick in 2022.
Asked about Saturday’s pass rush, McGuire said, “Nothing.” “We didn’t have one sack, we never had a tackle for loss. That’s not their credit, but we give them a lot of credit. And if you’re them, you’ve never had a TFL. You’ll never be able to establish a defensive advantage. If everything doesn’t fit together properly, you’ll never be able to make a sack. It’s like a record that’s always been broken when it comes to that. ”
The Red Raiders’ best day defensively came in Tucson, and much of that success came from putting more pressure on Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, who Tech is prone to turnovers this weekend. They may have to resort to releasing TCU quarterback Josh Hoover. loop.
“We had to continue to work on that, but at the same time, we had to continue to schematically come up with some things that impact the quarterback,” McGuire said. “If we allow this guy to stand there, like most quarterbacks, if Hoover stands there, he’s going to pick us apart. He’s got a big arm. They have three or four really, really good receivers and they’re making plays.” They’re very energetic, they’re big and physical, so that’s something we have to take seriously. That’s it. ”
Tech continues to try to find the magic of Tucson, which was fast defensively and played freely, but McGuire said he has talked to his players and described them as “trying too much to perfect” their play over the weekend. That’s what McGuire and DeRuyter are aiming for. Please fix this week.
“I said perfection will come soon. For example, I have to take calls, I have to coordinate, and what is my mission, and I have to be a football player. No,” McGuire said. “I wanted to talk to them about things like that, like, ‘Why do you feel that way?’ I think part of overthinking is slowing us down. .”
For De Ruyter, this is already a vanilla scheme compared to what we’ve seen from his defensive unit over the past two seasons, and while it’s already been adjusted and reduced this season, Tech could continue to limit play-calling. Sounds like it’s about getting the staff to play faster in the coming weeks.
“We’ve got to do a better job as No. 1 influencing the quarterback, and we’ve got to accomplish that by putting pressure on him, giving him different looks, and getting back to playing fast. ” DeRuyter said. “As a play-caller, we’ve got some new guys coming in, so I’m trying to be a little more vanilla than what I’d like to do. We’ve got to push that, and we’ve got to make an impact on these receivers.” We’ve got to do some things to give and we’ve got to do some things to impact the quarterback. ”
