In this Week 8 match up, it was an old-school Big 12 game between the Baylor Bears and Texas Tech Red Raiders in Waco. These two programs came into the came trending in very different directions. The Red Raiders entered 5-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the Big 12, while Baylor was 2-4 on the season and 0-3 in conference play.
Both teams had bye weeks last week and came in with rested legs. For Tech, they were looking to stay undefeated in the Big 12 after BYU did that on Friday night vs. Oklahoma State, and Baylor desperately needed a win to quiet the hot seat conversations around Dave Aranda.
On Saturday it was Baylor picking up its first win of the Big 12 season with a 59-35 win over Texas Tech. Here are the top three takeaways from the game.
Oh My… That Baylor Second Half
After an opening three-and-out by the Bears, Texas Tech scored a touchdown to pull to within a field goal. After that? Baylor scored touchdowns on five-straight drives to end the game in one of the most impressive offensive explosions of the entire college football season.
Even back-up quarterback Dequan Finn got in on the action to put the icing on the cake with a 34-yard touchdown run on the final drive of the game for the Bears to finish off the enormous victory. QB Sawyer Robertson finished 21/32 for 274 yards and five touchdowns. On the ground, Baylor smashed the Tech defense for 255 yards and an average of 7.7 yards per carry.
It felt like a month’s worth of frustrations coming out in the game in Lubbock for this Baylor team.
Texas Tech’s Disappointing Showing
The Red Raiders were coming off a bye week where they spent two weeks atop the Big 12 standings at 3-0 in conference play. And it seems like they bought into their own hype way too much.
Texas Tech came out flat in this game and never led, despite going up against an 0-3 Baylor team that was already, more or less, out of the Big 12 race. The Red Raiders gave up 529 yards against a Baylor team that had only averaged 346 yards per game in their first three Big 12 games.
The Red Raiders were outrushed for over 100 yards and lost the turnover battle 2-0 at home. And giving up five touchdowns in a row to end the game is unacceptable.
Dave Aranda’s Seat Cools?
Dave Aranda isn’t necessarily out of the woods, but this win will go a long way in the eyes of the Baylor faithful. Aranda desperately needed this game. The Bears had beaten Colorado on the road, but then came the Hail Mary. That sent this team into a tailspin for the next two games against BYU and Iowa State, who, in hindsight, may be the two best teams in the Big 12.
But Aranda proved on Saturday why leadership in Waco has been very quiet, and also been very much behind Aranda, despite the tough start to the season.
