Power running game grows on Red Raiders
Strangely but truly, pass-happy Texas Tech is really starting to like this new power running game thing.
Believe it at your own risk: The Red Raiders are using two tight ends. They're running the ball. They're charging forward.
After sparse use of a double tight-end set the last two seasons, that's the popular new run wrinkle right now for Tech's pass-based offense. The Raiders (2-2) are using the formation more often to take advantage of the best double tight-end personnel Tech has seen in at least three years.
Tight ends Clay McGuire and Preston Hartfield provided the bookend blocking that helped the Raiders gain 207 rushing yards last week in a 51-48 loss against Mississippi. The total was the highest rushing amount in the three-year tenure of head coach Mike Leach.
"The biggest reason why we're running it now more than we did before is we've got two guys that are pretty good at it," Leach said. "It's something we wanted to do from the beginning, but we didn't have the guys that really gravitated toward that type of thing."
McGuire and Hartfield have become so good at it, in fact, that plays are being changed by the quarterback to take advantage of it. Instead of changing to a different passing play, like he did before, Kliff Kingsbury is changing to a running game that's finally proven itself trustworthy. Running back Taurean Henderson estimates Kingsbury is checking off to a running play two or three times per series now that Tech has demonstrated its strength with two tight ends. Previously, Henderson said Kingsbury did it once or none per series.
"In the past, it was always checking to another pass play," said Henderson, who gained 141 yards last week. "Now you know, I guess we're seeing we're capable of running the ball, so we're checking to the run a lot more."
Part of the equation also involves Leach's mantra to "take what the defense gives you." In the N.C. State game, for example, the Wolfpack dared the Raiders to run it against them. N.C. State used man-to-man coverage in the secondary and played it light up front. Taking full advantage of it, Tech responded with two tight ends and a running game.
By the end of the day, Leach even said he wished he would have thrown the ball more on Tech's last fourth-quarter series. It might have been a career first for Tech's head coach. Leach said he didn't throw the ball enough? You've got to be kidding.
"It was a situation where it was there for us," Tech running backs coach Art Briles said. "Kliff did a good job of checking, and the line did a good job blocking."
The double-tight wrinkle is expected to come in handy again tonight against New Mexico. The Lobos, which rank 69th nationally in run defense, like to blitz a lot and are only so-so against the run. The scary part from New Mexico's standpoint is that Henderson, McGuire and Hartfield are probably just as threatening as receivers.
"It's featuring something they do well," Leach said. "What can your guys do? Well, they're really good at blocking, and they're really good inside. They help the run game, but they can also catch the ball really well, and it stretches the defense out."
Tonight should be prove to be another case example. Look for McGuire and Hartfield to pick up the blitz and catch the occasional key pass. Tech 33, New Mexico 17.
? Nebraska at Iowa State: Iowa State quarterback Seneca Wallace has the ability to turn the Blackshirts (Nebraska's defense) into Pinkshirts, just like Penn State did two week ago in a 40-7 Nebraska loss. Iowa State 27, Nebraska 20.
? Texas at Tulane: Mack Brown sure likes to schedule games against teams he used to coach. Two weeks ago, it was North Carolina. Now it's Tulane. Same result. Texas 45, Tulane 6.
? South Florida at Oklahoma: OU coach Bob Stoops and South Florida coach Jim Leavitt once served as co-defensive coordinators at Kansas State. The commonalities in talent between the two teams end there. OU 52, South Florida 7.
? Kansas at Tulsa: This might be the closest game of the day in the Big 12. Even Baylor has beaten Tulsa, though. Kansas 30, Tulsa 18.
Last week: 2-3.
Season: 16-8.
When TEXAS Tech has the ball
Left tackle Daniel Loper vs. right defensive end D.J. Renteria: This is a good battle of emerging young players.
Renteria, a former high school standout at Roswell, is regarded as the best athlete on the Lobos' defensive line, and it shows. He already has recovered four fumbles, and five of his 14 tackles have been behind the line of scrimmage.
This is his first year to start full-time. He had a sack and a tackle for loss in last year's 42-30 defeat to Tech.
Loper continues to develop into a top pass protector for Kliff Kingsbury. He's a regular contender for the Bone award, the weekly team honor accorded the lineman who has the best game each week.
Split end Anton Paige vs. cornerbacks David Crockett and Corey Brown: Paige is making up for lost time with 22 catches, 248 yards and two TDs. He already has more yardage than he did in his disappointing junior year and needs only one catch to equal his 2001 total, when he played in 10 games.
Paige is coming off consecutive seven-catch performances against Ole Miss and N.C. State. In addition, he's drawn three pass interference penalties the pass two weeks. All three came on fourth-quarter drives for TDs.
Crockett is UNM's best CB, an aggressive player with a 38-inch vertical jump and 14 starts in 16 games. Brown, a new JUCO transfer, just cracked the lineup in game three.
Running back Taurean Henderson vs. rush defense: Henderson will try to build on last week's breakout game when he ran for 141 yards and two TDs. Tech's 207 yards rushing against N.C. State was a high water in the Mike Leach era.
Aside from the line, Henderson picked up additional key blocking from TE Preston Hartfield and TE-FB Clay McGuire. It worked so well that Tech handed Henderson the ball 10 times for 78 yards in the fourth quarter and overtime.
The Lobos will chase him with an undersized defense based on speed. Five of the defensive starters are 200 pounds or less. Senior MLB Charles Moss from Dallas (team-high 48 tackles) is the bell cow of the defense.
When NEW MEXICO has the ball
Quarterback Casey Kelly vs. pass defense: Kelly was a 32nd-round draft choice of baseball's Colorado Rockies three years ago who walked on and made good in football. The team is 7-5 since he took over as a starter in week five last year ago.
Kelly has 768 yards and three TDs on 82-of-142 passing, and he has some mobility (three rushing TDs). His 57 percent completion rate should be better. UNM receivers have dropped 12 to 14 passes the past two weeks, coach Rocky Long asserts.
Tech coaches say Kelly is the best passer they've seen on a UNM team the past three years.
Tech needs to get DE Aaron Hunt going. He has one sack in September for the second year in a row.
Tailback DonTrell Moore vs. rush defense: Moore was thrust into a difficult situation two weeks ago when senior TB Quincy Wright (496 yards, 4 TDs) was lost for the season with a knee injury. Wright made big plays and entered game four as the nation's third-leading rusher.
The Lobos still prefer a power running approach, although they don't do it as easily as they did in the recent past. Their FB the past two years, Jarrod Baxter, now starts for the NFL's Houston Texans. Now UNM uses one-back sets a lot and sometimes puts the TE in the backfield.
The 150 yards and five TDs that T.A. McLendon hung on Tech last week was the latest wound for a unit that ranks 105th nationally in rush defense.
Offensive line vs. front four: Tech defensive coordinator Greg McMackin thinks the offensive line is the best unit on the Lobos' offense. C Justin Colburn, OGs Claude Terrell and Calvin McDonald and OT Jason Lenzmeier all have been credited with between 40 and 48 knockdown blocks. They take a zone-blocking approach and move well.
The Lobos use a lot of counter-action running plays to set up bootlegs and play-action passes.
Tech needs the front four to keep the blockers off MLB Lawrence Flugence (75 tackles) and OLBs Mike Smith (35 tackles) and Jason Wesley (new starter). DE Adell Duckett was brilliant two weeks ago, quiet last week.