Point of Attack | Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Oklahoma St. Cowboys

ATTACKING THE COWBOY OFFENSE | Pick your poison. The thing that is most notable is that the Cowboys are incredibly balanced and very good. They always have a solid offensive line and this year is no different. The one thing that I would note is that the teams that have beaten Oklahoma St. have done one thing relatively well. When Oklahoma St. turns the ball over, they lose. Sorta. The only time this wasn't true was against Kansas, where OSU was -1 in turnover margin for the game, but against Arizona they were a -4 and against Kansas St. they were -5. The problem for the Texas Tech defense is that they don't force turnovers. Not even a little bit, so Texas Tech I think that Texas Tech is going to have to get something to turn the tide a bit.

I'm guessing that the problem for Texas Tech will be that the defense will have the same problems that they've had for conference play and just won't be able to stop Oklahoma St., but what they can do is limit the big plays and keep things in front of them. That will mean that Texas Tech most likely won't have S Cody Davis in the box really at all and he's going to have to play deep to guard against the deep pass. Without his play in the box, I think that Oklahoma St. has the potential to run wild. DC Art Kaufman is going to have to make a choice. If I'm Kaufman, I stop the run and sacrifice anything deep. It's a risk, but I don't like the alternative of having the run defense just absolutely ripped.

ATTACKING THE COWBOY DEFENSE | I am much more comfortable as to where the offense is right now for Texas Tech. Doege is in an incredible groove offensively, despite struggles in the red zone. Doege acknowledged that he needs to fix this after the Kansas game. I don't know that things get fixed, but I feel more comfortable with Doege making corrections than the defense. Sometimes it is ill-timed penalties and sometimes it is drops and sometimes it is Doege making the wrong read, but I think he's going to get it right.

I am concerned about the scoring. Oklahoma St. allows 26 points a game, but it's really on 20 points a game at home and 39 points on the road. That's bothersome as a team that has trouble scoring in the redzone. OSU does have the benefit of scoring 84 against Savannah St., but still, they'll score at home.

The defense is littered with juniors and seniors starting, except for James Castleman at defensive tackle. This is an experienced group. If Doege and this group continues as they did last week, but eliminate the mistakes, then they'll be fine. Doege is seeing the field very well. I think this is a situation where the respective defenses will be deciding this game and it's going to come down to who can make some stops.