Here and There

GAME THINGS
	Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-5, 4-3)
	UCF Knights (5-5, 2-5)
	November 18th @ 4:00 p.m.
	Jones AT&T Stadium | Lubbock, Texas
	Texas Tech -3
	FS2 | FOX Sports Live
	68, Cloudy

Some Hither, Others Yon

While wondering whatever happened to Seth Doege? Doege is currently the tight ends coach at Purdue. Doege finished his playing career at Texas Tech from 2009 through 2012. Doege kicked around the NFL and CFL before starting at Bowling Green with Mike Jinks, who left Texas Tech as the running backs coach to be the head coach at Bowling Green. Then he went on to USC as an offensive quality control analyst, then 2022 an offensive analyst for Ole Miss, and is now in his role at Purdue. If you were curious, Garrett Miller and Max Klare are the 4th and 5th leading receivers for the Boilermakers.

Prologue

Another week where I sort of ran out of time to do much, but here’s a non-transcript of head coach Joey McGuire’s presser, at least the first 22 minutes or so.

• Last home game of the year, senior night, expecting a great crowd, will need them and everybody there. Boog and Bradford would love to see it packed. One of the best offensive teams in the country, just had a running back go over 200 yards against Oklahoma State. UCF coming back has helped, two outside receivers, and he’s feeling healthier. He’s running a lot more. I know Gus pretty well, his mom sent English at the 9th grade campus.
• Back: Mason Tharp, Steve Linton, possibly Cole Spencer.
• Game Time: Tyler Owens (ankle)
• Calling timeout on Kansas’ last drive and the decision to punt.] The timeout, was waiting a couple of seconds to see if he was going to call one, our thought was that we needed time left to score. Just playing defense and trying to get a stop there. It’s not traditional football, see it more and more, if we could get 30+ seconds clock and could get the ball in Behren’s hands and score. That game was a defensive game, and playing one minus play with the long touchdown run. We’ve been through playing with a #3 quarterback, almost to see if he can beat us. It was really close, that was more about playing good defense.
• DeRuyter had a great call with the 4th down and Jacob Rodriguez comes free and Bralyn Lux comes free. Hutchings, he was a grown man making plays, shedding the center. After the game, that’s something we haven’t done well. Last year we were 9th in the red zone and this year we haven’t, but it is a credit to the defense and DeRuyter called a good game.
• Once we completed the first one, 10 personnel and hurry-up, Gino had missed a field goal at that end, but we felt if we got to the 40 we had a shot. Bradley came up big, getting his eyes around and catching the ball, did a great job there, and a great play by Myles and a back-shoulder fade. We end every Tuesday on a 2-minute drill and feel good about it and they played off enough to get things going.
• Morton is healthy enough, saw it enough on the last drive. It didn’t hurt that a torrential downpour and am hoping for cold weather. Turnover was the other issue with Oklahoma State, they had 4, and created the Oklahoma State-UCF score.
• I don’t think it is, we’re 5-5, early in the season we didn’t execute and we turned the ball over. We go from excuses and reasons, it would be hard to find a team go through more injuries than we have. Getting guys back at the right time and trying to get bowl eligible, we don’t want to wait and want to see what happens next week.
• It’s big playing at home and love playing in front of this fanbase. Gio and his crew have created a great environment, that Thursday night against TCU was a great atmosphere, and we have the best fanbase in the country and it will be big to do it in front of the home crowd.
• This year, it is really as healthy as we’ve been since week 1, Behren is in a groove, and Tahj is doing a great job, and against good offenses, we’ve played our best defenses. We have old guys that are focused on leaving something behind, and that helps you build a program. It is frustrating being 1-3 in September, but we need to finish it.
• [Re. Kansas’ 3rd string quarterback] I know they’ll be ready and thought that their freshman did a good job. He’ll have that team ready. They’ve gotten to 7 wins and know how big K-State is.
• Good thing is that he rolled his ankle and he re-taped it and the ankle was on a different leg and he was good. Might name the new training room after Tony, they said that Pat Mahomes spent a lot of time in the training room. Jacob wasn’t worse, he’ll be ready to go. He does have fresher legs than some other guys.
• When you have a guy like Behren Morton, he’s a winner, I know we have a good record when he starts and finishes a game. He’s finished strong, I have a lot of confidence in him. He has good relationships with his receivers and the last 2 weeks him feeling better has him throwing a good football.
• I think the one thing you have to establish, I came here to play for Big 12 Championships, but have to establish a tradition of going to bowl games and talk about that a lot. Once our goals changed, it was important to get bowl eligible. Can leave behind the expectation of playing in a bowl game and do something after that.
• We’re glad we played Kansas last week, they are different, but similar, will get a lot of quarterback run game, Kansas moves every snap and the communication will help us this week. Their run game is more like zone-read, definitely help us playing Kansas before.
• John Rhys-Plumlee, watched him and thought he’s extremely fast. When he first came back, he wasn’t running as much. Last week he ran the ball effectively. Each week you’re seeing a healthier guy. Will see plenty of run game with them.
• They are both long big receivers, I think we have long corners, Malik is playing well, but Rabbit has to continue to be that center-fielder and they are going to take shots and they are a vertical passing game. I was surprised the vertical passing game against Kansas, but UCF does that.
• [Re. Jaylon Hutchings] I tell every scout that your coaches will thank you if you take him. People are going to knock his height, the two interior guys are pros every day. They push the team and they are vocal and leaders. I’ve been fortunate to coach those two guys. Debbie sent me a text and saying that she has to stop getting so close to those guys because she’s already getting emotional about those guys.
• Tyler Shough couldn’t play today, but he is in a good place and my expectation tomorrow is to run with the team and hopefully by Wednesday he can do some scout periods. Guys like him, if it was a freshman, he doesn’t have the reps banked, he will know the game plan going in and now to get him physically. If it were today he wouldn’t play.

