Texas Tech-Baylor has gained added intrigue

When Texas Tech hosts Baylor at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, it won't be just any other Big 12 game. Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire will go up against the team for whom he worked from 2017 until the middle of last season, and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be on hand for induction into the Tech football Ring of Honor and Texas Tech Athletics Hall of Fame.

Speaking of quarterbacks, the Red Raiders had a key development there on Monday when Tyler Shough was medically cleared to return to action for the first time since he suffered a clavicle injury in the season opener, though McGuire stopped short of naming a starting QB.

Here's a rundown of storylines from Monday:

▶ Redshirt freshman Behren Morton was named Big 12 newcomer of the week for his performance in a 48-10 victory Saturday against West Virginia, but if Morton is going to make his third start in a row, McGuire's not ready to say so.

"When you have a quarterback room like we have," the coach said, "you always want competition. You never want anybody to get complacent or just set. ... When you have somebody that's injured and won the job and won the job without any doubt [Shough], you definitely have to open it up.

"Him breaking his collarbone didn't do anything. That wasn't his fault, other than it happened. And so I think we open it up, but when we come in Saturday, we're planning on playing all three of them. Whoever gives us the best chance to win against Baylor is going to be the guy that starts the game."

McGuire said Morton "missed three wide-open touchdowns" on Saturday. He also needs to get to his second and third reads faster when the first isn't there.

"He missed a few first reads that probably would have gone for big gains, if not touchdowns," offensive coordinator Zach Kittley said. "We've got to make sure we're firing the ball there. But he's prepared well."

Morton's taking one sack in his second start compared to four sacks in his first checked one of the areas for improvement.

"I think the biggest thing he did, that progressed, that we've got to continue to do, is throw the ball away when something's not there," McGuire said.

The Red Raiders took only five negative-yardage plays Saturday. In Tech's loss at North Carolina State, the Red Raiders were in second-and-10 or longer in 17 instances, McGuire said, and in the loss at Oklahoma State, they were in second-and-10 or more on 15 occasions.

"That's going to be big this week, because they're a high-pressure defense," McGuire said. "Keeping us ahead of the chains — even if you've got to go 9 yards versus 10, 12 or 13 — is a big difference. I thought he really did a good job there."

▶ Being able to run Tech's fast-paced offense will be an important consideration in quarterback usage. Tech has run 151 plays in fast-tempo offense: 69 in the first five games and 82 in the past two games.

"We're going to try to go even faster Saturday," said McGuire, whose team averages an FBS-high 89 snaps per game. "Again, we're going to try to get over 100. I think that's one thing, in the last two games, that's helped our offense and definitely helped our offensive line is the amount of time that we can keep (opposing players) on the field, tempo-wise. I feel like our guys are in really good shape to handle that."

Tech didn't use the up-tempo approach much in the first five games with Shough and Donovan Smith at quarterback. Offensive coordinator Zach Kittley said he's wanted to get to it, and he prioritized it the past two games.

"Behren's looked great in it, clearly," Kittley said. "I want to say we were 43 percent (fast-tempo on Saturday). Oklahoma State, 49 percent of our snaps were tempo calls, so he's handled that well. He's got the most opportunities at it, so I'd say right now he's the one that kind of handles that the best at this point."

McGuire said there's "more pressure on all of them how fast they can get the ball out of their hands when we go tempo."

Kittley said Morton's ability to deliver the ball to the perimeter quickly to receivers on hitch or "now" screens is a strength.

"At quarterback," Kittley said, "you can separate yourself by how fast you can get the ball out of your hand. Behren's phenomenal, so it definitely helps. The tempo stuff is great for him, especially when we're spitting that ball out there quickly."

▶ In addition to Shough's being medically cleared, receivers J.J. Sparkman and Myles Price, running back Cam'Ron Valdez and safety Tyler Owens are back this week. Monroe Mills, who started the first six games at right tackle, is questionable for the second game in a row. He missed Saturday with a strained medial collateral ligament he suffered last Tuesday in practice.

▶ McGuire didn't go to the Tech-Baylor game last year in Waco, which took place 19 days after Tech hired him off the Bears' staff. Interim head coach Sonny Cumbie led the Red Raiders for the last five games of 2021.

Now settled in, McGuire's looking forward to Saturday's game.

"There's going to be nerves before the game," he said. "I'm going to get to see a lot of buddies. I was part of recruiting about 95% of that roster, so I know those guys really well and care a lot about them, but it's a football game in the Big 12 that we need to go win."

McGuire said he told his team he doesn't want to be the center of attention.

"There's probably 10-plus people in this building that were at Baylor, that worked there last year," he said. "I told the players, 'You need to call us out if you think it is about (the former Baylor staffers). If it's anything else, we're going to put something that doesn't mean a whole lot in front of a team win."

▶ Might Matt Rhule come to Lubbock for Saturday's Tech-Baylor game? Rhule coached the Bears from 2017 through 2019, he coaxed McGuire into college coaching on his charter Baylor staff and McGuire reveres Rhule. They communicate frequently by text message.

The Carolina Panthers fired Rhule on Oct. 10 after a 1-4 start, so the coach presumably has time.

"He's coming to Lubbock," McGuire said. "He didn't know if it was going to be this game or (against) Kansas or OU, but he'll be here at one of our games."

▶ Offensive lineman Jurrien Loftin, a freshman from Aledo, and linebacker Wesley Smith, a freshman from Midland Legacy, were named scout team players of the week.

▶ Texas Tech at TCU is one of four Nov. 5 games for which Big 12 television partners won't choose kickoff times and network assignments until six days in advance. West Virginia at Iowa State was set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

The other games on the six-day advance notice are Baylor-Oklahoma, Oklahoma State-Kansas and Texas-Kansas State.

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; Tech unranked/unranked

TV: ESPN2

Line: Tech by 2 1/2

Last game: Baylor 35, Kansas 23; Texas Tech 48, West Virginia 10

Last meeting: Baylor 27, Tech 24 last year in Waco

Fast fact: Tech's 10 points allowed against WVU was its lowest yield to a Big 12 opponent since the Red Raiders' 20-10 victory against TCU in 2013.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech-Baylor has gained added intrigue