College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Texas Tech Red Raiders season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Texas Tech Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 4-8 overall, 2-6 in Big Ten
Head Coach: Matt Wells, 2nd year, 4-8
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 69
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 102
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 49
No one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Tech Red Raiders Offense 3 Things To Know
– It would’ve been nice if the offense was just a wee bit more Texas Tech-like, and the passing game did its part by leading the Big 12 in passing. However, there was a whole lot of dinking and dunking, there weren’t enough third down conversions, and the team managed more than 30 points just four times in the final ten games.
CFN in 60 Video: Texas Tech Red Raiders Preview
– Step One is to get steady and healthy quarterback play. Jett Duffey was the team’s leading passer, but he transferred out after off-the-field issues. Alan Bowman is the best option and star of the show, but he’s been blasted by injuries – he only saw time in three games last season. Redshirt freshman Maverick McIvor has the size and the passing skills, but he’s coming off a missed season with a broken leg.
The receiving corps is full of options. Throw in the running backs, and seven of the nine players who caught 20 passes or more are expected back, starting with the combination of 6-6 senior TJ Vasher and 6-3 sophomore Erik Ezukanma – expect at least 90 catches between the two.
It goes on from there with former Nevada transfer McLane Mannix and quick juniors Dalton Ridgon and KeSean Carter in the mix.
– Losing RB Ta’Zhawn Henry to Houston isn’t a plus, but leading rusher SaRodorick Thompson is back after coming up with 765 yards and 12 scores. He can catch, too, with 39 grabs, but the depth has to fill in behind him. The top returning back after Thompson – senior Jax Welch – only ran five times for 28 yards.
The O line needs some work, though, with just two starters back along with star guard Jack Anderson, who’s coming back from a shoulder injury. Junior Dawson Deaton is a good veteran for the inside – likely at center again – the the tackles are going to be the early question mark.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Tech Red Raiders Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Tech Red Raiders Defense 3 Things To Know
– The defense still needs a whole lot of tweaking and adjusting after giving up 30 points per game and finishing 127 in the nation in total D, but 16 of the top 20 tacklers are expected to be back. The secondary was ripped to shreds – allowing over 300 yards per game – and that was with a not-that-awful pass rush.
Two starters are gone from that secondary – including 63-tackle safety Douglas Coleman – but Damarcus Fields is a good-sized hitter and former corner Zech McPhearson is a veteran who can tackle. The interceptions have to come, though, with Coleman leading the way with eight of the team’s 14 picks. Fields came up with three.
– Leading tackler and star of the D Jordyn Brooks was taken by Seattle in the first round. 240-pound senior Riko Jeffers is back after finishing second on the team with 76 tackles, and Xavier Benson is a good-looking 220-pounder who can move on the outside.
Losing former Cal transfer Evan Rambo hurts, but overall, this group should get behind the line on a regular basis – the Red Raiders finished third in the Big 12 in tackles for loss.
– Top defensive lineman Broderick Washington is gone off the front three, but there’s good size and decent depth to play around with, The line won’t do a ton to get behind the line, but the beef is there around pound All-Big 12 performer Eli Howard and 6-2, 310-pound Nick McCann to be better against the run after allowing 173 yards per game.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Texas Tech Red Raiders Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Texas Tech Red Raiders Players
Best Texas Tech Red Raiders Offensive Player
QB Alan Boman, Soph.
The man knows how to wing the ball around the yard. He threw for 1,020 yards and six touchdowns in three games before getting knocked out for the year with a shoulder injury. As a freshman, he threw for almost 2,700 yards and 17 touchdowns in eight games, but missed the last few games after suffering a collapsed lung.
No matter who the starting quarterback is for the Red Raider offense, he’s going to be the star. If it’s not Bowman, it’s going to be Maverick McIvor. Either way, the Red Raider passing game will get to 4,000 yards.
2. OT Jack Anderson, Jr.
3. C Dawson Deaton, Jr.
4. PK Trey Wolff, Soph.
5. WR Erik Ezukanma, Soph.
Best Texas Tech Red Raiders Defensive Player
DE Eli Howard, Sr.
The 6-4, 275-pounder might not be a big run-stuffing lineman, but he’s quick off the ball, disruptive, and great at getting to the quarterback. He followed up a strong sophomore season with 21 tackles, five sacks, and seven quarterback hurries in his All-Big 12 season. He’s not going to be an anchor, but he’ll have to be accounted for on every play.
