Texas Tech welcomes a high powered Texas Longhorn offense to Lubbock

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Oh it’s that time of year again. The Texas Longhorns are in town and Texas Tech is getting ready for this rivalry in what could be the last showdown in Lubbock between the 2 schools. Texas has a lot of extremely talented offensive pieces and I’m here to tell you about a couple of their best.

Lets start with the QB situation for the Longhorns. Quinn Ewers went down with an unfortunate shoulder injury in Week 2 against Alabama and since then Hudson Card has stepped in for UT. Card wasn’t overly impressive in the game against UTSA, passing for only 163 yards and 1 TD. Last season in relief for Casey Thompson, Card would pass for 590 yards, 5 TDs and 1 INT in 7 appearances for the Longhorns. The numbers don’t pop out, but they aren’t terrible.

Coming into the season there was some rumors that Card might have beat out Ewers for the starting job, but those rumors turned out to be false as Ewers was named the starter. The passing game looked significantly better against Alabama when Ewers was in the game, and there was an obvious drop off when Card entered. If Card is indeed the QB Tech sees this week, I expect a very heavy run game from the Longhorns.

Well, this is where we get to the elite talent that is Bijan Robinson. The clear cut best RB in the nation in my opinion, slowing down Robinson will be no easy feat. Tech has been elite in stopping the run thus far this season, but this will no doubt be their toughest test. Last week against UTSA, Bijan ran 20 times for 183 yards and 3 TDs. Over his career, Robinson has carried the ball 332 times for 2,141 yards and 20 TDs, averaging an astounding 6.4 yards per carry. The dude is just flat out a beast.

He isn’t just great at running the ball, but is also a decent threat in the pass game. So far this season, Robinson already has 15 catches for 196 yards and 2 TDs, with a lot of that damage coming against the elite Alabama defense. Tech has been top 5 in the nation so far this season in stopping the run. Tech is allowing just 2.3 yards per carry this season, but that is about to be put to the ultimate test.

Oh, you thought I was done talking about the run game, didn't you?

Sadly, I’m not, solely because Texas has another RB that is one of the best in the Big 12 in his own right, and it would be disrespectful not to touch on him too. Roschon Johnson has amazing in relief of Bijan Robinson this season and has really been the Longhorns’ 3rd best skill position player this season. Against UTSA, Johnson carried the ball 11 times for 81 yards, and also added 3 catches for 23 yards and 1 TD. Johnson might not be as good as Robinson, but he is a huge threat out of the backfield, and there will be no breaks for this defense, even when Bijan is taking one.

The last Longhorn I’m gonna talk about is Xavier Worthy. Everyone really knows who he is, and that is one of the better receivers in the Big 12. He hasn’t gotten off to a great start this season, but he was extremely impressive in the game against Alabama when Quinn Ewers was in there. Last season Worthy had 62 catches for 981 yards and 12 TDs, 3 of those TDs coming against Tech last season. He is extremely talented, but his production could differ depending on who is throwing him the ball.

Texas Tech’s defense is going to be challenged by a group of elite skill players, which everyone already knows that. The defense should be able to create some noise with a somewhat young Longhorn offensive line. This flow of this game will really depend on who is under center for UT. If it is Card, I expect a heavy run game and a lot of game managing, which will allow Tech to possibly control some tempo. The Red Raider defense has really been elite so far this season, and I honestly can’t wait to see how they match up against an offense with as much talent as Texas. How weird is it to say that? Chris will be here later with a defensive preview and you will get to see how the Tech offense will matchup there.

How do you think the Tech defense will matchup with the Texas offense? Let me know in the comments! Wreck ‘em and Horns Down always.

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