Some things I want to see tomorrow:
In congruence with
4O9to8O6Nback 's fantastic post about the Houston game tomorrow, I thought I would add some thoughts of my own along with a few things I would love to see from the Red Raiders.
At this point, I am more confident in a Texas Tech win than ever. Honestly, I think the Red Raiders come out firing and make a statement tomorrow afternoon. It seems like from what I have seen, Houston fans are pretty confident as well, so something will have to give. I just wasn’t super impressed with the Cougars against UTSA. I’m not terrified of Clayton Tune, especially from what happened last year. Is he a good quarterback? Of course! Is he great? I’m not convinced. Houston’s front 7 is particularly worrisome and will be something to watch with some playmakers (
Derek Parish, Nelson Ceaser, D’Anthony Jones, Donovan Mutin), but I think Donovan Smith and the offensive line adjust and handle their own. It definitely helps that Smith is big and mobile and has the capability to hit receivers on the run.
I would love to see the WR’s pick up where they left off last week. Jerand Bradley (108 yards, 2 tds) and Loic Fouonji (110 yards, 2 tds) had fantastic games against Murray State. Can the pair continue the dominance against a tougher opponent, and does Myles Price return to dominate form? The Houston defense gave up 337 yards passing to UTSA, so I think there is opportunity here for a huge game from the WR core. The Cougars actually allowed almost 100 more total yards of offense last weekend. I am extremely confident that Kittley will have the offense ready to go.
We all know how good the Tech defensive line is. Tony Bradford, Krishon Merriweather, Tyree Wilson, and Philip Blidi all registered a sack (Merriweather and Wilson 0.5 each, Blidi 2.0) against Murray State. The Houston offensive line gave up four sacks against UTSA, and pressuring Tune will be key in making him uncomfortable. I’d like to see the defensive line get going early and cause havoc upfront. Houston was able to rush for nearly 150 yards against UTSA, but 51 of those yards came from Tune. Subtracting that, the Cougars rushed for 89 yards on just under 3.0 yards per carry. Texas Tech transfer RB Ta’Zhawn Henry got banged up early with an ankle injury and is expected to play tomorrow, so expect maybe a little better rushing performance from Houston outside of Tune with Henry back. All of this to say, Texas Tech needs to hold Tune’s rushing ability in check. It’s one of the biggest strengths on his game and limiting it will be key to the Red Raiders winning this game. Tune had a long run of 32 yards and had a rushing touchdown in the 2021 season opener against Texas Tech, so it's definitely something to look out for.
The Red Raider secondary has been a huge question mark to start the season after a couple of big plays from DJ Williams. Houston’s WR group is very talented, and it will be interesting to see how Texas Tech holds up in that area out of the gate.
Nathaniel Dell has been mentioned here a ton for good reason. Dell was named Third-Team Preseason All-American as well as the preseason watch list for the Biletnikoff Award. Dell has 2 touchdowns against UTSA and helped put the game away in triple overtime. He’s shifty, fast, and hard to cover one-on-one if you give him too much field to work with. Dell is definitely Houston’s biggest threat offensively and I would like to see Texas Tech hold him in check.
Houston’s run defense is stout and allowed just 41 rushing yards from the UTSA running backs last Saturday. Tahj Brooks and SaRodorick Thompson will have their work cut out for them. It will be interesting to see how Kittley establishes the run. Both guys have the talent and ability to dominate and they certainly fit that bill against Murray State (Brooks 6 car, 50 yds, 3 td, 8.3 ypc) (Thompson 7 car, 48 yds, 1 rec td, 6.9 ypc). To what extent do Brooks and Thompson have success?
I may be too ambitious, and I may be on OldTakesExposed on Sunday, but I’m confident. Let’s ride Red Raider Nation.
I wonder if any Houston fans are spying on us right now. Hi Houston fans.
Score Prediction: Texas Tech 55, Houston 34
Its 50-burger time.
What do y'all think about the final score? Thoughts, concerns, predictions? Would love to hear them!
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