Football: CU Buffs vs. Texas Tech scouting report
A scouting report of the Colorado Buffaloes and Texas Tech Red Raiders ahead of Saturday's game at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.
Colorado Buffaloes
Head coach: Deion Sanders, 2nd season (10-10, 37-16 career)
Last week:
Rankings: No. 20 CFP, No. 21 AP, No. 24 Coaches
RB Isaiah Augustave: CU's leading rusher, with 271 yards on the season. Although CU rotates its backs, Augustave has started two games in a row and posted 144 yards and two touchdowns in those games. He had a season-high 91 yards in the Buffs' 34-23 win against Cincinnati on Oct. 26.
OL/DL Tyler Brown: A starter on the Buffs' offensive line in the first seven games, Brown has started practicing with the defensive line, which has been hampered by injuries. Brown could make an impact at guard and defensive tackle.
CB Preston Hodge: Enjoying a good first season with the Buffs, posting 26 tackles, two interceptions and six pass breakups. He had a season-high two pass breakups against Cincinnati two weeks ago.
WR Drelon Miller: He's not a starter, but Miller continues to find his way on to the field and he's becoming a bigger part of the game plans. The freshman has caught 18 passes for 105 yards and ran the ball three times for 11 yards. He's had multiple receptions in five consecutive games.
DE Samuel Okunlola: CU's co-leader in sacks with 3.0 and one of the leaders in tackles for loss, with 5.5. He also has 21 tackles overall. The Pitt transfer has eight sacks and 11.5 TFLs in the past two years combined.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Head coach: Joey McGuire, 3rd season (21-14)
Last week: Won at No. 11 Iowa State, 23-22
Rankings: RV in AP and Coaches' polls
S CJ Baskerville: He's third on the team with 50 tackles and tied for the team lead with three interceptions. He's also had three pass breakups and 2.5 tackles for loss. Baskerville started 10 games for the Red Raiders last year, finishing second on the team with 78 tackles, while adding 4.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and five pass breakups.
RB Tahj Brooks: On the verge of becoming Tech's all-time leading rusher, he has 4,099 yards and is 121 shy of the record. Posted 1,538 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2023, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors. He ranked fourth nationally with 118.31 yards per game last year and is fifth this year at 130.9 per game.
WR Josh Kelly: Washington State transfer is Tech's leading receiver, with 68 catches for 736 yards and five touchdowns. Caught 61 passes for 923 yards and eight touchdowns at Washington State last year. A sixth-year senior who played four years at Fresno State, he's caught 216 passes for 2,964 yards and 17 TD in his career.
QB Behren Morton: He has put together a solid season so far, completing 62.1% of his passes for 2,300 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions. He has thrown for 5,171 yards, 41 touchdowns and 19 interceptions during his four seasons at Texas Tech.
LB Ben Roberts: Enjoying a stellar sophomore year, with 65 tackles (second on the team), 4.5 tackles for loss and four QB hurries, as well as three forced fumbles. Named the co-defensive freshman of the year in the Big 12 last year, leading the Red Raiders with 107 tackles, including 6.5 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and an interception.
When Colorado has the ball ...
CU's offense has been clicking lately, especially early in games. The Buffs are averaging 36.4 points per game in conference play and they've scored at least 34 points in four of the five games. In those four games, they've run the ball well (91-plus yards each time), but when scoring just 28 points in a loss to Kansas State, the Buffs had a program-record low minus-29 rushing yards. The key to it all, of course, is dynamic quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who has played his way into Heisman Trophy contention. "In my opinion I think Shedeur Sanders is the best quarterback in college football," Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire said. "If I was an NFL GM and I had a pick to where I needed a quarterback, he'd be the first quarterback taken in this year's draft. He should be. I have a lot of respect for him." Sanders is an exceptional passer, but he also has a dangerous group of receivers, led Travis Hunter, who has better odds than Sanders to win the Heisman. The key to slowing down CU is the defense hitting and sacking Sanders. Tech is last in the Big 12 in sacks, but McGuire said, "We have to hit the quarterback. ... He takes a lot of hits and he is a tough guy. He just keeps getting back up. The times that people have done that, it's affected some of the throws."
