Game Details

Where: Jones AT&T Stadium, Lubbock, Texas

When: 3:00 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 19

Watch it on: ESPN2

All-time series: Baylor leads, 41-40-1

What you should know: Baylor

Head coach: Dave Aranda

2024 record: 2-4 (0-3 Big 12)

In the Big 12: 15th place, losses to Colorado, BYU & Iowa State

For the first time in three weeks, there will be football played inside the confines of Jones AT&T Stadium with Texas Tech hosting cross-state rival Baylor. Both teams are coming off their respective bye weeks in vastly different predicaments.

For the Red Raiders, it will be an opportunity to continue sitting atop the Big 12 and improve their conference record to 4-0. Confidence is riding quite high in Lubbock after Tech was able to stave off Arizona in Tucson heading into the break.

On the Bears’ sideline, turmoil and unrest remains to be resolved as Baylor sits with a 2-4 record on the season, a ghastly 0-3 in the Big 12.

Despite bringing in offensive coordinator Jake Spavital– who helped take California to the Independence Bowl with 1,300-yard rusher Jadyn Ott– the Baylor offense is still lacking a clearcut identity.

It would take combining the rushing yards of Baylor’s top four rushers (a mix of Bryson Washington, Dawson Pendergrass, Richard Reese and quarterback Sawyer Robertson) to just narrowly eclipse what Red Raider RB Tahj Brooks has been able to produce on the ground this season.

Those four Bears’ rushing tallies come out to 709, while Brooks himself has amassed 679 in 2024.

In the passing game, Lubbock Coronado graduate Sawyer Robertson has been serviceable, helping keep the Bears fighting in their losses, which admittedly, have been fairly contested aside from the second half at Iowa State.

Josh Cameron and Ashtyn Hawkins are the team’s leading receivers, having combined for 32 receptions, 480 yards and six touchdowns.

The Red Raiders have won several close games up to this point and enter the contest as eight-point favorites. Baylor has been abysmal against the run, giving up 265 on the ground to Iowa State and have allowed more than 100 yards in each game except against Colorado.

The Bears have plenty of talent on defense across all three phases. From the 6-foot-8 monster Garmon Randolph– who Joey McGuire helped recruit to Waco– to linebacker Matt Jones and corner Lorando Johnson. There’s plenty of experience, it just has not cultivated for the Bears.

There is plenty for both sides to lose on Saturday and it is debatable who has more to lose if business does not get taken care of. Dave Aranda and his staff are likely reaching territory where they will be coaching for their jobs and will no doubt be desperate for a win.

The emotions surrounding this game for the coaching staffs seems to become less and less of a storyline to fixate upon.

However, it would be naive to think this game does not have merit in the hearts of the Red Raider staff who have previous connections to the Waco school.

This contest can serve as a tie-breaker as the pair have split their two meetings since McGuire took over at Tech in 2022. The Red Raiders have a chance to even up the series win totals at 41 apiece and this 2024 rendition will be the last in a 68-year streak since the teams began meeting annually in 1956.

One of the longest-running matchups in the country, this game will not be played in 2025 as Tech and Baylor were not selected to play each other as part of the Big 12's scheduling matrix.

With the matchup set to return to Waco in 2026, bragging rights for two years are up for grabs until then when the Red Raiders and Bears meet Saturday.

The complexion of the season has shifted dramatically from the overwhelmingly negative outlook that was onset after a nailbiter against Abilene Christian. Now, it seems, if the Red Raiders can continue rolling and finding ways to make it out of one-score games, the path to Arlington is paving itself before our very eyes.

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