McGuire, Texas Tech lean into run game against Kansas
When it was clear the passing game was struggling, Texas Tech leaned into its ground attack and provided one of the best rushing experiences the program has seen in a while. Running back Cam Dickey finished with 263 yards and a pair of touchdowns. It was the fifth-largest rushing performance in a single game in Tech history.
“Cam Dickey, man, he’s special,” head coach Joey McGuire told the media postgame. “We worked our butts off to get him here. We were afraid that a couple other schools were going to jump in late. His mom and dad assured us that he was going to be a Red Raider. We’re really glad that he is.”
Whole staff effort made sure Tech leaned into the run
The Red Raiders rushing the ball effectively was by design. It was a part of the staff’s gameplan that stayed in place even when Will Hammond had to replace a hobbled Behren Morton. The staff’s scouting of Kansas heading into this week’s contest exposed mismatches that they wanted to exploit. They leaned into the ground game and exploited the matchups all night.
“I think it starts No. 1, with the scheme,” McGuire said. “I think that Clay McGuire, Josh Cochran, Mack (Leftwich), Garret (McGuire), those guys and it goes back to Juice (Johnson) on the perimeter. But those guys, I thought they came up with a really good scheme of what we could do against them. They had trouble stopping the run against UCF and so we felt like we could come in this game and run the football. I think we got away from it a little bit and that’s why we kind of stalled a couple times. And I thought, I mean you (pointing at a reporter) could have run through the first hole. Me and you would have made that touchdown and you could’ve run through the first hole. It opened up like the Red Sea.”
Offensive line gets after it in the run
Texas Tech’s offensive line, to this point, has been superior blocking in pass protection than in the run. It’s been evident in film and PFF grades have backed up this notion, too. The trenches haven’t struggled in the run, per se, but that group stepped up when they were called upon in a big way.
“I thought the offensive line really played well, really came off the football,” McGuire said. “We had a couple of gap schemes that hit, but our inside zone was hitting.”
McGuire was particularly complimentary of Howard Sampson and Jacob Ponton, who used their lengthy frames to push to the second level and block well in space. They did a fine job blocking on outside runs and the team leaned on them mightily.
“That was a play, our kickout play with the tackles,” McGuire referenced. “We felt like we had an advantage there. We’ve got two really athletic tackles. That’s part of their superpowers, they’re really long and athletic and really run. They did a good job, I thought that was huge. Cam felt really good, so did J’Koby. You know, J’Koby had some good runs in the first half. Cam was the hot guy, he was really hot so we rode him. He did a really good job of reading the blocks.”
