Texas Tech (4-1, 2-0) vs. Arizona (3-1, 1-1)

When: Saturday, October 5th @ 10:00 pm
Where: Arizona Stadium | Tucson, AZ
TV & Streaming: FOX
Radio: TuneIn Radio
The Line: Arizona -5.5
Weather: Sunny, 101-73

Arizona head coach Brett Brennan was at San Jose State for 7 years prior to his arrival in Tucson last year. Brennan went 34-48 in those 7 years and that’s probably a bit deceiving, but he inherited a team that went 2-11 and then 1-11 in his first 2 years and won 7 games3 of the final 4 years at SJSU. Brennan is an offensive guy, but he’s not known for his high-flying offenses.

The defensive coordinator is a guy who seems like he’s been around forever, Duane Akina. Akina was at Texas for 12 years and I think he was mainly with Mack Brown and his staff way back in the day. Akina was an assistant coach last year for Arizona and now he’s stepped into the DC role and will keep the 4-2-5 defense that they ran last year.

Offensive coordinator is Dino Babers, the former Syracuse coach that was terminated last year. Babers has been around, he’s been a coach at Baylor, UCLA, Bowling Green and Eastern Illinois (the last 2 stops were as head coach). Babers does a lot of RPO, which meshes really well with the talent at Arizona.

STOCK UP:

+ I complain a bit about the offense below, but generally speaking, it’s really pretty good overall and I’m quite pleased with how the offense is operating. Behren Morton isn’t trying to win games by himself and Tahj Brooks is shifting things into a different gear. Not only that the offensive skill position players are really upgraded to the point that they are problems for opposing defenses. I don’t think they were problems for anyone last year.

+ Starting the season at 4-1 is really ideal and that’s a simplistic statement, but goodness, to start stacking wins now makes the rest of the season a bit easier. That’s not to say that this is going to be easy the rest of the way, but having your backs against the wall at the end of the season isn’t ideal.

+ The linebackers are pretty elite at this point, or they are playing elite. Ben Roberts and Jacob Rodriguez are making plays all over the field.

STOCK DOWN:

– Injuries. Mother effing injuries.

– The freshmen and sophomore defensive backs are having a time and they are being tested. A lot. I’d also say that Sorsby is a really good quarterback and you can tell that he’s got more than just something, he can play. Regardless, this feels like a literal trial by fire.

– Consistency in the offensive line is still something that I think needs a bit of work. They are playing better, but not quite good enough and consistent enough. I want them to be able to impose their will as needed and there are plays and opportunities where that doesn’t happen.

– I really disliked the way that offensive drive where Tahj Brooks stepped out at the 5 or 6 yard line and had 3 opportunities to pound the ball into the end zone and put the ball away. One rush and two passes and would have loved for the offensive line to flex a bit.

BIG 12 PUZZLE:

Last Week: Arizona takes down Utah on the road and only allows the Utes to score 10 points, 23-10. Would not have thought that score possible, but there it is. So glad the Wildcats are the next opponent for Texas Tech . . . Kansas State laid claim to being the best team in the Big 12. Granted, they were at home, but they demolished Oklahoma State 42-20 . . . BYU held on against Baylor, BYU scoring only 3 points in the 2nd half, while Baylor scored just 7 points every quarter. Don’t look now, but it may be BYU and Kansas State as the . . . Iowa State blanked Houston, but I am thinking a lot of teams are going to blank Houston, 20-0 . . . Colorado absolutely whipped up on UCF on the road, 48-21 . . . and last, but not least, TCU took down Kansas on the road, 38-27 and the Jayhawks may be in trouble . . .

This Week: Not sure the game of the week, maybe it is UCF against Florida in Gainesville. Will be interested to see if UCF can score in the Swamp. I’d also like to think a good thought for all of those affected by Hurricane Helene. Bless you all if you’ve been affected . . . West Virginia will be in Stillwater for Oklahoma State as the Cowboys look to get their first Big 12 win . . . Baylor will try to get up off the mat as they will be on the road to take on Iowa State (this is not really a great bounce-back opportunity for the Bears) . . . the reeling Jayhawks fact Arizona State as they both look for their first Big 12 win . . .

NEWS:

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese: Scott Satterfield says Cincinnati football ‘got screwed’ on targeting call that wasn’t

“I couldn’t really quite understand what he was trying to say on that one,” Satterfield said. “I was really angry on that because when you give yourself up, you’re not supposed to get hit.”

By Satterfield’s recollection, officials told the Cincinnati coach that there was no late hit on the play, and the flag had only been thrown for the targeting infraction. Once again, Satterfield opted to hold on to his timeout, costing Cincinnati another 10 seconds of clock.

“He calls the penalty, they end up taking it off, yet we still get penalized for 10 seconds,” Satterfield said. “We got screwed on that one.”

The reason Satterfield was given for this 10-second runoff was because Sorsby went down inbounds. Had a flag not been thrown, the clock would have continued to run, so when play resumed, the clock was reset to 48 seconds. The flag had been thrown with 58 seconds on the clock

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Does Texas Tech football get any A’s after squeaker vs. Cincinnati? | Report card

Defense: D
Sudden-change situations and big-play touchdowns continue to be a problem. De’Braylon Carroll, Roberts and Jacob Rodriguez were bright spots.

Dallas Morning News’ Justin Apodaca: 5 takeaways from Texas Tech-Cincinnati: Red Raiders escape with win after missed FG

Coaches escape with savvy substitution on final possession
Texas Tech’s defense was getting walked back on Cincinnati’s final possession of the game. But Tech was able to burn more clock and force the 51-yard field goal attempt.

After a first down into Tech territory, Cincinnati ran a no-huddle offense, but made the mistake of substituting its personnel, so Tech was able to slow substitute and burn an extra 13 seconds off the clock.

The time taken likely took a play away from Cincinnati, making the field-goal attempt further, which eventually proved to be the difference.

Red Raider Sports’ Justin Apodaca: McGuire praises gritty Red Raiders as Tech is out to best start in a decade

A wild affair, one where the Red Raiders gave up 555 yards of offense, but found a way to escape with the win, McGuire was proud of the way his defense stopped the run and came away with key turnovers but sees room for improvement in all phases.

“It just goes back those big plays. I mean, any kind of big plays in games like that, first thing is like, hey, blown coverages, it wasn’t that, it just always goes back to fundamental football,” McGuire said. “We’re not sacking the quarterback, you know. And so now we’re hanging our secondary out to dry because they’re gonna cover longer than what they should have to cover. Part of that is we’re not containing the quarterback, you know. And we’ve definitely a week from now got to do a good job.”