Full house expected as Texas Tech hosts Baylor

Texas Tech believes it has everything lined up for a magical evening at Jones AT&T Stadium.

Tech hosts Baylor at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, and Red Raiders fans love night games. Tickets for the game sold out 23 days in advance, helped by the return of four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Patrick Mahomes to be inducted into the Tech football Ring of Honor and Texas Tech Athletics Hall of Fame.

"I'm glad we're at home, I'm glad it's at night and I'm excited to see Patrick Mahomes back in the building," Tech coach Joey McGuire said. "I think that's going to generate a lot of buzz."

Both teams are 4-3 this season and 2-2 in the Big 12.

Baylor wants to spoil the night for nearly everyone on hand. The Bears won the Big 12 championship and the Sugar Bowl last season, finishing 12-2, but they've lost three of their past six games. With a 35-23 home victory last week over Kansas, they snapped a two-game losing streak.

"They are the Big 12 champs," McGuire said. "Right now, they are the standard that everybody's going to be measured by. No matter what anybody else's record says, they're the ones that have the trophy out of last year, and so it's going to be a great game and we're excited to play those guys."

This is the first time McGuire has coached against Baylor since he left the Bears' staff last November after 4 1/2 seasons to become head coach of the Red Raiders, effective at the end of the 2021 season. McGuire, hired by Tech nearly three weeks before, didn't attend last year's game in Waco.

McGuire hired a number of off-field staff members from Baylor, in the process promoting Josh Bookbinder, the Red Raiders' inside linebackers coach, and Lance Barilow, their head strength and conditioning coach. He also populated his football operations and recruiting departments with young former Baylor staffers.

"I have a lot of respect for Joey and a lot of the guys on staff," Bears coach Dave Aranda said. "I mean this wholeheartedly: I want them to win. I want them to have success, just not versus us. I know the type of people they are and what it means to all of them, and so you want them to have their own success, just not this Saturday."

In preparing for the Red Raiders, Aranda said he was impressed by two traits McGuire has emphasized: a high level of effort and an offense that goes fast. The Red Raiders average 89 plays per game, most in the FBS, even though they've gone from Tyler Shough to Donovan Smith to Behren Morton at quarterback.

"They've had a few different quarterbacks in there," Aranda said, "but they've found ways to get the offense to work off the particular traits of the guy that's there."

Aranda's not the first opposing coach this season to be struck by the variety of ways Tech defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter makes opposing offenses think and react quickly.

"A lot of pressure, a lot of stunts, a lot of blitzes," Aranda said. "Not a lot of defenses that look the same. There's a bunch being thrown at you, and so you've got to prepare for some chaos with some speed to back it up. It makes it where you've got your work cut out for you."

From its title team last year, Baylor lost a lot of skill-position personnel on offense and a lot from the back seven on defense. Among the Bears' fortes are an offensive line that returned four starters, including third-team All-America tackle Connor Galvin and second-team All-Big 12 center Jacob Gall, and a defensive line anchored by first-team All-Big 12 defensive tackle Siaki Ika.

Blake Shapen made his first career start last year in a 27-24 win over Tech. This season, the sophomore quarterback has thrown for 1,608 yards and 12 touchdowns, and freshman running back Richard Reese (643 yards, nine TDs) has emerged as a complement.

"I think we're facing the best offensive line in the Big 12. They do a really good job," McGuire said. "Shapen reminds me a lot of Behren. They can get the ball out at different angles. He's got a quick release. And then their freshman running back, Richard Reese, is having a phenomenal year."

McGuire makes no secret of his appreciation for former Bears coach Matt Rhule, who hired him to the Baylor staff, and how much he learned from Rhule and Aranda. He's adopted many of their ways of running a program, especially in recruiting, as well as unconventional in-game strategy.

Tech and Baylor are first and tied for second in the FBS this season in successful fourth-down conversions, the Red Raiders with 20 in 32 attempts and the Bears with 16 in 23 attempts. McGuire says he became a convert to going for it, even in his own end of the field, from watching Aranda do it so much, often successfully.

College football

Who: Texas Tech vs. Baylor

When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Jones AT&T Stadium

Records: Baylor 4-3, 2-2 in the Big 12; Texas Tech 4-3, 2-2

Rankings (AP/coaches poll): Baylor unranked/receiving votes; Texas Tech unranked in both.

Line: Texas Tech by 2 1/2. Over-under: 62 1/2 points

TV: ESPN2

Radio: FM 97.3, FM 100.7, FM 106.5, AM 950 in Lubbock. FM 95.7, AM 1440 in Amarillo.

Satellite radio: Sirius 106, XM 199

Follow Along: Follow @AJ_DonWilliams and @cmsilvajr on Twitter for live game updates, with post-game recap and interviews to follow at www.lubbockonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Full house expected for Texas Tech vs Baylor football game