MATCHUP: Baylor Bears (4-3, 2-2) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-3, 2-2)
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas
ODB GAME HUB: Baylor Bears at Texas Tech Red Raiders 2022
OPPONENT’S SB NATION BLOG: Viva The Matadors (VTM)
OURDAILYPODCAST: The Infinity Stones (KU Review/BUTT Preview)
OTHER PODCASTS: Please Bear With Me | Bear Den | Locked on Baylor | Between Two Bears | BearsIllustrated | SicEm365
ODB QUICK HITTER: BUTT.
ODB QUICK LOOK: BUTT.
GAMEONPAPER PREVIEW: BUTT.
SPREAD: Texas Tech -2.5 (opened at Baylor -1 on Sunday), O/U 61
TV COVERAGE: ESPN2, 6:30 PM CT
UNIFORM: GREEN/WHITE/GREEN.

Before we go any further, I want to apologize for not having gotten this post up (at least the prediction part of it) yesterday. We had a mishap at the house last night when I planned to sit down and write, and my wife is now at the hospital in Dallas having hurt her back pretty badly. The news so far is better than it could have been, but it looks like she could be there for a while.

I’ll see if I can’t figure out how to have her post the Game Day thread since that worked last week.

GAME DAY STUFF:

ODB STAFF PREDICTIONS:

Here’s this week’s predictions. Only some appear to be serious; others were motivated by the trolling on Twitter this week.

• Matt Wilson (@mattisbear): Baylor 69, TT 12 (4 FGs).
• Peter Pope (@pbpope): BU 38, TT 31.
• David Fankhauser (@dfank_bu): BU 32, TT 37.
• Joe Goodman (@the_joe_goodman): BU 42, TT 35 (Matt Workman, friend of the blog, chimed in with BU 55, TT 3).
• Cody Orr (@cody_orr): BU 38, TT 35
• Branden MacKinnon (@Branden_MacK): BU 28, TT 42.
• Michael Nichols (@pckt_chng): Baylor 30, TT 24.
• Jenna Patteson (@jenp108): BU 41, TT 31.
• Noelle Kakimoto (@NKakimoto): BU 35, TT 31.
• Will Boles (@_willboles): BU 56, TT 3.
• Jed Johnston (@BearMySoul17): BU 28, TT 24.
• Scott Byrne (@BearNTex): BU 42, TT 28.
• Fielding Montgomery (@FieldinOfDreams): BU 28, TT 31.
• Deonte Epps (@DEppsRightStepS): BU 38, TT 35.
• Max Garner (@MAXgBU21): BU 28, TT 23.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time here because we’re so close to the game, and we’ve got a few things going on elsewhere that require my attention, but I’m joining Fank, Branden, and Fielding in taking Texas Tech.

This will be the most challenging road environment we’ve seen this season aside from BYU, who it turns out might be just bad, and to whom we lost. WVU was also pretty challenging, but they’re also probably pretty bad, and we lost to them, too. Texas Tech is pulling out all the stops making this a marquee game of their season, and it’s clearly something they’ve been looking forward to for a while (which is completely to be expected given that McGuire spent years here and really wanted our job, didn’t get it, and then went to Tech to build there). The Red Raiders are going to be out for blood.

On the field, though it looks like we should be able to move the ball against their defense, I have no confidence in our ability to stop them through the air. They throw the ball more than any other team in the country (53 times a game), and run a ton of plays. It would take the best defensive performance of the season by our corners and safeties, combined with a significantly improved pass rush, to keep them in check. I just don’t think we’re going to be able to do it, and we will be overwhelmed by the road environment in front of a crowd that would love nothing more than to beat us.

My Prediction: Baylor 35, Texas Tech 41.