New football season, new defensive coordinator, new approach to how the defense is going to work. Heck, the Texas Tech Red Raiders have a ton of new players on that side of the ball as well. There’s a lot of new that the Texas Tech football team will need to get used to and find a way to account for.
The season opener against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions might just do some of that. This is a game that the Red Raiders should win with ease, but that doesn’t mean that Texas Tech won’t have a few things to try to account for.
Shiel Wood, the new defensive coordinator for the Red Raiders, made it pretty clear that the Arkansas-Pine Bluff offense could be a little tricky. There are quite a few things that the Red Raiders will need to account for.
And that’s apparently been a little fun for Wood.
Texas Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood notes how Arkansas-Pine Bluff has provided a “fun challenge” to prepare for
During a press conference, Shiel Wood said the Golden Lions offense has been something of a “fun challenge” to try and examine heading into the Red Raiders’ first game of the 2025 Texas Tech football season.
“What I do like about our preparation for them, I think they give us a lot of opportunities to work against motion adjustments,” Wood explained. “Against different splits and spacing of formations.”
Texas Tech’s defensive coordinator said that these are all areas that need some sort of improvement. Which makes sense. The defense has been dreadful at times over the years. That side of the ball is not something that Texas Tech is known for.
“Things that we need to continue to work and get better at, “ Wood said. “That’s been a fun challenge as we’ve headed into this first ball game.”
I appreciate the way he’s looking at that. These are areas that Texas Tech almost certainly struggled against a season ago (Texas Tech’s defense struggled with just about everything a season ago) and the new defensive coordinator is looking at this as a chance to improve. I’m here for it.