Wyoming vs. Texas Tech: Preview, Livestream, Odds, Prediction
Wyoming vs. Texas Tech: Preview, Livestream, Odds, Prediction
Can the Cowboy win one over the Red Raiders?
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Big 12 team comes to Wyoming
The Wyoming Cowboys kick off the 2023 College Football season on Saturday as they welcome the Texas Tech Red Raiders to War Memorial Stadium and 7220 feet. This season also kicks off Craig Bohl’s 10th season as the Head Coach for the Cowboys, making him the longest tenured coach in Wyoming Football history. The Cowboys are coming off of a 7 win season that ended in a heartbreaking overtime loss to Ohio in the Arizona Bowl.
The Red Raiders are led by second year Head Coach Joey McGuire, who in his first season as the Head Coach for the Red Raiders led the team to an 8-5 record with wins over perennial Big XII powers Texas and Oklahoma. The Red Raiders have high expectations for the year and have been called out as possibly even being a dark horse to win the Big XII Conference.
The Red Raiders and Cowboys have met 5 times previously with Wyoming holding the series advantage 3-2. The last meeting between these two teams was in 1992 in Lubbock, TX. This is only the second time in program history that the Red Raiders are playing in Laramie, with the only other time coming in 1991 when the Cowboys beat the visiting Red Raiders 22-17.
WEEK 1: Wyoming Cowboys vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders
WHEN: Saturday, September 2 — 7 p.m. ET 5 p.m. MT
WHERE: War Memorial Stadium; Laramie, Wyoming
WEATHER: High of 81, mostly sunny
TV: CBS
STREAMING: Fans can sign up to receive a free one-week trial of Fubo, which includes CBS, by following this link.
SERIES RECORD: Wyoming leads 3-2
LAST GAME: 1992 in Lubbock; Texas Tech won 49-32
GAME NOTES (PDF): Texas Tech | Wyoming
ODDS: Texas Tech -14
SP+ PROJECTION: Texas Tech by 18.4 with 86% win probability
FEI PROJECTION: Texas Tech by 9.9
There will be a very stark difference between these two teams stylistically on Saturday. Wyoming under Craig Bohl has become known for their extremely physical, smash mouth, ground and pound style of play, relying heavily on wearing teams out in the trenches, and letting their stellar defense take over. Texas Tech runs the Air Raid offense pioneered by former Head Coach (and Wyoming Native) Mike Leach. The Red Raiders are the prototypical spread offense and they can burn anyone through the air.
The Red Raiders will be led on offense by Quarterback Tyler Shough who is 8-1 over the last two seasons as the Starter for Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are also extremely deep and talented at wide receiver, with five different receivers with over 30 receptions.
If that wasn’t enough the Red Raiders also have incoming transfer Drae McCray, who had 75 receptions for 1021 yards and 9 touchdowns with Austin Peay last season. The Red Raiders defense is led by Defensive Tackle Jaylon Hutchings who was recently named to the preseason all-conference team for the Big XII. Hutchings is a disruptive and explosive defender who wreaks havoc in the backfield.
The Cowboys are anchored by their Defense, a defense who returns 10 out of 11 starters, and is anchored by a stout defensive line as well as Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Easton Gibbs. It isn’t an exaggeration to think that the Cowboys could have not only the best defense in the conference, but in all the Group of 5 conferences this season.
On offense, the Cowboys have a lot of questions to answer, last season and for several prior seasons the Cowboys have had an anemic passing attack, and have been carried by their run game. However, coming into this opener with Texas Tech, the Cowboys normally deep running back room looks a little thin. Incoming Transfer Harrison Waylee is recovering from an off season surgery, and presumed starter Dawaiian McNeely tore his ACL during fall camp and will miss the season. Jamari Ferrell has been named the starter for Week 1.
Keys to a Wyoming Victory:
Get Andrew Peasley rolling
Senior Quarterback Andrew Peasley will get the start for the Cowboys. Peasley showed flashes last year in his first season with the Cowboys with his best game coming against Tulsa, throwing for 256 yards, and 2 touchdowns, adding 45 yards on the ground. Peasley played through several injuries last season, that combined with the uncertainty behind him in the Quarterback room led the Cowboys to be more conservative with Peasley. This year his knee brace is gone, and the Quarterback room behind him is more stable. With the injuries to running backs right now the Cowboys need to get the senior into a rhythm in the passing attack. Expect the Cowboys to get Peasley going early with easy passes to his big Tight End Treyton Welch, and to receivers Wyatt Wieland and Alex Brown.
Put the pressure on Tyler Shough
The Cowboys front seven will need to live up to their billing as the best in the conference this week against the Red Raiders potent passing attack, and put the pressure on Quarterback Tyler Shough. Last year Texas Tech was the worst in the Big XII at protecting their Quarterback giving up 41 sacks for 255 yards on the year with more than half of those sacks coming in their losses. In games that the Red Raiders won they gave up 2.4 sacks per game, however in games that the Red Raiders lost they gave up 4.8 sacks per game. If the likes of Harris, Godbout, Bertagnole, and Seiders can make their names heard it will be a long day for Texas Tech.
Keep the Texas Tech Offense off the field.
The Cowboys need to shorten this game, and sustain offensive drives. The Red Raiders averaged close to 90 offensive plays per game last season, whereas the Cowboys averaged around 60 offensive plays per game. The Texas Tech defense gave up almost 170 yards per game to opponents on the ground last season, for an average of 4.3 yards per carry. I expect the Cowboys to gameplan to exploit this and shorten the game with their run first attack. The fewer plays that Texas Tech has the better off the Cowboys will be.
Prediction
I expect the Red Raiders to come out swinging on Saturday, and jump out to a multi score lead, but the Cowboys Defense will dig deep in the second quarter and find some momentum to slow the Red Raiders down. Forced turnovers by the defense and solid play by Andrew Peasley will lead the Cowboys in the second half and the Cowboys will wear down the Texas Tech Defense.
Wyoming 32, Texas Tech 28
