Texas Tech looks to get back on the winning track against a suspect West Virginia Defense

We knew coming into this season that there would be some growing pains under the new coaching staff, but this Red Raider team has proven to be a feisty bunch that has gone through the gauntlet of five consecutive ranked opponents and finds themselves in prime position to finish out this year with another bowl appearance.

Heading into this West Virginia game, the Red Raiders shouldn’t have any trouble moving the ball. The Mountaineers secondary ranks in the bottom of the nation in terms of passing yards allowed and is beatable at all levels. In the running game the Mountaineers haven’t faced many opponents that like to pound the rock so the yardage allowed is low, but they’ve allowed ten touchdowns so far and are not strong their either.

Individually their best player is easily Dante Stills, an edge rusher that excels in run defense but also leads the team in sacks. Caleb Rogers will need to turn the ship around and be on his A-game, because Stills is really the only threat that they have.

Lee Kpogba leads their team in tackles, but don’t let the stat sheet fool you. He’s abysmal in pass coverage and has an awful AVDT (Average Depth of Tackle) of 4.6 yards. Compare that to Krishon Merriweather, who has an average of 3.2 in just as many snaps.

Only two guys that play regular snaps for them have above a 70 grade in the coverage department. There’s no reason to believe that they can hang with the weapons that Tech has.

This matchup is historically a high scoring one, besides last years 23-20 affair that saw the Red Raiders come out victorious. I predict a Tech victory via blowout as the Red Raiders are just too dangerous on offense and have the defense to shut down the Mountaineers.