| TEXAS TECH RED RADIERS (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) Location: Lubbock, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Joey McGuire (Texas-Arlington, 1995) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
TEXAS TECH (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) vs. BAYLOR (2-4, 0-3 Big 12) Oct. 19 • 3 p.m. Lubbock, Texas • Jones AT&T Stadium LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast Baylor Social Media: |
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BAYLOR BEARS (2-4, 0-3 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Dave Aranda (Cal Lutheran, 1999) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
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WACO, Texas — Baylor football will hit the road to venture to Lubbock, Texas, to take on Texas Tech, with kickoff on Saturday slated for 3 p.m. on ESPN2 at Jones AT&T Stadium.
The game will be televised on ESPN2 and broadcast live on the Baylor Sports Media Network, with the Voice of the Bears, John Morris (play-by-play), and former BU greats J.J. Joe (analyst) and Ricky Thompson (sideline) on the call.
Baylor (2-4, 0-3 Big 12) will face a stiff test in red-hot Texas Tech (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) on Saturday. The matchup concludes a rugged stretch to the schedule which has featured its opponents combining to go 32-11 and 15-6 in league play. Against Big 12 teams, the schedule the first eight weeks has featured a 12-3 record, with three ranked opponents and four of BU’s first seven foes ranked or receiving votes in the latest polls.
SCOUTING THE RED RAIDERS
• Texas Tech is under the direction of former Baylor assistant coach Joey McGuire, who is in his third year leading the Red Raiders.
• The Red Raiders enter the game on a four-game winning streak, posting league wins over Arizona State, Cincinnati and at Arizona on Oct. 5. TTU also owns a 52-51 overtime win over Abilene Christian that saw ACU go for the game-winning two-point conversion in OT but fall short. The following week TTU suffered its only setback of the year, a 37-16 loss at Washington State, but bounced back with a 66-21 beatdown of North Texas.
• In its last game on Oct. 5, TTU posted a 28-22 win over Arizona in a late-night kick in Tucson, Ariz. Tech managed 14 first downs and allowed 25 to the Wildcats, but totaled 117 rushing yards and 214 passing for 331 yards of total offense. UA went for 422 yards of offense, with 301 through the air and 121 on the ground but was thwarted by two interceptions and a fumble. TTU was 2-of-11 in third-down tries while UA was 3-of-14. After the first half, TTU opened up a 18-3 lead and after UA took a 19-18 lead with 10:07 left in the fourth quarter, the Raiders rallied with a 32-yard TD from Tahj Brooks and a 41-yard field goal from Gino Garcia – all in the final 2:30 of the game. Arizona’s field goal with 54 seconds left set up an onside kick opportunity but the Cats couldn’t get the ball back to mount a potential game-winning drive.
• The Red Raiders rank among the nation’s leaders with a prolific passing attack, ranking No. 21 with 290.2 passing yards per game and No. 24 nationally in total offense with 460.5 yards per game. QB Behren Mortan has thrown for the ninth-most yards in college football, 1,640, while completing 62.9 percent of his passes with 14 TDs and just two interceptions. WR Coy Eakin has five TDs, ranking 13th in the nation, while Josh Kelly’s 514 receiving yards ranks 15th nationally. RB Tahj Brooks is one of the nation’s best, ranking fourth in the NCAA in rushing yards (679), third in rushing yards per game (135.8) and 14th in rushing TDs (seven).
• Kenny Perry serves as the associate head coach/special teams coordinator/running backs coach for McGuire, with Tim Deruyter functioning as the defensive coordinator and Zach Kittley as the offensive coordinator and QB coach. Deruyter came to Texas Tech after a long stint on the west coast, serving as the Fresno State head coach from 2012-16, the defensive coordinator at Cal from 2017-20 and as the Oregon DC in 2021. Kittley has coordinated some of the top offensive attacks in college football over the last two years, at Houston Baptist and Western Kentucky, and returns to Lubbock after previously working under Kliff Kingsbury from 2013-17.
