Texas Tech Football Finishes Up Prep Before the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl
Monday was a light day for the Texas Tech Red Raiders and LSU Tigers before Tuesday's AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston. The teams participated in a luncheon before breaking off for final team meetings.
Head coaches Kliff Kingsbury and Les Miles answered some questions after Monday's luncheon.
Coach Miles was asked about his Tigers' offensive game plan and how his staff has corrected their errors from the regular season, "Well, the key is to being balanced certainly and spending a little more time on the passing game," Miles said. "It seems to have paid dividends to have a couple extra practices going into game week, and we're kind of looking forward to seeing how it looks Tuesday night.”
Coach Kingsbury was asked if playing Arkansas earlier this season will help the Red Raiders against LSU. “Yeah, I'm not sure," Kingsbury said. "Like you mentioned, they have tremendous wide receivers out there. I think their quarterback is a player that's developed over the season and has had some really good moments. So they've got a lot of great players they're going to try to get the football to. So I don't know about ball control and things of that nature. I do know when we have it, we better take advantage of our possessions.”
LSU's offensive running game has receive much of the attention in the lead-up to the bowl game. Miles was asked about RB Derrius Guice, "Derrius is an old-time football player in a very, very talented body. He runs 4.3, and he's 220," he said.
"(Guice) is one of the strongest kids on our team. He's not going to run away from contact. He's going to look for -- he wants to hit everybody on the field, if he scores his ideal score after he tags 11 guys and then moves into the end zone. So he plays kickoff for us, he plays returns, and obviously he'll get snaps at tailback as well.”
Texas Tech's defensive woes in stopping the running game have been well documented this year. In the time between the end of the regular season and the bowl game, Kingsbury has dismissed three defensive assistant coaches.
The AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl kicks off at 8:10pm on Tuesday, December 29 at NRG Stadium in Houston. The game will be televised on ESPN.