Uncategorized
Red Raiders football announce the departure of six players…….
Now, you may recall that both the Texas Tech Red Raiders and Washington State Cougars have ties to a certain revolutionary coach named Mike Leach. Leach did great things at both programs, leaving indelible marks during the process. But here’s where the paths diverge. Texas Tech ran Leach out of town, stiffing him millions of dollars in the process. After rebuilding WSU to respectability from the smoldering ruins of the Wulff era, Leach left WSU of his own accord in 2019 (after trying really hard to leave in late 2017!), and things ended about as well as one could hope, given Leach’s well-known intransigence.
Fast forward to Saturday when WSU inducted Leach into its hall of fame, shortly before the Cougs faced the Red Raiders on a lovely (and warm) Saturday night. In a game that wasn’t exactly reminiscent of a Leach-run offense, the Cougs took an early lead and never surrendered it, capitalizing on Raider mistakes and using their quarterback to run roughshod, setting a school record for QB rushing yards in a game.
But while Saturday’s game was won on the ground, WSU still leaned on its quarterback to get the job done, only with his legs instead of his arm. In the end, the school that honored the departed coach put a three-score beatdown on the school that tarred and feathered him to purgatory. Karma, on this night, was Wazzu’s boyfriend. (This is how I can tell if Emma read the article).
The Good
- Three straight seasons of a WSU win over a team from another power conference. I’m too lazy to look up whether that’s a first, but it’s pretty sweet.
- John Mateer, who you might recall plays quarterback, rushed 197 yards, a school record for that position. Did I mention WSU’s quarterback ran for almost 200 yards? With 9.4 YPC? Even as they were ripping his helmet off?! What in the name of Ricky Turner is going on around here??!!
- How ‘bout that opening pooch kick success! Pretty great! We will re-address this further down!
- Great tackle by Tyson Durant to force a punt on Tech’s first drive, after Tech faced 2nd-and-3. Durant also broke up a two-point conversion down the stretch.
- Am I the only one, besides Steven Ayers of course, who thinks John Mateer is ideally suited for the single wing? Let’s see it, Arbuckle!
- I have no idea how Kylany recovered that Pulalasi fumble, but it was YUGE. It was really nice of the refs to ignore the crown of the helmet hit to Pulalasi’s face on the play.
- Heckuva job by Gushiken to bust up a screen pass when Tech was threatening to score, forcing 3rd-and-29.
- If you’ve watched the highlights, or even if you haven’t yet, make sure to replay the first play of the second half to see Brock Dieu pull around and absolutely blast a poor defender. Beautiful.
- While third down defense was not great (Tech converted 10 of 19), WSU really bowed up on fourth down, allowing only one conversion in five Tech attempts. One biggie was Durant breaking up a pass at midfield when WSU led just 7-3.
- Even better was the next one, when Tech brought in Jalin Conyers for a 4th-and-1 try which the Cougs stuffed, led by Tanner Moku blowing up the play before Conyers could generate a push.
- One play later, Wayshawn Parker was making fools of the defense on a 43-yard bolt a beautifully-schemed counter), and WSU was never seriously threatened again. Man that kid is good.
- Stephen Hall had a hell of a game, playing solid coverage and leading the team with 11 tackles. When your top two tacklers are DBs – Durant was second with 8 – it’s usually a bad sign. But on this night, those two were really good. Durant also broke up two passes and tallied a hit on the quarterback.
- Josh Kelly made lots of great plays for WSU in 2023, and helped make a couple more for WSU Saturday, particularly when Taariq Al-Uqdah stripped him and damn near scored.
- While it was a bummer that Al-Uqdah didn’t pull off the scoop and score, it was pretty cool to see the Cougs in the I formation! Especially when Cooper Mathers blasted a hole open for an easy Schlenbaker TD.
- I’ve always wondered why more teams try the old “hard count/lull the defense to sleep/actually snap it” scheme on short yardage, and I’ll admit that I nearly had a stroke when we tried it, but it worked!
- Kyle Williams needs far more than one catch and two targets per game. That was criminal. But hey, that one catch was pretty great!
- Great quarterback hit by Quinn Roff to force a bad throw and interception to stop a Tech red zone possession.
- Credit to Ben Arbuckle for designing plays that work to the strengths of the players. He had a really good game plan.
- On the whole, WSU was the more disciplined team, collecting only three accepted flags, while Texas Tech amassed 10 for 80 yards, many rather costly. When you’re a team that has to win on the margins, stats like that can be a difference-maker.
