The Texas Tech Red Raiders and coach Joey McGuire are still reeling from an embarrassing showing in the Pacific Northwest Saturday night. A 37-16 drubbing at the hands of the Washington State Cougars featured four Tech (1-1) turnovers and exposed holes in its defense to the tune of 301 yards rushing allowed to the Cougs.
They could face difficulty in that task given the fact that the head coach at North Texas is former Red Raider, Eric Morris.
Morris played for the Red Raiders from 2004-2008, and then returned to coach from 2013-2017 in various capacities including as offensive coordinator. In 2015 Morris led an offensive that was ranked No. 2 in the nation in both total yardage and scoring behind sophomore Patrick Mahomes, who threw for 4,683 yards and 36 TDs, and by RB DeAndré Washington who rushed for 1,492 yards and 16 TDs, as the first 1,000-yard rusher at Texas Tech in more than a decade.
But Morris knows on Saturday, the lights will be on the players on the field and not on him. “I told our players this morning,” Morris said in a presser on Monday. “The narrative of this game, there’s going to try to be a story that has something to do with me when in reality it doesn’t.
This has everything to do with North Texas and our team here.” By virtue of his coaching career, Morris is still friends with the likes of Red Raiders offensive line coach Clay McGuire, offensive coordinator Zach Kittley and receivers coach Justin Johnson. But those friendships are put aside during the game.
“This is a week that you try to separate yourself from those relationships, knowing that everybody’s competing at the end of the day,” Morris said. “[I’m] Excited to get back and see everything that they’ve built there. It being my alma mater, you know, I’m super proud of the growth they’ve made there.”
