Texas Tech is a strange pearl of a team in a vast ocean of already-taken talent. Most of their players are pretty local, most-times picked over by the Horns and Aggies, but Leach knows who he wants, and he knows how to turn them into passing gurus. As much as I hate to say it, the guy has quietly created a force to be reckoned with out there on the flatlands of West Texas.
It's gonna be a tough one, but first off, I think Watson knows he definitely can't do what Callahan did 4 years ago, and Pelini is almost an opposite to Cozgrove. Our offense will be different. The Blackshirts will definitely be different. So, I'd say the outcome will be different, whether we win or not.
If I were coach, I'd do a lot of what people are saying here. Pound the rock, maybe stretch it with some zone reads/options under center and out of the gun. Just mix it up with jet sweeps out of the Bronco bunch, counters and iso's (capitalizing on Cotton's blocking schemes), not to mention hitting Lucky/Castille/Helu out in the flats.
I'd just nickel and dime as much as I could to keep Harrell, Crabtree and Co. off the field. Then, when they get ansy and stick 8 in the box or try to blitz too much, let Ganz pull the trigger on a deep one to Gilleylen/Holt/Swift/Peterson - see what happens.
I just think we bring a whole different set of weapons offensively than we did in '04 (most notably - back-up QB). New Tech DC or not, we SHOULD be able to move the ball on these Dead Raiders.
Defensively, a pass rush is important, but smart LB play is just as integral. There's one play, a doube drag play out of a 4-wide that's their bread and butter that basically has the QB reading where the LB's go to find those empty spaces between them for their Y and slot receivers. Very hard to stop without smart LB's that put themselves in position to make a play instead of taking themselves out it. We should really watch TCU film, because they shut Tech down the whole game, as did Mizzou.
Most of all, I just want to see HEART and FIRE from the Blackshirts. Go out there and make those Texas boys sorry you ever came!