One of the biggest games of the weekend takes place on Friday in Lubbock, where we'll see Texas Tech take on Houston in a pivotal Big 12 tilt early in the season. This number was as high as 14 on the lookahead line prior to Week 2, but last weekend's results have driven this number down. The market has soured a bit on the preseason Big 12 favorites, and I'm inclined to agree. Texas Tech looked extremely uninspiring in each of its first two games, particularly in its victory over Oregon State — a game that could've easily gone the other way had there not been a very questionable offensive pass interference on the Beavers in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, the Red Raiders don't appear to fully trust Will Hammond at quarterback, as they've been shuffling in Tommy Castellanos to run wildcat packages and other such formations in certain situations. That doesn't bode well for this offense as we get into conference play, and I'm anticipating some real struggles for this group on Friday.
Even if you manage to waive away the struggles that this Red Raiders offense has dealt with early in the season, it's not like their defense has been any better. After all, Oregon State won the yardage battle by over 100 yards last week while averaging nearly seven yards per play. Some of the game was played in the pouring rain, but the Beavers still threw the ball all over the yard — to the tune of 417 passing yards against a Texas Tech defense that was supposed to be the best in the Big 12 this season. There is plenty of talent within this unit, but it's clear that last season's defense was leaps and bounds better than what Joey McQuire's team is bringing to the table this time around. Houston is a rock solid team with a veteran quarterback (Connor Weigman), a talented group of players at the skill positions and an excellent head coach (Willie Fritz). In the offseason, this was a game that I had circled as the toughest test within Big 12 play for Texas Tech, and it's a bad break that the Red Raiders draw one of the top contenders in this conference in Week 3. I'll gladly take the points and sprinkle a bit on the money line.
Houston +8 (-115) available at time of publishing. Playable to Houston +7.5
