TEXAS TECH PASS OFFENSE VS TEXAS PASS DEFENSE
Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes leads the nation with a ridiculous average of 440 yards passing per game. To put that in perspective, Washington State's Luke Falk is second nationally and he trails Mahomes by 72 yards per game. OU's Baker Mayfield, who threw for 390 yards against Texas, is second in the Big 12 and he trails Mahomes by 117 yards per game. Tech does a good job of spreading the ball around, but Jonathan Giles and Cameron Batson are the team's top pass-catchers. Giles is second in the conference with 6.9 receptions per game and 116 receiving yards per game, trailing only Dede Westbrook in both categories. When I say the Red Raiders spread it around ... they have five receivers who have more receptions than the Longhorns' leading receiver (Armanti Foreman), including former UT commitment Keke Coutee. Mahomes did suffer an injury at the end of last week's TCU game, but Kliff Kingsbury said he should be fine this week and is close to 100 percent. Wide receiver Devin Lauderdale was not at practice on Tuesday (coaches' decision) and isn't expected to play this weekend, which could impact things.
Edge: Texas Tech ****
TEXAS TECH RUN OFFENSE VS TEXAS RUN DEFENSE
As good as Tech's passing game is statistically, its run game is pretty much the opposite. The Red Raiders rank dead last in the Big 12 with 99.6 rushing yards per game and the team averages just 3.3 yards per carry which bests only Kansas. Overall, it's been a work in progress and the coaches have tried a few different players. Through the first five or six games, the thought was that Justin Stockton would be the starter but he couldn't get a feel for running between the tackles. They then went to Demarcus Felton, but it was kind of the same thing ... he wasn't get a lot of holes from the line and he wasn't creating his own. The last two games, they've gone to Da'Leon Ward, a true freshman, and it looks like he's going to start the rest of the way. The coaches really like Ward's combination of size, versatility and ability to run with some physicality. In 36 carries, he hasn't had a negative yardage play yet. Against TCU, he converted 11 of Tech's 18 third downs. Mahomes is a part of the run game as well with 276 yards, but he sometimes has taken big sacks which have skewed the numbers a bit. Texas has struggled containing QB runs, so Mahomes could hurt the Longhorns there.
Edge: Texas *
TEXAS TECH OFFENSIVE LINE VS TEXAS DEFENSIVE LINE
The Red Raiders are starting three new guys along the offensive line - tackle Terrence Steele, tackle Justin Murphy, and Madison Akamnonu/Paul Stawarz at guard. Baylen Brown at left guard and Tony Morales at center are the veteran guys. They've had to rotate some pieces while the young guys have figured things out, but since the West Virginia game a few weeks ago, things have settled in a bit. Tech has given up 2.62 sacks per game (8th in the Big 12) but a good number of those have been because of Mahomes trying to do too much in the backfield.
Edge: Texas **
TEXAS PASS OFFENSE VS TEXAS TECH PASS DEFENSE
Statistically, Tech is not good against the pass, checking in at No. 9 in the conference in both yards per game given up and passing efficiency. Against TCU last week, the Red Raiders switched things up and things did look a lot better. The defense didn't give up a pass longer than 25 yards after they changed up their coverages and personnel. D.J. Polite-Bray had been starting at corner, and teams have been picked on him all year. Last week, they took him out for most of the game and it changed the makeup of the group and it played a lot better. One player who is playing really well is Justis Nelson, a senior. He has been playing in the slot as a nickel guy and has quietly been really good this year. They slid him back outside to corner last week and that helped the overall performance.
Edge: Texas ***
TEXAS RUN OFFENSE VS TEXAS TECH RUN DEFENSE
Tech ranks ninth in the Big 12 in rushing yards given up per game and dead last by a wide margin in yards per rushing attempt, giving up 5.4 yards per carry. Up the middle, believe it or not, the run defense hasn't really been that bad this year. Breiden Fehoko and Ondre Pipkins at DT and NT have been pretty good against the run. The big problem has been runs outside the tackles. People have been gashing Tech with plays to the outside, including jet sweeps, so it will be interesting to see if Texas opens up the playbook there. Linebacker Malik Jenkins, a senior, has played pretty well the past couple weeks but D'Onta Foreman should be able to put up big numbers.
Edge: Texas *****
TEXAS OFFENSIVE LINE VS TEXAS TECH DEFENSIVE LINE
As mentioned above, the strength of the defensive line has been in the an interior. Starters Pipkins and Fehoko and backups Mych Thomas and Broderick Washington have been as good as Tech has seen in the past several years. Everything around them has struggled. There really hasn't been much pass rush from the d-line, especially when they only rush four.
Edge: Texas **
SPECIAL TEAMS
Special teams have been a bit of an adventure for Tech this year. Kingsbury hired Joe Robinson from South Carolina to head up the special teams but things have been up and down all year. The Red Raiders gave up kick return against K-State but have been better since then. The biggest issue has been at punter. Michael Barden has dropped a couple snaps and now kind of has a mental block and has really struggled with his punts. The kicking game with Clayton Hatfield has been solid. Hatfield was a preseason all-Big 12 selection, but hasn't had to kick to many field goals due to Tech's offense.
Edge: Texas Tech *
INTANGIBLES
This one's easy. Texas is terrible on the road and Tech usually plays UT really well in Lubbock. Also, Texas continues to make some curious in-game coaching decisions, so the advantage goes to the Red Raiders.
Edge: Texas Tech ***
