Texas Tech Debriefing: Cowboys Welcome Bye Week to Get Healthy up Front

The Pokes eked one out in tortilla town and head into a bye week with a chance to get healthy and hopefully tweak a few things before the season stretch. Let’s debrief.

The Short Story

The Cowboys marched up and down the turf inside Jones AT&T Stadium like a team that should win by three touchdowns. But struggles in the red zone and on special teams kept this one way too close. But a win is a win and the resiliency of this veteran group can’t be understated.

Who won a Marshal Badge?

Offense: Mason Rudolph

Rudolph made a costly mistake and looked downright sloppy at times in this game (see the third quarter). But Rudolph’s lows are not that low and his highs are, well, pretty great. After the 2-of-6 third period, Rudolph went 7-of-10 in the fourth including a masterful final drive that ended with him going full-Clint Chelf for the second time and the go-ahead score.

Defense: Ramon Richards

There were plenty of highlight plays on defense including DQ’s sack and Jordan Brailford’s interception, but Ramon Richards quietly had a pretty great Saturday night. He started off early with two huge solo tackles on the Red Raiders’ first drive for an almost single-handed three-and-out.

Ramon led both teams with nine total tackles (seven solo) and a tackle for loss.

It was over when

This one wasn’t over until the waning seconds of the fourth quarter when OSU’s defense forced a turnover on downs. On the would-be equalizing drive, Cowboy defenders hurried Nic Shimonek three times and forced four-straight incompletions to hand the ball back to Mason Rudolph, up 7 with 18 seconds on the clock.

Questions for Week 6

O-line depth/health

This upcoming bye week comes at a perfect time for the Cowboys. Offensive line depth took a hit last week with Zach Crabtree’s turf toe and the loss of starting right guard Larry Williams. This week, Josh Henson’s group took another hit with four-year starting center Brad Lundblade leaving the game with injury.

His replacement, Johnny Wilson — who was already the replacement at right guard — was good, not great for his first time on the ball. Fortunately, it’s a position he manned in high school. Crabtree performed honorably but needs to get back to 100 percent and Henson will have to use these next two weeks to get some of the younger guys in his depth chart ready to contribute.

Kicking Game Struggles

Mike Gundy told us back in the spring what he had in Matt Ammendola. He was nearly perfect from long but in-ackrut on inside 40 yards. That was accentuated by two kicks dinged off the right upright from 18 and 22 yards. On the year, Ammendola is 6 of 9 inside 40 yards and 2 of 3 on 40-plus with makes from 48 and 53 yards.

This will no doubt be a time to evaluate the position moving forward. And I don’t think that means making a change in personnel. It may sound like a joke but Mike Gundy should consider taking a delay of game to if get his kicker into a place where he is more comfortable. I’m not saying you back him up to 50 yards on purpose but you need to figure out of it’s an angle issue or what. Also, wouldn’t hate them going for it on fourth and short at the goal line.