Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
United Bank Playbook – Texas Tech Preview
September 26, 2018 11:42 AM | Football
| Tale of the Tape |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Points Per Game | 52.0 | 42.3 |
| Points Against | 28.2 | 12.3 |
| Rushing Yards Per Game | 187.8 | 171.7 |
| Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game | 153.2 | 118.7 |
| Passing Yards Per Game | 435.8 | 373.7 |
| Passing Yards Allowed Per Game | 284.0 | 185.3 |
| Total Yards Per Game | 623.5 | 545.3 |
| Total Yards Allowed Per Game | 437.2 | 304.0 |
| First Downs For | 134 | 75 |
| First Downs Against | 81 | 55 |
| Fumbles/Lost | 1/1 | 5/2 |
| Interceptions/Return Ave. | 4/13.2 | 1/0.0 |
| Net Punting | 39.2 | 38.6 |
| Field Goal/Attempts | 4/5 | 3/4 |
| Time of Possession | 36:00 | 27:50 |
| 3rd Down Conversions | 34-64 | 20-32 |
| 3rd Down Conversion Defense | 17-61 | 12-40 |
| Sacks By/Yards Lost | 7-47 | 7-38 |
| Red Zone Scoring | 25-29 | 12-12 |
Fast, faster and fastest is the way Red Raider coach Kliff Kingsbury has been playing this season, and West Virginia's coaches and players expect more of the same on Saturday afternoon in Lubbock, Texas.
During last Saturday's impressive, 41-17 victory over then-No. 15 Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Tech (3-1, 1-0) was operating at warp speed, particularly in the second half.
True freshman quarterback Alan Bowman passed for 397 yards and two touchdowns, the ground game popped a couple of big second-half runs and the Red Raider defense pitched a second-half shutout in an all-around impressive performance.
It's an effort that has certainly caught the eye of West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, a former Red Raider assistant coach who has beaten his former team four straight times heading into Saturday's game.
"They went really, really, really fast," Holgorsen said, emphasizing those three reallys. "It's different than what Kansas State did to us, or Youngstown (State) or Tennessee. It's different than how we play here, although we have the capabilities to go as fast as anyone."
West Virginia's defense is giving up just 12.3 points per game, second lowest in the country this week, but some of that is probably a product of the Mountaineers only being forced to defend an average of 62.6 plays per game.
If Kingsbury has his way, Tech will have that many by halftime. The Red Raiders are averaging an eye-opening 93.3 plays per game and had 92 in last Saturday's 24-point win over the Cowboys.
Kingsbury doesn't run a massive amount of plays, but he is deceptive in how he presents them with different formations, unbalanced sets and tomfoolery, all predicated on getting the defense out of position.
Therefore, it will be important for West Virginia to line up quickly and get things identified before the football is snapped.
"They do a lot of run-pass, where the quarterback has to make a decision on handing it or throwing it," Holgorsen explained. "And they use quite a bit of trickery on formations, a lot of unbalance, a lot of uncharacteristic things, unconventional things in football that you have to be tuned in on every single snap."
During last year's game in Morgantown, Texas Tech caught West Virginia flat-footed in the first half and led the Mountaineers 21-10 early in the second quarter.
It took the Mountaineers an entire halftime on the grease board to eventually get things straightened out in the second half. West Virginia limited Texas Tech to one third-quarter touchdown and scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to pull out a wild, 46-35 victory.
A lot of the key performers on this year's defense played in that game, so veteran defensive coordinator Tony Gibson will be relying on those guys to get the others settled down.
"We weren't successful until about midway through the third quarter," Gibson recalled. "Then, we finally calmed down a little bit, but early on they had us on the ropes. The second play of the game went for a touchdown, so it wasn't good."
Gibson said the number of different formations the Red Raiders utilize can cause problems with inexperienced defenses or players not accustomed to what they are seeing.
"They put a lot of stress with their tempo and their unbalanced sets," he explained. "They go with quads (double-slot receivers), empty – they do all kinds of different things. They're so fast with it that's how they get their big plays."
It's surprising how quickly Bowman has adjusted to the college game after getting thrust into action in the first quarter of the Ole Miss loss when starter McLane Carter when down with an ankle injury. Carter is actually still listed as the starter on Tech's depth chart this week, which shows how meaningless depth charts have become these days.
Bowman passed for 273 yards and a touchdown in the loss to the Rebels and followed that up with 282 yards and two touchdowns in Texas Tech's 77-0 whitewash of Lamar.
