Texas Tech Football: 5 Questions the Red Raider Offense Must Answer in 2023

For many Texas Tech football fans, especially those who came of age during the program’s Mike Leach era, it often felt like elite offense was our birthright. After all, we had a front row seat to the start of the passing game revolution that forever changed the way the sport will be played at all levels.

However, times are changing in Lubbock and for the last two or maybe even three years it has been the other side of the ball; the defense, which has been the stronger of the two units for the Red Raiders. So there seems to be a lot more concern about what the offense will be able to bring to the table this fall than the defense.

The uncertainties surrounding Tech’s offense likely stem from the fact that the 2022 team was inconsistent for most of last season. After all, in four games, offensive coordinator Zach Kittley saw his team add less than 25 points. What’s more, against Kansas State, the offense only added 28 points and in the double win over Houston in Lubbock, Tech was left with just 20 points at the end of regulation.

Still, in Kittley’s first year calling the shots, Tech finished 27th nationally in points per game with 34.2. Additionally, with 461.4 yards per game, Tech was 22nd in the nation in total offense.

Of course, to judge last season’s offense, context must apply. Don’t forget that Kittley had to rely on three different quarterbacks to start at least four games each. That’s a recipe for disaster for most programs, but despite that struggle, the offense finished 12th in the NCAA in passing yards per game at 302.0.

Taking an even deeper dive into the numbers, Tech QBs still managed to complete 60.3% of passes last season to rank outside the top half of teams in the nation. Again, not worth erecting a statue to commemorate, but given that 8 of the 13 games played last year were started by sophomore Donovan Smith (a sub-par passer by most measures) and redshirt freshman Behren Morton (who never had started a game at the college level before 2022), a 60% completion rate is nothing to be ashamed of.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Tech ranked 12 points higher nationally in yards per game than it did in 2021, amassing 159.4. Much of that is also due to the Red Raider quarterbacks, who totaled 464 yards on the season, essentially double the positional group’s rushing output the previous year.

So will the Texas Tech offense be a strength or a weakness in 2023? Will the second year of Kittley’s offense bring a return to the glory days of Red Raider football, when the offense played in South Plains was the envy of nearly every program in the country?

These are questions that we will ask until September. What’s more, the answers to the following five questions about the offense will likely determine how well the offense can light up the scoreboard this year.