Texas Tech 2010 Statistics
(Big 12) The Red Raiders play on an artificial field (FieldTurf) at Jones AT&T Stadium (seats 53,882)
- Tommy Tuberville is in his 2nd year as head coach at Texas Tech. As a reminder Tuberville had been at Auburn, where he was fired after a 5-7 season in 2008. But in 2004 he led the Tigers to an undefeated season, but did play for the national championship due to their 3rd place standing in the BCS poll.
- Tuberville has quite a different style from what Red Raiders fans are used to with his emphasis on the running game. Before he took over, Texas Tech has been ranked #1 in the nation in passing offense in 6 of the previous 8 seasons. But they had one of the worst rushing offenses in the country. Last year in Tuberville’s first year their offense began its shift from Leach to Tuberville with a significant decrease in passing yards and a huge increase in rushing yards.
- Even with the big decrease in passing yards from years prior, the team still ranked 7th in the nation. And Tuberville still attempted more passing plays than running ones. What that suggests is that he understands what his personnel does best and is catering to their abilities not his own (a concept Rich Rodriguez should have considered at Michigan).
- This team went through major controversy in 2009 as Mike Leach was fired amidst allegations that he had mistreated wide receiver Adam James. Adam is the son of ESPN analyst Craig James. Leach has a book out about the situation “Swing Your Sword” but I’m declining to talk further about this story due to my personal opinions of the matter from having worked with one of the people involved.
- Defense declined considerably in 2010. They had pretty significant losses on the defensive line and as a result switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 so they wouldn’t have to replace as many DL spots. This year they switch back to having four defensive linemen and have more experienced players. But they lose their top tackler at linebacker.
- The switch in defensive schemes is not back to a 4-3, but rather to a 4-2-5. New defensive coordinator Chad Glasglow comes over from TCU to implement his 4-2-5 defense. With five defensive backs, the emphasis is on defending against the passing game and that is probably smart for this team given the fact that they had the 3rd worst passing defense in the country in 2010 (118 out of 120). Even though Tuberville said they ran nickel packages (5 backs) last year out of the 3-4, now with the 4-2-5 base it will be versatile. “We’ll still run some run some three-man front, but the whole philosophy of defense is getting as many on the field in defense that you can run as much as possible, fast as possible…That’s how you win championships. It’s not with anything else other than the speed on defense.” At the same time the 4-2-5 puts more pressure on the running defense because there are just 6 men in the box instead of 7.
- The quarterback will likely be Seth Doege as he had most of the snaps. And although they have to replace their starters at QB, running back and their top two receivers, they do have all five of their starters return on the offensive line, which will be a huge help.
