Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. New Mexico Lobos | What We Know

(1-0, 0-0)

Date | September 17, 2011 Time | 2:30 pm CST Good Guys | Texas Tech Red Raiders Bad Guys | New Mexico Lobos Location | University Stadium | Albuquerque, NM Weather | Sunny, High 84 TV | Versus Radio | Affiliates Game Cast | FoxSports

(0-2, 0-1))

PRIOR OPPONENTS | Thus far, the Lobos have played the Colorado St. Rams, losing 10-14 at home (SBN coverage), and against the Arkansas Razorbacks, losing 3-52 (SBN coverage). What's distressing for New Mexico was that they gave up 632 yards, 373 passing and 259 rushing, against Arkansas. Texas Tech is coming off of a bye week and in the first week of the season, defeated the Texas St. Bobcats, 50-10.

WHAT TEXAS TECH CAN EXPECT | If the boxscore against Colorado St. is any indication, New Mexico ran the ball 48 times for 201 yards (their quarterback was presumably sacked for a loss of 51 yards), but was only able to net 150 yards. Even then, New Mexico had 31 pass attempts, plus the 48 rushing attempts puts New Mexico at a fairly fast pace. Defensively, I can't say that I know much about the Colorado St. offense other than the fact that Colorado St. only gained 270 yards against New Mexico and looking at the numbers, despite the win, Colorado St. wasn't very effective. Against Arkansas, it wasn't pretty. As mentioned above, Arkansas had their way against New Mexico in just about every way imaginable. I think it's reasonable to think that New Mexico will try to rush the ball as much as humanly possible against Texas Tech and keep the game close. Texas Tech's poor showing against Texas St. against the rush probably gives New Mexico some thought that they'll be able to be somewhat successful running the ball against Texas Tech.

OPPONENT PLAYERS SPOTLIGHT | It appears that QB Tarean Austin, a dual-threat quarterback, who completed 65% of his passes for 179 yards and ran 25 times for 105 total yards (although Austin ended up losing 48 for whatever reason) for a net of 57 yards rushing against Colorado St. and had 162 yards passing and 31 rushing yards against Arkansas, is the guy for New Mexico. Austin was replaced by B.R. Holbrook, who is not a running threat like Austin, but was marginally more effective, throwing for 40 yards on 7 of 10. I mentioned this during the offseason, but Lamaar Thomas, the Ohio St. transfer, did have one long catch, 27 yards against CSU, and is, I think, UNM's punt-returner, kickoff-returner, and overall deep-threat. He broke a bone in his back and will be out for the game.  Defensively, LB Carmen Messina continues to make plays, which isn't a suprise. He had 8 tackles against CSU (2 TFL), but just 5 tackles against Arkansas. DE Ugo Uzodinma had the only sack for the game.