Kenny Perry said Tuesday that nobody in this world is going to put more pressure on him than himself.

That's a hefty slogan for the Texas Tech football team's multi-faceted associate head coach. In Saturday's 52-51 overtime win over Abilene Christian, both the running game and special teams — the units Perry oversees for the Red Raiders — did their job in avoiding disaster, walking out of Jones AT&T Stadium with a victory and many, many questions elsewhere about the rest of the season.

Perry was the one left with quandaries after last year's season opener, the double-overtime loss at Wyoming. Tahj Brooks hadn't been untethered in Texas Tech's offense at that point and special teams, featuring three missed field goals by Gino Garcia, didn't help matters. A calendar year later, Perry's able to look on the first game of the season proud of the groups he heads.

"Wyoming last year, we didn't do a damn thing to help us," Perry said. "We missed kicks. We had no big return. We didn't block anything. So guess what? That was on me. Is that going to happen again? I hope not, but it's the way I look at it, you gotta affect the game."

More: Joey McGuire says Texas Tech football defense 'played like dog crap' in season opener

While Brooks continued to carve his name into the record books with another 153 rushing yards against ACU, special teams played just as big a role in escaping the Wildcats.

Drae McCray averaged 55 yards per kickoff return before ACU wised up and booted it away from the 5-foot-9 speedster. He had a 74-yard return that provided three points courtesy of a Garcia 39-yard field goal and later sprinted for 65 yards to set up a touchdown after ACU had cut the deficit to four late in the third quarter.

"If it wasn't for Drae McCray and our kickoff return team," head coach Joey McGuire said Monday, "we don't win that game."

After being named the Big 12 Conference special teams player of the week for his efforts against ACU, McCray took to social media to credit his blockers for their work in making it happen. He doubled down on those thoughts on Tuesday.

"The whole unit deserves credit," McCray said. "The front five guys on the front line, they literally have the toughest job on that unit. I know one of them is definitely Caleb Douglas. He came back, 'Bro I'm trying to block for you. I'm trying.' Jordan Brown had some good blocks, and it just so happens that both of them are receivers, but there's 10 other guys out there working just as hard as I am, if not harder."

Reese Burkhardt and Garcia will continue to split field goal duties after each was perfect in the opener. Garcia hit field goals of 39 and 31 yards and Burkhardt connected on a 41-yarder. Burkhardt hit all three of his point-after kicks and Garcia was 2-for-2.

New Texas Tech punter Jack Burgess had one attempt against the Wildcats, but Perry spoke glowingly of the Aussie's 45-yard boot that pinned ACU deep into its own territory.

More: Texas Tech football catches familiar coach at bad time | Don Williams

"I thought Jack was great," Perry said. "Probably a little nerved up pregame, his first game there at the Jones and he was kind of hitting the ball all over the place, so just calm down and go out there and do what you've been doing since you're a little kid."

With an added focus after the defense's inability to perform, giving up over 600 yards and more than 50 points to an FCS team in the opener, Texas Tech's special teams could become even more important over the course of the year.

Perry thinks his guys are up for that challenge.

"If it's affecting the game by return, affecting the game by a blocked kick, affecting the game by putting the ball inside the 10 yard line, that's what I expect our guys (to do)," Perry said. "That's why they're here. That's why we got those guys. And if not, I'm gonna find somebody else that can do it."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Can Texas Tech football specialists carry the load as defense adjusts?