[BAYLOR FOOTBALL] Baylor Football Hosts Texas Tech on Saturday Night at McLane

Mon Oct 2 13:25:07 CDT 2023

BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS – Oct. 2, 2023

Baylor Football Hosts Texas Tech on Saturday Night at McLane
Bears Look to Win Third Straight vs. Red Raiders

For more information contact: Brent Ingram; 210-845-8651, brent_ingram at baylor.edu<mailto:brent_ingram at baylor.edu> or Max Calderone; 254-265-1639, max_calderone at baylor.edu<mailto:max_calderone at baylor.edu> or Colin Pirtle; 940-564-0351, colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu<mailto:colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas -- Coming off a historic comeback win last week, Baylor football will return home to host Texas Tech, with kickoff on Saturday at McLane Stadium slated for 7 p.m.

The game will be televised live on ESPN2, with Brian Custer (play-by-play), Rod Gilmore (analyst) and Lauren Sisler (sideline) on the call. The game will also be 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) calling the action.

Baylor (2-3, 1-1 Big 12 Conference) will look to extend its winning streak over Texas Tech (2-3, 1-1 Big 12) to three games, after posting a 27-24 win in Waco in 2021 and routing the Red Raiders 45-17 in Lubbock last year.

The Bears are coming off a 36-35 win at UCF on Saturday, rallying from down 28 to score 29 unanswered points in the largest comeback win in program history. It was the largest comeback for an FBS team since 2019 and snapped a streak of 892 straight losses for a collegiate team that entered the fourth quarter trailing at 25 or more points.

In the meeting in Lubbock last year, the Bears spoiled a TTU hall of fame celebration by forcing three Red Raider QBs into five combined interceptions. Richard Reese rushed for three TDs and the Bears returned a pick for a touchdown, holding the high-octane TTU offense to 159 yards passing on 12 of 38 attempts.

Texas Tech is fresh off a 49-28 win over Houston in Lubbock last weekend, scoring 21 unanswered points to break open a 28-28 game vs. the Cougars.

SCOUTING THE RED RAIDERS

• Texas Tech is under the direction of former Baylor assistant coach Joey McGuire, who is in his second year leading the Red Raiders, sporting a 9-8 record.

• The Red Raiders have won two of their first three games and are coming off a conference-record evening win over Houston on Saturday, 49-28 in a game that was tied 28-28 before 21 straight points from Tech broke open the game. Tech has a win over Tarleton State and fell vs. No. 13 Oregon and in double OT at Wyoming, in addition to a conference setback vs. West Virginia.

• Tech averages 33.2 points per game in the early goings of 2023, with 227.4 passing yards and 177.4 rushing yards per game. Defensively, opponents are scoring 24.8 points per game, with 148 yards rushing and 227.8 yards passing.

• Tahj Brooks leads the team with 523 yards rushing and three scores, averaging 104.6 yards per game. Tyler Shough has 149 yards rushing and has thrown for 746 yards with seven TDs and four interceptions. Behren Mortan is 35-for-72 with five TDs, 391 yards and one interception. Jerand Bradley has 21 catches for 246 yards and three scores, while Myles Price has 17 catches for 181 yards and four scores.

• Defensively, Ben Roberts has 38 tackles, with Jesiah Pierre owning 37 stops. Jaylon Hutchings has 6.5 TFLs and 2.5 sacks. Malik Dunlap sports three interceptions.

• 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.

CONNECTING THE TEAMS

• Texas Tech and Baylor have several connections, most notably that Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire spent the last 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 the last 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.

• 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 Football Scouting, 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.

LAST MEETING

• The Bears routed the Red Raiders in Lubbock last year, 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.

LAST MEETING IN WACO

• The Bears posted a thrilling 27-24 win over Texas Tech last year at McLane Stadium, clinching a berth in the Big 12 Championship Game and a perfect 7-0 season at home on the year.

• Baylor saw Texas Tech miss a 53-yard field goal against the wind that would’ve pushed the game to overtime, the first missed field goal of the year for Tech’s Jonathan Garibay, who two weeks earlier had drilled a 62-yarder on the final play of the game to beat Iowa State.

