Game Preview: Texas Tech vs Baylor
Who: The Baylor Bears and The Texas Tech Red Raiders
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
How to watch: Fox Sports Net
When: Saturday, November 10th, 11 a.m.
Broadcaster Team: Mark Followill, Brian Baldinger and Lesley McCaslin
What pregame show to listen to: 1340 The Fan’s Countdown to Kickoff, 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 10th.
Kliff Kingsbury is Eeyore and the Texas Tech football program is a house made of sticks. During the Houston and Arizona State game they were able to keep the butterfly away. The butterfly was much more successful against the Red Raiders during the West Virginia and Kansas State games.
The butterfly even showed up during the Iowa State game.
Of course, the butterfly in this allegory is the special teams unit.
The missed extra point after a turnover and touchdown let the momentum slip against Iowa State. The missed field goal before half allowed West Virginia to stay in the game. The missed extra point against Oklahoma allowed doubt to creep into the mind and started a slow burn that quickly led to a collapse. The Kansas State touchdown and 2-point conversion only mattered because of a missed field goal.
You could feel that the game was over.
Kliff's entire posture sank, before he regrouped and feebly attempted to rally the troops.
But alas, the season is not over and if you look back at each of those losses I talked about you can find positives. Areas where Texas Tech has improved this season. Things they are doing this year that they didn't do last year.
If the Red Raiders can do the positive things they have done this season, they will be 5-5 after this weekend, with two opportunities to make a bowl game.
A great man once said, "Fortune favors the bold."
If Texas Tech wins on Saturday, I think they'll be in a bowl game and Kliff Kingsbury will be in Lubbock, Texas coaching football in 2018.
Of course it only takes a butterfly to make it all come tumblin' down.
The Baylor Bears aren't great at anything, but they are terrible at a most things. Take that against Texas Tech who isn't great at anything but are pretty good at a few things, and terrible at kicking field goals.
The two main things that will matter in this game is the turnover margin and the rushing attack, which is an absolutely wild sentence when you think about the recent history between these two teams. The Bears are 110th nationally when it comes to turnover margin while the Red Raiders sit 15th in the nation. In fact, the Red Raiders are undefeated this season when they win the turnover battle.
In the rushing attack both the Bears and the Red Raiders have run the ball around the same amount, with the Red Raiders being an entire yard per attempt better. On the defensive side of the ball the contrast is even more stark, with the Bears giving up 50 more yards per game.
The Red Raiders will lean on the offensive line to dominate the game and will focus Nic Shimonek with short and concise reads, which is what he's been most successful at this season.
Easy money, in my opinion is taking the Red Raiders here in Arlington. The O/U is set at 69.5 with the spread at -7.5 for the Red Raiders, who I like to cover at 42-31.