ARLINGTON, Texas — No. 11 BYU is chasing its first conference championship since 2007.
The path to get there, though, runs straight through No. 4 Texas Tech, a brutal assignment for a team still recovering from the not-so-distant sting of what happened in Lubbock on Nov. 8, a 29-7 setback.
A lot has been said about that game. Texas Tech was playing with its season on the line, down to its last strike with one loss, and BYU simply didn’t match that urgency.
Now the tables have turned. BYU is the one staring at a “win or go home” reality in the College Football Playoff race, sitting on the outside looking in with everything still in front of them.
That said, this matchup deserves a closer look. It starts with examining what really went wrong in Lubbock and identifying what needs to change if the Cougars want to flip the script to claim that elusive Big 12 title and insert themselves into the CFP.
Disastrous Special Teams Day
Special teams, usually one of BYU’s most reliable units, continually put the Cougars in difficult positions throughout the first half, making an already uphill battle into something even steeper.
The first half alone was a reel of miscues.
Parker Kingston put the ball on the turf on a punt return deep in BYU territory, and Texas Tech recovered it. Will Ferrin missed a 51-yard field goal. BYU did not have a returner back on one Red Raider punt, letting it roll freely. And to cap it off, Cody Hagen hesitated before bringing out a wobbly kickoff and ended up leaving the offense buried inside its own 15-yard line.
Somehow BYU only trailed 13-0 at the half, thanks to a resilient effort by the defense, but one cannot expect that to be the case again if the same amount of carelessness is carried out on special teams.
Kingston, who has struggled with fumbles in the punt return game all year, seems to have found his stride as he took one back from 55 yards out last Saturday against UCF.
LJ Martin and the Running Game
LJ Martin was held to 35 yards on 10 carries in Lubbock. He was coming off the shoulder injury he suffered at Iowa State and wasn’t fully healthy, but even then, the Big 12 offensive player of the year was essentially a non-factor.
Quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who has served as BYU’s pseudo No. 2 running option all season, finished with 12 rushing yards on 11 attempts.
For a team that has built much of its passing success off establishing the run, BYU couldn’t generate anything on the ground and kept ending up in difficult down-and-distance situations.
None of this is unusual for Texas Tech. The Red Raiders allow 67.8 rushing yards per game, which ranks 10th nationally.
Even so, BYU averages more than 194 rushing yards per game, so the Cougars are not likely to shy away from the run. But if Texas Tech’s defense wins at the line of scrimmage early again, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick may need to lean more heavily on the passing game, where Bachmeier finally found some rhythm late in the first meeting.
Limit Tech's Explosive Plays
Looking back at BYU’s defensive performance in the first meeting, it was exceptional. Though the Red Raider offense put up 29 points, the score is easily deceiving for what actually took place.
Nine of Texas Tech’s points came from BYU turnovers in its own territory. In all such cases, the defense held the Red Raider offense to less than five yards on the drive and a field goal.
For the entirety of the game, the defense held Texas Tech’s running backs to under four yards per carry, and quarterback Behren Morton only completed 53 percent of his passes and was sacked four times.
One could easily say that BYU doesn’t need to change anything defensively in this upcoming game. But nitpicking, explosive plays must be avoided.
On both of Texas Tech’s touchdown drives, plays of at least 30 yards continued the drive and almost served as get out of jail free cards as the offense struggled to generate positive plays on a consistent basis.