LUBBOCK, TEXAS – October 24: Defensive lineman Tony Bradford Jr. #97 of the Texas Tech Crimson Raiders carries a Texas flag throughout the area right before the college or university football match against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Oct 24, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Picture by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)

Close game titles have come to be a way of existence for the Texas Tech soccer method in current years  But regrettably, the vast majority of these games have turned into defeats.

Because the get started of the Kliff Kinsbury era in 2013, Tech is just 13-17 in video games made the decision by seven details or less.  And of these 13 wins, two came towards FCS opponents Central Arkansas and Houston Baptist when a different arrived towards lowly UTEP.

But the very good information is that their trend could have begun to reverse itself previous period as Tech was 4-1 in this kind of contests.  That is the kind of progress that Tech wants to establish upon in 2021 if the Red Raiders are going to protected their initial successful year because 2015.

In the conclude, Tech’s time will occur down to how very well the Crimson Raiders carry out in what we like to connect with toss-up online games contests that on paper could go possibly way and all those games are frequently the ones that are decided by a touchdown or significantly less.  So let’s choose a glimpse at the five tossup game titles on the Pink Raiders’ timetable this year.

@ West Virginia

Like Tech, West Virginia is coming into 12 months 3 of their present head coach’s tenure and as in the situation in Lubbock, the natives are a little bit restless in Morgantown.  But several are expecting Neal Brown to have a breakthrough year in 2021.

Of system, it allows elevate anticipations when you return your starting QB as the Mountaineers will.  But hence considerably, Jarrett Doege has appeared like simply an average FBS quarterback.  The fifth-yr senior has done just 63.5% of his passes as a collegiate and the very last time we noticed him, he was just 15 of 25 passing for a meager 159 yards with a person TD and a person select versus Army in the Liberty Bowl, a sport in which he was benched for Austin Kendall.

Will he make improvements to more than enough this year to grow to be a distinction-maker at the posture and not just a bus driver?  That will be the critical to the WVU period because the rest of the Mountaineer offense is loaded with expertise.

Past year’s offensive line continues to be just about intact and they will be blocking for Leddie Brown who amassed 1,010 yards and 9 touchdowns on the ground previous fall.  But the protection lost a ton of key playmakers from past year’s stout unit like monster nose deal with Darius Stills.

On the other hand, his youthful brother Dante is back again following racking up 10.5 sacks a yr ago and that should make the Mountaineer defensive line just one to be reckoned with.  But the linebacking corps lost major tackler Tony Fields II and the secondary observed All-American security Tykee Smith transfer to Georgia.  As a result, the defense that the mountaineers hung their hat on final 12 months won’t be very the similar this tumble.

Even now, enjoying in Morgantown is no joke, especially with admirers on hand.  Tech has gained there only twice but a person of these arrived in 2019, Matt Wells’ very first time on the task, a 38-17 triumph.

This calendar year, he will be seeking for his 2nd-straight acquire at WVU and if he secures it, his workforce would acquire a substantial action towards a profitable time.  But really do not be expecting this activity to be as straightforward as 2019’s acquire.  In fact, we really should possibly expect it to appear down to a person score.