Game Preview: Houston

Saturday, September 23

Houston, Texas

11 a.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

Houston

September 18, 2017 | Football

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Red Raiders head on the road for the first time this season in an 11 a.m. kickoff Saturday at Houston

By: Texas Tech Athletics Communications

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech will hit the road for the first time during the 2017 season Saturday when the Red Raiders travel to face Houston in an 11 a.m. kickoff from TDECU Stadium.

The game will air live regionally on ABC with a reverse mirror on ESPN2. Mike Patrick (play-by-play) will call the action alongside analyst and former Red Raider head coach Tommy Tuberville. They will be joined by sideline reporter Paul Carcaterra.

The Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game over 46 affiliates throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico as Brian Jensen will have the call alongside analyst John Harris, sideline reporter Chris Level and engineer Steve Pitts. The radio broadcast can also be heard on Sirius channel 132, XM channel 202 or via the TuneIn app.

SATURDAY STORYLINES

Under head coach Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech is an impressive 10-2 against non-conference opponents. The Red Raiders have gone on the road to score wins over SMU (2013), UTEP (2014) and Arkansas (2015) under Kingsbury. The Red Raiders have won six of their last seven non-conference road games with the lone loss coming last year at Arizona State.
Through his first two career starts, Nic Shimonek has been nothing short of impressive. The senior has completed 78.8 percent of his passes for 927 yards and nine touchdowns in victories over Eastern Washington and Arizona State. Since the start of the 2000 season, Shimonek's 927 yards ranks seventh among FBS quarterbacks through two games in a season.
Shimonek threw for a career high 543 yards and six touchdowns against Arizona State, which ranks as the most for a FBS quarterback so far this season.
Texas Tech is the nation's leader in total offense (620.5 yards per game) and passing offense (496.0 yards per game) after lighting up the scoreboard against both Eastern Washington and Arizona State. Texas Tech is averaging 54 points per game early in the season after scoring 56 against Eastern Washington and then 52 versus Arizona State last weekend.
The Red Raiders will be matched against a Houston defense that is only allowing 9.5 points per game so far this season. The Cougars currently rank seventh in the FBS for scoring defense entering this week.
Saturday will mark the 31st all-time meeting between Texas Tech and Houston. The Cougars control an 18-11-1 all-time advantage in the series that was featured primarily during the Southwest Conference.
This will be just the third meeting between Texas Tech and Houston since the Southwest Conference closed following the 1995 season. The Red Raiders also faced Houston in a home-and-home series during the 2009-10 campaigns.
The trip to Houston will be special for several members of the Red Raider coaching staff this weekend as head coach Kliff Kingsbury, defensive coordinator David Gibbs, offensive coordinator Eric Morris, special teams coordinator Joe Robinson and linebackers coach Zac Spavital were all previously members of the Houston football program.
Through two games in the 2017 season, Keke Coutee looks like the same dominating wideout that ended the 2016 campaign. The junior leads the country in receiving yards per game so far this season as he is averaging 142.5 yards through the air as part of a Texas Tech offense that leads the country in both passing offense and total offense.