The defense has it's battles to conquer as well, they enter this season without their two 1st team All Big 12 safeties Darcel McBath (7 ints last year, teams second leading tackler) Daniel Charbonnet (5 ints last year).  They will also have to fill the void left by the early departure of their 1st team All Big 12 DE Brandon Williams who lead the Big 12 in sacks a year ago (13).

The Red Raiders will also have to overcome a swarm of injuries and mishaps that have depleted their teams depth.  The teams leading returning receiver Detron Lewis ( 76 rec., 913 yds. in 08) and currently the teams second leading receiver went down last week with a hurt right leg and will not play against Texas.  Franklin Mitchem; Tech's starting FS went down to injury as well, he was spotted earlier this week with a sling on his left arm.  The biggest woes for Tech are on the defensive front; SR. DE Rajon Henley who has registered 1 sack, 1 tfl and 5 tackles so far this season will miss the game due to a right ankle injury.  SR DE Brandon Sharpe is also out due to what Tech officials are calling "an internal issue".  Backup DE Ryan Halliburton suffered an injury earlier this week but the details of it were not disclosed.  SR Dixon McKinner the teams returning sack leader with 9 sacks and 11 tfl's in 08 was suspended during spring football for failure to meet his academic responsibilities.

With so many voids to be filled for the Red Raiders it is an extreme advantage for Texas to get them early in the season before they gain any continuity as a team.  They are rebounding from a 3 loss season which was characterized by many to be the best Tech team ever, and the best season in the Leach era.  Expect for Texas to integrate a healthy mix of the pass and the run.  With three DE's out Tech will struggle to put pressure on the QB, so Texas' pass protection should be solid, and with the lack of experience on the defensive front for Tech a 100 yard rusher should be a guarantee.  On top of losing their two top safeties they also lose 3 key backups in that secondary which means they have depth issues in the defensive backfield and Texas should be able to wear them down.  The only strength for the Texas Tech defense is the LB corp, they return the entire two deep including Brian Duncan (teams leading tackler in 08-94) and Colby Whitlock - the former wrestler who terrorized Colt in last year's game. Expect for DC Ruffin McNeil to use some of his bigger LB's at some DE to relieve some of those depth issues on the Dline.  Overall DC Ruffin McNeil will have to call the game of his life to hold Texas under 30 points.  

The Tech offense does have to replace it's 4 best players from last year but lets face it, Mike leach doesn't necessarily need a boat load of talent to have success on offense.  In Leach's 10 year tenure he has managed to lead the FBS in passing 6 out of the last 7 years and in total offense in the last 6.  His new QB Taylor Potts lacks experience but inside sources say he has a stronger arm than Harrell and he is bigger.  The Tech offense will be without Detron Lewis, last years second leading receiver and currently the teams second leading receiver but in the last 2 weeks there are atleast 5 Tech receivers with 4 or more catches in each game so Lewis' absence wont stall the offense.  The Texas defense should be able to rack up atleast 4 sacks and 2 ints this game. Potts has thrown 3 int's thus far this season (all in game 1 v N. Dakota).  Potts has only been sacked once but he does a good job playing within the offense and getting rid of the football.  Tech just does not have enough firepower to hang with the Horns this year.  The Red Raiders have averaged atleast 30 points in their last 5 meetings, and these two teams have averaged 78 points per game in the last 7 seasons, so expect Tech to score atleast 2 TD's.  I do believe that this game will be a coming out party for our secondary, I expect for Earl Thomas, Chykie Brown, Aaron Williams and Curtis Brown to have big games.  The addition of Deon Beasley this week cannot be understated, Texas will need fresh bodies in the defensive backfield for that extreme spread of Texas Tech.  Tech has only ran the ball 33 times this season but they have thrown it 111 times (77% of the overall plays this season). Against a pass happy offense like Tech expect for Lamar Houston to have a huge game, thus freeing up others to get alot of pressure on Taylor Potts who has thrown 861 yards and 9 TD's so far this season.