Arkansas @ Texas Tech preview

Texas Tech is among the most talented offensive teams in the country but struggled through its first two games due to defense and discipline issues. The Red Raiders will need to clean up some of those problems when they host Arkansas on Saturday. The Razorbacks began the campaign with a loss at Auburn but bounced back by putting up 35 first-quarter points en route to a 73-7 shellacking of Nicholls State last week.

Texas Tech committed a total of 25 penalties in its first two games, allowing Central Arkansas and Texas El-Paso to stay on offense longer and make the games closer than they needed to be. The Red Raiders' combination of quarterback Davis Webb and wide receiver Bradley Marquez generated enough explosive plays to cover the mistakes on the other side. Arkansas led 63-0 less than a minute into the second half while racking up 495 rushing yards against Nicholls State and would like to use that ground attack to keep the ball away from Webb and Marquez.

TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2. LINE: Texas Tech -2.5

ABOUT ARKANSAS (1-1): The Razorbacks snapped a school-record 10-game losing streak with the demolition of Nicholls State and got an efficient performance from quarterback Brandon Allen, who went 4-of-5 passing with all four completions going for touchdowns. Allen gets plenty of support from the corps of running backs led by Alex Collins, who is averaging 8.7 yards per carry. “The more that we can monopolize the clock a little more and more efficiently we can operate and do certain things, it’s only going to help our defense,” coach Brett Bielema told reporters.

ABOUT TEXAS TECH (2-0): The Red Raiders gave up 277 yards on the ground to UTEP last week and face an even stronger offensive line from the Razorbacks. “They’re a talented team on that side of the ball up front,” coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters of Arkansas. “They have two good running backs…a good quarterback, physical receivers, so it will be by far the biggest challenge we’ve faced.” Webb and the passing game have had no such problems, and the second-year starter is up to 730 yards and seven touchdowns through two games, with five of those scoring passes going to Marquez.

EXTRA POINTS

1. The former Southwest conference rivals are meeting for the first time since 1991, and Arkansas holds a 28-7 lead in the series.

2. Davis has not been sacked in 127 consecutive pass attempts.

3. The Razorbacks set an SEC record with an average of 12.7 yards per play against Nicholls State.

PREDICTION: Texas Tech 35, Arkansas 31