These Cincinnati Bearcats will be the focus of the Texas Tech Red Raiders today

Tonight, the Texas Tech football program will look to move to 4-1 on the season by picking up the season's second Big 12 win. To do that, Tech will have to defend its home turf against the surprising 3-1 Cincinnati Bearcats.

Little was expected of the Bearcats prior to this season. In fact, they were picked 14th in the preseason Big 12 media poll.

However, in the second year of head coach Scott Satterfield's tenure, Cincy is showing signs of life. Having already matched last season's overall and Big 12 win totals, the Bearcats are trying to prove that they are on the rebound after an awful 3-9 campaign in 2023.

There are reasons to question Cincinnati's legitimacy though. That's because their three wins have come against FCS weakling Townson, Miamia (OH), and Houston (the worst team in the Big 12). In total, the three teams that Satterfield's squad have defeated thus far have just two wins between them.

That's why beating Texas Tech in Lubbock tonight would be a huge feather in Cincinnati's hat. It would not only show that the Bearcats are well down the road in regard to their rebuild but it would also move them to within just two wins of bowl eligibility before the start of October.

This will be the first time these two programs have met in the lifetime of most Red Raider fans. Thus, there aren't many people in Scarlet and Black who know much about the Bearcats personnel. So let's take a look at some of the key players that Texas Tech will have to contend with in this important early Big 12 game.

Texas Tech must try to make Cincy QB Brendan Sorsby make mistakes

At quarterback, Cincinnati rolls out redshirt sophomore Brendan Sorsby, a native of Denton, Texas. He is a transfer from Indiana where he spent the first two years of his college career during which he made seven starts.

For the year, Sorsby is averaging 263.7 yards per game through the air while completing 65.3% of his passes. But the most important statistic is his eight touchdowns to zero interceptions on the season.

As you can see from the graphic in the above post on X, Sorsby is well above average when it comes to just about everything except running the football (he's run for only 14 yards on 23 carries this season). He will look to beat the Red Raiders from the pocket where he's more reliable than the QB Tech faced last week, Arizona State's Sam Leavitt, who missed on a few big throws down the field that could have changed the tone of that game.

That's why the Texas Tech secondary will be critically important tonight. Hopefully, Tech's top corner, Brayln Lux, will return to action after missing last week's game. But even if he doesn't, the Red Raider defensive backs will have to be solid when it comes to their assignments because Sorsby is good enough to win this game with his arm.

Also, the Red Raiders must find a way to pressure Sorsby. So far, that's been a massive struggle for Tech, which has only three sacks on the season. Still, the Red Raiders must find a way to force Sorsby into some uncharacteristic mistakes because if he is allowed to be comfortable all night, he could pick the Red Raiders apart.

The Texas Tech defense will have to contend with another standout running back

Another week in the Big 12 brings another fantastic running back into Texas Tech's orbit. This week, it is Corey Kiner, one of the best running backs in the Big 12 that no one talks about.

While players like Tech's Tahj Brooks, Central Florida's R.J. Harvey, and Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon II get most of the attention, Kiner has quietly had a fantastic career for the Bearcats. The senior started at LSU before transferring to Cincy prior to the 2022 season.

In three seasons with the Bearcats, he's run for 1,813 yards and 12 touchdowns. Along the way, he's averaged 5.4 yards per rush.

This season, he's on his way to his best showing so far. In four games, he's run for 404 yards and two TDs while picking up an average of 6.3 yards per game.

At 5-foot-9, 210 pounds, Kiner is a more explosive runner than Tahj Brooks. He's had runs of 68 and 52 yards in his career. Thus, the Red Raiders had better be ready to tackle.

Of course, last week, Tech was fantastic when slowing down ASU's Cam Skattebo, who is on pace for 1,000 yards this season. The Red Raiders held him to just 60 yards, which was half of his season per-game average.

Kiner is a better back tha Skattebo, though, and he plays next to a better QB. Thus, Tech won't be able to sell out just to stop him the way the Red Raiders did Skettebo in week three. Regardless, it will be imperative that the Red Raiders don't allow Kiner to have a huge night on the ground in this game.

The Texas Tech offensive line will have to contend with one of the Big 12's best pass rushers

Thus far, Tech's offensive line has been passable at best. Far from dominant, the reshuffled lineup in front of Red Raider QB Behren Morton has been a play-to-play proposition.

The good news is that Tech ranks 42nd nationally by giving up only 1.2 sacks per game. However, that number has been aided by the heavy dependence on the run game and by the design of the offense which has called for Morton to get rid of the football quickly.

We saw last week, though, that Arizona State was able to get plenty of pressure on Morton and make him very uncomfortable in the pocket. This week, the Red Raiders will have to do a better job of keeping pressure off of their QB.

The problem is that Cincinnati will deploy one of the best pass rushers in the Big 12, Eric Phillips. The 6-foot-3, 295-pound defensive end has four sacks this year which is second in the conference.

Now, it must be noted that three of his sacks have come against Miami (OH) and Townson. The other came against an awful Houston team. But when he played Pitt, the only decent power conference team that Cincy has played this year, he wasn't able to get to the QB.

The advantage the Red Raiders could have is that the Bearcats run a 3-3-5 defense that doesn't blitz a ton. It is similar to the Iowa State "cloud" defense that the Cyclones have run for years. Thus, Tech could see plenty of 5-on-3 blocking scenarios and that could help the line keep Phillips from getting to Morton. That will be one of the keys to the Red Raiders' success in this contest.