When Texas Tech has the ball ...
The Red Raiders lead the Big 12 in scoring, at 36.4 points per game, including 32.3 in conference games. They've done it with a fairly balanced attack, with 53.4% of their plays coming on passes and 46.6% on the ground. Tech has one of the nation's best running backs in Tahj Brooks, who is averaging 130.88 yards per game (fifth in the country). Tech runs a lot of RPO (run-pass options) with QB Behren Morton, but Morton doesn't carry the ball much. When Morton throws it, however, he's good, posting 2,300 yards and 19 touchdowns. In addition to trying to stop Brooks, CU will have to contend with a trio of good receivers (Josh Kelly, Caleb Douglas and Coy Eakin), but the Buffs trust their secondary to do the job. "I think the thing that's going to be different than what we've seen is tempo," CU linebackers coach Andre Hart said. "They're a tempo team. ... Just finding out that rhythm and then also seeing the formations quicker (is important) because thing about tempo is that you can't hide a lot when you're in tempo. You have to be very good looking at film, understand the formations, location of the ball, and what you're going to get next based off the previous play. ... This is going to be a really good challenge for us to actually go against team who really plays tempo majority of the time."
Special teams
CU's kicking game has been on a roll of late. Place kicker Alejandro Mata has made seven field goals in a row and is 9-for-11 on the season. Punter Mark Vassett overcame some early struggles to get in his own groove in recent weeks, especially when it comes to pinning the opponent deep. Six of Vassett's last eight punts have pinned the opposition inside of its 20-yard line. Texas Tech kicker Gino Garcia has had an exceptional season, going 13-for-13 on field goals. He had a tough start to the 2023 season, but has made 27 of his last 29 field goal attempts. Punter Jack Burgess has had a solid season for the Red Raiders, landing 14 of his 36 punts inside the 20.
• Both teams achieved bowl eligibility in their last game. For CU, it's just the third time in the last 17 seasons that it will go to a bowl (also 2016 and 2020). For Texas Tech, this is its fourth consecutive season of bowl eligibility, the longest streak for the program since an 11-year run from 2000-10.
• Up to this point in the season, the Buffs have played the nation's 10th-toughest schedule in terms of opponent winning percentage (.656, 42-22). CU has one of the 30 easiest schedules going forward, however, with the last four opponents having a combined winning percentage of .449 (15-19).
• CU is aiming to get its first post-bye victory under Coach Prime. The Buffs had won four consecutive times when coming off a bye before last year's 28-16 loss at UCLA. Earlier this year, the Buffs came off a bye and lost to Kansas State.
• Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders has thrown at least one touchdown pass in all 19 games he's played for the Buffs. On Saturday, he could tie the school record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass. Sefo Liufau threw at least one in 20 consecutive games from 2013-14.
• The Buffs are just 1-4 all-time in Lubbock, but they did win in their most recent trip to the Red Raiders' home – a 31-26 victory on Oct. 27, 2007.
• CU receiver Will Sheppard needs just 43 receiving yards to reach 2,500 for his collegiate career. He had 2,067 in four seasons at Vanderbilt and has 390 this year at CU.
• Red Raiders receiver Josh Kelly leads the country with 23 catches on third downs. He has 23 catches for 244 yards and 14 first downs on third down. The Buffs are quite familiar with Kelly. While playing for Washington State last year, he caught six passes for 130 yards.
• Tech's Tahj Brooks and Boise State's Ashton Jeanty – one of the leaders in the Heisman Trophy race – are the only players in the country with at least 100 rushing yards in every game this season. Brooks has had at least 95 yards in 19 consecutive games, matching the longest such streak in the FBS since 1996.
• The Fox pregame show, Big Noon Kickoff, will be in Lubbock for the game. This is the first time Texas Tech has hosted Big Noon Kickoff.
• In McGuire's tenure, Texas Tech is 13-1 when holding opponents to 25 or fewer points, including last week's 23-22 win at Iowa State. When the opponent scores more than 25 points, the Red Raiders are 8-13.
