One of the most dynamic games in Texas Tech history is
undoubtedly the Insight Bowl against Minnesota from last season. The Red
Raiders were thoroughly dominated for the first 38 minutes of the contest,
resulting in a 38-7 lead for the Minnesota Gophers with only 7:47 remaining in
the 3rd quarter.
Tech put together an amazing comeback though, scoring 31 unanswered points and
forcing the game into overtime.
Now the big question is, what sparked this complete 180 in the 2nd half?
Several of the Red Raider faithful have attributed the complete shutdown of the
Minnesota offense to more aggressive defensive play calling. We decided to
take this theory to task, as we re-watched the game and took notes on each and
every defensive play Tech ran. Below is the statistical breakdown of how
the Tech defense faired when rushing various numbers of defenders.
|
AGAINST THE RUN |
| # of Players Rushed |
Avg. Yards Gained |
| 4 |
5.8 |
| 5 |
5.1 |
| 6 |
4.3 |
| 7 |
3 |
|
AGAINST THE PASS |
| # of Players Rushed |
Avg. Yards Gained |
| 4 |
9.6 |
| 5 |
8.5 |
| 6 |
3.1 |
| 7 |
1.5 |
As the game progressed, it is very apparent that the defense became more
aggressive.
|
QUARTER BREAKDOWN |
| Quarter |
Avg. # of Players Rushed |
Points Allowed |
| 1 |
4.75 |
14 |
| 2 |
4.82 |
21 |
| 3 |
5.00 |
3 |
| 4 |
5.13 |
0 |
| OT |
5.40 |
3 |
There are several ways these numbers could be interpreted.
Although there does appear to be a direct correlation between blitzing and a
more successful defense, there are several other factors that should be
considered. For example, it is hard to take into account down and distance
on every play, how the infrequent number of blitzes increases their
effectiveness, etc...
One thought after re-watching the game is that the offense and defense really
feed off each other. The defense definitely had its problems in the first
half, but the offense struggled just as much. Apparently, there is
something to the phrase that Mike Leach always uses, "Rise up on all 3 sides of
the ball."
When the Red Raiders play together as a team, there isn't any team in the
country they can't compete with.