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GAME NOTES: The 17th-ranked Houston Cougars are one of the most surprising teams of the college football season thus far, and they figure to be tested this weekend by the explosive Texas Tech Red Raiders.

After opening the season with a pair of blowout victories over inferior opponents, Texas Tech hit the road last weekend for a Big 12 Conference battle with rival Texas. Despite a solid effort in that tilt, the Red Raiders fell by a 34-24 final. Mike Leach's Tech club was one of the best in the nation a year ago, and while significant talent was lost from that team, expectations in Lubbock are still fairly high.

Houston opened its season with a 55-7 drubbing of Northwestern State on September 5th, but few gave the team any chance of beating then-fifth-ranked Oklahoma State on September 12th in Stillwater. The Cougars shocked the college football world with a 45-35 victory over the Cowboys, and they have had two weeks to prepare for this battle with Texas Tech. Conference USA play begins next week for coach Kevin Sumlin's squad.

"I'm most proud of how our staff got guys back together; how our players kind of rallied back together and withstood pretty good blows in that third quarter and then won the game," said Sumlin after Houston's first win over a top-five team in 25 years.

Houston owns a 17-10-1 advantage over Texas Tech in the all-time series between the two teams.

Last season, Texas Tech featured the lethal combination of quarterback Graham Harrell and wideout Michael Crabtree. Both have moved on, but the Red Raiders never seem to be short on offensive talent. Taylor Potts is the new quarterback, and he has thrown for 1,281 yards and 12 touchdowns in three outings. Lyle Leong leads the club with five receiving scores, and 1,419 yards of total offense has been generated by Tech thus far. Of that total, 1,333 yards have come via the air, so there is absolutely no balance to speak of. The Red Raiders are averaging 1.7 yards per rushing attempt, and that is simply unacceptable.

Texas Tech has played fairly well defensively, limiting opponents to 268.0 total ypg and 19.0 ppg. Stopping the run has been an area of strength for the Red Raiders, who are yielding just 2.6 ypc. They have been solid against the pass as well, as foes are gaining a mere 7.8 yards per pass completion. With nine sacks and five takeaways to their credit, the Red Raiders have made a decent number of impact plays. Marlon Williams leads the club with 26 total tackles, including five TFLs.

Against Texas last week, Potts threw the ball 62 times, racking up 420 yards and three touchdowns. Unfortunately, the ground attack netted minus-six yards on 18 attempts. Defensively, Tech held the Longhorns to 340 yards and three offensive touchdowns, but a special teams score by Texas proved to be the difference in the game.

"We'd get on a roll offensively and then get a penalty and go right back where we started," Potts said after the contest. "We tried to beat Texas and ourselves in the first half. In the second half, we just tried to beat Texas."

Tech committed 14 penalties and Potts committed some costly turnovers.

Houston's offense is downright explosive, as the team is averaging 50.0 ppg and 525.0 total ypg. The Cougars do most of their damage via the pass, as quarterback Case Keenum has completed 72.4 percent of his throws with seven touchdowns and only one interception. He has thrown for 725 yards and has spread the ball to a number of capable receivers, including Charles Sims, Patrick Edwards and Tyron Carrier. Bryce Beall leads a modest rushing attack with 136 yards and two scores.

After allowing seven points in the first game they played, the Cougars were touched for 35 points by Oklahoma State in the next outing. Therefore, it is hard to get a reading on just how good or bad this Houston defense is. The unit is surrendering 348.5 total ypg and roughly the same amount of yardage on the ground and through the air. Still, it is fair to say that the Cougars have played better against the pass than the run, as they are yielding 4.3 yards per rushing attempt and only 8.6 yards per pass completion.

In the victory over Oklahoma State, Houston posted 32 first downs and 512 total yards. Keenum finished 32-of-46 for 366 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Carrier made seven grabs for 111 yards and a score, while Beall rushed 18 times for 78 yards and a touchdown. The Cougars did turn the ball over twice, but they came up with four takeaways, key to the victory. The defense didn't play great ball, but certainly did enough to win the game.

"It was big, we don't look at the numbers next to the players, we just look at the team and wanted to come here and get a victory," said Beall after the triumph. "We knew coming in here, having to play the No. 5 team it was going be hard, coach told us that. We just respected our opponent and played hard."

In what figures to be the highest-scoring game of the weekend, give a narrow edge to the Red Raiders as Leach won't allow his squad to lose a second straight outing.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Texas Tech 52, Houston 41