The Lede
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Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-5, 4-3) |
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UCF Knights (5-5, 2-5) |
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November 18th @ 4:00 p.m. |
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Jones AT&T Stadium | Lubbock, Texas |
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Texas Tech -2.5 |
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FS2 | FOX Sports Live |
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68, Cloudy |
The Knights
There are no UCF articles previewing this game. The only thing is the UCF Knights official site and here’s a bit:
• In their last outing, the Knights earned a dominant 45-3 victory against No. 15 Oklahoma State on Saturday. UCF football was named the Cheez-It National Team of the Week by the All-America Committee of the Football Writers Association of America on Monday. The selection marked the third time UCF has earned the national team of the week honor from the FWAA and the first time since Nov. 19, 2018, when the Knights extended the nation’s longest winning streak to an American Athletic Conference and school record 23 games at the time.
• Following UCF’s win, head coach Gus Malzahn was tabbed the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week. Additionally, sophomore Demari Henderson earned Big 12 and Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week, while quarterback John Rhys Plumlee garnered a spot on the Manning Award Stars of the Week and Davey O’Brien Great 8 List.
• UCF remained unbeaten in its annual Space Game, which has been in existence since 2017, with a perfect 7-0 mark. The Knights have now outscored the opposition 349-147 in the seven Space Games that have been played. The game recognizes the University of Central Florida’s roots, founded as Florida Technological University in 1963 with the mission of providing personnel to support the growing U.S. space program at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. As the academic scope expanded beyond its original focus on engineering and technology, the school was renamed the University of Central Florida in 1978.
• UCF’s offense continues to rank among the nation’s best, as the Knights are eighth in the country and second in the Big 12 Conference in total offense, averaging 494.5 yards per game. The Knights have surpassed 400 yards in seven of their 10 games this season, headlined by 723 yards in the season opener against Kent State, the second-most yards by any team in the country this year in a single game.
• Additionally, the Knights are third nationally in rushing offense with 233.7 rushing yards per game. UCF has rushed for 200 or more yards in seven of its 10 games this season, highlighted by 389 rushing yards in the season opener against Kent State, the seventh most by an FBS team this season and the second-highest mark in the Big 12. The Knights have rushed for 140 or more yards in each game this season, one of only two teams nationally to accomplish the feat, joining West Virginia.
The Red Raiders
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams gets more questions and has more answers as fans questions about their grades from last week:
Q: The defense gives up 13 points and you give them a B?
DW: The issue was, in the fourth quarter, the defense yielded a four-play, 70-yard drive finished by a 60-yard touchdown with a missed tackle; an 11-play, 71-yard drive that ended with a field goal and a 14-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a game-tying field goal.
At a time when the Red Raiders had a 13-0 lead to protect, maybe they could have gotten off the field and forced a punt? The defensive stands and turnovers on downs were the difference in the game, but giving up long drives in the fourth quarter has cost this team games over and over this year, as we’ve documented. Also as we’ve written, in this market, no one pays attention to that; they pay attention only to judging offensive performance.
And, as noted above, a B, to me, is good, an A, outstanding.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese writes about Dadrion Taylor-Demerson waiting for this senior day, including having his daughter in attendance.
“I’m planning on having a really, really good game.”
What Taylor-Demerson has done over the past few weeks, if not all season, makes his declaration even more lofty. The last time he played in front of the home crowd, Taylor-Demerson had two interceptions for the first time in his career, which included the game-sealing pick of TCU’s Josh Hoover.
He followed that up with a nifty interception against Kansas, one that saw the 5-foot-11 safety stick his arm between the Jayhawk receivers’ hands, ripping the ball away for the pick.
Taylor-Demerson admitted he isn’t quite sure what a “really, really good game” will look like, though he has an idea.
“I just know that it’s my last game in the Jones,” Taylor-Demerson said. “I’m a performer. I’m gonna put on a show for Red Raider Nation.”
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams writes about what’s at stake on Saturday.
