Craven: Looking ahead to TCU vs. Texas Tech

[caption id="attachment_18904" align="aligncenter" width="800"]Photo by Ashley Wirz Photo by Ashley Wirz[/caption] Texas Tech and Kliff Kingsbury were searching for a program-defining win and the feather in their hat was acquired when Texas Tech knocked off Arkansas 35-24 on the road last week. It was a great win over a decent SEC team, but it was marred by the fact Arkansas lost to Toledo the week before. If Texas Tech wins this week, however, there will be no excuses coming from the media. The Red Raiders face TCU at home on Saturday. A win would make Kingsbury’s team 4-0 with a victory over a top-ranked Big 12 school in TCU and a road win against an SEC team in Arkansas. To pull it off, Texas Tech needs another big performance from quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The sophomore from Whitehouse High School already surpassed 1,000 yards passing for the season and showed his duel-threat ability with four rushing touchdowns. He went 26-for-30 for 243 yards passing against Arkansas, showing off his best trait: Efficiency. A Mahomes-led offense is clicking on all cylinders this season. The Red Raiders averaged 64 points in wins against Sam Houston State and UTEP to start the season before putting up over 30 to beat Arkansas. Mahomes is completing over 65 percent of his passes and the running game is opening up with him putting his ability to run on tape for opposing defenses to worry about moving forward. The question this week is about defense. The Horned Frogs face a similar question, which is weird under Gary Patterson. Both teams are offensive juggernauts in a college football world full of high-powered offenses. TCU struggled in an opening-season win over Minnesota, but the Trevone Boykin-led offense clicked against SMU and Stephen F. Austin over the past two weeks. Texas Tech doesn’t need to stop TCU and the Horned Frogs don’t need to stop Texas Tech. Both offenses will score – a lot. This game will come down to turnovers and red zone defense. Neither unit needs to be dominant, but the winner of this game will need an opportunistic defense that can steal a possession or two for its own offense. The Red Raiders want to be in the conversation for top program in the state of Texas. A win over TCU makes that possible and the Red Raiders are good enough to pull off the upset.