Season Preview: Texas Tech Might Just Bring a Defense to Stillwater

Oklahoma State opens its conference slate on September 22 in Stillwater against a team that Mike Gundy is 11-2 against during his tenure, and which OSU has beaten nine-straight times.

But this Texas Tech team may look a little different than the ones we’ve grown accustomed to. Its strength will lie on the defensive side of the ball, a product of some marked improvement under coordinator David Gibbs as well as a huge amount of turnover on the offensive side.

We looked at OSU’s returning production earlier this week based on Bill Connelly’s metrics for SB Nation, and saw that the Cowboys rank at the bottom of the Big 12 in terms of what they have coming back across the board. But Tech takes the cake on offense returning just 31 percent of its production on that side of the ball. That’s the least in the Big 12 and ranks 127th nationally out of 130 teams graded.

But on the flip side, the Red Raiders return virtually all of their defensive production from an improved 2017 unit, ranking behind only Notre Dame in the country (both returning 96 percent.)

During his third year over of the Red Raider defense, Gibbs’ group took a big step forward, and out of the Big 12’s basement in a lot of ways. Their two main improvements came in the form of an increase in takeaways (going from worst to first in the Big 12) and rushing defense, jumping from 116th to 62nd nationally.

Seeing a team move up from 10th to seventh in the league doesn’t exactly jump off of the page, but the Red Raiders have shown improvement every year of Gibbs’ tenure. And he’s actually compiled some talent on that side of the ball over the last couple of years.

Texas Tech led (!) the Big 12 in preseason defensive all-conference picks with three. Oklahoma had zero.

Senior linebacker Dakota Allen is a force you don’t want to reckon if you’re a skill player. The Last Chance U alum made the most of that chance and returned to Lubbock as a junior and led the team with 102 tackles.

Fifth-year senior safety Jah’Shawn Johnson led all Big 12 DBs in tackles (97) and solo tackles (68). He’s aggressive, covers a lot of space and will be once again be leaned on heavily by Gibbs and the Tech defense.

Remember that improvement in turnover margin from 2016 to 2017? The lion’s share of credit can be laid at the feet of junior cornerback Justus Parker. He made a name for himself with his big-play ability and his propensity to dispossess offensive skill players. As a sophomore, the then-walk-on led the Big 12 in forced fumbles (four) and tied for second in interceptions (four).  He’s now on scholarship.

Also keep an eye on sophomore-turned sophomore defensive end Eli Howard. He led Tech in tackles for loss (8.5) and sacks (5.5) as a sophomore. Howard was allowed to reclassify as a redshirt freshman for 2017 due to an NCAA waiver concerning his transfer from North Texas. The details surrounding that transfer are murky, but it’s crystal clear that Gibbs has a playmaker with experience to build around moving forward.

At Big 12 Media Days, Kliff Kingsbury was asked about what it’s like to have that type of talent returning on defense.

“When Coach Gibbs took the job four years ago he kind of had to redo it all. He had a vision, knew what he wanted to do but had to go through two tough years. To his credit, he stuck to his guns, with his philosophy and his recruiting and now we’re making strides on that side of the football.

“So have to credit him a ton with sticking it out and just having continuity on that side of the ball to develop a culture and identity that those defensive players and staff are taking a lot of pride in now.”

I wouldn’t crown Texas Tech as a defensive juggernaut just yet. But we’ve seen tangible improvement over the last couple of years and they are set up to have maybe a solid defensive unit by Big 12 standards, or an otherworldly one by Tech’s.