WVU offense could have big day vs. Texas Tech
Published: Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Updated: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 11:07
In week six of West Virginia’s football season, the Mountaineers will face the second half of their first back-to-back road trip in the Big 12 Conference.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders will be a homecoming of sorts for WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen, whose high-powered offense jettisoned Tech to become one of the top 10 passing offenses in all of college football in 2006 and 2007.
Holgorsen repeated this feat with WVU last season as his offense flourished, putting up a lot of points and yards in the process.
Senior quarterback Geno Smith, who could be a potential Heisman Trophy candidate this season, returns to a new conference and a few new faces on his line, but the same battery mates in the form of potential all-American’s Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey. Last season, Smith managed to do something no other quarterback in all of college football managed to do – throw for more than 400 yards against LSU’s stingy defense.
Between the offensive play-calling prowess held by Holgorsen and the ability to execute the calls in Smith’s hands, the WVU offense should be able to match up well against Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders managed to win only two conference games last season and only five games overall. Their defense gave up 39.9 points per game, making them a disparaging 117th in college football. With no clear replacements or improvements to this already poor defensive team, Smith could put up some big numbers and get West Virginia off to a good start against the Red Raiders.
While the offense is not currently an issue for the Mountaineers, the defense could prove to be a soft spot in their newfound conference. The Mountaineers allowed 26.8 points per game in the Big East Conference. Against the Red Raiders, WVU could face a true shoot-out, as Tech
managed to score more than 33 points per game in 2011.
While Baylor and Texas should prove to be challenges in the early weeks, Tech could show its face as yet another roadblock and definitely appear as a formidable opponent for West Virginia.
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