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Texas Tech football: What we want to see against Murray St.

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 09: Defensive lineman Tony Bradford Jr. #97 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leads the team onto the field before the college football game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 09, 2021 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 09: Defensive lineman Tony Bradford Jr. #97 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leads the team onto the field before the college football game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 09, 2021 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 23: Offensive lineman Weston Wright #70 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks across the field during the second half of the college football game against the Kansas State Wildcats on November 23, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 23: Offensive lineman Weston Wright #70 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks across the field during the second half of the college football game against the Kansas State Wildcats on November 23, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

Cohesive offensive line play

If the 2020 Texas Tech football season is going to be a success, the offensive line is going to have to be better than it looks on paper.  Saturday night, that part of the team will get the most scrutiny (outside of the QB play) as we will see whether or not this revamped unit is better than last year’s.

"“We’re planning on playing probably between seven and eight offensive linemen in this game for a couple of reasons,” McGuire said on Tuesday.  “One, we want to see what these guys do in a game.  But there’s still some position battles.  At right tackle there’s a real battle with Ty [Buchannan] coming back, he had a great week last week.  Monroe [Mills] has made a great stride with his pass blocking right now so I’m really excited about that.”"

It is going to be worth watching to see how this offensive line is shuffled around as the game progresses.  More importantly, though is that the line plays well and comes out of this game with a clear picture of what the best lineup is.

"“I continue to challenge [offensive line coach Stephen] Hamby,” McGuire said, “like, are these our best five guys?  Whenever you have a room that you really are two-deep, and you have a guy like Jacoby Jackson who had a great camp, does he make us better playing right guard instead of backing up Weston [Wright] at left guard?  It’s just one of those deals that’s going to be a couple of weeks like that to see where we’re at.”"

The Murray State defensive line obviously isn’t Big 12 caliber.  What’s more, the Racers are fairly young at that position.  Thus, Tech should be able to dominate that matchup.

However, offensive line play requires cohesion more than any other position group on the field.  So it is worth wondering how Tech’s big men will perform when there is a steady and constant shuffle going on during an actual game.

Therefore, we should all keep a close eye on the offensive line on Saturday.  That’s because, with No. 25 Houston on the schedule in a week, there is little time for this group to gel before things get real.

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