Let’s begin our preparation for this week’s Texas Tech football game against Iowa State by taking a look at three key facts to know about the Cyclones including their amazing ability to shut down “Air Raid” offenses.
This week, the Texas Tech football team has an opportunity to put together a three-game Big 12 winning streak for the first time since Kliff Kingsbury’s first three conference games as head coach in 2013. But doing so will require the Red Raiders to bet an Iowa State team that has won the previous two games in the series by a combined 74 points.
Unfortunately, it appears that Tech is catching ISU at the wrong time. After beginning the season 1-3 and 0-2 in the Big 12, head coach Matt Campbell inserted true freshman quarterback Brock Purdy into the lineup following a 17-14 loss to TCU in which the offense managed just 198 points.
Since Purdy has taken over the reigns, Iowa State has beaten two ranked teams. A 48-42 win at then No. 25 Oklahoma State followed by a 30-14 home upset of then No. 6 West Virginia turned heads around the nation and sent the Cyclones into last week’s bye brimming with confidence.
Now, ISU has an opportunity to make a run in the Big 12 thanks to a favorable upcoming schedule that features three home games (Tech, Baylor and Kansas State) that the fan base will expect to win and road games at Texas and Kansas. Should the Cyclones come away from this week with a win, they could play themselves into the conference title race.
That would be quite the turnaround for a team that many left for dead when they coughed up their game in Ft. Worth on September 29th. This is a team that is as complete on both sides of the football as Texas Tech will see this year making this week’s road trip the most difficult on the 2018 schedule.
Let’s take a look at three key things to know about Iowa State including their ability to shut down the “Air Raid”, their bevy of offensive weapons and the play of their true freshman QB.