Texas Tech football: 5 bold predictions for Arizona game

Texas Tech will intercept Khalil Tate twice

This Texas Tech secondary has not been tested all year.  Opponents have attempted just 53 passes against it in two games.

That changes tonight and the Tech secondary will rise to the occasion.  Facing a dynamic playmaker in Khalil Tate, the Red Raiders will pick off two passes.

Keep in mind that if they accomplish that feat, they will put themselves in tremendous position to win given that Tate has lost all four games in his career in which he’s tossed more than one pick.

We will take this prediction a bit further and say that the two larcenous Red Raiders will be safety Douglas Coleman and corner Zech McPhearson.  Coleman has come up with one pick in each of his three seasons in Lubbock with his most recent coming last year against Kansas.

Meanwhile, McPhearson has yet to intercept a pass as a collegiate. However, it appeared that he had come up with one in the second half of last week’s win over UTEP but freshman corner Dadrion Taylor jumped offsides prior to the snap to negate what would have been a pick-six for McPhearson.

Arizona’s receivers are not too big as a group so look for quite a bit of action over the middle of the field with crossing routes and short outs being a big part of what the Cats look to do.  Therefore, tipped balls and deflections could fall into dangerous areas and the Tech secondary needs to be ready.

Last year, the Red Raiders were fourth in the Big 12 with 12 interceptions, one per game.  If the team is going to better that number this year, as was the goal entering the season, the time to start being ballhawks is right now.  That is what will happen tonight as Tech will pick off two passes against the Wildcats.