Texas – Loss
Texas Tech has played no team in the country more often than the Texas Longhorns. But this will be one of the most unusual meetings between these two programs. After all, when was the last time the Horns came to Lubbock to play in front of a crowd of only 15,000 fans?
This is a tough game to predict because we simply don’t know what Texas will bring to the table given that they have replaced both coordinators from last year. That’s why their game tonight against UTEP will be worth keeping an eye on (or at least keeping an eye on the box score given that they will play at the same time as Tech and the game is on the Longhorn Network).
One has to wonder if the lost spring and the unusual summer and fall will hurt Texas’ ability to install their entire schemes by the time game two rolls around. Certainly, it is fair to believe that UT will still be working out some bugs and will not be as comfortable in their gameplan as Tech will be in the second year of under David Yost and Keith Patterson.
But the people in Austin are confident heading into 2020 (no surprise). Returning seven starters on offense and nine on defense from last year’s 8-win team, they expect to play for the league crown in December.
"“With the way we’ve recruited the past three years, with top 10-ranked recruiting classes, we figured (2020) might be a season where things could come together for us,” Herman told Athlon Sports."
This game will come down to the QBs. If either Alan Bowman or UT’s Sam Ehlinger can significantly outperform the other, it will tip the balance of power in this one.
This has the look of a toss-up game but right now, I don’t trust Tech to win that type of game. Perhaps that’s because of all of the recent Texas wins we’ve had to endure in Lubbock. This is a roster that has yet to prove it has learned how to win close contests and until it does, I’ll be skeptical. So though I can easily see Tech beating UT in game two, I will pick the Horns to win yet again in the Hub City.