Things started off slowly for sophomore quarterback Graham Harrell and the Texas Tech Red Raiders offense this season.
They struggled out of the gate with a 4-3 record in their first seven games and a 2-4 record against the spread.
Even stranger, coach Mike Leach’s “Air Raid” offense - a quirky, pass-happy, video game offense that annually turns noodle-armed quarterbacks into NCAA record setters - wasn’t producing.
The Raiders managed just three points in Week 3 against TCU and just six in Week 7 against Colorado. There were some decent outing in between, and they were still among the league leaders in passing yards, but for the first seven weeks, Texas Tech looked like, well, just another passing offense.
Then last week against Iowa State, Harrell finally picked up the controller and starting pumping out the stats we’re used to seeing from Texas Tech quarterbacks. He threw for 368 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions in the biggest offensive output against Cyclones this season. That includes games against the Oklahoma Sooners, Iowa Hawkeyes and Texas Longhorns.
The Red Raiders host the Longhorns on Saturday afternoon as 10 ½-point home underdogs. Texas Tech actually opened as 12-point underdogs, but sharp action moved the line down.
“The sharp players are all over the dog, while the average bettor has clearly sided with the favorite,” says a bookmaker for Bodog.com. “We’ve got good action on this game.”
In the Longhorns, the Raiders face a team that’s struggled all season to stop the pass. Texas ranks second in the nation in rush defense, but 83rd in passing defense, allowing 222 yards per game and 7.1 yards per attempt.
“It’s nearly impossible to run on the Longhorns, but if there’s one team in the nation who wouldn’t be concerned with that fact, it would be this Texas Tech squad,” says Covers Expert Shawn Torrey. “Tech will take so many chances through the air that odds are they're going to connect on a few of them; at least enough to believe they can keep this one a little closer than what the oddsmakers, or betting public would believe.”
Texas Tech's struggles shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise. Harrell is the first non-senior quarterback to start in Lubbock since Kliff Kingsbury in 2001.
The complexities of the Air Raid offense are difficult to grasp, even if the playbook is written on a napkin. Leach spreads the field as wide as he can on offense and, instead of players having a bunch of different pass patterns, they use an inordinate number of formations.
In the Air Raid, the quarterback is given the responsibility of calling the plays at the line. Harrell, in just his third year with the Raiders, has only had two years to learn the system.
“The Texas Tech offense has showed it’s explosiveness at different points this season,” says Torrey. “I think it’s safe to assume it will only get better the more snaps that Harrell takes, and of course after that embarrassing outing at Colorado a few weeks back. This week the Red Raiders offense will get to attack a Texas defense that is not only riddled by injury, but also very prone to giving up passing yards in big chunks.”
Seven members of the Longhorns defense found their way onto the injury report this week. Defensive tackle Frank Okam (knee) and cornerback Aaron Ross (hand) are probable. Defensive end Brian Robinson (ankle), linebacker Robert Killebrew (leg), safety Michael Griffin (ankle) and his twin brother, safety Marcus Griffin (also ankle) are questionable. Defensive tackle Derek Lokey is sidelined indefinitely.
Texas is coming off an emotional 22-20 win over Nebraska last week as a five point favorite. It was the first time the Horns failed to cover on the road this season.
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