Red Raiders' Joey McGuire Reveals Areas For Improvement Ahead of Cincinnati Bearcats
By Timothy Hamm,
24 days ago
The Texas Tech Red Raiders and coach Joey McGuire played to a 30-22 win over new Big 12 foe Arizona State last Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock. It was the first conference game for both teams, and, while Texas Tech won the game, there are areas of improvement per McGuire.
The Red Raiders are 3-1 and the game against Cincinnati on Saturday will close out a three-game homestand that has seen two wins so far. The only hiccup on the schedule was the 37-16 shellacking in Pullman, Washington in Week 2 against the Washington State Cougars on a night both teams were celebrating the life of former coach Mike Leach.
Sep 21, 2024; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders tight end Johncarlos Miller II (9) and quarterback Behren Morton (2) after the game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field.
Against Arizona State, the team dealt with struggles on offense and penalties. Tech drew nine penalties for 94 yards, and McGuire knows that's too many.
"We're eliminating some of the pre-snap penalties, so if there's anything good about the number of penalties we're getting right now, we're getting rid of some of the pre-snap penalties," McGuire said.
Overall, McGuire thought the team played well.
"I'm really proud of our football team today," McGuire said. "Whenever I close my eyes and I think about football, man, this is what I think about, you know, playing off of each other, complementary football, our special teams having to go out and make big kicks, physical defense...I'm really proud of them. I thought our guys fought really hard and it's great to be 1-0 in Big 12 play."
The defense held the Sun Devils to three turnovers on downs and a C.J. Baskerville interception when the defense needed it, and McGuire knows that type of play will be necessary against the Bearcats on Saturday.
"I thought the defense played really well," McGuire said. "They got the big play, the same thing that happened last week to us, but besides that one play, we played really well on defense. We made them drive the field...They were 0-3 on fourth down, you think about that, like when you're going for it on fourth down, those are turnovers, so we created four turnovers on defense, which is really good defense."
The offense struggled to close out the game late, and McGuire showed some frustration about that, but knows there are areas to improve there.
"Some of that is frustrating, we could've gone up 21-0 and we had to punt. We've got to be better and more disciplined...we have to eliminate some of those penalties and that kept us from really stretching the lead."
The Red Raiders and Bearcats kick off at 7 p.m. CT Saturday on ESPN 2.
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