In the end, the fabled showdown between the Texas Tech football program and its former head coach, Mike Leach, proved to be a one-sided tailspin, with the Red Raiders being the punishing team. Here are some quick thoughts on the 34-7 Texas Tech win.
Keith Patterson and the defense shine
Over the past three years, no one has been harder on defensive coordinator Keith Patterson than me. But after Patterson's defense performance on Tuesday night, the man deserves all the praise one can get.
Coming in, Mississippi State averaged 30.9 points and 449.6 yards per game but the take defense kept the Bulldogs only one touchdown and 344 total yards. It was the lowest number of points scored by the Bulldogs in 2021 and one of the most impressive defensive performances by the Red Raiders in the past decade.
The take placed MSU quarterback Will Rogers with only 290 yard passes and a completion percentage of 60.3. Entering the game, he averaged 370.7 yards and his completion percentage was north of 75.0.
If you saw that defensive effort coming, you should go out and buy a lottery ticket because completely eliminating the Mike Leach offense was something few people expected. Kudos to Keith Patterson in his swan song for Red Raiders.
Tyree Wilson dominated
All year long, we've known that Tyree Wilson was Texas Tech's most physically gifted pass rusher. But we didn't see him completely handling a game and taking his team as a player with his talent.
On Tuesday night, he did exactly that. The defensive end recorded two sacks, two tackles for the loss, a QB pressure, and even a pass breakup in his most effective game as a raider.
His two sacks came on consecutive plays in the third quarter to kick off a promising MSU drive. After the Bulldogs reached take 20 and were threatening to make the game 20-7 interesting at the time, Wilson brought Rogers down on both third and fourth and passed the ball back to the Red Raiders.
Take would then move the ball 60 yards on 9 plays on the ensuing drive to put the game out of reach. And it was all set up by Wilson, who was as influential as he has ever been as a Red Raider.
Smith has a fantastic second half
Texas Tech QB Donovan Smith was shaky in the first half (and he's kind). It looked like the pace of the MSU defense and the gravity of the moment were going to be too much for him as he was passing just 7-16 for 60 yards in the first half.
But after the break, he started identifying and taking advantage of the one-on-one matchups in the secondary. He completed 8-12 passes for 192 yards and a TD after intermission as he was a different player.
Now, he enters the off-season with confidence and rides a wave of positivity as he prepares to compete for the starting QB job alongside Tyler Shaw and Behren Morton. And the way he performed on Tuesday night, especially in the second half, he certainly put his best foot forward and gave the new coaching staff something to think about.
The offensive line played its best game of the year
I don't know what grades will work for each Texas Tech offensive lineman in this game and whether the sites that issue those grades will have that unit's best game of the year, but there's no way you can argue that. The Liberty Bowl offensive line wasn't the best performance of 2021.
After struggling against Oklahoma State and Baylor at the end of the year, Teck's line was able to completely dominate the Mississippi State's defense, which entered Game No. 21 in the nation in total defense and runs against the national level. But entered number 10.
For the game, Tek galloped his way for 260 yards and three TDs on the ground against an MSU team, delivering just 100 rushing yards per game in the rugged SEC. Meanwhile, Smith was dismissed just once as the Bulldog pass crowd almost became impotent in the second half.
Big guys don't get a lot of attention unless they're struggling, but on Tuesday night, Caleb Rogers, Weston Wright, Dawson Deaton, Josh Berger, and T.J. The storms were spectacular and they deserve applause.
It feels good to finally feel good about Tech football again
How long has it been since we went into the office feeling good about Texas Tech football? One could argue that it has been since the end of the 2013 season when Cliff Kingsbury led his team to an upset victory over Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl.
Since then, each season of Texas Tech football has ended with either a defeat or failure to attend a bowl game. But now, the atmosphere around the event is definitely as positive as we have seen it in a while.
There's a newfound optimism with the hiring of Joey McGuire, a figure who appears well on his way to being the type of unifying force that the program felt nostalgic about after its predecessor's unpopular tenure. There is a dire need of this program after that.
What's more, the program eventually banished some of the Mike Leach demons who haunted it for more than ten years. Now, it is time to turn the page and move on from that era of the program and we can do so because we have a reason to look to the future with optimism. Needless to say, September 3, 2022, cannot come fast enough for Texas Tech football fans.