They meet again: Texas Tech squares off with defensive coach who solved Patrick Mahomes

In some people's selective memories, Patrick Mahomes was unstoppable as a Texas Tech quarterback, the Red Raiders' combined 16-21 record from 2014 through 2016 entirely the result of porous defenses.

That's not completely true. Mahomes, even in the midst of being an FBS two-time total offense leader, was made to look human on some Saturdays by a handful of defensive coaches: Gary Patterson at TCU, Jon Heacock at Iowa State and Tony Gibson at West Virginia.

Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley was a student assistant and then graduate assistant under Kliff Kingsbury during those seasons, and Mahomes has credited Kittley in his development. This Saturday, Kittley and the Red Raiders will be plotting again against Gibson, now in his fourth season as defensive coordinator at North Carolina State.

The Red Raiders and the 16th-ranked Wolfpack, both 2-0, square off at 6 p.m. CDT Saturday in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Gibson was defensive coordinator at West Virginia from 2014 through 2018. In West Virginia's 31-26 home win over Tech in 2015, Gibson's group limited Mahomes to 196 yards passing and three touchdowns. The 196 yards represented Mahomes' career low as a Tech starter, outside of the 2014 Texas game when he missed the last two-plus quarters for injury and finished with 109.

In WVU's 48-17 win in 2016 in Lubbock, the Mountaineers sacked Mahomes four times and held him to 305 yards and one TD through the air.

The architect of those defensive game plans will be on the sideline across from the Red Raiders again Saturday.

"There are some similarities. It's not identical," Kittley said of Gibson's schemes at NC State. "Coach Gibson does a great job. He's one of the top minds in defense, if you ask me.

"His structure is to beat the Air Raid teams, if you will. They're going to take away zone runs, and they're going to force you to try to run sideways. That's where those safeties come in big. You're going to see them screaming downfield a lot. Schematically, they just do a really good job. His number-one goal is to confuse the quarterback. When you go into a game plan, your quarterback has to understand that."

The latter is noteworthy, given that Tech quarterback Donovan Smith will make only his sixth college start on Saturday. The sophomore from Frenship was the Big 12 offensive player of the week after helping the Red Raiders rally past Houston 33-30 in double overtime Saturday. However, Smith was sacked five times and he was the first Tech quarterback in nine years to win a game while throwing three interceptions.

Adding to the experience gap: NC State returns nearly every defensive starter from a 9-3 team that ranked near the top of the FBS last year in multiple categories: No. 5 in third-down defense, No. 8 in pass defense efficiency, No. 14 in scoring defense, No. 21 in total defense and No. 22 in rushing defense.

A high priority for the Red Raiders has to be protecting Smith. That, and keeping his mind clear with Gibson's attempts to confuse him.

"The thing they do a great job of is they're going to show you one thing and they're going to disguise it, and they're going to bring pressure from everywhere," Tech coach Joey McGuire said. "He's one of the godfathers of that defense, and he does a good job. I really do think with Zach having experience playing (against) that, we'll have a good plan.

"For our guys, (the NC State scheme) is a little bit different, because it's more pressure-oriented, but they saw it every day last year as far as the structure of the odd stack, and so I think that's going to give them some comfort. But we're going to have to play well. Our running backs and tight ends are going to have to do a good job of knowing where the pressure's coming from, and the offensive line's going to have to do a good job."

NC State quarterback Devin Leary might be his team's most high-profile player after he threw 35 touchdown passes last season, breaking Philip Rivers' school record by one.

But NC State has accomplished players at every level on defense. Defensive tackle Cory Durden, linebackers Drake Thomas and Payton Wilson and safety Tanner Ingle all have earned first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference recognition, Wilson in 2020 before he missed most of the 2021 season with an injury.

Nickel back Tyler Baker-Williams, a roommate of Tech cornerback Malik Dunlap when Dunlap played for NC State, has won the in-house award as the Wolfpack's top defensive back each of the past two years.

Kittley said Gibson's scheme seems to have evolved in that, during his West Virginia days, he often mixed cover 0 (man-to-man defense, no deep help in coverage and blitzing) with dropping eight defenders into coverage.

"It was kind of crazy defense, planning for that during the week," Kittley said, "because they're either bringing six guys, it seemed like, every snap, maybe seven, or dropping eight into coverage. That's where as a play caller, and as a quarterback, especially if it is a pass play and they end up dropping eight, you've got to be very patient because the windows are very narrow and you can't just try to force anything in there or that ball's going to go the other way."

Tech connections

A number of NC State staff members have either worked for Tech or competed against the Red Raiders in years past. Ruffin McNeill, special assistant to Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren, served on Mike Leach's defensive staff the entire 10 years Leach was Tech head coach (2000-09). Cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchell from Waco had the same position from 2006-09 at Tech and from 2013-15 at West Virginia.

NC State associate strength and conditioning coach Brandon Howard worked under Matt Wells and strength coach Dave Scholz at Tech in 2019 and 2020.

Wolfpack offensive coordinator Tim Beck coached against the Red Raiders while at Kansas (2005-07), Nebraska (2008-14) and Texas (2017-19), and safeties coach Joe DeForest coached against Tech with Rice (1990-93), Oklahoma State (2001-11), West Virginia (2012-15) and Kansas (2016-17). NC State running backs coach Kurt Roper, a former Rice defensive back, was the Ole Miss quarterbacks coach for Eli Manning when the Rebels faced the Red Raiders in 2002 and 2003.

College football

Who: Texas Tech at North Carolina State

When: 6 p.m. CDT Saturday

Where: Carter-Finley Stadium, Raleigh, N.C.

Records: Texas Tech 2-0, NC State 2-0

Rankings (AP/coaches): Texas Tech receiving votes/receiving votes. NC State 16/12

Line: NC State by 10

Last game: Texas Tech 33, No. 25 Houston 30 (2OT); NC State 55, Charleston Southern 3

Last meeting: NC State 49, Tech 21 in 2003 in Raleigh, N.C.

TV: ESPN2

Game guarantee: NC State to pay Texas Tech $300,000 by Feb. 15.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech squares off with defensive coach who solved Patrick Mahomes