Two weeks ago, he lit up Houston's secondary for 605 yards and five touchdowns in Texas Tech's impressive 63-49 victory. Last week, he nearly threw for 400 yards against an Oklahoma State defense that performed pretty well in early-season victories over Missouri State, Texas-San Antonio and Boise State.
It's difficult to tell how Bowman operates in the pocket because the ball is usually out of his hands before a pocket can form.
"He doesn't hold it long enough to see," Gibson said. "He gets it out quick and does a really good job of it. I think they've only given up four sacks this year, so they're not going to let you hit their quarterback."
Still, West Virginia (3-0, 1-0) is going to have to come up with a way to stick close to Texas Tech's receivers and find a way to disrupt what Bowman wants to do at the line of scrimmage.
The most likely place for that to happen is up front - and not just with extra guys coming on blitzes.
"We have to take some of the easy stuff away from them, and I'm anxious to watch our defensive line," Holgorsen mentioned. "Let's see if we're as good as we think we are right now and pressure those guys and try to get to the quarterback to make some mistakes.
"We always know that we have the ability to be able to bring second-level people to get there, but I want to see if our defensive line can get after that quarterback. That helps your pass defense more than anything."
Another thing that could help is the sprained knee standout wide receiver T.J. Vasher sustained in last week's Oklahoma State win.
It was Vasher who scored on the second play of the game last year on a poorly defensed quick screen, and he is one of five Red Raider players with more than 10 catches so far this year.
Six-foot-5-inch, 200-pound junior Antoine Wesley has been Bowman's favorite target, snaring 30 passes for 511 yards and four touchdowns. Ja'Deion High has also been another big weapon catching 22 passes for 301 yards and two scores.
There are other players to account for in the passing game, including running back Ta'Zhawn Henry who shows 12 catches for 69 yards.
"It's nothing new in this league," Holgorsen said. "Everybody that we play is going to have a very deep receiving corps. That's what the Big 12 is all about."
Including West Virginia, which has rolled to three blowout victories in the early going.Heisman Trophy contender Will Grier has assumed complete control of the West Virginia offense and ranks second nationally this week in passing efficiency with a 215.8 quarterback rating. He's thrown five touchdown passes in a game twice so far this year, including all five TDs scored in last Saturday's 35-6 win over Kansas State.
He's completing 74.7 percent of his pass attempts this year for 1,117 yards and 14 touchdowns and is on pace to throw 55 touchdown passes for the regular season if he can maintain his current TD-pass rate.
"They have dynamic skill across the board as good as anyone in the country," Kingsbury said Monday morning.
Holgorsen admitted Tuesday that Grier is given more leeway than any quarterback he's ever been involved with, going back to his days working for Mike Leach at Texas Tech.
"I think (offensive coordinator) Jake Spavital needs a lot of credit for that because he spends a lot of time with him and practices situations," Holgorsen explained. "We're giving him specific looks, and he's learning from it. We're doing a good job with our play calling, and our formations and game prep and the cadence of how we do things to where they see things and have ample opportunities to change things.
"Will has complete freedom, and he's doing a good job with it."
So, Saturday's game could boil down to a battle of wills, West Virginia's Will Grier or Texas Tech's will to play fast and run as many plays as it can.
It's been very successful for the Red Raiders so far, but it does come with risks if things aren't going well.
"You've heard a lot of people talk about tempo, but if you're not very good and you do it, it kills you," Holgorsen explained.
Regardless, continually putting the football in Will Grier's hands comes with its own special hazards. Keep in mind, Grier is ranked 12thin the country in passing yardage this week despite playing against three teams that did everything it could to keep Grier off the field.
Giving West Virginia's offense 15 or 20 offensive possessions could lead to lots of fireworks on Saturday afternoon at Jones AT&T Stadium.
ESPN2 (Anish Shroff, Ahmad Brooks and Roddy Jones) will televise the game nationally at noon (11 a.m. local).
The Mountaineer Sports from IMG's coverage begins with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show at 8:30 a.m. leading into regular game coverage at 11 a.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app TuneIn.
West Virginia has won that last two times it has played at Jones Stadium and holds a 5-2 overall advantage in a series that began in 1938 when WVU upset the Red Raiders 7-6 in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
This will be Holgorsen's seventh matchup against his protégé Kingsbury.
Wednesday Sound
Players Mentioned
QB
/ FootballRich Rodriguez | Dec. 3
Wednesday, December 03
Reid Carrico | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Jeff Weimer | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Rich Rodriguez | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
