Who: Arizona State vs. Texas Tech (series tied 1-1)
Where: Sun Devil Stadium
When: 7 p.m. on FS1
Last meeting: Texas Tech 37, ASU 23 (Holiday Bowl on Dec. 31, 2013 )
Texas Tech last season: 7-6, (4-5 Big 12), lost to LSU in Texas Bowl
The roster from the 2013 Holiday Bowl is largely unrecognizable compared to the teams that the Sun Devils (1-0) and Red Raiders (1-0) will be lining up on Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium.
The last meeting between the two teams took place in San Diego, 360 miles east of where they will kickoff in Tempe. Before that, ASU topped Tech at home in 1991, 31-13.
Make no mistake, there’s history here, even if senior kicker Zane Gonzalez and senior punter Matt Haack are the only ones who were around to remember it.
One ASU player has seen the Red Raiders up close: senior cornerback Bryson Echols, who helped slow down Texas Tech's explosive offense as a member of the Texas Longhorns in 2014.
"I'm familiar with it, some of the routes they're running," Echols said. "You keep seeing it over and over again, and you get prepared for it."
For the visiting Red Raiders, this will be the first matchup against a Pac-12 team since the aforementioned trip to Tempe 17 years ago. ASU is 13-5 against Big 12 teams, while Texas Tech is 38-17-2 all-time against the Pac-12.
What challenges does junior quarterback Patrick Mahomes pose to an inexperienced defense who now finds itself thin at linebacker?
“I mean it’s pretty obvious,” ASU head coach Todd Graham said. “(The) same challenges you ask for everybody they play every week. It’s an air raid system.
"He’s big, he’s hard to tackle, he has a very quick release and they spread you all over the place.”
Teams with air raid offenses place an even greater burden on the secondary, the last line of defense against big plays that can turn the tide of momentum in the offense's favor.
"You've just got to hope the guys in front get to him and hope that time clock runs out," Echols said. "If you give him time, he'll put some stuff together – he's shown it."
The Sun Devil pass defense, one that ranks second to last in the Pac-12 after week one, is going up against the top offense in the Big 12 and a dynamic playmaker in Mahomes.
Defensive coordinator Keith Patterson compared Mahomes to Brett Favre and Magic Johnson in the same interview on Wednesday.
Keith Patterson on Patrick Mahomes: "He plays quarterback a little bit like Magic Johnson played point guard."
— Stefan Modrich (@StefanJModrich) September 7, 2016
Mahomes targeted 17 different receivers in a 69-17 win over Stephen F. Austin in Texas Tech’s season opener. Will he spread the ball out like that again?
“If they are open, I will,” Mahomes said at Texas Tech’s Monday press conference in Lubbock. “Try to put it in the best receiver's hands for that play, and whoever goes through my reads and whoever is open, I'm going to give them the ball.
"I'm not a big guy on having a go-to guy. I try to put it in the best player's hands for that play.”
Keeping an eye on that many wideouts is a lot to ask of anyone — but watch for sophomore Jonathan Giles and senior Reginald Davis to be among the leaders in yardage for the Red Raiders after posting big games last weekend.
One reason Mahomes is able to find so many different targets is his quick release — timed at about a second and a half.
Texas Tech also has a pair of redshirt freshman starters on the offensive line who made their debuts against Stephen F. Austin: Terence Steele at left tackle and Madison Akamnonu at right tackle.
"They recruit the largest human beings they can find and they just teach them to back up," defensive coordinator Keith Patterson said. "They've got a very simple protection plan."
Football coaches typically like to focus on their prepared doctrine and avoid discussing future matchups with the media. However, Patterson and Graham both said much of the team's studying of opponents takes place in the summer, and that teams are grouped according to similarities they share in schematics, personnel, and philosophy.
"I think our schedule sets up absolutely perfectly," Patterson said. "They way we look at it, you've got air-raid teams, you've got pro-style teams, then you've got 11-personnel spread teams, which is a little different. So I think it sets up nicely with Texas Tech. Then you've got Cal, which is very similar, and now they're preparing us for a conference game."
A look-in at Lubbock
ASU is listed as a two and a half point favorite over the visitors, but Mahomes likes his team’s odds.
“I mean, I don't see us as underdogs to anyone,” Mahomes said in the Lubbock presser. “I feel like we can beat anyone in the country, so we're going to come out there and play like we've worked this offseason and play the best we can and compete."
Defense has been a bit of a sore spot for the Kliff Kingsbury-coached Red Raiders, but senior nose tackle Ondre Pipkins, a transfer from Michigan, is poised to disrupt opposing offenses up front.
Presented with the task of a shutting down a mobile quarterback in redshirt sophomore Manny Wilkins, Pipkins said the gameplan doesn't need to be flashy if executed properly.
"I think we all just need to know where we are on the field to do our job,” Pipkins said. “We need to stay in our gaps, of course and just ultimately do our job and execute when that time comes, if he gets out of the pocket, make sure (we have) containment.”
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.
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