Texas Tech is coming off the heels of a much-needed Big 12 victory over Houston last week. The win against the Cougars put the Red Raiders in the conference win column, but the page has turned quickly. A road test awaits with Tech set for a rivalry matchup against Baylor Saturday. Following the Red Raiders’ Tuesday practice, Loic Fouonji, Ty Matthews, Ben Roberts and Rusty Staats spoke to the media to preview the trip to Waco.

It is hard to forget how last season’s iteration of the Tech-Baylor contest turned out, a lopsided 45-17 win for the Bears that got out of hand in the fourth quarter. In front of a sold out, night game crowd with Patrick Mahomes in attendance, it would also be easy for the Red Raiders to dwell on that loss with Baylor on tab this week. As has been the case with this Tech team before however, mental fortitude is being called upon, once again.

“Though they did beat us bad last year, we still focus on them as another opponent right,” linebacker Matthews said. “We don’t try to focus on last year, things like that. Yeah, they beat us. But it’s a new year. It’s time to lock in. Execute on both sides of the ball, even special teams. We’re together as a team, we’ll take 70 against 60,000 or whatever, right. If we just stick together and close the circle more, we’re gonna be good.”

Matthews plays inside linebacker alongside Ben Roberts, who has been holding his own in his time on the field. Through five games, Roberts has 38 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. Against Houston however, Roberts was without fellow starter Jesiah Pierre. In place of Pierre, true freshman Mike Dingle earned the start at the other linebacker spot, with Roberts, a redshirt freshman, becoming the veteran in that role.

“It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was gonna be,” Roberts said. “Going into West Virginia, I had to kind of take on that role. Turning into the MIKE linebacker, you got to make all the calls on the field. It wasn’t as bad of a transition, it was just building chemistry with a new guy on the field, especially with Mike being young, him starting with me… He’s explosive. He might be one of the more athletic people on the team, not just in the linebacker room. He runs track here. He’s always got a good attitude about himself. He’s just young, once he gets over being young he’s gonna be great.”

It has been a steady incline for the Red Raiders’ offensive line, which was touted as one of the most improved areas of the team going into the season. The results have been showing on the field, with running back Tahj Brooks having three straight games with over 100 yards rushing. As the man in the middle of that Tech line, Staats is doing his homework on the Baylor front.

“Big, long up front, they’ve got some linebackers that have played there for a while that are really good players,” Staats said. “They’re gonna have predominantly a 4-2 (front), but who knows, they might come out in a 30 (stack defense). They’re a really good team, all around… I always key in on those inside defensive tackles. They got two really good ones, number 97 and another one. It’s gonna be a battle.”

Staats referred to Cooper Lanz, a defensive tackle for the Bears who has nine tackles, the other likely being Gabe Hall, who is 6-foot-6 and almost 300 pounds.

When looking back to the Red Raiders’ win over Houston, no player was perhaps more of a catalyst for the win than Loic Fouonji. A blocked punt, a touchdown return following, and a touchdown reception on offense served as his best performance of the season, so far. Recently named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week, Fouonji is hoping the performance from himself and the whole team carries over to Waco.

“We’re gonna go attack them,” Fouonji said. “We gotta keep it up and keep it going. We’re a really hungry team and we know we can beat anybody. With that win, we have to keep our momentum going forward, make sure we stay locked in, keep on working.”

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