Texas Tech is about to get a key piece of its offense back, and the timing couldn’t be better for a team that has clearly felt his absence in the tightest moments.
Running back Cam Dickey is expected to return this week against Arizona after being cleared by head coach Joey McGuire from the high ankle sprain he suffered against Colorado on October 3. He’s missed the past two games, and Texas Tech has paid for it in exactly the spots where Dickey matters most.
The biggest issue has been short yardage. Dickey isn’t just another runner in the rotation; he’s the back built to handle the dirty work.
He can take on contact between the tackles, absorb hits at the line and still push through for the extra yard or two. When defenses crowd the box, he has the power and decisiveness to make that kind of run work.
The alternatives haven’t been as effective in those situations. J'Koby Williams tends to rely more on making defenders miss, while Quinten Joyner hasn’t shown quite the same vision or burst. That’s left the offense stuck when it needs a simple conversion.
Over the last three games, Texas Tech has converted only 14 of 45 third- and fourth-down chances, a 31.1% rate. The problems have been even more obvious when the Red Raiders have needed three yards or less: they’ve faced that situation 20 times and converted only 12 of them. That kind of success rate is not enough to keep drives alive.
Before Dickey got hurt, the numbers were much better. In the four games prior to his injury, Texas Tech went 26-for-52 on third and fourth down, good for 50%. Dickey may not be the only reason for that difference, but he’s a major part of why the offense has been more reliable when a drive hangs in the balance.
His return should also help inside the 20. In the last three games against Colorado, Arizona State and Cincinnati, the first-team offense managed just five touchdowns on 13 red-zone trips.
Some of that is tied to the absence of backup QB Tommy Castellanos, who missed the Colorado game and didn’t take any first-team snaps against ASU or Cincy. But Dickey’s absence was part of the problem too.
There’s another ripple effect as well. With Dickey available again as the team’s “Wildcat” quarterback, Texas Tech won’t need to ask injury-prone tight end Terrance Carter Jr. to absorb extra punishment in those short-yardage plays. That matters, because Carter needs to stay available as one of the offense’s top receiving targets.
Dickey might not be the first name that jumps out when people talk about Texas Tech’s offensive weapons, but his value shows up in all the little things that decide drives. With him back, the Red Raiders are hoping for cleaner execution when the yards get hardest to find.
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