Here and There
 |
Texas Tech Red Raiders (1-2, 0-0) |
 |
West Virginia Mountaineers (2-1, 0-0) |
 |
September 23rd @ 2:30 p.m. |
 |
Milar Puskar Stadium | Morgantown, West Virginia |
 |
Texas Tech -4 |
 |
ESPN+ | ESPN+ |
 |
75, Partly Cloudy |
Some Hither, Others Yon
While wondering whatever happened to Cody Davis, former Texas Tech safety who caught on as an undrafted free agent for St. Louis and then has stuck with New England since 2020 and currently on the PUP list. Here’s Cody playing The Price Is Right.
Safety @CodyDavis wins cash and prizes on The @PriceIsRight game Punch-A-Bunch #PriceIsRight #PunchABunch 💰 pic.twitter.com/paPQSAdmKA
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 24, 2017
Prologue
West Virginia is in a bit of a weird situation (aren’t we all) in that Neal Brown is coaching for his life, but he just handily beat hated rival Pitt, perhaps because Pitt’s offense is a dumpster fire and only needed to be passable to win, but a win is a win is a win. Garrett Greene is possibly injured, an ankle, and if he’s not mobile, then there’s no point in him playing. In came 4-star quarterback Nicco Marchiol to be just good enough and not turn the ball over in order to win.
I do believe that Brown is coaching for his job and I have always thought that Brown was one of the good things when he was here with Tommy Tuberville and I will probably always believe it. I always thought he was a bit restricted in terms of what he was allowed to do on offense, but maybe given his resume at West Virginia that may not be accurate. Regardless, I can say that I’ve never wished ill-will on Brown and although I hope West Virginia loses on Saturday, it’s not because of Brown.
The Bakay Index
Questions About Quarterbacks vs. No Questions About Quarterbacks: Joey McGuire started off his press conference on Saturday asking a good thought about Jaden Smith, and then addressed the quarterback questions so that there could be no quarterback questions. Advantage? No quarterback questions.
Sacks For or Sacks Given Up: Thus far this early season, Texas Tech has 6 sacks on 122 attempts, which is 1 sack for every 20 attempts, while the offense has given up 10 sacks on 118 attempts good for a sack every 12 plays. Neither stat is a good good. Advantage? Push (unfortunately).
Couches in West Virginia after a Win Over Pitt vs. Couches Everywhere Else: Advantage? Couches everywhere else.
Patrick Mahomes vs. Quarterback Salaries: Patrick Mahomes restructured his contract and will receive $210.6 million between 2023 and 2026 for an average of $52.65 million a season. Advantage? Patrick Mahomes.
Quickie Previews & Recaps
All games are on Saturday, September 23rd.
This Week: Oklahoma @ Cincinnati (11:00 am on FOX)
Last Week: Oklahoma 66, Tulsa 17 :: Miami (OH) 31, Cincinnati 24
Oklahoma has been rolling, even when Briles shows up on the sidelines. Cincinnati lost a game that I feel like they should have won. the offense was always going to be a question this year for the Bearcats and they’ll have to keep pace against an Oklahoma team that is putting a lot of points on the board. OU is favored by 14
This Week: SMU @ TCU (11:00 am on FS1)
Last Week: TCU 36, Houston 13
TCU easily handled Houston and with this the last game with SMU for the foreseeable future, maybe this will be a good game. I don’t think that TCU is the world-beater that they were a year ago. TCU is favored by 4.5.
This Week: BYU @ Kansas (2:30 pm on ESPN)
Last Week: BYU 38, Arkansas 31 :: Kansas 31, Nevada 24
BYU had maybe the most impressive win of the week and Kansas wasn’t far behind. Both BYU and Kansas won on the road last week so they are tested. The Jayhawks are favored by 7.5 and that seems like too much.
This Week: Texas Tech @ West Virginia (2:30 pm on ESPN+)
Last Week: Texas Tech 41, Tarleton State 3 :: West Virginia 17, Pittsburgh 6
West Virginia has an impressive win at home against Pitt and Texas Tech is determined to play Tyler Shough despite the eyes and numbers saying otherwise. This is a weird situation for sure for Texas Tech. West Virginia is playing football without a real quarterback for the most part so I don’t know how Saturday will work out, but maybe bet the under. Texas Tech is favored by 5.5 and I think the line opened at 2.
This Week: Oklahoma State @ Iowa State (3:00 pm on FS1)
Last Week: South Alabama 33, Oklahoma State 7 :: Ohio 10, Iowa State 7
Oh geez, I don’t know what to say here, Alan Bowman is not the answer for OSU and Spencer Sanders is sitting on the bench at Ole Miss. Iowa State’s game maybe had some controversy to it, but my guess is that the betting scandal has wrecked any semblance of a good and decent season for ISU. The Cyclones are favored by 2, but that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.
This Week: Sam Houston @ Houston (6:00 pm on ESPN+)
Last Week: TCU 36, Houston 13
Houston should get on track this week, but the Cougars do not look Big 12 ready, whether that be the team or the fans or anything. Sam Houston won’t be an easy out most likely and Vegas has UH as 14.5 favorites.
This Week: Texas @ Baylor (6:30 pm on ABC)
Last Week: Texas 31, Wyoming 10 :: Baylor 30, Long Island University 7
I do not know what to think about Baylor, but I think they have not played away from home yet and to open the season with 4 straight home games is a bit odd, but Baylor is struggling on offense, a familiar theme for a lot of the Big 12, while Texas struggled with Wyoming for 3 quarters. Texas is favored by 14.5, which seems high.
This Week: UCF @ Kansas State (7:00 pm on FS1)
Last Week: UCF 48, Villanova 14 :: Missouri 30, Kansas State 27
Kansas State loses on a last-second field goal to Mizzou in Colombia, while UCF just rolls offensively. Kansas State will be much better at home and don’t think that UCF has played higher-end competition as of yet, but they can score and they can run the ball. The wildcats are favored by 7.