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A Quick Statistical Look at Texas Tech

So, right to it.  The somewhat gory details:

CATEGORY TEXAS TECH
TT Nat'l Ranking MICHIGAN STATE MSU Nat'l Ranking
Total Offense 461.75 yds/game
(6.14 yds/play)
7 407.08 yds/game
(6.26 yds/play)
41
Scoring Offense 36.67 pts/game 9 29.58 pts/game 44
Passing Offense 380.67 yds/game
(7.43 yds/att)
2 271.17 yds/game
(8.28 yds/att)
26
Rushing Offense 81.08 yds/game
(3.38 yds/rush)
115 135.92 yds/game
(4.21 yds/rush)
79
Pass Efficiency Rating 142.67 25 146.09 17
Sacks Allowed 30
(2.5/game)
92 13
(1.08/game)
16
Total Defense 348.75 yds/game
(4.72 yds/play)
47 364.33 yds/game
(5.27 yds/game)
62
Scoring Defense 21.75 pts/game 36 25.08 pts/game 61
Passing Defense 223.75 yds/game
(6.16 yds/play)
72 251.58 yds/game
(7.07 yds/play)
103
Rushing Defense 125.0 yds/game
(3.33 yds/rush)
37 112.75 yds/game
(3.37 yds/rush)
24
Pass Efficiency Def. Rtg. 116.43 34 139.16 96
Turnover Margin -6
(.5/game)
94 -6
(.5/game)
94
Net Punting 34.98 yds 73 36.42 yds 47
Kickoff Returns 24.48 yds/return
(0 td)
18 26.66 yds/return
(1 td)
6
Penalty Yds/Game 79.92 118 55.42 70

 

This is clearly not the Texas Tech offense of last season, when Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree and others combined for 413 yards per game and blew everyone not named Oklahoma off the field.  But, erm, it's not far off.  We've been decent against the run and terrible against the pass, and Texas Tech never runs and always passes, hooray! 

Yes, Tech's passing numbers are inflated because of their enormous run/pass disparity, but their very respectable pass efficiency rating demonstrates that the inflation is only slight.  And, on defense, commenter/interloper TechFirst seems spot-on: this year's TT iteration isn't the gridiron Loyola Marymount equivalent of the past -- they actually sorta play defense.  36th in scoring defense isn't necessarily anything to write home about but it's far, far better than the 72nd-ranked defense of 2008 (which nonetheless was good enough for an 11-2 record).

Happily, Tech is just as bad in turnover margin as we are -- although they live far less numbly than we do (22 gained, 28 lost, compared to 12 gained, 18 lost for us.)  And, they're the 3rd most undisciplined team in the country . . . and we'll take as many 15-yard freebies as we can get.

More after the jump.

Texas Tech's schedule reveals a bit more ambiguity:

DATE OPPONENT RESULT RECORD
September 5 North Dakota  W 38-13 1-0 (0-0)
September 12 Rice  W 55-10 2-0 (0-0)
September 19 at No. 2 Texas  L 34-24 2-1 (0-1)
September 26 at No. 17 Houston  L 29-28 2-2 (0-1)
October 3 New Mexico  W 48-28 3-2 (0-1)
October 10 Kansas State  W 66-14 4-2 (1-1)
October 17 at No. 15 Nebraska  W 31-10 5-2 (2-1)
October 24 Texas A&M  L 52-30 5-3 (2-2)
October 31 Kansas  W 42-21 6-3 (3-2)
November 14 at No. 19 Oklahoma State  L 24-17 6-4 (3-3)
November 21 Oklahoma  W 41-13 7-4 (4-3)
November 28 vs. Baylor*  W 20-13 8-4 (5-3)

 

So, after blowing the doors off Nebraska in Lincoln -- yes, the Nebraska which made regular Texas look utterly awful on Saturday night -- the Raiders returned home and gave up 52 points to a thoroughly mediocre Texas A&M team.  But still, 3 of the 4 losses came to ranked teams, so it's not like they've made a habit of blowing games to bad teams.  Which we, ah, kinda sorta are.  I would like to find a torrent of the Baylor game, however: Baylor has the 95th-ranked defense in the country, and somehow held Tech to only 20 points and 5.5 yards per pass.  (Actually, perhaps Pat Narduzzi should be the one looking for that film.)

For a bit more on Texas Tech, head over to Double-T Nation, SBN's Red Raider Blog.