The Texas Longhorns are hosting the Texas Tech Red Raiders in college football action on Thanksgiving night. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on FOX Sports 1. Currently the college football betting odds for the game have this one as a close contest, with Texas Tech holding a slight advantage, but it could end up right around a pick 'em.
Texas has not been the program it had hoped under Charlie Strong. There's been some talk he might be replaced as head coach of the Longhorn program at some point this season and into the offseason, but he has said all the right things and still has a job, which should count for something. The Horns have to win their last two games over Texas Tech and at Baylor next week, a couple of tall tasks for the once proud burnt orange program.
Texas Tech is bowl eligible already and they will take on a team in one of those bowl games that will be in for a shootout. The Red Raiders play basically no defense and try to score as many points as possible, if they can out-score their opponents they can do some nice things. The good new for Texas Tech is they score an average of 46.5 points per game. The bad news? They give up 42.4 points per game to their opponents. Yikes. Texas isn't obviously a team that puts up a ton (24.9 PPG), which could give the Red Raiders an advantage here. Then again, the Horns are playing to extend the season.
Strong hasn't been able to corral the team that knocked off Oklahoma earlier this season. Since that game they have alternated wins and losses, but haven't beaten anybody outside of the state of Kansas. Their two losses, to Iowa State and West Virginia, were both on the road, so there's a thought they playing at home could be a boost for this team in this one.
Patrick Mahomes can throw all kinds of touchdowns (31), but he's also been picked off 13 times as well. Texas has had inconsistent quarterback play as well, but Jerrod Heard and Tyrone Swoopes have shown signs of being very good as well. The team that gets the better quarterback play tonight will certainly have an advantage.
The Texas offense just doesn't have enough firepower. Texas Tech can put up points in a hurry, but they've also shown the ability to lay an egg as well. That probably has something to do with the overall line in this one, which favored Texas to begin with, but has shifted over to the Red Raiders side. There's just too much offense there for the Longhorns to overcome.
Free Pick: Texas Tech
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