Players to Watch: Texas Tech Offense

The West Virginia Mountaineers (3-1, 2-1) will be on the road this Saturday to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders (1-3, 0-3), who are coming off of a bye week. Texas Tech's offense will hand over the keys to the offense to former Utah State QB Henry Colombi and will not start Alan Bowman, who started the first four games for Matt Wells' squad.

Come Saturday, which three players should the Mountaineers have their eyes on? Let's take a look.

QB Henry Colombi - 40/54 359 yards 3 TD, INT

I typically don't throw the quarterback in this weekly article, but since Colombi is Texas Tech's new starter moving forward, I had to. Colombi is a really impressive quarterback that knows how to get the ball out of his hands extremely quick and places his throws where they need to be. His accuracy jumps off the page at you and although he's only had 54 pass attempts this season, a 74% completion percentage is very impressive. During his freshman year at Utah State he completed 33 of 40 passes (82.5%) and as a sophomore completed 20 of 29 passes (69%). So even though he has never been "the guy", he has made the most of his opportunities and has shown that he can be reliable when the ball is in his hands.

Colombi won't take many shots down the field (6.6 yards per pass attempt) and much of that is because of how Texas Tech wants to play. They like the quick passing game and not allowing the defensive line to cause much pressure in the pocket. With West Virginia strolling in with the nation's No. 1 defense, I'd be willing to bet they continue to work the short game more than anything and not give that defensive line a chance to blow plays up.

RB SaRodorick Thompson - 56 car, 282 yards 4 TD

This is the guy that I think can be the difference maker for the Red Raiders. When he goes, the offense goes. When he struggles, the offense struggles. Just look at the first two games of the season vs the last two, for example. The first two games, Thompson toted the rock 38 times for 222 yards and four touchdowns, which helped the offense average 45.5 points per game. Over the last two games, we have seen both Kansas State and Iowa State find ways to bottle him up as he only went for 60 yards and no touchdowns on 18 carries. I think you'll see West Virginia's gameplan be similar to what they did last week vs Kansas in attempt to slow down Pooka Williams. They're different backs, but both are huge pieces to their respective offense.

WR Erik Ezukanma - 21 rec, 295 yards, 3 TD

Erik Ezukanma = consistency. The Red Raiders are 16th in passing yards per game and Ezukanma is a big reason why. He's averaging 5.3 receptions, 73.8 yards, and nearly one touchdown per game. If Colombi does test the Mountaineers' secondary and throw downfield, he's going to be the guy they trust to go and get it.

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