Texas Tech Red Raider Football Head Coach Tommy Tuberville and starting quarterback Seth Doege addressed the media today before the Red Raiders season finale against Baylor.

Saturday's game is a neutral site game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington with a 6 o'clock kickoff.

Coach Tuberville first addressed Saturday's loss to the Missouri Tigers, "Second half, I thought our offensive coaches did a heck of a job putting the pieces together trying to have any kind of a running game and passing game with two of our top guys out, then we lose an offensive lineman, so that was a struggle because we've got to play well on offense for us to have a chance to win.

"Great drive at the end, just unfortunate they made a great play and got the interception but some very good efforts. I thought obviously our kickers did a good job, our kickers and punters. I've never been in a situation before where we didn't have a healthy punt returner or kick returner in a game. We just had to put people back there to try to make it work. Just take your hat off to the players and the coaches for giving us a chance in that situation."

Tuberville also talked about this week's injury situation, "It's pretty bad.

"I've not been in one like that Saturday night. Just basically draw it in the dirt is pretty much what we had to do in terms of a lot of the kicking game. Lot of the running game we lost DeAndre. We were doing some things in that first half in a three-back set that was working pretty good for us. We had to get out of it. We didn't have enough backs. I thought the offensive coaches did a great job improvising in the second half, making plays. That drive again was unbelievable. And we had Aaron Crawford come back, and he's probably about 50% running back, trying to make plays. He did good. He played well.

"It's a tough sport. You've got to be ready to go at any time. David Neill played 25 plays, and he hadn't played 25 plays all year at offensive lineman and he played well. It was an interesting night. You hate it for these young guys that got hurt, a tough situation. Most of them really even non-contact."

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Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege also talked about injuries, "People go down and people have to step up. That's part of Division I football is there's not a huge dropoff, and there shouldn't be. Especially if you want to be a good football team because guys get injured all the time. But I hate it for the guys that have because all the work we put in, and all the stuff we have to go through for 12 guaranteed games, and they get hurt and don't get the 12 that were guaranteed. I feel bad for those guys. At the same time, I feel like we've had a lot of guys step up and fill those roles."

Doege was also asked what has surprised him about this season, "The season didn't turn out as what I expected it to be. I knew we were going football team, so I knew we had a chance every time we stepped on the field to compete and beat anyone. But I also knew we could be, if we didn't show up to play, we could be beaten by anyone too.

"So my expectations for the team and for myself are a bit higher than what they are right now. At the same time we're still in position to be a bowl eligible team and make a bowl and finish this season strong on a good note."

Tuberville was also asked about Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III and is he the most dangerous quarterback the Red Raiders have faced this season? "Oh, yeah. I would imagine anybody faced just watching him. We faced him last year. He was just coming off that knee injury, a little skeptical about things. Didn't run it that much. And I haven't seen a lot of him this year other than a few film that's we have crossed over. That was the first time I'd seen him live on TV (Saturday against Oklahoma).

"He did it himself. I mean, absolutely beat one of the better teams (Oklahoma) in the country by himself, up and down the field, taking advantage, running the ball. I'm sure they kind of grimaced when he threw that ball right there at the end 50 yards down the field on the corner on a perfect strike.
I know when he let it go, I'm thinking this thing could be intercepted and still have a chance for a field goal, but what a throw. He's a heck of an athlete. Talking to people that deal with him, he's as good a person as he is an athlete. Just that type of guy. Has his degree, working hard."

Texas Tech vs. Baylor can be seen on FOX Sports Southwest at 6p Saturday. Our coverage on 1340 The Fan starts with Countdown to Kickoff at 3p and concludes with FAN Feedback with Ryan Hyatt and Robert Snyder at 9:30p.

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