The Texas Tech Red Raiders were on hand Saturday night as the Washington State Cougars were honoring Mike Leach – who coached both teams during his time in college football.

Leach was known for his innovative “Air Raid” offense that was known to put up high points totals and even higher yardage totals. But the Red Raiders’ offensive performance did anything but honor their former coach in the 37-16 road loss

The offense struggled partly due to the loss of starting running back Tahj Brooks, who was marked as out just before game time. That put a ton of pressure on quarterback Behren Morton, who wasn’t up to the task.

Brooks’ status for Saturday against the North Texas Mean Green is still in question. If he’s forced to miss another week, hopefully, a full week of preparation with backup running back Cam’Ron Valdez will help the offense. Or it could be a long day – even against North Texas.

Injuries will be a further concern as two Texas Tech offensive linemen went down against the Cougars adding to the list of injured Red Raiders.

The defense also struggled against the Cougars on Saturday.

While the defense appears to have improved a bit over last year and over some Week 1 holes that allowed Abilene Christian to score 51 and have a chance for a two-point conversion to win the game, there still appears to be more work needed.

The defensive secondary appears to be playing more on the same page than at times we saw last year, and the defensive line looks more gelled together – and that’s saying something.

The Tech defense allowed a historic night by Cougars quarterback John Mateer. And it wasn’t through the air, as Mateer only completed nine passes for 115 yards. But he also finished the game with 21 carries for 197 yards, becoming the first Washington State quarterback to rush for at least 100 yards since 1987.