Texas Tech University Athletics
Through the Smoke: Domination Up Front
October 08, 2019 | Football
Behind one of its most impressive defensive performances in recent memory, the Texas Tech football team claimed its first ranked win at home since 2013 in a 45-35 win over Oklahoma State last Saturday inside Jones AT&T Stadium.
Senior linebacker Jordyn Brooks was awarded with several weekly accolades for his stellar performance against the Cowboys in which he totaled 19 tackles, three sacks, four tackles for a loss and a forced fumble. He was recognized as the Walter Camp Foundation National Defensive Player of the Week and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week.
Brooks was a playmaker for a defensive unit that set many benchmarks.
"Normally, pretty good is anything above 15 points," Patterson said. "I've never seen 56 points on a production board, and that was with three missed tackles and two or three missed assignments, which are -2 points apiece. Honestly, he blew the production board complete up. We've been using this production board for years, at least over 20 years. That was very impressive to see that. A lot of times, if you see a guy grade anywhere +13 or +17, then he had a really good game. But to see +56 on that was absolutely crazy."
According to head coach Matt Wells, a key to Brooks's individual success was the play up front.
"His performance on Saturday is a byproduct of how we played on the defensive line," Wells said of Brooks Monday. "I think our defensive line had their best game of the year against a really good opponent. I thought an opponent that had dominated the trenches in their four games … I think we played well on the d-line, and that probably is our biggest indicator outside of Jordyn's own individual performance that relates to how well he played is the d-line."
Patterson echoed those sentiments after practice on Monday.
"It all began with our guys up front," Patterson said. "They destroyed the line of scrimmage. They destroyed the line of scrimmage all day long. And what's crazy is, we left some opportunities on the field for more sacks and TFLs. That was the biggest emphasis (Monday) morning was to get those things corrected and it could have been even more impressive than what it was."
Coming off a tough showing at Oklahoma, Patterson said the defense was hungry from the start against OSU. He named a host of linemen that played a role in the defensive success.
Tech had allowed just seven first-half points against the Pokes and 21 through three quarters of play with many young players thrust into extensive playing time.
"You've got Jaylon Hutchings, redshirt freshman. Tony Bradford, freshman. Alex Hogan made one really nice play on the pass breakup. Dadrion Taylor, freshman. So there were times where we had three true freshmen and one redshirt freshmen on the field. Xavier Benson is a redshirt freshman. So, obviously that's very exciting and bodes well for the future."
It's hard for Tech fans not to be excited about the future with the dramatic improvement defensively in year one under Wells and Patterson. Tech currently ranks eighth nationally in tackles for a loss per game and is 30th in sacks per game after closing out the 2018 season ranked 50th in sacks and 69th in tackles for loss.
The Red Raider defense will face another challenging test with their third-straight top 25 foe this Saturday as they make their first trip to Waco since 2007 to face No. 21 Baylor.
Senior linebacker Jordyn Brooks was awarded with several weekly accolades for his stellar performance against the Cowboys in which he totaled 19 tackles, three sacks, four tackles for a loss and a forced fumble. He was recognized as the Walter Camp Foundation National Defensive Player of the Week and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week.
Brooks was a playmaker for a defensive unit that set many benchmarks.
- Tech forced five turnovers in a Big 12 game for the first time since 2008
- Tech's seven sacks were its most in a game since 2009 and one off the school record
- Tech's 14 tackles for a loss matched its most dating back to the start of the 2000 season
- The defense set a season high with nine tackles for a loss in the first quarter alone
"Normally, pretty good is anything above 15 points," Patterson said. "I've never seen 56 points on a production board, and that was with three missed tackles and two or three missed assignments, which are -2 points apiece. Honestly, he blew the production board complete up. We've been using this production board for years, at least over 20 years. That was very impressive to see that. A lot of times, if you see a guy grade anywhere +13 or +17, then he had a really good game. But to see +56 on that was absolutely crazy."
According to head coach Matt Wells, a key to Brooks's individual success was the play up front.
"His performance on Saturday is a byproduct of how we played on the defensive line," Wells said of Brooks Monday. "I think our defensive line had their best game of the year against a really good opponent. I thought an opponent that had dominated the trenches in their four games … I think we played well on the d-line, and that probably is our biggest indicator outside of Jordyn's own individual performance that relates to how well he played is the d-line."
Patterson echoed those sentiments after practice on Monday.
"It all began with our guys up front," Patterson said. "They destroyed the line of scrimmage. They destroyed the line of scrimmage all day long. And what's crazy is, we left some opportunities on the field for more sacks and TFLs. That was the biggest emphasis (Monday) morning was to get those things corrected and it could have been even more impressive than what it was."
Coming off a tough showing at Oklahoma, Patterson said the defense was hungry from the start against OSU. He named a host of linemen that played a role in the defensive success.
Tech had allowed just seven first-half points against the Pokes and 21 through three quarters of play with many young players thrust into extensive playing time.
"You've got Jaylon Hutchings, redshirt freshman. Tony Bradford, freshman. Alex Hogan made one really nice play on the pass breakup. Dadrion Taylor, freshman. So there were times where we had three true freshmen and one redshirt freshmen on the field. Xavier Benson is a redshirt freshman. So, obviously that's very exciting and bodes well for the future."
It's hard for Tech fans not to be excited about the future with the dramatic improvement defensively in year one under Wells and Patterson. Tech currently ranks eighth nationally in tackles for a loss per game and is 30th in sacks per game after closing out the 2018 season ranked 50th in sacks and 69th in tackles for loss.
The Red Raider defense will face another challenging test with their third-straight top 25 foe this Saturday as they make their first trip to Waco since 2007 to face No. 21 Baylor.
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