Ten bold predictions for Texas Tech's 2019 football season

Texas Tech's 2019 football season is less than a week away, which means it's time for RedRaiderSports.com's Aaron Dickens to offer up his annual 10 predictions for the upcoming campaign.

Texas will win the Big 12 for the first time in a decade thanks in large part to the performance of quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who accounted for nearly 3,800 yards and 42 total touchdowns as a sophomore. It will be Ehlinger, not Jalen Hurts, who finishes as the Big 12's best signal caller and takes home Offensive Player of the Year honors.

There's a lot to like about the Horned Frogs heading into 2019. Gary Patterson's team led the Big 12 in scoring defense a year ago despite Spanish Influenza-level injuries, Jalen Reagor is one of the best receivers in the country and TCU's 1-2 punch at running back is one of the league's best. The Horned Frogs' quarterback situation, however, is a mess. Kansas State transfer Alex Delton or true freshman Max Duggan may prove to be serviceable, but "serviceable" QB play is not a recipe for success in the Big 12.

Kansas State football dates back to the 1890s, yet Bill Snyder is responsible for more than 60 percent of the Wildcats' all-time wins. They haven't won much of anything without him on the sideline, and it didn't exactly go well the last time K-State tried to replace Snyder. Neal Brown had great success at Troy and will do well at West Virginia, but Dana Holgorsen didn't exactly leave him with a stocked cupboard. Kansas is still, well, Kansas. I think the Big 12's bottom three will all bottom-out this season.

Last season, Utah State's tight end position, which featured a returning honorable mention All-Mountain West starter in Dax Raymond, accounted for 501 yards and three touchdowns on 38 receptions. Texas Tech doesn't have a returning starter at tight end, and it's best option at that position is a relatively unproven converted wide receiver in Donta Thompson. My guess is that the Red Raiders' tight ends end up being more of a factor in the run game than as pass catchers in 2019.

Thanks in part to the addition of grad transfers Evan Rambo, Zech McPhearson and Ja'Marcus Ingram, Texas Tech's defense enters the season with far fewer question marks than the team's offense. This may not be a group that leads the Big 12 in any major statistical category, but it is a solid, top-to-bottom group that will prove to be the best Red Raider defense in a decade.

No one will emerge as a clear-cut No. 1 back for Texas Tech this season, but freshman SaRodorick Thompson will finish the season as the team's leading rusher in attempts and yards.

The last three times David Yost has coordinated an offense led by a sophomore quarterback, his starters - Jordan Love at Utah State and James Franklin and Blaine Gabbert at Missouri - have averaged 3,344 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions. I think Alan Bowman will improve those averages by leading the Big 12 in passing yards and touchdowns this season.

Love, Franklin and Gabbert also combined to go 27-12 as sophomores.

Texas Tech will play Baylor in Waco this season for the first time since 2007 and will enter that match-up with a six-game winning streak on the Bears' home field. Baylor won't be a world-beater this fall, but the Bears will do enough on Oct. 12 to beat the Red Raiders at home for the first time since Showgirls - shout-out to Elizabeth Berkley! - was in theaters.

Texas Tech's home struggles are well-documented and need little explanation in this space. The Red Raiders have gone 5-7 at home over the last two seasons, and won just seven Big 12 home games in six seasons under former head coach Kliff Kingsbury. That slide will end this season, as Texas Tech will take advantage of a favorable home slate that includes just one preseason AP Top 25 team, Iowa State.

The Red Raiders will post a 5-4 Big 12 mark, the team's first winning record in conference play since 2009, thanks in part to their newfound home success and road wins against first-year coaches at Kansas and West Virginia.