McGuire sees Texas Tech is as advertised after Oregon State romp
Texas Tech closed out its non-conference schedule with a 45-14 rout of Oregon State– Joey McGuire feels his team is as advertised with a 3-0 record thus far.
“If we continue to grow, we have a really good football team, especially like the defensive line is advertised,” McGuire told the media postgame. “I think Mack (Leftwich) and Shiel (Wood) are exactly as advertised. They’re really good playcallers. They’re really calm in the game. The sidelines is quite different. I think that it’s impressive with those guys. The things that we thought as far as who we could be, I think we are. I told them in the locker room, I think we have a whole ‘nother gear. I think we could play better. We have to, more often, whenever it comes to playing at a really high level. That’s the challenge that we’ve got to do this week going into Big 12 play.”
Will a perceived lack of non-con adversity haunt Tech?
Admittedly, it’s easy to see the Red Raiders’ opponents plus their final scores and think Tech faced no adversity. The first three weeks of the season were relatively successful. The perceived lack of adversity in the non-con is not a sentiment shared by McGuire.
“No, I’m not, because I think we had some today. We’ve been in two rain delays. I don’t know if I’ve been in two rain delays in my entire 31 years of coaching,” McGuire said. “We’ve had that. We had some bad snaps in the redzone tonight and we had to respond to that. We throw an interception in the redzone and then we turn around and intercept the ball. It’s interesting whenever you look at it. I thought we had some of that tonight and played really well.”
Will Utah be as advertised?
Alas, the week many in the Red Raider contingent have been waiting for. The long-awaited trip to Salt Lake City to take on Utah is finally up next. The Utes’ “big win” over UCLA looks a lot less grand after the Bruins got blasted by New Mexico Friday. Will Utah be as advertised when they meet at 10 a.m. next week? More importantly, if they are, is Texas Tech prepared?
“We’ll find out. I think they’re up for it. We’re going to play a great football team,” McGuire remarked. “I think Utah’s one of the best teams in the country. And they’ve got possibly the best offensive line in the country and we’re playing in their place. I hear it’s an absolutely incredible environment. We’ll have to face some adversity but I think these guys will respond.”
