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NOTES FROM THE OPPONENT

By Stephen Wagner @stephenwag22

The Daily Texan spoke with Zach Richards, sports editor of The Daily Toreador, ahead of Texas’ Big 12 opener against Texas Tech.

The Daily Texan: What’s your overall evaluation of the team so far? What’d you see in Texas Tech’s opening win against Houston Baptist, and what are some of the strengths and concerns of the team?

Zach Richards: Generally, I would honestly say Tech is a bit behind where fans want to be. It’s hard to say because the team opened against Houston Baptist and they’re obviously not the best of competition, but that game was a lot closer than the program wanted it to be. There were a lot of outstanding things in that game that are going to be exponentially shown against good teams like Texas.

DT: Sophomore quarterback Alan Bowman showed a lot of promise early last season before his injury. How does he look this year?

ZR: The first few possessions and a few times throughout the Houston Baptist game he missed a few throws, but honestly they’re throws he can make. I think it was just kind of rust, first-game jitters, stuff like that. He even mentioned in his press conference that those are passes he can make, those are plays that he makes with consistency. I think he’s good. He’ll get his yards because Tech’s system is heavily predicated around him throwing the ball, and he’s really good at that.

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DT: What can you tell me about T.J. Vasher? He’s been the guy on Texas’ radar in each of the last three matchups and is probably a top-three receiver in the Big 12.

ZR: He’s a big guy. Tall, 6’6”, very physical, athletic. I think one of the biggest things that can hurt you is when you get into the red zone with T.J. He’s an absolute elite red zone threat with his size, his length and his catching ability. Once Tech gets into the red zone, he’ll probably be one of the guys they look to go to. That’s where he’s most dangerous, in that red zone area.

DT: What are Texas Tech’s keys to success?

ZR: Defensive coordinator Keith Patterson said first they’ll need to limit the run because if Texas gets the run going, Tech is susceptible to play action, and then that’s where you get the long bombs from Sam (Ehlinger) and that’s where you get big chunks of yardage. So one of his main points of emphasis was stopping the run out of the gate, but also making sure the secondary is secure and locked in to prevent big plays like they gave up against Houston Baptist. On the offensive end, it’s just be consistent, limit turnovers, establish the run game early and see what develops after that.

DT: Lastly, what’s on the line for Texas Tech in this game? Is there an immediate pressure to win against an in-state rival?

ZR: There’s still the rivalry aspect even though Texas has stomped Tech in the past. Tech has already outsold the ticket total from the Houston Baptist game, and there’s going to be way more of a fan presence than there was at the Houston Baptist game. Texas blew them out the last time the teams met, so there’s definitely a chip on these guys’ shoulders coming into the matchup. I think due to what happened last (year), Texas blowing Tech out of the water, and this being a home game, that Texas Tech has something to prove.

NOTES ON THE COACH

By Brett Hintz @BHintzUT

Texas Tech head coach Matt Wells will be looking to lead his team to its first home victory over the Longhorns in 12 years when the two teams square off in Lubbock on Saturday.

The Red Raiders’ last home win against the Longhorns was an all-time classic that vaulted them to No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series rankings with just three weeks remaining in the 2008 season.

Former head coach Mike Leach departed Lubbock a year after tying the school record of 11 wins during the 2008 campaign. In the decade since, Red Raider head coaches have averaged a measly six wins a season.

When Texas Tech was in the market for a new head coach after firing Kliff Kingsbury in 2018, finding a leader with an established history of rebuilding programs meddling in mediocrity was at the top of its wish list.

It’s difficult to think of an available coach who fulfilled that requirement better than Matt Wells.

Wells, who started at quarterback for Utah State in the 1994 and 1995 seasons, spent the first 13 years of his coaching career training various offensive position groups at Navy, Tulsa, New Mexico and Louisville before he was brought on to be the quarterbacks coach at his alma mater in 2011.

After Utah State promoted Wells to offensive coordinator in 2012, the Aggies won double-digit games for the first time in their 100-year history. This success could be attributed to an offense that scored a staggering 34.9 points per game. The Utah State offense — which powered the Aggies to their first outright conference championship since 1936 — averaged 469.8 yards per game, good for 24th in the nation.

Despite only having one year of being an offensive coordinator under his belt, Wells became Utah State’s 27th head coach in program history following the departure of head coach Gary Andersen after the 2012 season.

