To me, this one is pretty simple to sum up. We talked all week about Texas Tech having to keep up on offense and somehow, defensively, force some Baylor mistakes. None of that happened, and the result was a blowout as a result.
The defensive performance, especially in the first half, was atrocious. It was as bad as Texas' special teams play has been this season. I don't need to waste any more time telling you guys how terrible it was because you all just got done watching it.
I have a hard time imagining that there are very many folks out there who didn't expect Baylor to put up a big number on Texas Tech's defense. To me, that was a given from the jump. Maybe you feel differently, but that's where I was coming from. What I didn't expect was the Red Raiders' offensive line having such a brutal outing -- probably their worst showing since the 2013 Texas game.
Texas Tech's offensive line didn't give up any sacks -- thanks largely to the mobility of Pat Mahomes -- but the group committed a ton of penalties and didn't create much room for DeAndre Washington (13 att., 39 yards 3 YPC). That's not the kind of performance you expect out of a group that should be one of the best in the Big 12.
The offensive line's poor performance may have been the most surprising, but they had a ton of company in terms of miscues. Too many mistakes in all three phases to single out.
The Red Raiders lost Justin Murphy and Devin Lauderdale to injury in the first half. The team can't afford either injury for an extended period of time.
Hat-tip to Zach Austin (8 rec., 110 yards, TD) for stepping up when called upon. He hadn't caught a single pass in his career before today, and he finished with the team lead in catches.
Brown rebounded nicely from his early drop, catching five passes for 117 yards.
Pat Mahomes played about as well as anyone could have expected given how limited he was.
The 17 penalties (for 142 yards) and four turnovers are extremely worrisome, as this team isn't good enough at this point to overcome those kind numbers and win games in the Big 12. In a lot of ways, this game was the kind of shoot-yourself-in-the-foot outing that we saw far too often last season.
I wrote last week that I was interested to see how the Red Raiders responded to the TCU loss. Well, clearly they didn't respond well. Same thing this week. How do they respond heading into this weekend? I think it's fair to ask if they couldn't get up for the No. 5 team in the country, are they going to get up for an uninspiring Iowa State team?
The good news is that Texas Tech can generate some momentum over its next two games against Iowa State and Kansas, but the Red Raiders are going to have to show up in a much bigger way than they did this afternoon if they want to win those games.
