Sports
Run Red Raiders: Why Texas Tech Could Have A Balance Offense In 2022
If anyone were to turn on the film of West Kentucky football from 2021, they’d likely be enamored by quarterback Bailey Zappe and the Air-Raid offensive personnel.
They’d watch the former Houston Baptist kid deliver strike after strike to receivers Jarreth Sterns and Mitchell Tinsley. And the constant passes mentioned above aren’t just sayings. It’s a statement on how then-offensive coordinator Zach Kittley ran the Hilltoppers.
Last season, Kittley called over 1,000 plays. Nearly 67 percent of them were passing sets. And while Zappe’s arm gave Western Kentucky the best chance to win, a stable run game would do wonders for any program.
Fast-forward nine months after being hired by Texas Tech as the new offensive coordinator, Kittley’s offense is more dynamic. No, the passing attack by quarterbacks Donovan Smith or Tyler Shough won’t take the back seat, but the Red Raiders have a run game to build off of.
As evident by its 63-10 win over Murray State, Texas Tech could in fact have two runners that can pound the rock.
Take for instance junior running back Tahj Brooks, who spent the week trying to get back to full strength after suffering a knee injury in fall camp. His carries were limited. His impact wasn’t.
Brooks averaged 8.3 yards per run. He broke free for a 14-yard touchdown in the first quarter. He’d follow that up with a 23-yard touchdown scamper in the second.
But don’t forget about senior SaRodorick Thompson. His presence in the backfield was just as impactful but in a different way. Of Thompson’s seven carries, four went for first downs.
If that wasn’t enough, Thompson also factored in on the passing plays thanks to a swing pass from Smith in the third quarter that’d end up leading to a 30-yard score.
“You have to get those dirty yards early to make the big plays happen,” Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said postgame. “I think Tahj and SaRodorick came out and ran the ball early, and that allowed for some plays to really pop. [Thompson] did a great job getting in the end zone.”
Last season, the Red Raiders finished eighth among Big 12 teams in rushing, averaging 159.1 yards per game and 4.7 yards per carry.
One game isn’t going to fix the issue, but Kittley and the play design favored the running backs on multiple occasions. Both runners averaged over 6.5 yards per carry. Add in freshman running back Bryson Donnell and the three top rushers averaged roughly 6.1 yards per play.
As a team, the Red Raiders tallied 133 of their 605 yards on the ground. And while that number might seem low, keep in mind that four of Texas Tech’s nine touchdowns came from running backs.
What does this mean for Texas Tech? Maybe nothing in the long run. In the short term, it shows that the Red Raiders are a more dynamic roster.
And while Kittley might come from the Air-Raid system, he isn’t opposed to trusting his ground game. It helps that McGuire has full faith in his coordinator this early into a new regime as well.
“I think we have the best coordinator in the country,” McGuire said of Kittley. “The one thing about Zack is he finds the best guys and the things that we can take advantage of and he gets them on the field.”
The Red Raiders return to AT&T Jones Stadium on Saturday to face No. 24 Houston.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages Thursday after ruling that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service.
The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could end up being liable for $14.39 billion.
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on a satellite provider.
The NFL said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly the Supreme Court.
Should the NFL end up paying damages, it could cost each of the 32 teams approximately $449.6 million.
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment.
“We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit.”
The trial lasted three weeks and featured testimony from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“Justice was done. The verdict upholds protection for the consumers in our class. It was a great day for consumers,” plaintiffs attorney Bill Carmody said.
During his closing remarks, Carmody showed an April, 2017, NFL memo that showed the league was exploring a world without “Sunday Ticket” in 2017, where cable channels would air Sunday afternoon out-of-market games not shown on Fox or CBS.
The jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching its decision.
Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to hear post-trial motions on July 31, including the NFL’s request to have him rule in favor of the league because the judge determined the plaintiffs did not prove their case.
Payment of damages, any changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package and/or the ways the NFL carries its Sunday afternoon games would be stayed until all appeals have been concluded.
The league maintained it had the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs said that only covers over-the-air broadcasts and not pay TV.
Other professional sports leagues were also keeping an eye on this case since they also offer out-of-market packages. A major difference though is that MLB, the NBA and the NHL market their packages on multiple distributors and share in the revenue per subscriber instead of receiving an outright rights fee.
DirecTV had “Sunday Ticket” from its inception in 1994 through 2022. The league signed a seven-year deal with Google’s YouTube TV that began with the 2023 season.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco but was dismissed in 2017. Two years later, the 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over California and eight other states, reinstated the case. Gutierrez ruled last year the case could proceed as a class action.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Olympic team is one of a handful that will supply air conditioners for their athletes at the Paris Games in a move that undercuts organizers’ plans to cut carbon emissions.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday that while the U.S. team appreciates efforts aimed at sustainability, the federation would be supplying AC units for what is typically the largest contingent of athletes at the Summer Games.
“As you can imagine, this is a period of time in which consistency and predictability is critical for Team USA’s performance,” Hirshland said. “In our conversations with athletes, this was a very high priority and something that the athletes felt was a critical component in their performance capability.”
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada and Britain were among the other countries with plans to bring air conditioners to France.
Olympic organizers have touted plans to cool rooms in the Athletes Village, which will house more than 15,000 Olympians and sports officials over the course of the games, using a system of cooling pipes underneath the floors.
The average high in Paris on Aug. 1 is 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit). The objective is to keep the rooms between 23-26 degrees (73-79 degrees Fahrenheit). The rooms will also be equipped with fans.
“I want the Paris Games to be exemplary from an environmental point of view,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has said about the plans for the Olympics.
According to the International Energy Agency, fewer than 1 in 10 households in Europe has air conditioning, and the numbers in Paris are lower than that. The study said that of the 1.6 billion AC units in use across the globe in 2016, more than half were in China (570 million) and the United States (375 million). The entire European Union had around 100 million.
The Olympics mark the most important stop on the athletic careers of the 10,500-plus athletes who will descend on Paris, which has led some high-profile countries to undercut environmental efforts for the sake of comfort.
“It’s a high-performance environment,” Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Strath Gordon explained to The Post.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers seemed determined to keep playing. And playing. And playing.
The teams opened their Eastern Conference final playoff series with Florida’s 3-2 victory in four overtimes early Friday, with the game ranking as the sixth-longest game in NHL history.
Matthew Tkachuk’s goal came at the 19:47 mark of the fourth OT to end this one, which marked the 15th four-overtime game in NHL history and the longest game in franchise history for each team.
The longest game in NHL history came on March 24, 1936, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the sixth overtime on Mud Bruneteau’s goal at 116 minutes, 30 seconds of extra play.
Florida’s previous record for longest game was 104:31 in Game 4 of the 1996 Stanley Cup final against Colorado. Carolina’s previous record was 114:47 for Game 3 of the 2002 Stanley Cup final.
The only good news for the teams is they had an extended break before this series began. Carolina closed out New Jersey exactly a week earlier, while Florida eliminated Toronto a day later.
But this game ended roughly six hours after Thursday night’s puck drop, and the teams have a Game 2 in less than 48 hours.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