Wells led the Aggies to unprecedented success throughout his fiveyear tenure as head coach. Utah State appeared in three bowl games, won nine or more games in a season three times and even ascended to as high as No. 13 in the AP poll in 2018, marking its highest ranking ever.

Prior to Wells being head coach, the Utah State program had only four winning seasons since 1980, with two of those coming in 2011 and 2012 while Wells was on staff.

Given his history, it makes sense that Texas Tech brought Wells in to oversee a similar turnaround in Lubbock.

The results weren’t quite there in Wells’ first year as head coach for the Red Raiders in 2019 — Texas Tech finished ninth in the Big 12 at 4–8. But this season, the second-year head coach will finally get an opportunity to run his offense with talented redshirt sophomore quarterback Alan Bowman, whom the Red Raiders lost to injury last year just three games into the season.

If Wells is aiming to turn around the Texas Tech program in the same way he did at Utah State, there is no doubt he is looking at Saturday’s matchup as an opportunity to grasp a potentially culture-shifting win in Lubbock.

DOUBLE COVERAGE

OPPONENTS TO WATCH OPPONENTS TO WATCH OPPONENTS TO WATCH

By Carter Yates @Carter_Yates16

The Texas football team will travel to Lubbock this weekend to face Texas Tech at the Jones AT&T Stadium. With the current pandemic, the Red Raiders will not have their trademark home-field advantage. Judging from Texas Tech’s first game this season, an uninspiring 35-33 win over Houston Baptist, the team may have needed the extra boost from the crowd.

Here are four Red Raiders players to watch for Saturday:

No. 10 Alan Bowman — Quarterback

Just two years ago, Alan Bowman was regarded as one of the top freshman quarterbacks in the nation after being named as an honorable mention for the Big 12 Offensive Freshman

of the Year. Since the end of the 2018 season, however, the injury bug has limited Bowman’s production. After playing in only eight games as a freshman before a collapsed lung ended his season, Bowman started only three games in his sophomore season before a shoulder injury forced him to redshirt. Now a redshirt sophomore, Bowman is poised for a breakout campaign in 2020 if he can stay healthy, many college football pundits say.

No. 56 Jack Anderson — Right guard

A freshman All-American in 2017 and an All-Big 12 second team pick in 2018, Jack Anderson was well on his way to leaving for the NFL after three seasons before a shoulder injury abruptly ended his junior year. Now, as a redshirt junior, Anderson has expectations for another stellar year after being named to the 2020 All-Big 12 Preseason Team. The right guard out of Frisco, Texas, has lived up to the hype that surrounded him coming out of high school as one of the highest-rated recruits to ever sign with the Red Raiders. Anderson anchors an offensive line that will be charged with protecting quarterback Alan Bowman in Tech’s signature Air Raid offense. Anderson has the ability to stave off a Tex#10 as pass rush that accounted for eight tackles for loss in the Longhorns’ season-opening win over UT-El Paso.

No. 6 Riko Jeffers — Linebacker

Senior linebacker Riko Jeffers is the leader of the Red Raiders’ defense. In the season-opening win against Houston Baptist, Jeffers flew around the field and accounted for nine total tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. A 2019 honorable mention All-Big 12 player, Jeffers will be tasked with filling the shoes of departed linebacker Jordyn Brooks, a first-round NFL Draft Pick for the Seattle Seahawks. The linebacker out of Garland, Texas, is looking to continue developing his leadership qualities after being named to the team captains circle as a junior. At 6 feet, 2 inches tall and 235 pounds, Jeffers has the physicality to rush the quarterback or drop back in coverage on slot receivers and tight ends. He will be tasked with trying to limit a Texas rush offense

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that poses a triple-headed threat in running backs junior Keaontay Ingram, sophomore Roschon Johnson and freshman Bijan Robinson.

No. 53 Eli Howard — Defensive Line

A redshirt senior out of San Angelo, Texas, Eli Howard enters 2020 with 30 career starts on the defensive line. Last season, Howard was the first Texas Tech defensive lineman to earn All-Big 12 honors since 2013. The defensive lineman has 19 career tackles for loss and was a preseason All-Big 12 pick for 2020. With a chunk of proven pass rushers gone from last year’s squad, Howard is being asked to step into an even greater role this season. He will need to provide consistent pressure to rush Texas senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger into throws that open up opportunities for the Texas Tech secondary on Saturday.