Texas Tech has already avenged one of its two most humbling losses of last season. Last Saturday, Kliff Kingsbury's Red Raiders thumped spread-hating Bret Bielema's Arkansas. Now Tech returns home to face TCU (4:45 p.m. ET Saturday, FOX).

The Horned Frogs were downright mean last year, laying 785 yards (9.1 per play) and 82 points on the Red Raiders. The best/worst part: TCU settled for four field goals. The Frogs scored 82 points and left quite a few more unclaimed.

TCU's 14 scores represented the lowest point for a bad defense, one Kingsbury hired David Gibbs to fix. Gibbs, a turnovers-über-alles assistant last seen in Houston last year, has introduced his "yards are fine, points are fine, now go take the ball away" approach in Lubbock, and the results have been encouraging ... sort of. Tech is allowing 6.2 yards per play and nearly 500 yards per game but is seventh in the country with a plus-5 turnover margin. With Tech's offense, you just need to break serve a few times to win, and the defense is doing that.

So now comes the ultimate test. Texas Tech is clearly on sturdier ground than it was last year and at the very least appears poised to return to the postseason after last year's 4-8 debacle.

Tech can run!

The Tech offense is as pass-heavy as anyone's. The Red Raiders run the ball just 45 percent of the time on standard downs (120th in FBS) and 24 percent on passing downs (99th).

But when the passing game stretches defenses too thin, the Red Raiders are taking full advantage on the ground. They are first in the country with a 64 percent rushing success rate, and adjusting for opponent, they are a healthy 30th in Rushing S&P+. DeAndre Washington and Justin Stockton are combining for about 18 carries per game and 7.4 yards per carry. And quarterback Pat Mahomes is tossing in seven non-sack carries per game for more than six yards per carry.

A spread offense like Tech's forces defenses to give certain things up. And a mobile backfield is assuring the Red Raiders take full advantage of those things.

TCU is struggling more than usual against the run. The Horned Frogs are preventing big plays, but after losing tackle Chucky Hunter and playmaking linebackers Paul Dawson and Marcus Mallet to graduation, plus starting linemen James McFarland and Davion Pierson and linebacker Sammy Douglas to injury, they are taking time to adapt up front. Three of the four leading tacklers are safeties, and the linebackers are providing almost no disruptive presence.

My thought all along was that the defense would eventually thrive. It's a Gary Patterson defense. And with TCU's backloaded schedule -- of their three opponents currently in the F/+ top 25 (Kansas State, Oklahoma, Baylor), two show up in the last two games on the schedule -- it appeared they would have time to figure things out.

But injuries have exacerbated depth and youth problems, and Tech is designed to exploit everything TCU isn't doing well.

TCU's allowing too many big plays

TCU is struggling to leverage opponents into passing downs, but when a second- or third-and-long comes up, the Horned Frogs still pounce. End Josh Carraway (2.5 sacks) leads a pass rush that ranks fifth in passing downs sack rate, and sophomore safeties Travin Howard and Nick Orr have combined for 4.5 tackles for loss and four passes defensed so far.

The tradeoff: this aggression backfires. TCU has always been willing to risk a big play to control the distance between the line and the chains, and that trade has been stark this year: TCU's already allowed 10 passes of 20-plus yards (85th in FBS) and six of 30-plus (104th). And a lot of those big gainers happened before star cornerback Ranthony Texada was lost for the season to injury.

Tech already has 14 passes of 20-plus (14th). Jakeem Grant is Tech's possession receiver extraordinaire; he's caught 91 percent of the passes thrown his way. But the trio of Devin Lauderdale, Ian Sadler and Reginald Davis has combined for 34 catches, 596 yards and eight touchdowns so far. TCU's depleted defense will struggle to keep the dam from breaking.

Boykin is Boykin again

Of course, offense wasn't Tech's problem last year against TCU. The Red Raiders averaged 6.5 yards per play and still lost by 55 points. Tech couldn't even pretend to slow down the TCU offense. Trevone Boykin passed for 433 yards and seven touchdowns, and TCU running backs rushed 33 times for 268 yards. The TCU offense had the Red Raiders on a string.

Boykin has begun to look like that Boykin again. After a lackluster performance against Minnesota, he has completed 68 percent of his passes for 739 yards, nine scores and two picks over the last two weeks against Stephen F. Austin and SMU. And while Tech's defense offers an upgrade over those two ... it's only so much of one.

Tech is allowing a 54 percent success rate through three games, 125th in the country. The Red Raiders are prone to whatever you want to do near the line of scrimmage, and a patient offense that takes care of the ball will find plenty of scoring opportunities.

Tech's forcing turnovers, though. Through three games, they are on pace for 32 takeaways, which would more than double last year's 15. Securing turnovers is random, but getting the ball loose is not -- Tech is getting hands-on passes and hacking at the football. Redshirt freshman free safety Jah'Shawn Johnson has two tackles for loss and two forced fumbles so far.

Boykin has lost the plot at times. It has happened far less frequently since the start of 2014, but he did throw three picks against Ole Miss in last year's Chick-Fil-A Bowl, and he was scattershot against Minnesota. If Tech can force some mistakes, the Red Raiders can break serve.

82!

The "revenge tour!" idea is nice, and Texas Tech seems to have more to offer than it did a year ago. After a frustrating 2014, Kingsbury's team has energy again.

Still ... 82 points ... 14 scores! If Tech's defense is able to cut TCU's scoring output in half, it would still take a really nice offensive performance to pull the upset. The TCU offense has reached cruising altitude again. Running back Aaron Green is averaging 6 yards per carry, and senior receivers Josh Doctson and Kolby Listenbee have posted a downright obscene line so far: 36 targets, 26 catches, 528 yards, five touchdowns. Tech is preventing big plays far better and is fulfilling Gibbs' turnover requirements, but it might take quite a few turnovers for the Red Raiders to give themselves a shot.

This is a nice test for both. TCU has to prove it can function at a high enough level offensively to account for a thin defense. And for the second straight week, Tech has a chance to prove that last year's dysfunction is completely in the rearview mirror.

Assume a TCU win, but watch just in case. You'll get a fun shootout either way.