Through two games this season, the Arizona State defense has had its fair share of struggles.
The defense surrendered 31 points against New Mexico State in week one, and in week two it let senior San Diego State running back Rashaad Penny rack up 353 total yards in a 30-20 defeat.
Now it only gets tougher for the Sun Devils as they travel halfway across the country to Lubbock, Texas to play the Texas Tech Red Raiders and their high-powered Air Raid offense.
ASU hosted to the Red Raiders last year, which resulted in a shootout so wild the final score resembled a college basketball game.
The Sun Devils won that week two matchup 68-55. It was a game for the record books, with ASU running back Kalen Ballage scoring eight touchdowns and then-Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes passing for 540 yards and five touchdowns.
Here's the problem: If the Sun Devils allow Texas Tech to score 55 points this weekend they will not win, and it will not be close.
But in this game the Red Raiders will have a new quarterback under center, that being senior Nic Shimonek.
It's clearly better for ASU to face Shimonek as opposed to Mahomes, who ripped them apart last year and is now on the Kansas City Chiefs, but Shimonek still presents his own set of problems to deal with.
"We know that he's a good player. He can sling the ball," Redshirt junior safety Dasmond Tautalatasi said. "We know that we are going to have to study, read their keys and read their key routes and their tendencies."
Shimonek was effective for Texas Tech in the team's 56-10 victory over Eastern Washington in week one, throwing for 384 yards and three touchdowns.
But the real issue is not Shimonek. It's the pass-heavy Air Raid offense used by Texas Tech that spreads the field with four receivers and relies on the quick no-huddle offense.
Understanding how to contain Texas Tech's offense will be critical for the Sun Devil defensive backs.
"Staying on top, don't want any threats behind us," Tautalatasi said. "As long as we stay on top and keep all of the routes in front of us then we should be able to defeat the Air Raid."
ASU has at least some experience against TTU when it played them last year. But first-year defensive coordinator Phil Bennett has years of experience playing the Red Raiders, since they were also in the Big 12 conference when he coached at Baylor from 2011 to 2016.
"You know they are very similar to what we did at Baylor," Bennett said. "Cover the field from sideline to sideline. Very fast, the tempo — you've got to be very simple with your calls. You've got to get lined up, especially on their sideline. They seem to go faster when they are on their sideline."
By directly coaching against TTU for so long, Bennett also has a good idea of some of the tendencies of Red Raiders' coach Kliff Kingsbury.
"Kliff has great knowledge of what he wants to do. He has a feel of where he wants to attack and how he wants to attack," Bennett added. "That's always good for an offense. They know what they are doing."
But in the end, Texas Tech scores on basically anyone, and they certainly will against ASU. So that means the offense is going to have to score on a newly-improved Red Raider defense.
"I think they've overhauled their personnel," ASU offensive coordinator Billy Napier said. "They've signed quite a few junior college players and transfer players. So if you look at their starting lineup from the first game, there's really only two returning starters on the defense."
Reach the reporter at mpharri7@asu.edu or follow @Harris_Mark7 on Twitter.
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