Texas Football: Game-by-game predictions for the Longhorns in 2018
As Texas looks to avenge its most disappointing and upsetting loss of the 2017 campaign, it comes at the right time to travel to Lubbock, TX, to face the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Entering the 2018 season, Texas Tech was expected to finish among the bottom three teams in the Big 12. Question marks on both sides of the ball only grew throughout the start of the regular season.
Texas Tech has won a few games that got the team off to a decent start, but even bowl eligibility seems like a reach now. Texas takes advantage of that with the national spotlight turning to Lubbock to see if the 2018 squad is worthy of getting into the College Football Playoff if the chance presents itself.
Ehlinger is facing a quarterback that’s had his fair share of ups and downs, but was part of the Texas Tech team that knocked off the Horns in 2017. McLane Carter swapped with Jett Duffey for most of the regular season, but neither seemed like the answer. That issue persisted in this Week 10 battle between in-state rivals. Carter got all but two of the passing attempts, similar to how it was with Nic Shimonek the year before.
This is one of the biggest blowouts of the season, with the Texas defense wreaking havoc for the passing game and ground game of the Red Raiders. Senior defensive tackle Chris Nelson notches 1.5 sacks, a career high for a single game. The Texas secondary also holds strong to keep the Red Raiders in single digits on the scoreboard.
Ehlinger does what he needs to with two total touchdowns and one interception to Texas Tech safety Jah’Shawn Johnson. It’s the ground game, special teams, and defense that counts for a good portion of the scoring. Texas gets a punt return for touchdown and a fumble returned for a touchdown from senior linebacker Anthony Wheeler.