Five Swing Games For Texas Tech In 2018
Week 4 – at Oklahoma State
The last time Texas Tech beat Oklahoma State in football, George W. Bush was still in the Oval Office, Terrell Owens was playing for the Dallas Cowboys and T.I.’s song “Whatever You Like” was atop the charts. That year, Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree led a 56-20 thumping of the Cowboys in Lubbock just one week after knocking off No. 1 Texas.
Since then, the programs have headed in polar opposite directions. But in the past two seasons, Texas Tech has come tantalizingly close to finally beating the Cowboys losing by one point in 2016 and by seven at home last year in a back-and-forth shootout.
This year, Tech opens Big 12 play in Stillwater, where life has been tough for the Red Raiders. Tech has lost its last seven trips to Stillwater dating back to 2001.
While OSU has been the far superior program in the past decade, this year could be somewhat of a transition year for Mike Gundy’s team. Gone are the Pokes’ two top offensive stars from last season, QB Mason Rudolph and receiver James Washington and like Texas Tech, there is no clear answer as to who who lies in succession at either position.
Defensively, OSU is shifting to a new scheme under new coordinator Jim Knowles. Though the Cowboys have seven defensive starters returning, the transition to the 4-2-5 scheme might take a while to click. (Texas Tech football fans know all-too-well how tough changing defensive schemes can be.)
But the Cowboys are being given the benefit of the doubt over the Red Raiders, as well they should. However, no one knows exactly what to expect from either team.
If the Texas Tech offense finds its rhythm and establishes a clear-cut answer at QB in the first three games, the OSU defense might be vulnerable in week-four. That would allow the veteran Texas Tech defense an opportunity to get after an OSU offense that will likely not be at full stride given all of the new faces.
Interestingly, the same recipe for victory applies to the Cowboys in this matchup of what could be mirror-image teams.
A win in Stillwater would be one of the biggest accomplishments of Kingsbury’s career. The first three games of Big 12 play are the toughest stretch on the schedule and an 0-3 start could be disastrous for the psyche of the Texas Tech football team and fan base.
Beating the Cowboys would assure Tech of keeping its footing during the first half of the conference schedule and would boost the confidence of a team trying to figure out how to win on a consistent level. If Texas Tech can break out of its funk against the Cowboys, tons of eyes around the region, and possibly the nation, will be opened.
A 4-0 start would propel the Red Raiders into the top-25 and take some of the pressure off of the rest of the season thanks to a favorable closing stretch of games. But, to do so will require Tech to do something that LISD students in the fifth grade have never known to be a reality.