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The best defense in the Big 12 — and one of the best in the country — has taken a big hit in the trenches. Texas Tech<\/a> defensive lineman Skyler Gill-Howard<\/a> is out for the year with an injury he suffered in last week’s win over Kansas<\/a>, according to CBS Sports’ Chris Hummer and Matt Zenitz.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gill-Howard was a key part of the Red Raiders’ transfer portal haul in the offseason, coming over from NIU. Just like the rest of those additions, Gill-Howard as provided a nice return on investment<\/a>. In six games with Texas Tech, Gill-Howard recorded 13 tackles, 2.5 tackles, 0.5 sacks and one interception.<\/p>\n Given the impact Gill-Howard has had in the middle of that vaunted Texas Tech defensive line, his absence will leave a big hole. Pro Football Focus graded Gill-Howard as the fourth-best defensive tackle in the country, and along with Lee Hunter<\/a>, he clogged everything between the tackles.<\/p>\n Gill-Howard and the rest of the Red Raiders’ transfer-laden defense are a big reason why they look bound for a Big 12 Championship Game and\u00a0College Football<\/a> Playoff. spot Texas Tech is at or near the top of the conference and country in just about every statistical category.<\/p>\n 12.2 points<\/p>\n 1st<\/p>\n 7th<\/p>\n 256.8 total yards<\/p>\n 1st<\/p>\n 9th<\/p>\n 194.3 pass yards<\/p>\n 6th<\/p>\n 41st<\/p>\n 62.5 rush yards<\/p>\n 1st<\/p>\n 1st<\/p>\n There is talent all over the field when Texas Tech is on defense, but Gill-Howard did a lot to contribute to those eye-popping numbers. Not only could he help get stops in the run game, but he really provided an interior pass rush.<\/p>\n The Red Raiders are still very much in position to accomplish all their goals — even without Gill-Howard in the lineup. Players like Hunter, David Bailey<\/a> and Romello Height<\/a> are game-changers in their own right. Besides, Texas Tech is the clear favorite to win the Big 12 (-170 at FanDuel<\/a>), and they are a heavy favorite to reach the CFP (-470). Getting there will just be a little more difficult without No. 0 in the middle of the defensive line.<\/p>\n Texas Tech may get its first major test without Gill-Howard in less than 24 hours. The Red Raiders face Arizona State<\/a> at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, and Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt<\/a> is listed as probably on the Thursday availability report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images The best defense in the Big 12 — and one of the best in the country…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[414,261,3775,2764,3777,3776,417,3778,8365,27,29,28,8366,8368,8367,415],"class_list":["post-8881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-arizona-state-sun-devils","tag-college-football","tag-david-bailey","tag-kansas-jayhawks","tag-lee-hunter","tag-romello-height","tag-sam-leavitt","tag-skyler-gill-howard","tag-skyler-gill-howard-injury","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-tech-injuries","tag-texas-tech-injury-news","tag-texas-tech-news","tag-texas-tech-red-raiders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}