Baylor-Texas Tech Preview
By DAN PIERINGER, STATS Writer
Posted November 25, 2008
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For more on this game, see the Postgame Stats
With a win over the top-ranked team in the country at the beginning of the month, Texas Tech took control of its own destiny in a bid for its first trip to both the Big 12 and national championship games.
A loss last week, however, has the Red Raiders battling for position again.
The seventh-ranked Red Raiders look to improve their suddenly slim chances of a trip to the Big 12 championship game - and perhaps even the BCS title game - Saturday when they host Baylor in both teams' regular-season finale.
Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell connected with fellow Heisman Trophy candidate Michael Crabtree on a 28-yard touchdown pass with one second left to lift the Red Raiders (10-1, 6-1) to a 39-33 win over then-No. 1 Texas on Nov. 1.
That victory left the Red Raiders as the Big 12's only unbeaten team, lifted them to No. 2 in the AP poll and put them in control in the race for the Big 12 South title and a shot at the national championship.
Things aren't as clear cut after Texas Tech was blown out 65-21 on the road against then-No. 5 Oklahoma last Saturday. The Red Raiders, Longhorns and Sooners now all have identical overall and conference records.
If the three teams finish tied, the Big 12 South champion will be determined by the BCS standings, meaning Texas Tech - seventh in the BCS - would need to pass both Texas (second) and Oklahoma (third) this week. Texas hosts unranked Texas A&M on Thursday night, while Oklahoma visits No. 11 Oklahoma State on Saturday night.
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach made his opinion clear after the loss to the Longhorns.
"Only a few teams have beaten three (ranked opponents) in a row, and we're lucky enough to be one of those," said Leach, whose team had defeated No. 19 Kansas, No. 1 Texas and No. 8 Oklahoma State in its previous three games before suffering its only defeat. "We should be the top-rated one-loss team."
That's not the case right now, but the Red Raiders have one last chance to make a move in the polls. To do so, they'll likely need a flawless performance against Baylor (4-7, 2-5). They'll certainly need more from their high-octane offense, which was uncharacteristically ineffective against Oklahoma.
Texas Tech, fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 45.5 points per game and fourth with 551.7 scrimmage yards per game, was held to season lows in both categories last week. Harrell was 33-for-55 for 361 yards, three touchdowns and one interception - not a great night by his lofty standards.
"There's a fine line between being up and not being overhyped so you're out of control," Leach said. "We played out of control. Our problem wasn't motivation or want to. Our problem was trying to make too much happen. Panic. Frantic. Try to be too good instead of doing simple little things.
"The disappointment is not how it turned out. It's that we didn't play our best game and that's too bad. So, we need to find a way to control that."
Texas Tech's underwhelming performance bruised its confidence "a little bit," said senior defensive lineman Jake Ratliff, the lone Red Raiders player made available for interviews Monday.
"But it's over," he said. "You can't do anything about it, so there's really no need to get down about it. We just got to bounce back from it."
They'll try to bounce back against a Baylor team that snapped a four-game losing streak with a 41-21 victory over Texas A&M in its last game Nov. 15.
Robert Griffin was 13-for-23 for 241 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, Jay Finley rushed for 116 yards and a score and Jacoby Jones added two rushing TDs in the Bears' highest-scoring game since they topped Washington State 45-17 on Sept. 12.
First-year Baylor coach Art Briles knows his team will likely need another big performance to keep up with Texas Tech.
"We're excited to go to Lubbock this weekend," said Briles, who played at Texas Tech and coached there for three seasons from 2000-02. "It's a great chance for our team to show our growth against a quality university on the national scene."
The Bears have lost their last 12 games in the series to fall to 32-33-1 all-time against the Red Raiders, including a 14-21-1 mark in Lubbock, where they've dropped eight straight since 1990. Overall, Baylor has lost 10 straight conference games on the road since Oct. 7, 2006.
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