Joey McGuire previews BYU rematch in Big 12 title game
The time has finally come for Texas Tech to compete for a Big 12 Championship. The Red Raiders will face the BYU Cougars again after handing them their first and only loss in Lubbock last month. The last time these two met, Tech held BYU to only 7 points, but the Cougars held the Red Raiders to 29. Tech has averaged 43.2 points per game, but struggled significantly in the red zone against the Cougars in the first matchup.
Ever since that last matchup, head coach Joey McGuire said that his offensive coordinator, Mack Leftwich, was frustrated with the red zone struggles and was determined to get it turned around, and that’s precisely what he did. Against UCF and West Virginia, the Red Raiders were nearly perfect at scoring touchdowns on every red zone possession. It’s hard to beat a team twice, and to go 2-0 against BYU this season, Tech will need to continue its effectiveness in the red zone.
“We were frustrated. You know, we had a couple drops in the end zone, and then you also go back, I think that next week, you know, not that this changed anything. But, you know, the committee said that we weren’t scoring up in the red zone. I think we’ve been one of the best teams in the country since that statement in the red zone,” McGuire told the media on Monday. “It comes down to execution. You know, we’re really not doing anything different other than executing at a really high level. And you know, we do call the red zone the “no Stone zone.” Just to kind of mess with with Stone (Harrington) and I told him, I said, I don’t want to see him, you know, inside the 20 unless he’s kicking extra points… I think execution is the biggest part.”
Beating the same team twice
As mentioned above, beating someone twice is hard, especially with a team like BYU, which has played at a high level all season long. Both teams have to figure out how to make the necessary adjustments. McGuire is familiar with playing the same teams twice and has a specific mindset going into the rematch.
“I think the biggest thing is, you know, it’s kind of the maturity of your team. Like, sometimes I think whenever you’ve beaten somebody, you just think, oh, it’s going to happen, and you’ve got to be really wary of that… the one thing that we do every single Sunday is we go through our plan to win, but we also say the good and the bad, like the things that we did well in the game and the things that we’ve got to do better,” McGuire said. “I asked the coaches yesterday in our staff meeting, like to really dig in to the first game of where we missed the mark and some stuff where they could take advantage of us where we could take advantage of them… your team’s “why” is very important on beating somebody twice.”
McGuire looking back on BYU game and what stands out
The Cougars didn’t score their first points of the game in the first matchup until the 4th Quarter, but the Red Raiders kicked five field goals and only had two touchdowns. Although the 29-7 win for Tech made a statement, the team knows they could’ve played a whole lot better. Remaining focused on the task ahead and taking each week one at a time will continue to be Tech’s recipe for success.
“Our quarterback’s feeling as good as he’s felt all year long. You know, whenever Behren (Morton) plays well, we play at a really high level. You know, we bring so much energy. I think that we can execute at a different level. We’re getting close, but we still can execute… if you look at both of us, we’re a plus 13 turnover margin, and BYU’s a plus 12 in the turnover margin. So I think we continue to do that, you know, taking the ball away, then we can play at a different level,” McGuire said. “The one thing about playing a BYU team, if you look at them, they’re very big, physical team. I mean, like we talked about it the first time we played them. They’re really big up front. They’re really big position. They’re really big at the quarterback position, the running back position, so just the strain and playing to our standard is going to, you know, help us hopefully turn out, you know, and be on the right side of that… you’re going to have two of the best fan bases in the country in Arlington, and I know the Red Raiders going to show up. I can’t wait to be a part of that. We’ll be ready to go.”
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