Tomorrow night, the Bulldogs make their long awaited 2020 home debut as they get back in The Joe to face the Huskies of Houston Baptist. After last week's comeback against the hated Golden Eagles, what can the Dogs do to reach 2-0 in this weird, wild season?
1) Run for your life
There are two things to know about HBU. One, they've got a CVS on the visitor's side of their stadium. Two, they've got a really high octane passing offense. Three, they can't stop the run. (Wait, did I say two?) Last week, Tech's offensive linemen were literally begging Skip to keep running the ball on USM. After the game, Skip even said "I thought Donavaughn Campbell would throw me out of the stadium if I called a pass on that last drive!" In a season without much consistency, the Bulldogs found something special in the ground game, averaging 3.9 yards per carry and wearing down the USM defense. In fact, on that final drive, Tech averaged 6 yards per carry. So far this season, Houston Baptist is allowing opposing running backs to gain 5.8 yards per carry! Yet for some reason, Texas Tech passed the ball 52 times against them! Granted, they were pretty successful through the air, but I'd LOVE to see Skip putting this game on the legs of our many talented running backs.
2) No Fly Zone
The Huskies' offense looks like trouble on paper. If you ask a Red Raider fan, I'm sure they'd tell you it looks like trouble in real life, too. QB Bailey Zappe slings the ball all over the field, and he has a stable of talented wideouts ready to catch and run. Tech's secondary will have their work cut out for them, and that's the case whether we're playing a bunch of freshman, or if Amik and L'Jarius somehow quit the NFL and get granted another year of eligibility. It's often said that the best progress a team makes is between weeks one and two of the season, so I'm hoping that's the case for a secondary who couldn't cover Tim Jones to save their lives last week. HBU is going to rack up some yards, but the key to victory here will be stopping the 1 play, 75 yard touchdowns that HBU thrives on.
3) The Kids are Alright
Last week saw the emergence of several new, fresh(man) faces with guys like Tyler Grubbs and Cedric Woods hitting the field and playing almost every single snap of the game. Greg Garner saw his first action as a Bulldog and immediately took the rock 24 yards, deep into USM territory on the final drive of the game. This week, Tech will probably? hopefully? get a bunch of players on the two-deep back from COVID-protocol, but it will still be imperative that these young players continue to develop and play sound football. If Tyler Grubbs has another 16 tackle game, I'm ready to make the dude a defensive captain!
Dang, I just realized I didn't mention the QB situation. Oh well!
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Evan is also a contributor to gtpdd.dog, a lighthearted Louisiana Tech blog. Be sure to check out @gotechplsdntdie on Twitter.
