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Texas Tech football: Ball-hawking defense fuels Red Raiders' rout of North Texas
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- Texas Tech football: Ball-hawking defense fuels Red Raiders' rout of North Texas
Chapman Lewis and his fellow defenders on the Texas Tech football team are used to being assigned to what they call putting out the fire. They put a twist on it Saturday, playing the role of fire starters.
Tech intercepted North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris three times in the second quarter, all in Mean Green territory, and each instance led to a touchdown. That was a big reason why the Red Raiders ' 66-21 home victory came together so easily.
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"I do think we've got a defense that can really create some turnovers," Tech coach Joey McGuire said.
Tech (2-1) was already ahead 24-7 early in the second quarter after Behren Morton and Coy Eakin connected for a 70-yard touchdown. Two plays later, cornerback Bralyn Lux stepped in front of a UNT receiver, snagged Morris' pass along the home sideline, dodged a couple of tacklers and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown.
Texas Tech football led 52-7 at halftime. Here's how
An interception by linebacker Bryce Ramirez set up a 10-yard touchdown run by Morton, and an interception by Lewis gave the Red Raiders another great scoring chance that resulted in a 10-yard TD pass from Morton to Jalin Conyers. The latter made it 52-7, which was the halftime score.
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"Whenever you have plays like that — a pick or a pick-six — it's so deflating to the offense," safety Julien (C.J.) Baskerville said. "It just feels like a hole you can't get out of if you're on the offensive side.
"And for our offense, when they're seeing the defense do that, it amps them up more to want to make plays and put points on the board. It was a pretty big domino effect."
McGuire dubbed Texas Tech as "Take Three University," hoping it would be synonymous with a ball-hawking defense. Saturday was the fifth time in his 29 games the Red Raiders have come up with at least three turnovers, and they're 5-0 in those games.
Related: Texas Tech football: Grading a near 600-yard performance | Red Raiders' report card
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There've been numerous instances in the past couple of years in which Tech players missed interceptions that hit them in the hands. Not so Saturday.
Ramirez intercepted a pass that glanced off receiver Kyle Koch crossing over the middle and shot high into the air. Lewis' interception came on a pass that hit slot receiver Wyatt Young near the line of scrimmage and deflected forward.
"You see the ball go in the air, eyes get big," said Lewis, the sophomore free safety. "I'm just focusing on looking the ball in. I actually feel like I could have stayed up and scored, but I got the pick."
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Morris finished 15 of 27 for 162 yards and two touchdowns.
Before transferring to Tech, Lux was a teammate at Fresno State with DaRon Bland , who set an NFL single-season record of five interception-return touchdowns with the Dallas Cowboys . They even started a few games together. Lux had a team-high nine pass breakups last season, but only one interception.
"As skillful as he is, he's also extremely smart," Baskerville said. "He's always in the film room, and he's always talking about things we can do as a back end to go against different concepts. That pick was a result of how much he's been in the film room. He was all over that pick-six on that comeback (route)."
Tech starts Big 12 play at home next Saturday against Arizona State (3-0). The Red Raiders were 128th in the FBS in pass defense after two games, a 52-51 win over Abilene Christian and a 37-16 loss at Washington State.
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"This is definitely a real feel-good win going into league play because that's a big deal," Baskerville said. "I do believe it's going to carry over. In fall camp, we had a bunch of swagger, and the first game you get almost 50 points dropped on you, doesn't feel good to the heart.
"To be able to go out there today, fly around and have fun, win on all phases of the ball definitely adds some swagger back in our program."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Ball-hawking defense fuels Texas Tech football rout of North Texas
