Date: November 26, 2015
Time: 6:30 pm
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders
Bad Guys: Texas Longhorns
Location: Darrell K. Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium | Austin, Texas
Weather: Scattered Thunderstorms, High 65, Low 50
TV/Stream: FOX Sports 1 (complete channel listing via LSUFootball.net)
Radio: Broadcast Affiliates and TuneIn App
Vegas: Texas opened as 2 point favorites, but the line has already moved to 1.5, with 65% of the bets coming in on Texas Tech (via OddsShark)
Last Week: Texas lost to West Virginia, in Morgantown, 38-20 (ESPN box score). D’Onta Foreman was really good, carrying the ball 18 times for 147 yards, averaging 8.2 yards per carry, while Johnathan Gray carried the ball 14 times for 56 yards. Jerrod Heard was 11 for 18 for 162 yards, a touchdown and 2 interceptions. That’s actually a pretty good yards per attempt, 9.0, for Heard, which means he’s looking deep. The Texas offense rushed 54 times for 277 yards total, so they are going to run the ball. The Longhorn defense gave up 256 yards on 51 carries to West Virginia and the Mountaineers only passed 12 times for 122 yards. Seriously. Texas’ biggest problem was that they turned the ball over 5 times. Yes, 5 times. Losing 3 fumbles and the 2 aforementioned interceptions. Statistically, Texas won pretty much every category except for the turnover battle.
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What’s at Stake: The Longhorns must win their last two games on the schedule to become bowl eligible, and the (bowl eligible) Red Raiders are the first step. Sadly, the Horns should have a bit of confidence in doing this, as Texas Tech hasn’t beaten UT since Crabtree’s catch in 2008, and haven’t won in Austin since 1997 (!). Basically, UT is playing for a tangible reward and Tech is playing to exorcise a long-lasting demon. Oh, and for the Chancellor’s Spurs. Remember those? . . . Yeah, most people don’t.
Four Key Players:
- QB Jerrod Heard (6-2/195): Heard averages about 120 yards passing a game, completing 60% of his passes and has thrown 5 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Heard’s best qualities are probably running the ball, where he averages 56 yards a game on 13 carries to go along with 3 touchdowns.
- RB D’Onta Foreman (6-0/241): Foreman has 681 yards on the year and is averaging 7.17 yards a carry to go along with 5 touchdowns. Not a huge threat out of the backfield, he has 5 receptions for 64 yards. The biggest threat for Texas Tech is that Foreman is huge and Texas Tech seems to have a problem tackling bigger running backs.
- LB Peter Jinkens (6-0/230): Jinkens leads the team with 75 tackles on the year and also leads the team with 9.5 tackles for loss as well as leading the team with 6.5 sacks. Without question, Jinkens appears to be this teams most disruptive player on the line and I’d guess that they send Jinkens from all over the field to create havoc.
- CB Dylan Haines (6-1/193): Haines is maybe the most active player in the secondary, notching 4 interceptions thus far and 3 passes broken up. He has 44 tackles on the year, good for 4th on the team, with just one sack, but the 4 picks are impressive.
Miscellaneous: Texas Tech hasn’t beaten Texas in Austin since 1997 . . . the Texas offense is 94th in the nation overall and they have the 93rd defense . . . one of Texas’ biggest problems is third downs, where they are 112th in giving up third downs and 84th in converting them on offense . . . even though Texas doesn’t have the best offense, they are a top 25 rushing team, averaging 214 yards a game . . . and despite having a terrible day against West Virginia, where the Longhorns had 5 turnovers, the Longhorns are 31st in turnover margin at plus 0.50 . . .