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Texas Tech football: 5 bold predictions for Arizona game

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 29: Alan Bowman #10 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during the first half of the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on September 29, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 29: Alan Bowman #10 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during the first half of the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on September 29, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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The Texas Tech football team is in the desert to take on Arizona.  Here are five bold predictions about what we will see unfold tonight.

For the first time, Matt Wells has taken the Texas Tech football team on the road.  That brings with it a number of new procedures, expectations, and routines that the Red Raiders must learn to manage.

Though it’s not like what they were doing on the road during the Kingsbury era was all that effective.  Since 2013, Tech is just 16-21 in games not played in Lubbock.

In that span, we’ve seen some of the most demoralizing games in program history.  Because we are all gluttons for punishment (Why else would we give our hearts to the Red Raiders?), let’s look back at a few of those.

The first time that cracks began to form in the foundation of the Kingsbury era was in a ridiculous 82-27 loss in Ft. Worth back in 2014.  Had Gary Patterson not taken his foot off the gas in the second half, the Frogs could have easily put 100 points on the Red Raiders that day.  That was also the day David Webb suffered a season-ending ankle injury that made room for Pat Mahomes to assume control of the offense.

A year later, Tech was drilled twice away from home and each time, the Red Raiders gave up 63 points.  Baylor hung that number on the board in a 28-point win in Arlington and Oklahoma did so in a 36 point win in Norman.

The last time Tech played in Arizona was in 2016 against Arizona State.  On that night, ASU running back Kalen Ballage tied an NCAA record with eight touchdowns in a 68-55 Sun Devil triumph.

But unfortunately, that was not Tech’s worst road performance of that season.  In November, Mahomes and the Raiders were humiliated at Iowa State 66-10 in what was the 2018 NFL MVP’s worst game as a collegiate.

Finally, there was last year in Manhattan when Tech managed just 181 yards of total offense in a 21-6 loss to Kansas State.  That game was likely the final nail in Kingsbury’s coffin as his team looked like it simply had no more stomach for the fight.

But that’s all behind us and we look towards the 2019 away schedule with the hope that Matt Wells can reverse the program’s road woes.  Overall at Utah State, he was just 18-25 away from Logan but you must remember that ten of those games came against either Power 5 teams or BYU.

As for Arizona, they have been much better at home in recent years than they have been away from Tucson.  Over the past six seasons, the Cats went 25-16 at home with wins over No. 5 Oregon in 2013, No. 13 Arizona State in 2014, No. 10 Utah in 2015, No. 15 Washington State in 2017, and No. 19 Oregon last season.

Needless to say, this will be a fair test for the Red Raiders ahead of Big 12 play.  It’s time to start figuring out just what this program will look like under Wells and tonight that process begins in earnest.  Here are five predictions about what we might see from the Red Raiders.

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