2. LB Riko Jeffers, Sr.
3. P Austin McNamara, Soph.
4. CB Adrian Frye, Jr.
5. CB DaMarcus Fields, Sr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Tech Red Raiders Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Tech Red Raiders Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Texas Tech Red Raiders Offense
The passing game has to be great at an unreasonable level. The program has become handcuffed by its style and identity. Yeah, the Red Raiders led the passing conference in passing, but that still wasn’t enough.
And it hasn’t been for several years.
For Texas Tech to come up with a winning season – because the running game and defense won’t pick up the slack – it has to throw for 5,000 yards. Last year it was just
Biggest Key To The Texas Tech Red Raiders Defense
The secondary has to stop giving up so many massive plays. New Mexico and UMass – those are the only two teams to allow more yards per pass attempt than the 9.2 Texas Tech allowed.
On the plus side, the 21 touchdown passes the Red Raiders gave up weren’t all that bad, and the 14 interceptions were good, but only UCLA and New Mexico gave up more passing yards per game.
For the most part, the secondary was decent and keeping the dink and dunk plays down, and they were able to keep most quarterbacks from getting into a groove. However, the team was 0-5 when allowing teams to go for nine yards or more per throw, and that includes Kansas as well Oklahoma.
Since beating Louisiana Tech early in 2016, the program is 0-18 when giving up nine yard or more per pass, and is 1-24 in its last 25 when getting burned deep too often.
Key Texas Tech Red Raiders Player To A Successful Season
LB Xavier Benson, Soph.
Jordyn Brooks seemed like he tackled everything last year, making a team-high 108 stops with 20 tackles for loss. Brayden Stringer – the No. 2 guy behind Brooks – is transferring, and the linebacking corps needs to find as many playmakers as possible behind the line.
Benson was a good tackler as a freshman – finishing fourth on the team with 47 stops – but he only came up with four tackles for loss. The 6-3, 220-pounder is built like a big safety, and he can run like one. He’s got the ability to become one of the team’s top leaders in every way, but the more plays behind the line this year, the better.
Key Game To The Texas Tech Red Raiders Season
at Iowa State, Sept. 26
Forget Oklahoma and Texas, Texas Tech has to learn how to beat Iowa State.
There was a time when beating the Cyclones was a relative given, but Texas Tech has lost four straight in the series and hasn’t won in Ames since 2014.
It’s the Big 12 opener this season, and it would be a huge deal for the team to get off to a big start. Beat UTEP, Alabama State, and Arizona, and there’s a chance to go 4-0 for the first time since 2013.
– Texas Tech Red Raiders Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Texas Tech Fun Stats
– 4th Quarter Scoring: Opponents 96 – Texas Tech 69
– Fumbles: Texas Tech 16 (lost 7) – Opponents 9 (lost 5)
– Average Yards Per Pass Attempt: Opponents 9.17 – Texas Tech 7.34
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Tech Red Raiders Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Texas Tech Red Raiders Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
Can Matt Wells turn this whole thing around after just one year?
The problem is the rut the program is in overall.
The high-powered offensive passing style is fun, and it’s flashy, but did it win Big 12 championships when Mike Leach was at the helm? No.
Did it rip up the college football world when Patrick Mahomes was running the attack? Not really.
When was the last time the program won what would be now considered a New Year’s Six Bowl – Rose, Sugar, Orange, Peach, Cotton, Fiesta? How about never, and the closest it came was in a 6-6 tie to Vanderbilt back in the 1974 Peach.
That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been success – it won nine of its last 13 bowl games – and the offense really has been fantastic, but Wells has to be able to take what’s in place and tweak it.
The defense can’t continue to be totally miserable. There can be a running game – Wells’s 2018 Utah State team ran for 2,641 yards and 37 touchdowns – and it might actually work.
Something has to change.
Set The Texas Tech Red Raiders Regular Season Win Total At … 6.5
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 6
As is, if Texas Tech can keep on going with the big-time passing game, and with a defense that’s hit-or-miss, it can get to a bowl game.
As long as there’s a healthy and steady quarterback, the offense will continue to be great, and there’s enough experience returning to make the defense just a wee bit better. Throw in what should be one of the Big 12’s best kicking games, and the Red Raiders will be stronger.
They lost four games last year by three points or fewer in a 4-8 season – they can and will be at least two wins better.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Schedule Analysis
