Regardless of the weather, and there is talk that it could be pretty soggy Saturday in Lubbock, there’s no doubt what the Mustangs will see Saturday when they face the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock Saturday night: passes … and a lot of them.

OFFENSE

SMU coach June Jones and Texas Tech’s Mike Leach are regarded as perhaps the two most innovative head coaches in the country when it comes to designing passing offenses.

June Jones said the main thing that makes the Tech receivers so effective is the accuracy of senior quarterback Graham Harrell (photo by Terry Callahan).

There are Red Raiders on most of the preseason awards lists, starting with senior quarterback Graham Harrell, who is up for All-America consideration, and sophomore wide receiver Michael Crabtree, who last year became the first freshman to win the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the nation’s premier wide receiver.

Crabtree represents the second premier receiver the SMU secondary will face in just three weeks, having already tangled with Rice star Jarett Dillard in the season opener. But while both are prolific record-setters, they differ greatly in their size and abilities.

“Michael Crabtree is a lot bigger,” SMU sophomore cornerback Derrius Bell said. “Dillard is best when he goes up and gets the ball, but Crabtree is more of a speed guy, and he’s bigger — 6-foot-3, 215 pounds — he’s a punisher.”

While Bell said Crabtree will line up mostly on Bell’s side of the field, Leach will move his star sophomore around in an effort to create beneficial matchups.

“They’ll move him around some, so I’ll have him a lot of the time, but Bryan (McCann) will get him some, too,” Bell said. “He’s going to make plays, but we have to stay in our technique and make tackles when he gets the ball.”

Bell and the rest of the secondary, can not concentrate solely on Crabtree, of course, as the Red Raiders have a wide array of fleet wideouts to whom Harrell can throw.

“Eric Morris isn’t as big as Crabtree, but he’s a really elusive runner — I think he’s their punt returner, too,” Bell said. “Detron Lewis is just fast. When he gets the ball, he’s really dangerous.”

The pilot of the Tech aerial attack, of course, is Harrell, the senior from Ennis who steers an offense that has averaged 42 points and 530 yards of total offense over the Red Raiders’ first two games. Jones said it is Harrell’s accuracy that makes Crabtree, Morris, Lewis and the rest of the Texas Tech receivers so dangerous.

Just like when they faced Rice, the Mustangs will take on a team Saturday whose headliner is a wide receiver, but whose quarterback is even more dangerous than his statistics might suggest.

“He’s not much like (Rice quarterback) Chase Clement at all,” Bell said. “Clement throws well, but what makes him so good is how he can take off and run and make plays on the run. Harrell is more of a pure passer. He’s not as fast, but he’s more of a pocket passer. He’s got a great arm, and he’s really accurate.”

The high-powered Red Raider offense operates successfully in large part because of its offensive line, a massive group of blockers that looks like a row of dumpsters with facemasks. The group is headlined by senior left tackle Rylan Reed (he of the 600-pound bench press video on YouTube) and massive left guard Louis Vasquez. Right guard Brandon Carter is the biggest of the bunch, at 6-foot-7 and 354 pounds, and only center Stephen Hamby (6-3, 292) weighs in under 300 pounds. The Tech offensive line still plays it’s unusual alignment, in which the blockers, like SMU’s offensive line, operate out of a pass-ready two-point stance. They still utilize the huge (five- to eight-foot) splits between blockers, but according to senior SMU defensive tackle Patrick Handy, those open pathways between the Tech linemen don’t necessarily represent a clear path to Harrell.

“Those guys are so big,” Handy said of the massive Tech offensive line that averages nearly 6-foot-6 and 322 pounds per man among its starters. “Just their size fills up some of those gaps, and when the ball is snapped, they get back pretty quickly, which closes off the gaps a little more while they’re backpedaling.”

So the inclination to employ a speed rusher like Youri Yenga to burst through the splits almost plays into the Red Raiders’ hands, Handy said.

“They look to pass most of the time,” Handy said. “We know it, and they know we know it. But they’re so huge, and way they block, it’s hard to run right by them.”

Instead, the Mustangs will have to rely on their quickness and incorporate a package of stunts and twists (or “games”) to try to tangle up the Red Raiders’ behemoth blockers.

“We’ve got to be sharp with our games,” Handy said. “We’ll line up in their gaps, and then switch things around, stunt around each other. We’ve got to get their eyes looking around, wondering where we’re coming from, and make them think a lot.”

DEFENSE

Texas Tech operates out of 4-3 base alignment, and while the unit has several elite athletes, it has not shown the improvement — at least not yet — that many expected this season. Tech has allowed 21.5 points per game over the first two games of the season, and has surrendered 426 yards per game of total offense, including 302.5 per game through the air.

Justin Willis said Tech safety Darcel McBath is good enough to be chosen on the first day of April's NFL Draft (photo by Terry Callahan).

The defensive line is led by defensive ends Brandon Williams and Jake Ratliff. Williams leads the Tech defense in the early going with three sacks in his first two games. The defensive tackles — Colby Whitlock and Rajon Henley— are smaller than the space-eaters many teams employ: Whitlock is 6-foot-2 and 288 pounds, while Henley carries just 266 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame. Ironically, two of the Tech defense’s four interceptions over the first two games have come from defensive linemen: Henley and backup defensive tackle Richard Jones.

SMU center Mitch Enright said, however, that the Tech defensive linemen’s relative lack of bulk does not mean they make up an ineffective unit.

“They love to play ‘games,’ to stunt a lot,” Enright said. “They’re smaller than a lot of lines we’ll see, but they’re also quicker than a lot of lines. They’re really quick on their stunts, so if we’re not using our technique well, they can cause some real problems.”

If the Red Raiders’ defensive line is less than gargantuan, their linebackers are more prototypical in size. Outside linebackers Bront Bird and Brian Duncan lead the team in tackles through two games, with 19 and 18.

“They’re really quick to the ball,” Enright said of the Tech linebackers, “and they play hard all the time. They bring their linebackers on blitzes, but that really depends on what the front four is doing — if they run ‘games’ with their defensive linemen, they don’t blitz their linebackers as much, but when the line plays straight-up, they might have a linebacker coming. We have to be ready for them all the time.”

The strength of the Tech defense is probably in its secondary, which is led by junior cornerback Jamar Wall and senior safety Darcel McBath.

“Their secondary is fast — real fast,” said backup SMU quarterback Justin Willis, who is Wall’s cousin. “Darcel McBath is a great player. He’s probably a first-round or second-round NFL Draft pick next summer. He’s one of the best in the country.”

Because of the elite athleticism the Red Raiders have in their secondary, Willis said the Tech schemes for the defensive backs usually is relatively straightforward.

“They’re like a lot of Big 12 teams — they play pretty typical coverages,” Willis said. “They have the players, and they let them make plays.”

Willis said that despite the presence of two potent offenses, the game might not be the scoring frenzy many anticipate.

“There will be a lot of points scored in this game, but the first half might not be as big as the second,” he said. “We want to get off to a good start, but the first half will probably be a little slower. We’ll get used to each other and get to know exactly what each other can do. Then, in the second half, both teams probably will open up more.”

Willis said that if inclement weather reaches Lubbock, that likely will benefit the Mustangs, because of the size and strength of running backs DeMyron Martin and Andrew McKinney, compared to Tech’s diminutive-but-speedy Shannon Woods and Baron Batch. But if the storm holds off, he said the Mustangs can attack the Texas Tech defense … patiently.

“When you play Tech, you have to take what they give you,” Willis said. “If they give you flats and curls, that’s what you take. Eventually they’ll creep forward — that’s when you go over the top.”