RUGGED SCHEDULE TO OPEN
• Baylor has opened the 2024 season with a rugged start to the season, as its first seven opponents featured three ranked teams and five ranked or receiving votes in the polls.
• The combined record of Baylor’s first seven opponents is 32-11 and 15-6 in conference play. In Big 12 play, Baylor will face teams in the first seven weeks with a combined record of 12-3. The four teams Baylor has lost to have a combined record of 20-4 and are 10-3 vs. league foes.
• By comparison, the final five weeks of the regular-season will feature Baylor facing off with teams that own a 12-17 combined overall record and a 4-10 mark in Big 12 play.
BEARS FALL AT NO. 16/16 IOWA STATE
• The Bears opened the game at No. 16/16 Iowa State strong, taking a 14-3 lead in the first quarter before ISU rallied to own a halftime margin. Baylor took a 21-19 lead with a TD drive to open the second half but Iowa State finished the game on a 40-7 run to close with a 43-21 win and remain unbeaten.
• Baylor got another heroic performance from QB Sawyer Robertson, who completed 25 of 44 passes for a career-high tying three TDs, while also rushing for 24 yards. He found Ketron Jackson Jr., Michael Trigg and Josh Cameron for TD strikes.
• Iowa State could not be stopped offensively however as the Clons rolled to 542 yards of total offense, including 265 on the ground and 277 passing. QB Rocco Becht had two TDs and Jaylon Jackson rushed for 107 yards and two scores and Carson Hansen added 98 yards. WR Jayden Higgins had eight catches for 116 yards and Jaylin Noel had five grabs for 98 yards.
LAST TWO MEETINGS IN THE SERIES
• Texas Tech posted a strong 39-14 win over the Bears in Waco in 2023, which included a 17-3 lead at halftime and saw the margin balloon to 32-11 with just under 10 minutes left in the game.
• The Red Raiders rolled to 186 yards rushing and threw for 180 yards, totaling 366 yards of total offense, while BU was held to 341 yards offensively, with 324 in the air and 17 yards on the ground. Tech was 10-of-18 in third-down conversions and the Bears were limited to 4-of-15 and 1-of-6 on fourth down. Tech totaled six sacks, including three from current Baylor outside linebacker Steve Linton, who forced a pair of fumbles. Tech QB Behren Morton threw three TDs, Baylor QB Blake Shapen was 22 of 38 for 324 yards and a score, with WR Monaray Baldwin going for five catches for 126 yards.
• The Bears routed the Red Raiders in Lubbock in 2022, 45-17, using a strong defensive effort that forced five Tech interceptions – from three different QBs – to post the win. It was Tech’s first home loss of the season and thwarted the hall of fame and ring of honor celebration which featured former Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes returning to be honored in the ring of honor.
• Baylor never trailed in the game, opening up with a field goal from John Mayers and after Tech answered with three points of its own, Baylor opened up the game with a 24-3 lead following a second Richard Reese TD rush with 11:09 left in the third quarter. The Bears scored 21 unanswered to end the game, with Reese rushing for a third score, the Bears returning an interception for a TD and BU finishing off the game with a rushing TD.
• The Bears rushed for 231 yards and four TDs and held the high-octane Tech offense to just 159 yards passing on 12 of 38 attempts, with five interceptions. BU outgained Tech, 442-308, sacking the Red Raiders six times.
• Blake Shapen was 19 of 30 for 211 yards and a TD, while Tech used Behren Mortan (11-for-34, 1 TD, 3 INT), Tyler Shough (1-2, 1 INT) and Donovan Smith (0-2, 1 INT) at QB. Reese rushed 36 times for 148 yards and three TDs, while Shapen added 30 yards rushing. Tahj Brooks led the Tech offense with 98 yards on 16 carries. Gavin Holmes had six catches for 77 yards and Hal Presley nabbed a TD catch. Defensively, Gabe Hall had three sacks and a QB hurry.
