Texas Tech football: Statistics suggest Red Raiders have edge over Houston
Former Texas Tech QB Donovan Smith is everything for Houston’s offense
Donovan Smith is a player that Texas Tech fans are well acquainted with given his time with the Red Raiders. Now, he’s leading the Houston offense and, in fact, he is the primary weapon the Cougars have.
His 1,116 total yards account for 80% of Houston’s total offensive production. That’s an absurdly high number.
Even Tyler Shough wasn’t being counted on that heavily by Tech in the first three games of this season. Prior to the WVU game in which he broke his leg in the first quarter, Shough accounted for approximately 67% of the Red Raider offense.
This year, Houston is relying on Smith’s arm quite a bit. His 151 pass attempts are already the second-most he’s attempted in a season. What’s more, his 37.7 passes per game are more than double his previous per-game career high.
However, his feet also play into the equation for the Cougars. With 46 rushes this year, he has 17 more carries than any other player on the team.
Of course, sacks account for a number of those carries. However, it is still worth noting that Smith is being asked to be the main cog in both parts of the U of H offensive attack.
In a way, that’s good news for Tech. It isn’t that Smith is incapable of putting a team on his shoulders and winning a game. We saw him do that in Lubbock against Iowa State in 2021 and against Texas last season.
However, being able to key on just one player is helpful for a defense. It is easy to try to isolate what just one player does and neutralize him instead of trying to stop several game-breaking weapons like Oregon has.
Look for the Red Raider linebackers to be keys in trying to stop Smith. DeRuyter will likely assign one to spy on him just about every time he drops back to pass. What’s more, Tech will want to try to make Smith win the game by doing what he is least accomplished at, making precision throws down the field.
In this game, the Red Raider defense shouldn’t be surprised by anything Houston tries. It all will revolve around Smith and that should make it easier for the home team to come up with an effective game plan and come out on top.