The Bakay Index

Nick Bakay is an actor, writer and TV personality who made regular appearances on ESPN and wrote on ESPN’s Page 2. Bakay did a segment on ESPN called “Tale of the Tape” where he would give an advantage to one side or the other, or if it was close, then it was a “push”. Bakay was also the voice of the cat Salem on Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

The Aggies vs. Shooting Themselves In the Foot. Jimbo Fisher was fired yesterday and the Aggies owe him $77 million for nothing. He doesn’t even have to mitigate. Now the Aggies have to who to hire. The smart move, in my opinion, would be someone that has shown that they are a capable coach and no one will ask my opinion, I’d hire Jeff Traylor in a heartbeat and I’d interview Oregon’s Dan Lanning to see if he would make the trip to College Station. My guess though is that they will hire another guy who seems to have issues with the program flailing a bit, Dabo Sweeny, and I’d watch that all day long. Never bet against the Aggies shooting themselves in the foot. Advantage? Shooting Themselves In the Foot

Joey McGuire vs. Pre-Game Talks. man, I don’t know anyone that does this as well as him. And the post-game Matador song. Right here. Hits me right here. Advantage? McGuire.

For this brotherhood.
For this team.
For your family.
For Texas Tech.#WreckEm | @PlainsCapital pic.twitter.com/TBLT5Om2Ck

— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) November 14, 2023

Texas Tech vs. 6 Wins. Do I even dare to dream, after what appeared to be terrible losses to Wyoming and BYU and West Virginia, Texas Tech is a game over .500 in the Big 12 and 5-5 overall with a chance this weekend for a win over UCF. Advantage? 6 wins.

Quickie Previews & Recaps

All games are on Saturday, November 18th.

This Week: Oklahoma @ BYU (11:00 am on ABC or ESPN)
Last Week: Oklahoma 59, West Virginia 20 :: Iowa State 45, BYU 13
The Sooners got back to being who they are, but they sort of need to be home to do that and an opponent that can’t score to save their life. Good thing that BYU is next because the Sooners will be hitting the road, but BYU is offensively challenged. The Sooners are favored by 24 and that’s probably not enough.

This Week: Cincinnati @ West Virginia (1:30 pm on ESPN+)
Last Week: Cincinnati 24, Houston 14 :: Oklahoma 59, West Virginia 20
This is a short trip for Cincy and coming off of a nice win on the road, they have to hit the road again, but it’s not that bad. West Virginia wasn’t going to beat OU on the road, and they’ll be much better at home. The Mountaineers still having a winning record and have been better than most have expected. The Mountaineers are favored by 6.5 and I think I like WVU here.

This Week: Baylor @ TCU (2:30 pm on ESPN+)
Last Week: Kansas State 59, Baylor 25 :: Texas 29, TCU 26
I don’t know what’s become of Baylor, but expect Aranda to be gone because this is a broken team. They simply should not be this bad and there’s a ton of in-fighting with fans (been there). TCU lost a tough one to Texas, but that has sort of been their season. I’ll take the Horned Frogs at home, but the 13 point line favoring TCU is too much for me.

This Week: Oklahoma State @ Houston (3:00 pm on ESPN2)
Last Week: UCF 45, Oklahoma State 3 :: Cincinnati 24, Houston 14
What the hell Oklahoma State? You were strangely only favored by 2.5 and then get blown out? And then Houston losing at home to Cincinnati, who is objectively worse, and it was by 10, so not even close. Someone sent Don Williams an email asking if Holgo could be the offensive coordinator for Texas Tech. Be careful what you wish for. This is a game that OSU should win, but hitting the road two games in a row this late in the season isn’t fun. I think the Cowboys will bounce back and I sort of even like the 7 point line for OSU..

This Week: UCF @ Texas Tech (4:00 pm on FS2)
Last Week: UCF 45, Oklahoma State 3 :: Texas Tech 16, Kansas 13
UCF is a helluva high scoring team and I’m not looking forward to this game for Texas Tech if it’s a shootout. UCF pummeled Oklahoma State at home, but now have to hit the road for Texas Tech’s final home game. Texas Tech is favored by 3 and reserve my thoughts until the end of the week.

This Week: Kansas State @ Kansas (6:00 pm on FS1)
Last Week: Kansas State 59, Baylor 25 :: Texas Tech 16, Kansas 13
Kansas State did what they do, maul opponents that are down. Kansas is on their 3rd string signal caller and I don’t see how the Jayhawks can keep pace even though they are at home. With a third string quarterback and the line being Kansas State 7.5, I think I like the Wildcats.

This Week: Texas @ Iowa State (7:00 pm on FOX)
Last Week: Texas 29, TCU 26 :: Iowa State 45, BYU 13
Texas gets by TCU and other than hosting Texas Tech next week, this is the last big test for the Longhorns. I keep saying that BYU is not a good team (shakes fist at 5 turnovers) and the Cyclones did what they are supposed to do, took care of business. I think I like Iowa State at home, they like to play the spoiler and what a game to do that. Texas is favored by 7 and that’s a line I like the Cyclones.