CONNECTING THE TEAMS
• Texas Tech and Baylor have several connections, most notably that Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire spent five seasons on the Baylor coaching staff (2017-21). His tenure spanned two head coaches, including Matt Rhule and Dave Aranda, and saw him serve the Bears in a variety of roles, including as associate head coach/outside linebackers coach under Aranda, as the defensive ends and associate head coach in 2019 and as the tight ends coach in 2017-18.
• Texas Tech Inside linebackers coach Josh Bookbinder served as the quality control coach for the Bears for three seasons also served as a student assistant from 2007-08 before joining the Red Raiders. He is the grandson of legendary Baylor head coach Grant Teaff.
• Texas Tech assistant head coach/passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach Justin Johnson joined the Tech staff for the 2023 season after spending the previous three seasons as the running back coach at Baylor.
• Tech tight ends coach Josh Cochran served as the quality control coach at Baylor in 2019 after two seasons as the offensive line graduate assistant (2017-18).
• Texas Tech’s head strength coach Lance Barilow served as the senior associate director of athletics performance at Baylor in 2021.
• Quintin Jordan, the director of football operations at Texas Tech, spent four years at Baylor, including time as the associate director of student-athlete development in 2018, director of football administration in 2019, and as director of football operations under Aranda in 2020.
• The general manager at Texas Tech, James Blanchard, served as the director of recruiting at Baylor in 2019 and 2020 and as the assistant athletics director for scouting in 2021.
• Texas Tech’s director of player personnel, Brian Nance, spent three years on the Baylor staff as assistant director of football operations in 2019 and the previous two seasons as associate director of player personnel. He played at Baylor from 2014-17, where he saw action in 38 games with 10 starts on the defensive line, totaling 33 tackles, 8.5 TFL and 2.5 sacks in 2017.
• Harrison Hanna is the TTU director of external operations and joined the staff after serving as an equipment manager at Baylor from 2013-17, graduate assistant in equipment in 2017 and as football’s equipment manager from 2019-21.
• Baylor head coach Dave Aranda served as a graduate assistant for Texas Tech from 2000-02, the first three seasons Tech was led by Mike Leach, earning his master’s degree from the Red Raiders.
• Baylor Assistant AD for Player Personnel, Aaron Hunt, was an All-American and All-Big 12 defensive lineman at Texas Tech (1999-2002). Hunt set the Texas Tech and Big 12 record with 34 career sacks. He joined the Baylor staff in January 2021 as a recruiting and personnel assistant.
• BU cornerbacks coach Kevin Curtis was a two-time All-America selection and a three-time all-league honoree for Texas Tech from 1998-01. He later returned as the DB coach under Kliff Kingsbury for three seasons. Curtis was inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame as a member of the 2022 class the Friday night before the Baylor win in Lubbock last year.
• Baylor QB Sawyer Robertson is a decorated performer out of Lubbock’s Coronado High School. He was a four-star recruit who was ranked as the 54th best prospect in the nation by ESPN. He was the Gatorade Texas Player of the Year under Coach Scott Parr at Coronado, where he ranked among the Texas High School all-time leaders in completions, TDs and passing yards, throwing for 11,302 yards. As a senior, he threw for 4,509 yards and 68 TDs, while leading Coronado to a 12-1 mark and Class 5A Player of the Year honors.
• Baylor sophomore outside linebacker Kyler Jordan prepped at Lubbock Cooper High School under Coach Chip Darden. He helped Cooper to a 13-2 record and the Class 5A semis in 2021 and was named district co-MVP. He also starred on the diamond, hitting .431 with seven homers in 2022.
SERIES HISTORY
• Baylor leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 41-40-1. The Bears have won four of the last six meetings with Texas Tech and nine of the last 13 clashes.
• The Red Raiders and the Bears resumed a home-and-home series in 2019 after playing 10 consecutive meetings in Arlington or Dallas, with the Bears owning a 7-3 record in those meetings.
• Baylor trails the series in games played in Lubbock, 24-15-1 but are looking to win two straight after a 45-17 rout in 2022. Last year, Tech posted a 39-14 win over the Bears in Waco.
UP NEXT
• Baylor will return home for a homecoming clash vs. Oklahoma State on Oct. 26.
