After a couple of road trips and a bye week, Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders are back home in Lubbock (for homecoming, actually) and they’re getting set to take on the Kansas Jayhawks this evening.
This game is the perfect opportunity for the Red Raiders to keep rolling. Especially when considering how Kansas has some notable vulnerabilities on the defensive side of things. While the Jayhawks have a sneaky good offense that is productive, their defense hasn’t been as good lately.
Right now, it ranks as the No. 80 total defense in the country. And that should lead to some pretty fun scoring opportunities for Behren Morton and the Texas Tech offense.
ESPN FPI has Texas Tech as a heavy favorite over the Kansas Jayhawks
According to the ESPN Analytics Matchup Predictor, which is connected to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Red Raiders are entering this game with a 75.2 percent chance of winning. And that feels pretty good, to be completely honest.
It also feels about accurate.
Kansas isn’t a total pushover sort of program right now. The Jayhawks, this season, have a team that can cause problems and headaches for a number of other teams. I think KU still might be wrestling with a bit of a perception issue for folks outside of the Big 12, but this is a team that has drastically improved in recent seasons and should not be overlooked.
Jalon Daniels has thrown for 16 touchdowns in the first six games and the Jayhawks have the Big 12’s most productive receiver (yardage wise, at least) in Emmanuel Henderson Jr. If the Red Raiders aren’t focused on defense, then Kansas might be able to get into a shootout with Texas Tech this evening.
That said, a shootout is probably the only way that Kansas can make this interesting. Circling back to the Jayhawks’ defense for a second. They’re allowing over 50 more yards per game than Houston and 70 more yards per game than Utah. And the Red Raiders had no substantial issues scoring on the Utes and the Coogs (though things weren’t perfect in either game).
This is a game that Texas Tech should win. The Red Raiders should be able to control things on defense and put up points on offense. We’ll just see how that pans out.