Commentary: What? Actual defense at Tech?

There are any number of examples to illustrate the gross ineptitude and coaching malpractice of the Texas Tech defense over the last dozen years. All speak to the horror show that was a Saturday staple.

There were the six different defensive coordinators in seven years, lowlighted by Matt Wallerstedt’s midseason firing in 2014, canned because his off-the-field issues were somehow worse than his on-field issues. Mike Smith, his interim replacement, later accused Wallerstedt of providing opponents with Tech’s defensive signals – as if any help were needed.

Smith was on the sidelines a few games later when TCU rang up 82 points in Fort Worth that gave suffering Tech fans in attendance a lasting form of football PTSD. Just three years earlier, Oklahoma State blitzed Tech for 66 points in Lubbock, and if not for the mercy of Cowboys coach Mike Gundy, OSU could have approached 100.

Patrick Mahomes – whom you may have heard of – was largely wasted in his 2 ½ years at Tech. This generational quarterback had four games in which he led the Red Raiders to 50 or more points – and lost. You might think that impossible, but it’s not. There were 60,454 witnesses to his 734 passing yards and 854 total yards against Oklahoma in 2016, a 66-59 loss.

That was the once-in-a-lifetime year in which Tech was No. 1 in the country in total offense, and dead last – No. 128 – in total and scoring defense, allowing 554.3 yards and 43.5 points a game.

Somewhere along the line it might have dawned on Tech that improving that wretched defense might need to be a priority. But no. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury and defensive coordinator David Gibbs oversaw a 2018 recruiting class that signed a grand total of four defensive players – that’s four as in 4 -- that defied explanation.

For the last dozen years, the way Tech has played defense is a crime against football. That’s what first Matt Wells and now Joey McGuire inherited. Tech’s brand has been All Offense All The Time, which can be somewhat entertaining but a difficult way to consistently win football games.

Which leads to late October 2022. It’s a little bit telling that Tech’s best defense in the last 12 years has gone largely unnoticed. One has to do with the mindset of the average Tech fan, which has been conditioned to more or less ignore defense as a coping mechanism.

The only way to win in the past was just to outscore the opposition. To play passable defense was a foreign concept. So when the Raiders lost a game, 42-38, the focus would be on a couple of stalled drives in the second half, pay no attention to the 600 yards the paper tissue defense allowed.

In McGuire’s debut year, in which the Raiders are 4-3, the spotlight has been on the quarterback rotation, whether Behren Morton is the man for the moment and the future, the spotty play of the offensive line, and the feel for the game from offensive coordinator Zach Kittley.

Meanwhile, the defense operated in relative obscurity, but has quietly through seven games shown to be the best since 2009. In other words, often decent and sometimes good.

In the 48-10 win on Saturday over West Virginia, Tech held the Mountaineers to 282 yards, and just 73 on the ground. No one is comparing West Virginia to Ohio State, but the Mountaineers entered the game averaging 39 points, and put 43 on Baylor in its last game.

Last time Tech allowed that few points to a Big 12 foe? Try 2013 in a 20-10 win over TCU. Last time it was less than that was a 35-7 win over Texas A&M in 2007.

While it was the Raiders’ best defensive effort of the season, it was not necessarily a one-off. Tech ranks 47th in the nation in total defense, allowing 354.9 yards, which is third in the Big 12.

That might get a shrug of the shoulders in some locales, and maybe a reason it hasn’t garnered major notice, but, hey, that’s a quantum leap for Tech. In the last nine years, the Raiders have averaged 109th in total defense, which is another way of saying they were among the 20 worst defenses each year in the country.

Tim DeRuyter, defensive coordinator, has some coaching chops. He was the DC last year at Oregon. He’s a former head coach, and he’s doing some notable things with a senior-laden defense.

Tyree Wilson, a 6-6, 275-pound end, has 6.5 sacks and is forecast to be a first-round NFL draft pick, maybe in the top half. Krishon Merriweather is an active linebacker who packs a punch. A transfer-heavy secondary is not an open sieve. Tackle Jaylon Hutchings leads a defensive front that finally is developing depth to have fresh bodies. There are real athletes out there.

That Tech was that bad for that long defensively was an annual accepted embarrassment. This season is showing what could happen with the right players, the right coaches and the right priorities.

The only way to a victory doesn’t have to be just to outscore the other guy.

Jon Mark Beilue is a 1981 graduate of Texas Tech. He has been writing about Red Raiders sports for five decades.