Texas Tech’s quarterback situation took a hard turn the wrong way in Saturday’s 37-24 loss to Cincinnati, and the fallout only got louder after Joey McGuire and Mack Leftwich spoke to the media Monday.
The Red Raiders’ offense managed just one garbage-time touchdown against one of the weakest defenses in the nation, and Will Hammond’s outing was a big reason why. He finished 24-for-37 for 227 yards with no touchdowns and an interception, a rough step back after what had been the best game of his college career in the win over Arizona State.
McGuire called Hammond’s season so far a “Rollercoaster,” adding, “You get a lot of ups and downs. You get a great first half against Arizona State, and then you don't have a great game against Cincinnati.
It happens some with young quarterbacks, but it doesn't matter. Nobody cares.
Nobody cares how I feel. Nobody cares how he feels.”
That much was clear on Saturday, especially when Texas Tech fell behind 24-6 by halftime and still stuck with Hammond instead of turning to Tommy Castellanos. The Bearcats had the Red Raiders stuck in mud, yet McGuire and Leftwich let the starter keep grinding through bad reads and poor decisions while Castellanos remained on the sideline.
McGuire later admitted that was on him.
"...that was a total failure on my part," McGuire said, "not putting him in the game and seeing what he could do. And two, I do think, you go into the Arizona State game, and you have a quarterback that played a lot better, and we felt like he was growing, and you go into the Cincinnati game and, for whatever reason, you take a step back there."
Leftwich also explained why Castellanos never got a real look, but the answer didn’t exactly calm anybody down.
"A lot of that had to do with him not being there for the two weeks with Colorado and Arizona State," he said, "and the uncertainty there, and then Will playing his best game against Arizona State. And so, [we were] feeling comfortable with [Hammond] doing some things with his legs and having shown against Arizona State that we can put the ball in the end zone down in the red zone.
"You know, hindsight is 20/20, and we probably wish we had some stuff dialed up for him down there this past week. That was kind of the thought process going into this week, letting Will finish up some of those drives."
But Castellanos was eligible, had a full week of preparation for Cincinnati, and was in the same meetings and practices as Hammond. He may not have gotten first-team reps, but he was there and available. Given how Hammond was playing, there was no obvious reason to keep him glued to the bench.
McGuire also revealed that the offense is going to be adjusted to help Hammond moving forward.
"You do start cutting full-field reads down to a lot of half-field reads," he said, "which is a lot of college football."
That may make sense on the field, but saying it publicly handed Arizona’s coaches extra information heading into the next game. Even if McGuire didn’t spell out specific plays, he did tip them off that Texas Tech plans to simplify things for Hammond. That gives Arizona a chance to hunt for tendencies, shape coverages around what the Red Raiders want to do, and potentially focus more attention on Kenny Johnson.
For Texas Tech, the last week-plus has been a mess at the most important position on the field. McGuire and Leftwich have not managed it cleanly, and the result is a fan base left wondering whether anything is actually going to get better.
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