Regardless, No. 7 Texas still will be a sizable favorite in the regular-season finale. The Longhorns are rolling toward their best finish since the Mack Brown years.
If Texas Tech is going to extend its season into December, the Red Raiders almost certainly have to get it done this Saturday at home. Becoming bowl eligible is the goal for Tech and first-time visitor Central Florida, both 5-5 with two regular-season games left.
The Knights have a 2-5 Big 12 record in their debut season coming over from the American Athletic Conference. They’re a three-point underdog in the 4 p.m. game. They can ruin the Red Raiders’ senior day, though. Oklahoma State was riding high with five consecutive victories, including ones over Kansas State, Kansas and Oklahoma, when UCF socked the Cowboys 45-3 last week.
Red Raider Sports’ Justin Apodaca writes about the two coordinators preparing for UCF.
“I don’t know how you stop it. People have a hard enough time trying to slow it down,” DeRuyter said. “They’ve got really good skill. They’ve got a really good scheme. What they’ve been able to do is make guys miss in space and they’ve got guys are going to really run. You’ve got to get 11 guys seeing where that football is and then have great efforts to the ball.”
On the other side of the ball, the Red Raiders will be facing a run defense that has struggled this season on the macro-level, but just shut down one of the premier running backs in the nation in Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon III.
“Structurally, they’re very kind of similar to what we just saw with Kansas, you’re gonna see a little bit more of a four down front multiple coverages in the back end,” Kittley said. “They’re gonna fly downhill and you know, I think they played a little bit different against Cincinnati with a running quarterback than they did they would play probably against us.”
Red Raider Sports’ Jarrett Ramirez talked with two seniors, Xavier White and Taylor-Demerson, and Taylor-Demerson knows that UCF will be tough.
“After the Kansas game, I watched the last bit of the (UCF versus) Oklahoma State game, because they were trying to kill the clock,” safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson said in regards to film study. “Just to see what kind of run game they have… Really just going back and watching the games that teams are running a similar defense that we run. We run a really unique defense here, a whole bunch of moving around, different packages and everything. Seeing games where guys are high when they’re running their best offensive stuff like that. We watch a lot of tape around here. We probably watched almost every single (UCF) game already and it’s Tuesday.”
Stats
The stats say that these teams are really close and Sharp has UCF as a better team. The thing about UCF is that they had an injured quarterback for a part of the season and they are maybe better than their record.
The Texas Tech offense has a few advantages, running the ball, but that’s maybe it? FEI has Texas Tech as a better offense, but Texas Tech might have an issue putting up points. That’s scary.
The Texas Tech defense keeps pace with the UCF offense, so that’s really good, UCF is better at running the ball by a good margin and Texas Tech is typically better stopping the pass. If UCF falters, it is because they aren’t efficient on drives.
Advanced Stats:
Texas Tech Offense vs. UCF Defense:
Texas Tech Defense vs. UCF Offense:
Odds and Ends
Again, only one odd and end. No. 2 Texas Tech soccer hosts No. 7 Princeton tonight with first-touch at 6:00 pm and the game being on ESPN+.
MATCHUP: No. 2 Texas Tech (16-1-4) vs. No. 7 Princeton (10-5-3)
DATE: Friday, November 16, 2023
TIME: 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas (John Walker Soccer Complex)
WATCH: ESPN+
Postseason soccer at The Walker just hits different ‼️
Friday night we do it again!
6 p.m. Princeton.
🎟️ – https://t.co/vpCCSyTcKi pic.twitter.com/cov0GoItcg
— Texas Tech Soccer (@TexasTechSoccer) November 15, 2023
Game Prediction
I don’t like this game as much as I did last week. UCF scores a ton and they are good at it and I don’t know if Texas Tech was playing possum last week and playing a bit not to lose. If Texas Tech can do some offense and score touchdowns then yea, but I just don’t know. Last week, Oklahoma State had turnover problems and that’s part of the problem that Texas Tech needs to avoid. If Texas Tech wins, I think it will be close, so Texas Tech to win, but not to cover for me.