Big 12 Sleeper: Texas Tech Red Raiders
The Houston Cougars should be fully formed with a rock-solid …
Wait, this isn’t 2023 and the Big 12 didn’t panic-expand yet after being fired by Texas and Oklahoma?
(Sorry … too soon?)
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The offense hasn’t been rolling like it should be under head coach Matt Wells – the Red Raiders usually don’t get out of bed for the 29 points per game they scored last year – but this is when it might all change.
Tyler Shough was better than he got credit for at Oregon, and now he’s about to be – if all goes according to plan – the high-rising star on the NFL Draft charts with all the tools and talent to sneak his way into a prime spot in what should be a down year for pro quarterback prospects.
– Predicting Every 2021 Big 12 Game
But Texas Tech’s defense should be the difference with one of the best – no, really – linebacking corps in the Big 12 and a solid group of defensive backs. It’s the offense, though, that has to be more of a factor – and it will be.
The season starts off against the aforementioned Houston Cougars, and with Stephen F. Austin and FIU at home along with the free-space game against Kansas, matching the four-win total of each of the last two seasons shouldn’t be tough.
Upset a TCU at home here, pull off a shocker over a Texas/Iowa State/Oklahoma State there, and this could be the first winning season since 2015.