Big 12 Football: Week 9 Power Rankings

7. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Record: 4-4)

If you told a Texas Tech fan that head coach Kliff Kingsbury would commit less to the Air Raid following the 48-17 loss against West Virginia in favor of an evenly distributed pass/run scheme against TCU, they probably would have laughed at you. I probably would have laughed at you considering how stubborn Kingsbury has been with his offense. Well, that was the case, and the defense appeared to finally be clicking in the Red Raiders’ thrilling 27-24 double overtime victory in Fort Worth.

Following the record performance by Patrick Mahomes against Oklahoma, the quarterback was 24/39 for 206 yards, with three touchdowns, and one interception. Tied 10-10 at halftime, the Red Raiders came back and shut TCU out in the third quarter. Tech’s defense also gave TCU issues in the redzone, preventing scores on two trips inside the 20. Tied at the end of regulation, both sides of the football were showing the resilience and confidence it’s been lacking throughout the past few years.

As is the case in all games, I read an asinine comment attributing Texas Tech’s victory on account of TCU kicker Brandon Hatfield, who was just 1/4 on field goals on the day. To give credit where it’s due, despite allowing 418 yards, Tech’s defense was the reason the Red Raiders won. This is huge for a team that gave up 82 points to TCU two years ago.

Perhaps the biggest stats of the night came off Texas Tech ending its three game turnover drought by Douglas Coleman. And the 122nd most penalized team in the nation showed significant improvement on disciple, committing just one penalty for just five yards.

D’Onta Foreman should be in Heisman discussion, so how Texas Tech’s defense protects the Texas Longhorns’ run game this weekend will probably emerge as the biggest storyline–win or lose.

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