Only six FBS teams remain unbeaten, and the Texas Tech football team is among them, moving to 6-0 and 3-0 in the Big 12 with its Oct. 17 rout of Arizona State. With Tech sitting firmly among the top 10 in the polls, it barely merits mention that the Red Raiders are already bowl eligible.
That's not really something to trumpet when you're trying to repeat as Big 12 champion and make the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row. Whether the Red Raiders can manage the next month will go a long way in determining whether they achieve all of their goals.
Over the next four weeks, Texas Tech faces teams that currently sport the FBS' No. 11 rushing offense (Cincinnati), the No. 10 passing offense (Arizona), the No. 5 rushing offense (West
Virginia) and the No. 4 passing offense (Oklahoma State).
"Sounds hard, doesn't it," Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood said with a smile.
Wood was architect of one of the nation's best defenses and a finalist last year for the Broyles Award, which goes to college football's top assistant coach. In his 20 games with the Red Raiders, Wood's usually had the countermoves for whatever opponents throw at his defense, but he'll have plenty of good tests as Tech begins the second half of the regular season.
Big 12 rushing leader Cam Cook and his West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. are the FBS' fifth- and 10th-leading rushers with 833 and 749 yards, respectively. They average 119 and 107 per game, respectively. Hawkins has an FBS-best 14 rushing touchdowns.
Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and Oklahoma State QB Drew Mestemaker are sixth and second, respectively, in the FBS in passing yards per game and are in a tie for 10th with 16 passing touchdowns apiece.
"The Big 12 and the rest of our schedule, I think, has some really good players, some really good coaches," Wood said. "I think the different schemes that you see in the run game, in the pass game, and the personnel that these teams are utilizing can put a lot of stress on you, and it really is each and every week."
Mestemaker, Hawkins and Fifita are the Big 12's top three in total offense.
This week's opponent lacks that one marquee weapon, but has one of the nation's top run games nevertheless.
Tech visits Cincinnati (4-2, 1-2) at 11 a.m. CT Saturday, Oct. 24. The Bearcats are knocking out 231 yards per game on the ground with Cole Tabb and Gi'Bran Payne, first-year transfers from Stanford and Notre Dame, respectively, providing 448 and 418 rushing yards, respectively. Payne left last week's 45-42 loss to West Virginia with an ankle injury.
Quarterback J.C. French IV, who spent the past three years at Georgia Southern, has six of the Bearcats' 20 rushing touchdowns, which has them tied for seventh in the FBS. West Virginia's third with 24 rushing TDs.
Tech is a 10½-point favorite, but Tech coach Joey McGuire knows the Bearcats have the formula for an upset.
"When you can rush the football in a game, I think for 150 yards plus, you've got a great advantage of winning that game," he said. "You can control the clock. You can shorten the game. I think they're really good in the offensive line.
"They have a veteran quarterback. I think he's a fifth-year guy, and man, he operates their offense and what they want to do. We've got our work cut out for us."
Through six games, the Red Raiders are No. 5 in the FBS against the run but No. 134 of 138 teams against the pass. They're the only team left that's yet to allow a rushing touchdown this season.
"That's something we take a lot of pride in in practice," said linebacker Austin Romaine, who has a team-leading 41 tackles. "That's a big thing with coach Wood. Stopping the run is huge with what he preaches, so it's a credit to what we do in practice throughout the week preparing, not letting guys rush on us throughout the week, and it shows up on Saturdays."
Tech has Arizona and West Virginia at home on Oct. 31 and Nov. 7, then Oklahoma State on the road Nov. 14. During the four-week gauntlet, the Red Raiders alternate each Saturday between defending a powerful run game and defending a potent passing attack.
Which would they rather face?
"I think when you face teams that can run the ball really well and then you kind of make them one-dimensional and only be able to throw it is kind of what we like to do and what we do," Romaine said. "Either one, we're going to prepare the same way for whatever that offense does."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Why Texas Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood will earn his pay in next month
