Joey McGuire talks Kansas State, limiting explosive offense
Texas Tech got back on track after a shutout win over Oklahoma State on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium. Now the Red Raiders travel to Manhattan to take on Kansas State, a team that Tech has had plenty of trouble with over the years. Despite the Wildcats’ 4-4 record, Kansas State has begun to find its groove and is playing its best football.
A big part of what makes Kansas State so dangerous is quarterback Avery Johnson, who can run the ball effectively and can create several explosive plays downfield with his arm. Tech has faced several mobile quarterbacks so far and has been successful against them. They will need to take a similar approach with Johnson to apply pressure quickly and prevent him from having plenty of time in the pocket.
“If you look at the numbers, just in conference, they’re playing better on offense than what they were. Overall, their quarterback (Johnson) is really good,” head coach Joey McGuire told the media on Monday. “This is going to be really important. One, to stay in your gap whenever they go quarterback run game and maintain your gap, control the gap, and then when we’re rushing the passer, you got to do it together. You’ve got to stay in your pass rush lane. You can’t get pushed back past the quarterback… I think that’s the biggest part. You’re you’re trying to limit it. You’re really not going to be able to stop him, because he is really explosive and a great quarterback.”
Offensive line will need to be able to execute
A couple of weeks ago, against Kansas, the coaches praised the offensive line for its performance and called it their best game of the season. Ever since then, it feels like something has been off, and the run game hasn’t been able to be established as much as they would like. Against the Wildcats this weekend, establishing the run game will be a vital part of the offensive game plan.
“We were really dominant coming off the ball in the run game against Kansas. And then I think we took a step back these last two weeks,” McGuire said. “We’ve got to be able to run the football. That takes the pressure off of everybody. We got to find good runs with the running backs, and it’s going to be a big part of the game plan this week, of finding their out runs against this defense and being able to execute.”
McGuire not focused on history against Kansas State
It’s always a battle between Tech and Kansas State when the two meet up, but it’s been a while since the Red Raiders were victorious. Tech hasn’t beaten Kansas State in Lubbock since 2015, and hasn’t won in Manhattan since 2008. While it’s a very tough place to play and hasn’t been kind to the Red Raiders for a while now, McGuire and his team aren’t looking at past numbers but are focusing on the present and the team they have.
“The first thing I said to Behren (Morton) yesterday was we’re not going to concern ourselves with the history of what has been there or here. This is an entirely different team. You know, the majority of this team has never played K-State,” McGuire said. “I promise you, this building does not care who we play next week. As far as how big of a game that is, we’re all in on this game right here… everything that you’ve worked for all year long, we put ourselves in that spot. Now you’ve got to go take care of business this week and get ready for what’s next.”
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