Texas Tech Red Raiders 2017 NCAA Football Preview

College Football Predictions – Texas Tech Red Raiders 2017 NCAA Football Preview

2016 Recap

2016 Record – 5-7

2016 ATS – 8-4

It’s a mystery that will puzzle NCAA football scholars for generations to come. How in the SAM HILL do you have a QB pass for over 5,000 yards and 41 TDs (and rush for 12) and not participate in bowl season ? Wut ?

Oh, we see now. The defense was disgusting yet again. 43.5 points and 554 (!!) yards per game allowed. At some point these dudes need to realize you have to at least attempt to stop your opponent. The good news ? They were competitive against some good teams (Kansas St, Oklahoma, TCU, etc..). The bad news ? Losing 66-10 to Iowa St. And did we mention the defense ?

2017 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating

Big 12 – TBD

OFFENSE

What a performance. QB Patrick Mahomes was totally LETHAL at QB last season lighting up opposing defenses with over 5,000 yards passing. That got him into the first round of the NFL draft. The Red Raiders just reload at QB in their high-powered attack and we believe that QB Nic Shimonek will have no problem putting up yuuuuge stats.

The Red Raiders have experience in the backfield with their top-2 RBs from 2016 returning to the mix (Da’Leon Ward, Demarcus Felton) but they need the OL to do a better job in the run game as they only managed to pick up 104 yards per game on the ground (#123 FBS). The WR unit looks excellent as they bring back 3 of their top 4 from last year and all of them recorded at least 650 yards receiving and 7 TDs).

DEFENSE

Ok. Enough is enough. Three consecutive seasons giving up over 40 points and 500 yards per game has to make even the most optimistic Red Raider fan feel a bit sick to their stomach. Texas Tech has added a number of warm bodies from the junior college ranks to try and help facilitate a recovery.

The DL returns only one starter from last season, and overall, the Red Raiders managed to tally a paltry 14 sacks in 2016 (T-118 FBS) whilst giving up and ridiculous 239 yards rushing per contest. The jury is still out. Leading tackler LB Jordyn Brooks returns as do 3/4 starters in the secondary. We do not buy into the narrative that they are going to be loads better on defense this season but stranger things have happened.

SPECIAL TEAMS

PK Clayton Hatfield made 13/14 FGs last season and returns in 2017. There is also continuity at P and in the return units.

Potential ATS Trouble Spot

October 7 – at Kansas. This contest pops up in a Oklahoma St / West Virginia sandwich. The Jayhawks may be a lot more feisty than we anticipate.

MEGAmazing Tidbits

Texas Tech is (-42) in turnover margin over the past five seasons. Yuck.

MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 3.0

MEGALOCKS says:

Overall, we give the RED RAIDERS a 3.0 ATS Value Rating (Poor) this season.

A dip into the MEGALOCKS ARCHIVES tells a story. And the story is that we blew our ATS prediction for Texas Tech in 2016………“The Red Raiders are a game below .500 ATS in three seasons under this HC and we think they will be fortunate to break even for handicappers in 2016.” We have to admit, the Red Raiders surprised us with a sparkling 8-4 record vs Vegas last season. It took one of the greatest seasons in the history of sports (and maybe mankind) to get to that record, but yes, they proved us wrong. Can they do it again ?

We will be on the sidelines more often than not. It is just a lot to ask for a team that plays poor defense to cover too many games. Make your own call. We just might have these guys pegged incorrectly yet again.

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