2023 Baylor Football Opponent Quick-Hitter: Texas Tech

Opponent: Texas Tech

Nickname: Red Raiders

Kickoff: October 7th

Location: McLane Stadium (Waco, TX)

Conference: Big 12

Head Coach: Joey McGuire (entering 2nd season)

Last Year’s Record: 8-5 (5-4 Big 12)

Notable Outcomes: Beat Texas in overtime, 37-34; lost to Baylor 45-17; beat Oklahoma in overtime, 51-48

Key Losses: Tyree Wilson, DE; SaRodorick Thompson, RB; Krishon Merriweather, LB

Key Returners: Tyler Shough, QB; Tahj Brooks, RB; Jaylon Hutchings, DL

Strength: Defensive line. The Red Raiders return their two interior defensive line starters in Jaylon Hutchings and Tony Bradford Jr. Those two combined for 80 tackles and 7 sacks last season while anchoring the defensive front. The tricky part will be on the edge, where the Red Raiders lost first round draft pick Tyree Wilson.

Weakness: Linebacker. The Red Raiders lost two of their three starting linebackers, including their two leading tacklers from a year ago: Krishon Merriweather and Kosi Eldridge. Tech will need to reload quickly if they don’t want to get torn up across the middle of the field.

Way Too Early Prediction: A lot of people are very high on Texas Tech coming into this year. Baylor fans are certainly aware that Joey McGuire is somewhere between a good to great coach. Time will tell, but I actually think the Red Raiders are overhyped coming into this season. Three of their eight wins last year came in overtime. If those games go the other way, we’re talking about a team coming off of a losing season. They were also wildly inconsistent, beating teams like Texas and Oklahoma and then getting stomped by Baylor who was in the middle of a down year. I like Baylor to win this BU-TT bowl at home.

38-28 Baylor