Texas Tech football: 3 predictions as Tech readies to face West Virginia

Leddie Brown won’t have the same impact as Bijan Robinson

Just get used to it Texas Tech football fans.  Every week in the Big 12 (except for the Kansas game) is going to bring a really good running back into the Red Raiders’ orbit.

Today, that means West Virginia’s Leddie Brown will be the focus of Tech’s defensive attack.  He’s the centerpiece of what WVU wants to do on offense and he’s a dual-purpose threat as he has 11 catches on the year to go along with 66 rushing attempts.

But the good news is that he’s no Bijan Robinson.  Last week, the Texas star running back went wild against Tech to the tune of 191 total yards and a TD on just 20 touches.

While that dominating performance might have Red Raider fans trembling at the thought of facing another powerful running back, this week’s challenge is far less worrisome and it’s because of what is around Brown…which isn’t much.

Last week, Texas Tech was completely befuddled when trying to stop the UT offense because QB Casey Thompson was able to pick the Tech secondary apart when Robinson and the running attack took a break.  But this week, Tech faces a far less effective passing attack meaning that DC Keith Patterson can focus on throwing the kitchen sink at Brown.

In games not against mightily Long Island, WVU is averaging a meager 216 yards per game through the air.  What’s more, their leading receiver has just 219 yards thus far.

So the challenge for the Tech defense this week is far less complex than it was last Saturday in Austin.  Thus, Leddie Brown will get the full attention of Tech’s defense and we can expect to see some heavy boxes against him as Tech will likely bring plenty of defenders close to the line of scrimmage.

In three career games against Tech, Brown has topped out at 77 yards.  That’s about what we should expect to see him have today.  He’s a good running back but he’s nearly all WVU has going for it offensively.  Thus, his impact could be far less than Bijan Robinson’s was a week ago.