In last year’s game between Texas Tech and TCU, the game was over by halftime. That is probably a bit generous, it might have been over even before that. The final score was a brutally lopsided 82-27 TCU rout, but when the Horned Frogs travel to Lubbock for Saturday’s matchup, it will be an entirely different story.
After the Red Raiders stumbled to an ugly 4-8 finish last year, Kliff Kingsbury has his team humming along so far 2015.
According to TCU head coach Gary Patterson, Tech is much improved from last year.
“The kids coming by today, watching film, they understand they’re a really good football team, really played well on offense, keep getting better on defense every week,” Patterson said, via Carlos Mendez of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
There are two key reasons why the Red Raiders have been so much better this season, the first of which is that it seems Kingsbury has found the ideal quarterback to run his Air Raid offense. Sophomore signal-caller Patrick Mahomes flashed excellent potential toward the end of last season, throwing for at least 325 yards and four touchdowns in each of the last three games of 2014.
So far this year, he has taken his game to another level. Mahomes ranks third in the nation in total offense, has already been named the Big 12 Player of the Week twice, and he even threw a vicious pancake block on a helpless Arkansas defender in the Red Raiders’ 35-24 victory over the Razorbacks last week.
The block came on a speed option play. After Mahomes pitched the ball to Tech running back DeAndre Washington, who leads the Big 12 in rushing, he delivered a nice block that allowed Washington to pick up a big chunk of yards.
“That play was huge,” Washington said, via Jake Trotter of ESPN.com. “When your quarterback, your leader, sacrifices his body like that and comes up with a big hit – it really got us going.”
Kingsbury, who said his quarterback will never throw a block like that again, prefers to focus on Mahomes’ overall influence as the leader of the squad.
“He plays with a certain spirit, where (the players) never know what’s going to happen, where they think everything is possible, and we’ve got a chance in every game,” Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury told Trotter. “You can see they’re inspired by some of the plays he makes. ... He’s unflappable.”
The Red Raiders will come into Saturday’s sporting one of the most potent offenses in the country. Through three weeks of the season, Tech ranks third in the nation in scoring with 54.3 points per game and sixth in total offense with 590 yards per contest.
It’s not like the Red Raiders need any help scoring points in bunches, but the cornucopia of injuries that has plagued the TCU defense should ensure that the scoreboard operator will stay busy for all 60 minutes of the game.
On Saturday, there is a good chance that the Horned Frogs will be without seven starters on the defensive side of the ball. That leaves only one returning starter in the lineup from the Peach Bowl last year when TCU pummeled Ole Miss on New Year’s Eve.
Look for Mahomes and Co. to exploit all of that attrition to the tune of at least 500-600 total yards of offense.
However, on several occasions Kingsbury was complimentary of Patterson, who will maximize the production of his group despite the mass of injuries.
"Defensively, I think he is one of the top minds in all of football,” Kingsbury told Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports. “He’ll have 'em in the right spot and they'll play hard. Whenever you play his teams, nothing is easy or given and they're always where they’re supposed to be.”
On the other sideline is a much improved Tech defense. David Gibbs came over from the University of Houston in the offseason, and the Red Raiders have gone from a horrible defense to at least a respectable unit.
Through three games, Texas Tech is tied with Oklahoma State for first place in the conference in turnover margin and they have just allowed 20 second-half points this year.
In a close game against a solid Arkansas squad last weekend, the Red Raiders got bulled around in the trenches in the first half. But after a few halftime adjustments, the Razorbacks were only able to manage a field goal in the third and fourth quarters.
Kingsbury has also taken more of a role in the defense this year. He said in his weekly press conference that the defensive coaches had all the schemes under control, but that he has become more of a cheerleader than in the past, doing everything he can to fire up the troops.
In an article by Paul Myerberg of USA Today in the preseason, the point was made that the Red Raiders might be in position to make the same jump to prominence that TCU did last year.
TCU went 4-8 in 2013 only to go 12-1 in 2014. Texas Tech went 4-8 in 2014, and a victory over TCU would be huge for the program as well, as it would give Kingsbury his first real signature win as a head coach.
It’s by no means a guaranteed upset, but there are several things in place that make a Texas Tech victory possible. And even if the Red Raiders come up short, you can bet that it will be an incredibly high-scoring affair that will be extremely fun to watch.