• The win clinched a 7-0 record at McLane for the Bears, their first unbeaten season at home since 2013, at Floyd Casey Stadium, and pushed Baylor into its second Big 12 Championship game in the last three years, a title BU would claim over Oklahoma State the following weekend.

• Baylor raced out to a 17-3 lead and a 17-10 lead at halftime, getting a 61-yard TD from Blake Shapen to Trestan Ebner and a four-yard TD run from Abram Smith. Shapen found Ben Sims from nine-yards out for a 27-17 lead with seven minutes left in the game but Tech narrowed the margin and set up the late dramatics with a 75-yard TD strike with 6:40 left.

• Shapen threw for 254 yards on 20 of 34 passes, while Smith rushed 30 times for 117 yards and a score. Ebner caught four balls for 118 yards. Tech’s Donovan Smith threw for 262 yards and two TDs, Tahj Brooks rushed 14 times for 40 yards and a TD and Travis Koontz caught five balls for 117 yards and a score. Terrel Bernard had eight tackles, including two for a loss, to lead the BU defense.

SERIES HISTORY

• Baylor leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 41-39-1. The Bears have won four of the last five meetings with Texas Tech and nine of the last 12 clashes.

• The Red Raiders and the Bears resumed a home-and-home series after playing 10 consecutive meetings in Arlington or Dallas, with the Bears owning a 7-3 record in those meetings.

• Baylor leads the all-time series in games played in Waco, 20-11 and have not lost to Tech in Waco since 2007, with the series largely contested in recent memory in Arlington.

HISTORIC COMEBACK

• Baylor made history in its road league debut at UCF, rallying from down 35-7 with just under four minutes left in the third quarter to score 29 unanswered points and clip the Knights in a 36-35 win on Sept. 30 in Orlando.

• It marked the largest comeback in Baylor football history, topping a 21-point comeback win in 2014 vs. TCU, in 2011 at Kansas and in 1080 vs. SMU.

• Baylor has three fourth-quarter comeback wins under Coach Dave Aranda, including 2020 vs. Kansas State, 2021 vs. Texas and the historic win over UCF.

• Baylor’s 28-point comeback win marked the largest by an FBS school since 2019.

• The last 892 FBS teams, trailing by at least 25 points entering the fourth quarter, lost.

• Baylor’s 26-0 fourth quarter at UCF marks the 21st time BU has scored 26 or more in a quarter in program history and it was the highest scoring fourth quarter in program history, eclipsing the previous mark of 24 points vs. Sam Houston in 2012 and TCU in 2014.

JENKINS NAMED BIG 12 DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Baylor football freshman cornerback Caden Jenkins has been named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week following a 36-35 win at UCF.

• In addition to making two solo tackles, the rookie from Lewisville, Texas, nabbed his first-career interception with UCF driving deep in Baylor territory looking to extend its 35-10 lead. His pick on the BU 14-yard line snuffed out the Knights’ drive in the red zone and kickstarted what amounted to be Baylor’s largest comeback win in school history.

• Then, with the Bears trailing by nine in the fourth quarter, Jenkins returned a UCF fumble 72 yards to the house for a scoop and score that swung the momentum heavily in BU’s favor. After the extra point brought Baylor back within two points, the Bears were able to kick the game-winning field goal on their next offensive drive. Jenkins’ defensive touchdown was the first by a Baylor true freshman since Chance Casey’s 66-yard interception return against Northwestern State on Sept. 26, 2009.

• Jenkins becomes the 26th different Bear all-time to pick up Big 12 defensive honors for a total of 35 times. He is the first freshman in program history to earn the award. BU has had a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honoree in 19 of the last 20 seasons, with seven honors earned in the Dave Aranda era.

UP NEXT

• Baylor will break for an idle week before hitting the road to face newcomer Big 12 foe Cincinnati on Oct. 14.

- BaylorBears.com -

--
Brent Ingram | Assistant AD for Communications
Men’s Tennis Sport Program Administrator
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 210-845-8651

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