There is no excuse for surrendering 51 points and 615 yards of total offense to Abilene Christian. 

Forget that starting cornerback Brayln Lux was out, or that four of five secondary players were making their first start at Texas Tech. A.J. McCarty played 29 games over three seasons at Baylor. Cornerbacks Maurion Horn and Jalon Peoples were recruited by Joey McGuire and have been with the program for three seasons. 

"The one thing that's starting to show up is the depth of this football team," McGuire said five days ago.

Forget that Abilene Christian is a completely different team through the Transfer Portal after going 5–6 last season. The players who did the most damage transferred from Texas Tech because they couldn't get enough playing time. Maverick McIvor, on campus from 2019-2021, had 506 passing yards and three touchdowns. Nehemiah Martinez, who finished with six catches for 88 yards and a score, played at Texas Tech from 2022-23. Wide receiver Trey Cleveland spent four seasons as a Red Raider. 

The fact of the matter is Texas Tech got punched in the mouth by a team they paid to come play them for the opening of the south end zone complex.

Now for the good news – Texas Tech found a way to win, which they didn't do last year against Wyoming. The defensive issues are identifiable, and are not a blanket blame across the 11-man lineup – yet.

It's difficult to gauge the pass rush because McIvor got the ball out before a rush could be registered. His first read was always open. While Abilene Christian did pop a few big runs, the interior defensive line by and large held up in it's first game without Jaylon Hutchings and Tony Bradford Jr. Abilene Christian gained 109 yards and averaged 3.1 yards per carry. 

Saturday night was a case of secondary miscommunication, which allowed wide receivers to run wide open.

"You could check off everything that could go wrong in the backend, and at different times it did," McGuire said.

But with Washington State up next week and a Week Three bout North Texas team that threw for 415 yards on Saturday, Texas Tech's secondary has to get on the same page. Judging off Abilene Christian's output, the panic meter in Lubbock should require a Come-To-Jesus meeting, and not a brushing off. 

There are no apologies for going 1–0, but there's also no worthy excuse for how close it was to being 0–1.