Arizona State (3-0) vs. Texas Tech (2-1)
When: Saturday, September 21st @ 2:30 pm
Where: Jones AT&T Stadium | Lubbock, TX
TV & Streaming: FS1
Radio: TuneIn Radio
The Line: Texas Tech -3
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 88-67
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese: Texas Tech football hosts Arizona State: Scouting report, predictions for Big 12 game
Score prediction: Texas Tech 31, Arizona State 28
Bottom line: We’ll say the Red Raider defense has learned from the first two weeks and will find a way to bottle up ASU’s running game and still maintain success in the secondary. Might be lower scoring than expected.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Comparing Texas Tech football injury toll to those elsewhere | Don Williams
My thoughts in a nutshell: Football’s a violent game; players get hurt. On Monday, I compared the 13 listed by Tech to the numbers currently reported by NFL teams. Only 12 of the 32 NFL teams had fewer than 10 players on an injured list. Nine had 13 or more, including the Patriots with 20, the Browns with 19, the Lions and the Dolphins with 17, the Rams with 15.
In that context, Tech’s 13 players ranging from questionable to out is within a normal range. (We compared Tech’s numbers to those of NFL teams, because outside of the Big Ten and the SEC, which have adopted mandatory reporting, disclosure elsewhere in college football is voluntary, as is the case with Tech, and not standardized.)
Through the first three weeks of the season, there were 16 instances in which Tech listed players as questionable, and in 12 of those instances the player played in that week’s game. (Tech isn’t categorizing anyone as doubtful or probable.) The Red Raiders have been relatively healthy, outside of the four season-ending knee injuries.
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The defense has also dealt with a plethora of health issues but should be closer to full strength this week (despite still being without Charles Esters III), assuming their top two defensive backs in safety C.J. Baskerville and cornerback Bralyn Lux do go.
Both are listed as questionable but did play last week when Tech had its best performance of the season by far in a 66-21 rout of North Texas.
Quarterback Behren Morton, who struggled with injuries throughout last season, finally looks 100% healthy with 974 passing yards and 10 touchdowns through three games. That’s a massive development for this explosive Zach Kittley offense, which I think now has a better overall group of pass-catchers.
It could be a long day for an Arizona State secondary that ranks 97th in Defensive Passing Success Rate in 2024.
Give me the better quarterback at home laying only a field goal — the same price Texas State closed at last week at home vs. ASU.
Midland Reporter Telegram’s Oscar LeRoy: LEROY: Can Texas Tech build off blowout win heading into Big 12 play?
Action Network: Arizona State vs Texas Tech Prediction, Pick, Odds for Saturday, September 21
In its only loss, we saw Texas Tech really struggle to defend the quarterback run. Washington State’s John Mateer torched the Red Raiders for 197 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and Texas Tech had no answer to contain him.
When Leavitt does throw the ball, he should have success against a weak Texas Tech secondary that comes into this game beat up.
Arizona State doesn’t have an elite defense, but so far, it’s completely shut down its opponents’ running game, allowing just 65.3 rushing yards per game and 2.19 yards per carry, the ninth-best mark in the country.
The Sun Devils held Mississippi State to just 24 yards on 27 carries.
Texas Tech is at its best when leaning on Brooks and the running game. If Arizona State can continue to play like this up front and slow Brooks down, it has a chance to win this game and get its first Big 12 conference win.
Pick: Arizona State +3