Red Raider Ravioli: maybe not eight

Buongiorno!

The bye week is almost finished, and I hope you all enjoyed this weekend without football. Or, at least, without football we care about. With the first part of the season already in the books, it’s time to talk once again about the number of victories the Red Raiders will have at the end of the regular season.

I take a cue from this article that appeared on VTM last week, in which the young Jacob says the Red Raiders can reach the 8-victory mark, but I admit I’m a little skeptical about this, and in this article, I’ll try to explain my doubts. I don’t want to be the one who only blames everyone and everything, but I’d like to create the basis for a discussion on this team. Ready? Go!

Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images

In my opinion, there are three question marks that separate the Red Raiders from this number of victories.

Quarterback situation

Alan Bowman showed plenty of talent, but he was injured against West Virginia and was hospitalized for a couple of days for a partially collapsed lung. He is expected to play on Thursday against TCU, but what ‘s going to happen if he won’t be able to play or will suffer another hit in that area? McLane Carter’s status is uncertain too, and defenses the Red Raiders will face until the end of the season now know who Jett Duffey is. The offensive gameplans should be particularly adaptive for the Red Raiders.

Defense

I think here there’s some sort of double personality because it’s hard to figure out how a unit that allowed 35 points against the Mountaineers in the first half suddenly emerged and shut down the same offense for the entire second half. And the same happened against Oklahoma State. Let’s imagine some sort of “blackout” happens against a more-than-decent offensive team like Baylor: would our offense be good enough to answer shot for shot?

Schedule

Now, the Red Raiders already won three games. The only solution to imagine something similar to eight victories is beating TCU. The Horned Frogs barely survived to Iowa State with a field goal in the final minute, but their offense seemed really gimpy. Normally, when there’s some expectation on the Red Raiders defense, it melts, so I’m not particularly confident.

The game in Dallas showed both Oklahoma and Texas are out of reach, so it makes five losses. And I consider the Red Raiders will win with Iowa State, Kansas State, Kansas, and Baylor. 7-5 is my most optimistic prediction.

How about yours?

Alla prossima!