Red Raiders prepare for next installment against Houston
It has been a rough four weeks for Texas Tech, which finds itself perched at 1-3 on the season, including a loss in the conference opener at West Virginia this past Saturday. The Red Raiders return home this week however, and are set for the next edition of a rivalry battle with Houston. Following Tech’s Tuesday morning practice, players Myles Cole, Gino Garcia, Cole Spencer and Xavier White spoke to the media to preview this week’s matchup against the Cougars.
The 2022 contest between the two sides was an instant classic and was the first of three overtime wins last season for Tech. A 33-30 result, the game would not have even gone into overtime without a 47-yard field goal from Trey Wolff to tie the game in regulation. Garcia was watching from the sideline when that kick went away and is anxious to potentially make a mark of his own.
“I was pretty upset throughout the game because I had missed one from 46,” Garcia said. “That was my first field goal for that game and for the year actually. I’m excited to go play them again, hopefully we win again. Hopefully a big field goal will happen again, that would be good.”
As one of the more veteran players on the team, slot receiver White has been a part of the last two victories in the series for Tech in 2021 and 2022. In the game two years ago, White was playing running back behind SaRodorick Thompson and Tahj Brooks. This season, the Tech offensive staff moved Nehemiah Martinez, who had been playing slot receiver, to running back. Though White was not moved directly back to running back, he has still taken several carries this season and it is his versatility that makes him a weapon.
“Yes, there’d been conversations going on about that,” White said about the possibility of him moving back to running back before the season started. “They kind of, I’ll say, put me in the offense of being a receiver, doing a motion and getting a handoff from the quarterback. (Offensive coordinator Zach) Kittley, he’s the wizard, he’s got a lot of things on his belt. We just do what we work with, I could play anything, really.”
Houston’s defense has been allowing 262 yards/game and six total touchdowns throughout this season. White has been keen on studying the Cougars’ secondary and finding what the Red Raiders can take advantage of.
“The secondary, they’re not as big, they’re little guys,” White said. “I’m pretty sure we can out physical them. We just have to do our standard, our brand. The secondary, they’re smaller guys, a little quicker. But other than that, if we do what we do, we’ll play great.”
In the game last season between Tech and Houston, Cougars’ edge rusher Derek Parish torched the Red Raider offensive line for 4.5 sacks. Parish has since moved on, but Cole Spencer is not taking the Houston defensive line lightly.
“They’re a very physical group, they’re a very athletic group,” Spencer said. “They do a really good job getting in great position to make plays… No. 9 (Nelson Caesar) is a really great, talented, athletic player. No. 12 (David Ugwoegbu) is really good. No. 10 (Chidozie Nwankwo) and No. 18 (Anthony Holmes Jr.) are both really solid. We’re going to have a good challenge across the board this weekend.”
A challenge indeed, those four Spencer mentioned have combined for 46 tackles and six sacks this season. There might not, however, be a bigger or more talked about challenge this week for Tech, than playing against quarterback Donovan Smith. The former Red Raiders’ heroics saved the day against the Cougars’ last season but he is now, of course, on the enemy sideline. Myles Cole is well aware of the switch for Smith and is using previous practice experience against Smith to prepare this week.
“For one, we know the things that he struggles with and we can attack that,” Cole said. “It’s good to be two-by-two (in pass rush) to not have any fly-bys from the step up or scramble, because we know he will. It’s just about us feeding off each other, playing for each other, and executing the play call.”
