Texas Tech football: Why Kansas is a tough matchup for the Red Raiders

Texas Tech will have to contend with a stout Kansas pass rush

Don’t be misled by Texas Tech’s recent climb up the Big 12’s ranking of fewest sacks allowed.  Sure, the team was once second-to-last in the conference in that category but now it ranks 10th at 2.0 sacks given up per game.

That modest rise has come about not because the offensive line has improved, though, but because the Red Raiders are running the ball more frequently.  In fact, despite turning to the ground game as its primary means of attack just mid-way through the season, Tech has the fifth-most rushing attempts of any Big 12 team.

While the ground game and Tahj Brooks will be featured again this week, Tech isn’t likely going to be able to keep pace with the KU offense by simply keeping the ball on the ground.

Behren Morton and the passing game will have to be a huge component of the Red Raiders’ success.  That’s where Kansas will want to rely on their surprisingly good pass rush to make big plays.

In nine games this year, KU has racked up 21 sacks.  That’s fourth in the Big 12 but only two behind the conference leader, UCF.

Austin Booker, a sophomore defensive end, is KU’s most disruptive pass rusher with six sacks this year.  Meanwhile, Jereme Robinson, another defensive end, has 4.5.  Their 10.5 combined sacks are just 5.5 fewer than Tech has as a team thus far.

The pressure on Texas Tech’s tackles, Monroe Mills and Caleb Rogers, will be ratcheted up this week.  However, last week, against a similarly stout TCU defensive front, Tech allowed only two sacks, and one of those came when Morton decided to run out of bounds behind the line.  If Tech can perform that well against the Jayhawks, then the offense might just be able to put enough points on the board to pull off the upset.