The Texas Tech website on the network posed the question: Which of Texas Tech's road games scares you the most?
ASU is at No. 2 behind Kansas State, and I thought you might be interested to see what the arguments were for ASU to be ranked that high in reply to this question:
I, however, actually feel the game against Arizona State will be an even greater measurement for where Tech could finish in the conference.
As it stands right now, the Red Raiders still hold bragging rights over the Sun Devils from last season’s win in Lubbock. The only caveat behind that win, though, was it came in September, long before ASU had fully formed into the eventual-Big 12 champs. That team came together much later, like mid-October/early November before they actually started making some noise.
If memory serves, it wasn’t until then that the Sun Devils even making it to the championship game was a real possibility.
Fully considering where ASU was at the time the two played last season, you have to imagine a later in-season matchup could have potentially been more compelling and maybe even swung the other way.
ASU is likely to be selected to win the Big 12, returning with 16(!) starters from the championship team a year ago, along with coordinators Marcus Arroyo and Brian Ward. Quarterback Sam Leavitt is being tabbed as one of the best returning signal callers in the country, while Jordyn Tyson is being looked at as a potential first-round draft pick type talent at wide receiver.
The Sun Devils, though, are going to be in a similar spot as Tech is with having to replace its program cornerstone running back Cam Skattebo.
ASU, even with returning so much production from their team a year ago, did do some damage in the portal. The big ticket item was running back Kanye Udoh, who performed the frivolous task of transferring from Army. Udoh was a 1,000-plus yard rusher last season and the 6-foot, 215 pound back will directly replace Skat.
By that point in the season, the seventh game on both team’s schedules, you should have a rather well-formed idea of what the Red Raiders and Sun Devils both are. Their successes, their pitfalls, if both teams can replace their respective running back-sized holes, you get the idea. Hypothetically– which this entire conversation is purely hypothetical anyways– Tech could be undefeated, or at least 5-1 if we account for a potential loss at Utah. Tech was also 5-1 when it played host to Baylor on a gloomy Saturday in Lubbock last season.
In theory, ASU could also be a similar boat. Undefeated, or 5-1 at the least, in my eyes for the team in maroon and yellow.
Could ASU face an early slip-up when it heads to Waco to take on a hungry Baylor team? What about the week after when the Sun Devils take on TCU on a Friday night? Also have to mention Utah again, who will take on ASU the week before the Sun Devils host Tech.
While I must again reiterate this is all hypothetical (a lot can change in 3 months) it’s a fun scenario to think about. Should the Red Raiders get out of the gates as expected heading into Tempe, which would probably be a raucous and late night environment, the Big 12 would have one of its marquee matchups arise well before the end of the season.
Given where expectations currently stand for both programs, my early projections point to this matchup being a real contributing factor to Tech’s title aspirations.
ASU is at No. 2 behind Kansas State, and I thought you might be interested to see what the arguments were for ASU to be ranked that high in reply to this question:
I, however, actually feel the game against Arizona State will be an even greater measurement for where Tech could finish in the conference.
As it stands right now, the Red Raiders still hold bragging rights over the Sun Devils from last season’s win in Lubbock. The only caveat behind that win, though, was it came in September, long before ASU had fully formed into the eventual-Big 12 champs. That team came together much later, like mid-October/early November before they actually started making some noise.
If memory serves, it wasn’t until then that the Sun Devils even making it to the championship game was a real possibility.
Fully considering where ASU was at the time the two played last season, you have to imagine a later in-season matchup could have potentially been more compelling and maybe even swung the other way.
ASU is likely to be selected to win the Big 12, returning with 16(!) starters from the championship team a year ago, along with coordinators Marcus Arroyo and Brian Ward. Quarterback Sam Leavitt is being tabbed as one of the best returning signal callers in the country, while Jordyn Tyson is being looked at as a potential first-round draft pick type talent at wide receiver.
The Sun Devils, though, are going to be in a similar spot as Tech is with having to replace its program cornerstone running back Cam Skattebo.
ASU, even with returning so much production from their team a year ago, did do some damage in the portal. The big ticket item was running back Kanye Udoh, who performed the frivolous task of transferring from Army. Udoh was a 1,000-plus yard rusher last season and the 6-foot, 215 pound back will directly replace Skat.
By that point in the season, the seventh game on both team’s schedules, you should have a rather well-formed idea of what the Red Raiders and Sun Devils both are. Their successes, their pitfalls, if both teams can replace their respective running back-sized holes, you get the idea. Hypothetically– which this entire conversation is purely hypothetical anyways– Tech could be undefeated, or at least 5-1 if we account for a potential loss at Utah. Tech was also 5-1 when it played host to Baylor on a gloomy Saturday in Lubbock last season.
In theory, ASU could also be a similar boat. Undefeated, or 5-1 at the least, in my eyes for the team in maroon and yellow.
Could ASU face an early slip-up when it heads to Waco to take on a hungry Baylor team? What about the week after when the Sun Devils take on TCU on a Friday night? Also have to mention Utah again, who will take on ASU the week before the Sun Devils host Tech.
While I must again reiterate this is all hypothetical (a lot can change in 3 months) it’s a fun scenario to think about. Should the Red Raiders get out of the gates as expected heading into Tempe, which would probably be a raucous and late night environment, the Big 12 would have one of its marquee matchups arise well before the end of the season.
Given where expectations currently stand for both programs, my early projections point to this matchup being a real contributing factor to Tech’s title aspirations.
