Williams: What do the numbers show on Texas Tech football quarterbacks?
Throw it to the tight ends more, Texas Tech football fans demanded, after Tyler Shough targeted Mason Tharp and Baylor Cupp a total of once in the Red Raiders' season opener. In the two games since, Tech's thrown it to Tharp 10 times and he's caught seven passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns.
Give it to Tahj Brooks more, Tech fans pleaded, after the Red Raiders' top running back carried seven times in week two against Oregon. Voila, Brooks ran it 19 times for 158 yards, both career highs, last week in a 41-3 victory against Tarleton State.
No, Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire and offensive coordinator Zach Kittley don't crowd source play-calling and personnel — as far as we know. If they did, Behren Morton might have been starting since the beginning of last season. On Saturday, the mere sight of the young quarterback going into the game brought a rousing ovation from the crowd at Jones AT&T Stadium.
McGuire made it clear afterward that who starts, Shough or Morton, won't be settled by show of hands from the home crowd.
A little more interesting stuff came out Monday. The anti-Shough crowd got some fuel when Pro Football Focus graded Morton's performance Saturday at 80.2 and Shough's at 54.7. PFF's grades are interesting to look at, but their assessments are largely guesswork.
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Whoever does the grading doesn't know what plays are called, the specifics of any player's assignment and what any individual player or unit is coached to do. Example: Last week, PFF graded inside linebacker Ben Roberts at 53.6. Tech coaches graded him 84.
Both Tech quarterbacks graded well Saturday, according to Kittley, whose analysis was enlightening. Kittley suggested Brooks' success was due, in part, to Shough's pre-snap recognition. Not that Morton's lacking in that area, but even when the defensive alignment gives the run, Kittley said, Morton loves to throw it.
"He's kind of going to give you that gunslinger type deal," Kittley said. "He wants the ball in his hands, which is awesome, but again, I'm still trying to grow him in the nature that, 'Hey, you've got two high (safeties) here. Let's get to a run.' He definitely has that gunslinger mentality."
Contrast that with one of Shough's strengths. Kittley said Tech game planned last week for a Tarleton State defense that tended to play one high safety and man coverage. Shough recognized and adjusted when that wasn't what the Texans showed.
"Early on, they came out and played a lot of two-high," Kittley said. "He noticed the (opportunities for) nice runs and got us into some really good runs, and I thought he just did a really good job of operating the offense.
"We had some pass plays called and they come out two-high (safeties) with a four-one box (four linemen, one linebacker), and he gets Tahj the ball and here we go. We had a good day running the ball. They're different in that aspect, but they're still doing a good job operating the offense and I think they're making the throws when they need to make throws."
Tech coaches have long said that handling the offense's subtleties is one of the things Shough does best. We pointed out this week in a Q&A that the numbers favor him, too. For their careers, Shough leads Morton by wide margins in completion percentage (63.5% to 56.8%), yards per attempt (8.3 to 6.4), yards per completion (13.1 to 11.3), touchdowns-to-interceptions (36-17 or 2.1-1 compared to 9-7 or 1.3-1) and passing efficiency rating (148.6 to 119.2).
All that factors in to what McGuire and Kittley see that many of their fans either don't see or don't want to acknowledge.
College football
Who: Texas Tech at West Virginia
When: 2:30 p.m. CDT Saturday
Where: Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, West Virginia
Records: Texas Tech 1-2, 0-0 in the Big 12; West Virginia 2-1, 0-0
Rankings: Both teams unranked
Last game: Texas Tech 41, Tarleton State 3; West Virginia 17, Pittsburgh 6
Last meeting: Texas Tech 48, West Virginia 10 last year in Lubbock
Line: Texas Tech by 6
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Tyler Shough Behren Morton: What stats show on Texas Tech football QBs?
