Texas Tech Top Storylines in Big Matchup with Oklahoma State

No. 10-ranked Texas Tech have risen in both national polls and in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee after a high-scoring win over West Virginia last week.

The Red Raiders' new-look offense, now led by quarterback Thomas Castellanos, will look to continue that explosion Saturday night on the road against an Oklahoma State squad that is clicking on all cylinders, especially offensively, to get them back in the national rankings.

Here are the key storylines to pay attention to in another late-night affair.

It's another 8:30 p.m. CT kickoff this week for Texas Tech, its second in a row.

The win over the Mountaineers ended past the midnight hour on Sunday morning and was the second-latest kickoff for a home game in program history. The team has seen later kickoffs on the road due to playing on the West Coast, but this visit to Stillwater could be one of the latest starts in the Central time zone.

It took a while for the Red Raiders' defense to survive the night. Not until two game-sealing stops by edge rusher Trey White & Co. did the Tech defense mount any pressure against a run-heavy West Virginia attack.

However, the numbers are defending Texas Tech's place among the nation's best defenses.

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The Red Raiders have posted 29.0 sacks to this point in the season, good enough for eighth in the country and on pace to reach the total put up by last year's historic defense that featured several top NFL prospects.

Tech pressure on the opposing quarterback has increased in recent weeks. Each of the last four games have seen the Red Raiders record at least 3.0 sacks as a team, including a season-high 6.0 against Arizona - a ranked team with a highly-regarded quarterback and offense.

The 18.0 combined sacks of the last four weeks is the second-most in a four-game span since 1996.

The Florida State transfer has been a revelation for Joey McGuire's offense since he was put in the starting lineup two games ago. In wins over the Wildcats and Mountaineers, Castellanos is leading an offense averaging 555 yards of offense and over 40 points per game.

Castellanos accounted for 464 (career-high 362 passing and 102 rushing) of the 638 total yards from scrimmage in Tech's win over West Virginia. He also established a new career high with five touchdown passes in the game.

The performance earned him the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose national player of the week award in addition to being named the Big 12's Offensive Player of the Week.

Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris is in his first season with the Cowboys and back in the Big 12. Before his coaching career began, he was a slot wide receiver for the Red Raiders from 2005 to 2008.

Morris, a Shallowater native in the 806, also manned the Tech sideline as an offensive coordinator for five seasons under Kliff Kingsbury. During that stretch, Morris famously recruited a recruit from Tyler by the name of Patrick Mahomes to come to Lubbock. The rest is history for one of the greatest Red Raider athletes and NFL quarterbacks in history.

Morris then took his QB whispering to Incarnate Word in San Antonio where he's credited with initiating Cam Ward's development before he would eventually become a No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.

The connections don't stop there. Tech's current OC, Mack Leftwich, got his big break in San Antonio on Morris staff at UIW, first as a graduate assistant before being promoted to quarterbacks coach and play-caller.

Now, Morris has brought with him Drew Mestemaker, the unheralded recruit who led the nation in passing at North Texas under Morris before the coach took over in Stillwater.