The Morning Stake: December 20th

Lady Raider Basketball

Red Raider Basketball

Baseball

Football

 Sports On Earth’s Matt Brown grades the Big 12 season and Brown gives Texas Tech a D for the 5-7 season:

Texas Tech (5-7): D. Even when it’s having a rough season, at least Texas Tech manages to be entertaining. The Red Raiders had one of the nation’s most exciting quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes, who completed 65.7 percent for 5,052 yards, 41 TDs and 10 INTs and tied the FBS single-game record with 734 yards in a loss to Oklahoma. The Red Raiders are sixth nationally in scoring, again proving to be prolific on offense under coach Kliff Kingsbury. Unfortunately, the defense was as bad as ever, ranking 128th in points allowed (43.5 per game), 126th in yards per play allowed, 124th in yards per rush allowed and 121st in defensive passer rating. One week, Texas Tech gave up eight TDs to Arizona State RB Kalen Ballage. Another week, it gave up 15.1 yards per pass attempt to Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield. The Red Raiders went 5-7 and had five losses in which they scored 37 or more points.

Personally, I can’t argue with the grade.

ESPN’s Max Olson asks whether or not Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes should go pro or not, with three reasons to go and three reasons to stay. Here’s the last reason to stay:

3. Unfinished legacy: Mahomes can cement his status as a Texas Tech legend if he stays one more season. He can become the Red Raiders’ all-time leader in passing, total offense and touchdowns, and finish as one of the top five passers in FBS history. He can be a Heisman contender. He can keep building his resume. Does he want to leave with a 13-16 record as a starter and 0-9 against top-25 teams? After this 5-7 season, there’s plenty of unfinished business. Going pro means passing up a year of superstardom in college to be a backup in the NFL.

RRS’s Will McKay writes about 2017 Texas Tech quarterback commit, Xavier Martin, after his season ending state title game loss to DeSoto and how he’ll use that loss to fuel his Texas Tech career:

“I thought we were going to come out with the win,” said Martin. “It’s just tough with the mental mistakes. I should’ve held on to the ball longer, should’ve went down, but you can’t beat yourself up for – our coach always tells us it’s just football. So, you’ve just got to move on to bigger and better things right now.”

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