Texas Tech Football: Defense could be at premium vs. Arizona in Week 3

Texas Tech football travels to Tucson to tangle with the Arizona Wildcats in #Pac12AfterDark action. Here’s a preview, prediction and how to watch.

There’s nothing quite like Pac-12 after dark. Saturday night’s tilt features the Texas Tech Red Raiders traveling all the way from Lubbock, Texas to take on the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson. This could be an entertaining quarterback duel featuring Texas Tech sophomore Alan Bowman and Arizona senior quarterback Khalil Tate.

There’s an old saying that styles make fights. You have the dual-threat quarterback versus the throw-it-around-the-yard quarterback. There might not be much defense, but it promises to be an entertaining game.

Bowman is one of the Big 12’s “young guns”  along with Baylor junior quarterback Charlie Brewer, Iowa State sophomore quarterback Brock Purdy, and Oklahoma State redshirt freshman Spencer Sanders. Bowman is big with a big arm, and he’s performed well in new head coach Matt Wells’ new offensive system.

We remember when Tate broke out and became an ESPN highlight darling a couple of years ago. Last season started off well enough until injuries and learning a new system hampered his productivity. He’s healthy this season, and it off to a fantastic start both throwing and running the ball.

Here’s how you can watch:

Date: Saturday, Sept. 14
Time: 10:30 p.m. ET
Location: Tucson, Ariz.
Venue: Arizona Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: watchESPN/ESPN+ or FuboTV

Keys to Victory

This might be a case of who has the ball last. The Arizona Wildcats finished 107th, 118th, 109th and 98th in FBS in scoring defense the last four years, respectively. The Texas Tech Red Raiders were as poor ranking 125th, 128th, 100th and 86th, respectively, in the same category.

It would be cliché to say the team that actually has a defense show up in this game wins, but neither team has a defense present.

We didn’t learn much about the Red Raider defense after playing Montana State and UTEP; Montana State is an FCS team and UTEP is one of the worst teams in FBS. We learned that Arizona’s defense hasn’t stirred the echoes of Dick Tomey’s “Desert Swarm” defense in the early 1990s, and Kevin Sumlin needs time to build a defense in Tucson. The Wildcats gave up 45 to Hawaii in their opener, and 41 to Northern Arizona last week.

So how do you win this game? Other than the last possession theory, the team that possess the ball might have the best chance to win.

If that’s the case, give the edge to Arizona who could actually grind it out on the ground and shorten the game against a defense that gave up 160 rushing yards per game last year. If the Wildcats decide they want to go pass for pass against Bowman and Tech, advantage Red Raiders.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of Bovada

Point Spread: Texas Tech -2
Over/Under: 77

Prediction

Unless one of these teams decides this is the perfect week to play their absolute worst game on offense, or either defense decides to have the game of a lifetime expect both teams to light up that score board. Both Bowman and Tate will have huge days offensively. This game is a difficult call.

It would make sense for Arizona to use their depth at running back to shorten the game, but that isn’t Sumlin’s style. Wells has brought a bit more of a balanced attack, but Bowman has almost 100 pass attempts in two games, so that might be out of the window. Surprisingly as much as each team throws, the starting quarterbacks have only three interceptions between them. So, this game comes down to Arizona making a play on defense, and they don’t.

Final Score: Arizona 49, Texas Tech 56