5. 3 Texas Tech vs. 14 Northern Kentucky
LINE: Texas Tech -14, o/u: 137
ATS PICK: Texas Tech
The Red Raiders haven’t moved much from the two touchdown spread, and there’s a reason – the rested defense might not let the Norse score. Okay, so Northern Kentucky is deep inside and out and move the ball around well, but the Texas Tech defense is stifling and should force takeaway after takeaway.
Lost in the great play by the defensive side is a Red Raider offense that’s able to get into shootouts it needed. It hit the 80 point mark in five of the last seven games, and there’s one key part about this equation – the free throw shooting.
The Norse have foul teams getting off the bus. It might take a while for Texas Tech to pull away, but it’ll live on the line over the final few minutes.
Want the comp? It might have been months ago, but Northern Kentucky dealt with a Cincinnati team that’s great at cranking up the defensive pressure and lost by 13. It also lost to NCAA 8-seed UCF by 13.
Texas Tech will win by more than 14.
