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Texas Tech football blows lead, Joey McGuire blows stack in loss to Colorado
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- Texas Tech football blows lead, Joey McGuire blows stack in loss to Colorado
Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire ripped the officiating after the Red Raiders' 41-27 loss to No. 24 Colorado on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium.
McGuire acknowledged his team's blowing an early lead, committing nine penalties and three turnovers and giving up six sacks. But he was angered by what he said were a series of missed facemask calls and a roughing-the-passer penalty in the third quarter that kept alive a series on which the Buffaloes took their first lead.
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Tech led 13-10 at the time. On third-and-6 from the Tech 32-yard line, Tech safety Chapman Lewis blitzed and hit Shedeur Sanders at hip level in the pocket. The CU quarterback threw incomplete, and Lewis was flagged for roughing the passer.
Related: Texas Tech football report card: Grading Red Raiders' loss to Colorado
Related: At last: Tahj Brooks becomes Texas Tech football program's all-time leader rusher
The NCAA rule stipulates in such an instance, roughing the passer should be called for a hit on a quarterback in a passing posture below the knees.
Three plays later, Sanders kept for a 7-yard touchdown.
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"You watch that play," McGuire said. "Somebody tell me how you can call roughing the passer, how you can no-call five obvious facemasks — one that they review for targeting that wasn't called and then four others on our running back. It's tough for me to sit here and say too much because it's 41-27.
"But in a game like this, we have to be better, I guarantee (CU coach) Deion (Sanders) is going to sit there and say he has to be better. But the officiating has to be better at this level. I'm frustrated, man."
What Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire will do about the disputed calls
Tech built a 13-0 lead after its first three possessions, then got outscored 34-7 until the teams traded touchdowns in the last 2 1/2 minutes. Colorado (7-2, 5-1 in the Big 12) won for the sixth time in seven games and the fourth straight on the road. The Buffaloes gained sole possession of second place in the conference. Tech (6-4, 4-3) dropped into seventh place, pending the outcomes of late games.
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Tech running back Tahj Brooks had a hard-earned 137 yards on 31 carries. He moved to 4,236 career rushing yards, enough to break the school record, though Byron Hanspard's 4,219 did not include 360 yards in bowl games.
McGuire said he will submit multiple plays for review this week to the Big 12 coordinator of officials, especially what he saw as missed calls for facemask infractions.
"There'll be five no-calls that heads were turned, literally," he said. "And one of them was on our quarterback that they called targeting on, but it's facemask. That's one reason his head got jerked down."
The targeting that he referenced came early in the fourth quarter when the Buffs sacked Behren Morton on fourth-and-9 from the Colorado 34. The targeting was not upheld, resulting in a turnover on downs.
It was a chippy game, especially in the second half. Colorado was flagged 14 times for 106 yards, and Tech nine times for 80 yards. In the fourth quarter, Deion Sanders barked at officials during an extended break in play, and McGuire took a field mic and yelled at Tech students and other fans to stop throwing objects onto the field.
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"Man, they were awesome," McGuire said afterward. "I just didn't want to get a penalty. I got a vape brought over to me. I got a water bottle brought over to me. I got a beer bottle brought over to me. It's great with tortillas and everything like that, but we got really lucky that we didn't get a 15-yard penalty.
"I appreciate the passion of our fans and our students. Man, I love 'em to death and I think they're absolutely incredible. But when you get to that point, that's taking it too far. Now you're going to affect the game. I'm surprised that we didn't get penalized because of what was being thrown on the field.
"Whenever Deion was coming after officials, that's what he was talking about. He wasn't talking about any calls. He was talking about what they were getting hit with, and it wasn't tortillas."
Shedeur Sanders 30 of 43 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns. He threw one TD apiece to Travis Hunter (nine catches, 99 yards), Will Sheppard (eight for 79) and LaJohntay Wester (six for 82).
"I give him his kudos for sure," Tech safety C.J. Baskerville said. "He's the real deal, he hit us where it hurt and he was smart with the ball. As a defense we really thrive off takeaways. He did a really good job of not putting the ball where myself or any of the guys could get their hands on it."
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Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez was credited with 17 tackles, two quarterback hurries and 1 1/2 tackles for loss, including a sack.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football blows lead, Joey McGuire blows stack in loss to CU
