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Game Pre-Preview: Cincinnati vs. Texas Tech

Football
Seth C

Game Pre-Preview: Cincinnati vs. Texas Tech

Cincinnati (3-1, 1-0) vs. Texas Tech (3-1, 1-0)

When: Saturday, September 28th @ 7:00 pm
Where: Jones AT&T Stadium | Lubbock, TX
TV & Streaming: ESPN2
Radio: TuneIn Radio
The Line: Texas Tech -3.5
Weather: Sunny, 90-61

Cincinnati is a surprising 3-1 to start the year, the only loss coming at the hands of Pittsburgh at home by 1. Wins were against Towson by 18, Miami (Ohio) by 9, and an absolute demolishing of Houston, 34-0. Miami (Ohio) game was the only game on the road.

Scott Satterfield was a head coach that I thought I’d love at Texas Tech at some point, but he was a bit of a disaster at Louisville, and he’s been okay at Cincinnati, maybe trending a bit disappointing, but I’m not sure how fans feel. At Appalachian State, Satterfield was fantastic and that seems to be a program that just produces good football teams. Satterfield is an offensive guy, but don’t think he calls the plays.

That honor goes to Brad Glenn, who joined in 2023 as the offensive coordinator. Glenn was with Satterfield at App State from 2005 through 2008, so a bit of a reunion, and Glenn had stops at Georgia State, averaging 30 points a game and a year at Virginia Tech in 2022.

Satterfield poached defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt from Iowa State where he was there from 2016 through 2023 and am sure that he learned everything he needed to from Jon Heacock to be on his own. It’s difficult to judge Veidt thus far, but he was obviously a fantastic part of the program at Iowa State and the Houston game result is probably a bit of an indication that they might be turning a corner a bit.

STOCK UP:

+ Looking back at the stats for the Arizona State game and really there was no reason why Texas Tech should have won based off the stats. It’s a shame that turning the ball over on downs isn’t a turnover because it was absolutely a thing and they were short 4th downs. Beating a team despite not having your best day. That’s a net positive.

+ Give some flowers to Tim DeRuyter. Seriously, the improvement of the defense is no joke. I thought they would be terrible for the rest of the year and they’re okay. There’s going to be a game where they get whipped, but if they run to the ball and continue to compete, that’s a huge improvement.

+ What to do with all of these tight ends? Texas Tech is at the point where there are so many that Texas Tech has options. Again, as I did my write-up, John Carlos Miller gets a touchdown that’s not that big of a play. And Jalin Conyers gets a rushing touchdowns. There’s a lot of talent there.

STOCK DOWN:

– The offensive line was fine, but needs to be better. The good news is that they continue to improve week-to-week, but they also let Behren Morton get hit too many times and Tahj Brooks didn’t have a very easy day. There were not a ton of running lanes. That has to improve significantly.

– The pass defense had too many penalties and it’s incredible that it didn’t result in more points for ASU. They did get them all out of the way early, so that’s something. I think they know that this is a problem and DeRuyter can’t solve everything all at once, especially when one of your starting cornerbacks is out again. And injuries to the defensive are problematic, but they sort of continue. This is for me my biggest worry.

BIG 12 PUZZLE:

Last Week: The game of the week was Utah beating Oklahoma State in Stillwater, a close game with terrible offenses, but defenses that absolutely dominated. Utah wins 22-19 and is in the driver’s seat to win the Big 12 . . . because Kansas State went on the road and was demolished by BYU, the curse of Matt Wells strikes again. BYU wins 38-9 and K-State ended up having 3 turnovers to the day plus BYU had a spectacular punt return for a touchdown . . . and the game of the weekend may have Colorado coming back to bet Baylor in overtime 38-31. Travis Hunter continues to do it all for the Buffs . . . Should also mention that SMU demolished TCU, 66-42, in the battle for the Iron Skillet and this is the last time that these teams might play for a while and it was memorable for Sonny Dykes as he got kicked out of the game for poppin’ off on the refs . . .

This Week: It doesn’t get any easier for Oklahoma State as they travel to Manhattan to take on Kansas State . . . Utah will get back at home and host Arizona . . . Baylor will host ranked BYU . . . and TCU heads to the now offensively-challenged Kansas Jayhawks . . .

NEWS:

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Fourth-down stops make Texas Tech football win over Arizona State easier

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: The time has come for Texas Tech football tight ends | Don Williams

Last week against North Texas, the Red Raiders scored three rushing touchdowns deployed from 13 personnel, putting two tight ends in the backfield and one on the line. That’s the kind of stuff Iowa State has done with such rugged beauty, making the Cyclones the envy of less well-fortified tight end coaches.

“Those three guys are so key to this offense,” McGuire said, “because they’re so physical. I tell you, Tahj would probably say we’re better when we have Mason Tharp in the run game. Jalin Conyers is so athletic and can do so many things, and then Johncarlos Miller is kind of a hybrid of both. He’s really physical in the run game, and he’s really athletic.

“Those guys, they’ve got great hands, they’re really physical and they’re mismatches.”

Red Raider Sports’ Justin Apodaca: Joey McGuire happy with win over ASU, sees room for improvement for Tech

“Some of that is frustrating, we could’ve gone up 21-0 and we had to punt. We’ve got to be better and more disciplined…we have to eliminate some of those penalties and that kept us from really stretching the lead.”

McGuire mentioned frustration with execution in pass protection, alongside some drops from the offense, but it ultimately became a win for the Red Raiders, who have another chance to add to it before leaving town against Cincinnati next weekend.

Dallas Morning News’ Justin Apodaca: 5 takeaways from Texas Tech-Arizona State: Red Raiders pull away for ugly win

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