Leading Off
!!!!SITE ALERT!!!! Good citizens of Staking The Plains, your guy, Michael McDonald, a.k.a. Michael_LSRR, will be on The Rob Breaux Show on 1340 The Fan from 7:20 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. this morning. Please listen intently.
The Texas Tech Alumni Association has announced a $6 million expansion of the Frazier Alumni Pavilion. They’re obviously raising money here, but the improvements look to be top-notch and an actual expansion of the footprint, not just improvements. You can give at the link above.
Texas Tech Golf
RECAP: @TexasTechMGolf surges up to 2nd entering Tavistock Collegiate Invitational’s final round on Tuesday.
— Texas Tech Men’s Golf (@TexasTechMGolf) October 22, 2018
Texas Tech Tennis
We’ve concluded play at the @ITA_Tennis Texas Regionals following a second place finish by Bjorn and Parker on the doubles side.
🔴#WreckEm⚫️
— Texas Tech Men’s Tennis (@TexasTechMTEN) October 22, 2018
Texas Tech Baseball
Star-Telegram’s Jeff Wilson reports that former Red Raider baseballer Stubby Clapp has interviewed for the open Rangers position. Clapp is currently the Triple A manager for the Cardinals.
Texas Tech Basketball
The official site spotlights newcomer center Tariq Owens, the transfer from St. John’s:
“I’m proud of how hard I had to work to get here,” Owens said. “I’m thankful because it wasn’t easy. We’ve been through so much together. I lost my mom at a young age and it made us closer. This journey is all for her and for him.”
“Losing Tariq’s mother to cancer was hard on all of us,” added Renard Owens, who is a Lieutenant in the Baltimore Police Department. “Tariq was 14 years old and being the youngest it took a toll on him. Tariq held a lot of his emotions in. Basketball gave him something to focus on. It saved my son. Cassandra would be so proud of Tariq. Unfortunately, she never got to see him blossom into the great basketball player he is now. I know he wishes she could see him under the bright lights.”
And stay tuned for a 10:00 a.m. post where our very own DanSwany will also preview the newcomers and what he thinks they can do on the court this year.
Rivals’ Eric Bossi has updates on some uncommitted players, including guard Jahmius Ramsey, who is still deciding between Indiana, Louisville, Memphis, and Texas Tech:
Breakdown: Pound for pound one of the toughest players in the class of 2019, Ramsey is a monster off the dribble and potential All-League defender. He has said that he will wait until the spring to decide, but he’s knocked out a handful of visits and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see him decide early. If anybody has emerged as the team to beat, it looks to be Texas Tech.
Texas Tech Football
A-J Media’s Carlos Silva, Jr. writes about the two freshman signal callers for Texas Tech and Iowa State:
But, both teams will look to do so under unique circumstances — starting a true freshman quarterback — when the ball is kicked 11 a.m. Saturday inside Jack Trice Stadium.
It’s an uncommon position Red Raider coach Kliff Kingsbury nor Iowa State coach Matt Campbell have been apart of during their respective careers.
“Not playing at this level, both guys,” Kingsbury said when asked if he’s been in a situation involving two true freshman quarterbacks starting against each other Monday. “I think you have two young guys that are playing at an extremely high level, making good decisions, leading their respective teams. That’s very rare to see that in Power 5 football.”
Yahoo! Sports’ Pat Forde writes that there are eight teams you don’t want to play right now and Texas Tech and Iowa State are two fo the eight:
Texas Tech (12). Started: 3-2, with wins over Lamar, Houston and Oklahoma State, and losses to Mississippi and West Virginia. Now: 5-2, with wins over TCU and Kansas. What changed: A defense with 10 returning starters from 2017 got its act together — first holding Oklahoma State to 17 points, then holding TCU to 14 and Kansas to 16. In September games, Texas Tech was last in the Big 12 in total defense; in October games, the Red Raiders are second in the league — and first in scoring defense at 15 points allowed per game. This defense is on pace to be Tech’s best since 2009.
Miscellaneous . . . SB Nation’s Bill Connelly has strength of schedule rankings and Texas Tech is 26th overall, and this is a new metric, combining S&P+, plus strength of schedule, plus resume S&P+ . . . Heartland College Sports’ Pete Mundo has his Big 12 power rankings and Texas Tech remains 5th . . . Texas’ Football’s Shehan Jeyarajah has the latest on TCU’s KaVontae Turpin, who was arrested on Sunday with alleged assault causing bodily injury on a family member (I believe this was his girlfriend), but also uncovered was a prior arrest in March in New Mexico with battery of a household member (Turpin failed to appear and I believe this also involved his girlfriend) and I would guess his TCU career is over . . . Des Moines Register’s Randy Peterson is like Iowa State’s version of Don Williams and he writes about how he sees the Big 12 most likely shaking out . . .