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Youssouf’s surgery was yesterday and all went well. He was in a lot of pain when he woke up, which the tear was apparently a bit worse than the MRI showed, but he has great flexibility with his hip and the doctor was pleased. Regardless, he’s all good. Thank you for all of your good thoughts and prayers. We arrived home last night around 9:00 p.m. and I’m working all day today and then leaving my house at 3:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for my trip to Seattle. I have no idea what or if I’ll have a Morning Stake tomorrow morning, but I will have an open thread at the very least and I will definitely have the normal The Report on Friday.
On the Hardwood
Red Raider Sports’ Shelby Hillard on the commitment of top 100 player Ambrosia “Bro Bro” Cole, a 5’7″ point guard from Monterrey in Lubbock, to the Lady Raiders.
On the Diamond
Texas Tech softball will play West Texas A&M on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. as part of a 10-innin exhibition fall-ball game in Canyon.
On the Gridiron
Next episode of What’s Next with head coach Joey McGuire and Robert Giovannetti:
Red Raider Sports’ Ava Hounshell recaps yesterday’s media session with special teams coordinator Kenny Perry:
“Utah pregame, he was on fire. His leg was live. So, you know, I kind of just go with the hot guy. So he had a good week,” Perry said. “Hopefully he continues this week. But you know, I keep saying, whether it’s Upton (Bellenfant) or Ian (Hershey), whoever it is, they’re going to be expected to perform. So I feel good about that. Feel good where we’re at.”
“All last offseason, he (Burgess) really worked. And man he flips the field for you, he’s definitely a weapon. And then what he does inside the 20 yard line, I’m pretty sure he’s gotta be up in the top two or three in the country for putting balls inside the 20,” Perry said. “I’m proud of Jack. And besides that, he’s a great holder. You watch games all the time. The holder drops the ball, so he’s great holder, too.”
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg grades the new coordinator hires and I won’t copy and paste all of it, but Texas Tech goes get an A for both hires and here’s a bit on Shiel Wood:
“I wanted a guy that was a multiple, that wasn’t just a three-down guy, wasn’t just a four-down guy, who could fit our current players in and then the guys we were going to bring in,” McGuire said. “And I wanted somebody extremely detailed and organized. If anybody asks me what Shiel Wood is like, I’d say he’s extremely detailed and organized and then, boom, he’s got all kinds of juice for the players to rally around.”
ESPN has their power rankings, which has Texas Tech at No. 9 overall and quite different than their FPI ranking, which has Texas Tech at No. 20.
The Red Raiders had a bye week coming off a 34-10 win over then No. 16 Utah, their fourth straight by at least 24 points. They are outscoring opponents by an average of 52-to-11 per game. Now at their highest ranking since 2013, the Red Raiders will meet 4-0 Houston for the first time as conference foes since the Southwest Conference broke up. Quarterback Behren Morton, who was injured in the Utah game and replaced by Will Hammond, is expected to return. But the Red Raiders were comforted by the performance of the sophomore backup, as Hammond went 13-of-16 for 169 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. — Wilson
If you are into Schadenfreude, Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer writes that the SEC is no longer untouchable:
When it comes to having a fun and competitive conference race, the SEC is actually what we all thought the Big 12 was going to be in 2025. Everybody’s a contender in the league, but when it comes down to winning the CFP crown, there’s more skepticism now than actual belief.
What might really rankle the folks down in the conference offices in Birmingham though, is that this sure looks like a key window to wrestle control of that golden cylinder away from the Big Ten. If that doesn’t happen, the crisis of confidence may truly start to mean a little more as the Big Ten keeps racking up wins in December and January.