Sights & Sounds: Texas Tech Roars to 67-7 Win Over Arkansas-Pine Bluff
The only thing that could [temporarily] slow No. 23 Texas Tech down in their season opener was a gnarly West Texas supercell that rolled through to delay the start of the second half by almost two hours. By then however it was already a 47-0 Tech lead, behind four first half touchdown passes from Behren Morton – two of which went to newcomer Terrance Carter Jr.
“I think we’re all just embracing the pressure,” said Carter following the game. “It’s really nothing to talk about now. It’s just time to put it all on display. I think we did just that tonight. It’s still little things we got to work on, but I think tonight was just a good example of what this team is capable of.”
“Putting basically a whole new team together in January, it was just amazing to get out here and play a game,” added Skyler Gill-Howard. “That’s why I still have this jersey on; I don’t want to take it off because I just love being a Red Raider. It’s just amazing to see how far we came as a team. And we brought in a lot of new guys. So, to get out there in front of 60,000 plus and show the world what we’re proving to ourselves and not what anybody else is expecting of us is just a great feeling.
Texas Tech Stat Leaders
Behren Morton – 16/18, 201 yards, 4 touchdowns
Terrance Carter Jr. – 3 catches, 42 yards, 2 touchdowns
Reggie Virgil – 4 catches, 56 yards, 1 touchdown
Cameron Dickey – 12 rushes, 90 yards, 1 touchdown
Amier Boyd-Matthews – 3 tackles (3 solo), 1 interception
Jacob Rodriguez – 4 tackles (3 solo), 1 pass defended
Skyler Gill-Howard – 2 tackles (1 solo), 0.5 sack
“I thought we executed really well,” said head coach Joey McGuire. “I thought tempo wise there was a point that Will Jados and Howard Sampson at halftime said, ‘Hey, that tempo is for real, coach You know, we’re sitting there and we’re pancaking somebody and Behren or Will is yelling gas, gas, gas to get the next play going. And so I was proud of that. Defensively, I thought we pressured the quarterback. I will tell you those defensive tackles will stay in there lanes. But if they’ll stay in there, they’re going to have an opportunity to hit the quarterback a lot because those two edge guys, between Romello Height and David Bailey, they put a lot of pressure on the quarterback and having to step up.”
How It Happened
The Masked Rider ran, the tortillas flew and before you knew it Skyler Gill-Howard had the Arkansas-Pine Bluff quarterback on the ground and a punt was shanked into the Lubbock wind to set up Tech near midfield for their first drive of the year. From there it took just four plays for Behren Morton to find Reggie Vergil for his first touchdown as a Red Raider and the first score of the season only 3:16 into the game.
A blocked punt by Mikal Harrison-Pilot set Tech up at the UAPB 21 yard line and one play later Terrance Carter got the first of his back-to-back touchdowns on a grown man catch and dive into the end zone through contact. The ball came loose at the end but Carter was already well passed the goal line and he followed that up not too long after going untouched on a short slant route in the red zone. We mentioned in our staff season preview article he was a potential breakout star for this team that could lead the team in touchdowns due to his ability in the red zone especially. You saw that in this one undoubtedly.
The defense continued to dominate the Golden Lions at the line of scrimmage and on UAPB’s fourth possession, Amier Boyd Matthews was the beneficiary breaking on a quick throw for an interception. A great play made even better by the backstory. Matthews had a chance to break on a similar ball on the first drive of the game but hesitated. When the team got off the field you could see him getting coached up on the sidelines. It took him only two drives to put that lesson into action.
From there Morton threw his fourth touchdown, finding Coy Eakin on a 41 yard catch and run to push the score to 30-0 only 16 minutes into the game. Not to be outdone, the running game got into the mix soon there after when J’Koby Williams showed off his champion hurdle form launching himself into the end zone and his counterpart Cameron Dickey powered his way in next to push the score to 47-0 heading into the half.
The second half was fully a chance for two and three deep players on the depth chart to develop. This included redshirt-freshman QB Will Hammond tossing a touchdown on 7/9 passing for 92 yards while adding a 64 yard touchdown scamper on the ground. Senior Mitch Griffis followed him behind center and threw a touchdown of his own in only three attempts. True freshmen wideouts Leyton Stone and Bryson Jones notched their first career touchdowns and sophomore running back Adam Hill ended up second in rushing after his efficient 78 yards on eight second half attempts.
“We did exactly what we wanted to do coming into this game,” said Coach McGuire. “Our expectation was that we were going to play really well early and we were going to be able to get Will in the game, Mitch in the game, and our plan was to run the offense. In this day and age, when it is a constant evaluation of the roster, then you have to do that. You’ve got to understand what you have not only right now but what you have a few weeks from now to months from now. So, I was proud of the guys.”
Read More RRS Features & Discussions On This Game
Terrance Carter, Skyler Gill-Howard Excited About Game 1 Success
Texas Tech executes plan in off-schedule throttling of UAPB
Three Up, Three Down: Texas Tech vs UAPB
Joey Gives Update on Behren Morton’s Health
Rapid Reaction & Game Discussion
Next Up: Home Versus Kent State Saturday 9/6 11 AM
Texas Tech stays home for game two with Kent State (1-0) coming to town Saturday, September 6. Kickoff set for 11 AM CT. BE THERE!
Game will be aired on TNT.
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