At the Net
Texas Tech volleyball hosts Arizona tonight at 6:00 p.m..
On the Diamond
Double-T 97.3’s Jamie Lent recaps the first game of the Red and Black Series:
Behind Logan Hughes two home runs, the Black team claimed Game 1 of Texas Tech Baseball’s Red and Black series on Tuesday afternoon 12 to 11. Hughes homered in both the first and fourth innings on his way to a 2 for 3 day with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored.
The Red team jumped out to the early lead in the contest with Kyeler Thompson homering to left to lead off the game. With the wind blowing out to right field, Hughes evened the score in the next half inning with a 477 foot blast over the right field bullpen. An inning later A.J. Depaolo lifted a 2 run blast to right to put the Black team on top.
If you need to catch up, Texas Tech baseball has the pitching match-ups and how the teams are split between the Red and Black teams.
On the Hardwood
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf and Jeff Borzello puts teams in tiers with Texas Tech in Tier II: Final Four Contender, the first tier is National Championship Favorites, which included Purdue, Florida, Houston and UConn.
Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney is SI’s No. 7 preseason team.
On the Gridiron
Latest episode of What’s Next with Robert Giovannetti and head coach Joey McGuire:
ESPN’s Heather Dinich on Texas Tech and dropping out of their playoff projection because Arizona State lost (now do the same thing with Alabama and Oregon):
Spotlight: Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are the first team out in this week’s top 12 projection, having dropped out after their Oct. 18 loss at Arizona State. That loss took another small hit in Week 9 after ASU suffered its third defeat of the season. The Red Raiders are still on track, though, to meet BYU in the Big 12 title game, as that’s the most likely matchup (34%), according to ESPN Analytics. Texas Tech also hosts BYU on Nov. 8 in what will be arguably the Big 12’s biggest game of the regular season. If BYU can stay undefeated — but loses in the Big 12 championship game — the conference would have its best chance at getting two teams in the CFP because the winner would be guaranteed a spot, and one-loss BYU would have an excellent case to join it. If Texas Tech beats BYU and finishes as a two-loss Big 12 runner-up to the Cougars, it would also have a strong case thanks to a regular-season win against the Big 12 champion. It would likely be compared with a two-loss ACC runner-up, though, and that’s where things could get interesting. The Red Raiders’ best wins would be at Utah, at Houston and against BYU. How the conference title games unfold would also play a role in the committee’s decision.
CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli’s power ratings with a focus on Texas Tech:
This week’s power ratings have good news and bad news for the Big 12. The good news is that, for the first time this season, the Big 12 has two teams that have cracked the top 12 of my power ratings. It’s an accomplishment worth celebrating, and perhaps even hanging a banner for at the Big 12 Championship Game in December.
The bad news is that neither is one of the two Big 12 teams that remain undefeated in conference play. Making matters worse, one of the two teams already has two conference losses.
I’m talking about Texas Tech, which has been ranked here most of the season, and the Utah Utes, who climb to No. 11 this week. BYU and Cincinnati, who are 5-0 in Big 12 play, and No. 10 and No. 17 in the AP Poll, are 15th and 21st, respectively, in my power ratings. Houston is 29th. All of which means there’s plenty of chaos coming the Big 12’s direction over the final month plus of the season. The Utes don’t have much chance of winning the league — losses to Texas Tech and BYU kill them in most tie-breaker scenarios — but they do get Cincinnati at home this week, so they’ll certainly have a say in who will win the league.