FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Excuse me if I seem a little agitated, I accidently delted this whole thing the first time I wrote it.

My sleeper for the 2008 season in the Big 12 is (Drum roll please)................ The Texas Technical College Red Raiders!

This season Texas Tech will be most known for there offense. They take pride in having one the best passing attacks in football and the leader of this attck is without a doubt there QB, Grahm Harrell. Last year Harrell had one of the best statistical years in college football when he threw for over 5,000 yards and almost 50 TD's. This season he looks to imprve those numbers yet again when he brings back a slate of talent on Offense. Texas Tech is getting back there entire O-line from last season, 3 out of there top 4 WR, and there top 3 RB's from last season, which belive it or not is bigger than you think for this Texas Tech squad. On the ground I look for Sophmore, Aaon Crawford to get most of the carries after having a dominat spring, but don't count out Shannon Woods,  The combination of those two will make up for what could be oe of the more talented 1 2 punches in the Big 12, despite the fact they won't get the chance to show off there talent running the ball very much, Texas Tech has made it clear that they want to try to throw the swing pass alot to Crawford this year and mainly use Woods as a 3 yards back.

 In the passing game it's no secret that Mike Crabtree is a truly special player, look for him to come close to breaking the 2,000 yard mark in the passing game. Don't let Crabtree overshadow the other great players in the passing game though. Edward Britton and Eric Morris will be the next two best WR, as well as Return guys, they willl get close to 1,000 yards in the air this season, don't besuprise3d if these guys end up on an all-Big 12 team or two either. It's no secret, despite what Texas Tech does on defense this season, you can trust that this will be one of the top 10 offenses in all of the land

Fast Fact- Texa Tech became the first team in NCAA history last season to rank 1st in the NCAA in passing offense and 119th (a.k.a. Last) in the NCAA in rushing offense.

 On Defense Texas Tech is returning 8 starters from a squad that weilded one of the best defenses in the Big 12 last season. I don't really see any major question marks on there defense, so I guess I'll just take this time to sing there praise. The Secondary is paticularly loaded, considering that it has 3 seniors coming back on a squad that ranked 12th in the nation last season in preventing the pass, I see them being even better this year. The only thing that this defense struggled in last year was stopping the run, and I think that this will be better this year considering that they are bringing back there entire D-line and 2 out of there 3 LB's, so overall I see this being a top 3 defense in the Big 12.

Here's a look at Texas Tech's schedule, I put a star by potential losses.

8/30Eastern Washington W9/06@ Nevada W9/13Southern Methodist W9/20Massachusetts W10/04@ Kansas State W10/11Nebraska *10/18@ Texas A&M W10/25@ Kansas *11/01Texas *11/08Oklahoma State W11/22@ Oklahoma *11/29Baylor W

Just as a side note, how cool is it gonna be to see SMU play Texas Tech, the best 2 run and shoot offenses in college football. But anyways, my worst case scenario for Texas Tech is a 9-4 season, and I think that a one loss season is not out of the question.

 I see this team as a dark horse to win the Big 12 and make a BCS bowl, it wouldn't suprise me one bit.