NCAAF Analysis: The Arkansas Razorbacks are continuing to remake their image from a spread passing team to a power running squad that plays the throwback-style that second-year head coach Brett Bielema is trying to imprint on the program. The Texas Tech Red Raiders are back to their Air Raid days with another sophomore head coach in Kliff Kingsbury, who played under former Red Raiders head coach Mike Leach, the man who initiated the Air Raid tradition in Lubbock.
In a matchup of stark contrasts, the Texas Tech Red Raiders will host the Arkansas Razorbacks at Jones AT&T Stadium with kickoff time set for 3:30 PM ET with coverage on ABC.
Ground Hogs
Bielema has been a vocal critic of the type of offense that Texas Tech likes to run and believes such up-tempo attacks increase injury rates, though there is no real evidence that backs up his claim. Arkansas is coming off a 73-7 home win over 1-AA Nicholls State as they ran for 495 yards on 40 attempts. In their opener at Auburn the Hogs were tied 21 all at the half before the Tigers pulled away in a 45-21 win but Arkansas did average 5.3 yards per carry.
Overlays at Tech
The Texas Tech Red Raiders are 2-0 straight up but 0-2 against the spread as they are barely gotten by two inferior opponents. Tech beat 1-AA Central Arkansas 42-35 in the season opener followed by a 30-26 win at Texas El Paso last week as the Red Raiders needed a late TD to escape with the win. Tech ranks 9th in the nation for passing offense but an alarming 96th for scoring defense.
Matchup and Pick
Arkansas has been a terrible board value on the road with a mark of just three payouts in their last 15 road games as just four out of their last 19 away games have gone under the total. The problem for those considering the Texas Tech alternative is that the Red Raiders have paid out in just five of their last 17 home games with six out of their last nine home games going over the total. We’ll take Arkansas in this one as we expect them to be able to move the ball on the Red Raiders defense and keep the Air Raid sidelined.
