Three Thoughts on Texas Tech’s 34-14 Win Over Cal in the Independence Bowl
The regular season is in the books and now it is time for bowl season. Nine Big 12 teams will be playing over the next two weeks and Texas Tech is first up on the bowl list. The Red Raiders finished the regular season with a 6-6 record and played Cal in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. It was a fun evening in Shreveport as there were some amazing pregame fireworks, but there were also some fireworks during the game as well. Here are my three thoughts on Texas Tech’s 34-14 win over Cal.
Texas Tech’s Offense Was Rolling
Despite not having three of their top five receivers in this game, Texas Tech’s offense looked really good. It also helps when your quarterback is healthy too. Prior to this game, quarterback Behren Morton was battling an AC joint injury during the regular season. It was reported that Morton wouldn’t practice during the week due to the pain and he would only throw passes on game day.
Well, he certainly looked healthy on Saturday night as he threw for over 250 yards and three touchdowns. Tahj Brooks couldn’t find a ton of running room, but he still managed to run for 98 yards and a score. Meanwhile true freshman receiver Coy Eakin had a career game as he caught seven passes for 106 yards and a touchdown. Even though this offense had some key players missing, they still made things work.
Texas Tech’s Defense Was Excellent
It’s not often people compliment Texas Tech’s defense, but they put on one heck of a performance on Saturday night. While they did give up some yardage, they held a good Cal offense to just 14 points. In fact, they held Cal scoreless for the final three quarters of the game. The Red Raiders were able to get four turnovers against the Golden Bears after just getting 13 of them all season long entering the bowl game.
Texas Tech was able to put pressure on Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza all night long as they sacked him six times and had 13 tackles for loss. Freshman Amier Washington had three of those six sacks in his breakout performance. Overall, I was really impressed with the way the defense played.
What’s Next?
As good as the win was on Saturday night, it was not exactly where Texas Tech expected to be this year. Before the season started, head coach Joey McGuire was talking about this team as a Big 12 title contender and that was not how things played out. Instead, the Red Raiders finished the regular season with a 6-6 record and ended up playing in the Independence Bowl.
While this season was a bit of a letdown for Texas Tech fans, I am intrigued with this team going into 2024. They lost a bunch of pass catchers to the transfer portal and will have to replace a few guys up front on their defensive line. The good news is that they were able to get a few proven guys in the transfer portal as well as some help on the offensive line. They also are likely to bring in a Top 25 class as well. When you combine that with guys like Tahj Brooks and Behren Morton coming back, this could be a team to keep an eye on in the Big 12 for the 2024 college football season.
