Red Raiders' Gambles On Fourth Down Pay Off vs. Texas
The Texas Tech Red Raiders have not had the sort of success they would like against the Texas Longhorns. Historically, Texas was 54-17 against Texas Tech going into Saturday's game.
The Red Raiders hadn’t beaten the Longhorns at home since 2008, the famed Michael Crabtree game. It just so happened that Crabtree, who is headed for the College Football Hall of Fame, was in attendance for Saturday’s game.
That night in 2008, the Red Raiders pulled out all the stops and took chances to win, 39-33. The Tech team that defeated the Longhorns on Saturday, 37-34 in overtime, did the same.
Those chances were embodied in Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire’s decision to go for it on fourth down.
It’s not that McGuire did it once. He did it eight times. It isn’t that the Red Raiders converted that key fourth down that set up what was the go-ahead field goal late in the fourth quarter. The Red Raiders converted six of those fourth downs.
It’s only juxtaposed against what McGuire did in the first three games — going for it on fourth down just seven times and converting three — that you realize just how aggressive the first-year coach was against Texas.
And it worked.
McGuire set the tone on Texas Tech’s opening drive, giving quarterback Donovan Smith the green light on 4th-and-7 from the Texas 43. Smith’s seven-yard completion to Xavier White to move the chains kept that drive alive. Later, Texas Tech tied the game 7-7, on a 4th-and-Goal touchdown run by Smith.
That emboldened McGuire the rest of the game, even though he didn’t go for it again the rest of the first half, and Texas Tech left the field down, 24-14.
Smith’s incompletion on a fourth down on the opening drive of the third quarter didn’t deter him, either.
On the next drive, Smith paid McGuire back for taking another chance by completing a seven-yard pass to Brady Boyd on 4th-and-4 from the Texas 45. Later, Trey Wolff’s field goal cut Texas’ lead to 24-17.
Down 14 points late in the third, McGuire dialed up another fourth-down conversion, with Smith rushing for two yards at the Texas 16 to move the chains and set up SaRodorick Thompson’s one-yard touchdown run. That cut Texas’ lead to 31-24.
Smith failed to convert on 4th-and-Goal from the Texas two-yard line. A score there would have tied the game.
The last two fourth-down conversions were crucial.
The first came on 4th-and-4 at the Texas 24 with 8:12 left. Smith rushed for five yards to get a first down. On the next play, he threw a touchdown pass to tight end Baylor Cupp to tie the game.
The next came on 4th-and-3 at midfield with 2:10 left. Smith completed a pass to Myles Price for six yards and the first down. The Red Raiders eventually kicked a field goal to take the lead.
Even though Texas rallied to tie the game and send it to overtime, McGuire’s decisions paid off by putting the Red Raiders in a position to rally in a game where victories have proved elusive.
Sometimes to win, you have to gamble.
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