On the Hardwood

The Lady Raiders defeated Texas State 83-50 behind 22 points from Jalynn Bristow and 20 points from Snudda Collins. I should point out that Gemma Nunez had 10 assists and I have commented before that one of the biggest issues with this team is the turnovers, 21 yesterday, but also 21 assists and the team shot 52%. I think a handful of turnovers were in garbage time, but I think it would be worth it to keep the ball in Nunez’s hands as much as possible. If you watch her, she makes the right pass and the extra pass quite often. Three games into the season and T-Rank has the Lady Raiders 33rd in the nation. The lady Raiders will host SMU on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

On the Gridiron

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese on all of the on-goings of Saturday:

Hitting the College GameDay set at 6 a.m. feels like a week ago, and I’ve forgotten more faces I photographed today than I can process in real time. I never did get to see Kirk Herbstreit’s dog, Peter, but no golden retriever can ever win my heart like the late Jed Giese.

Patrick Mahomes was here. That was pretty neat. Grant McCasland asking Texas Tech fans not to hurl degrading chants toward BYU was a humorous (and necessary) touch. Claustrophobia hit pretty hard as we tried to crowd around the GameDay set inside the stadium, all looking to get the money shot of Pat McAfee taking off his shirt. He settled for ringing a Saddle Tramp bell.

The game, being a 29-7 blowout, was a nice bonus. No mad dash to the finish, trying to figure out which way my postgame story is going to go. Texas Tech was favored by about 11 points, which felt high, although the Red Raiders have also shown an ability to turn any game into a blowout with the right combination of time and scoring — we’ll discuss that red zone offense later.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich predicts this week of the CFP with Texas Tech at No. 7:

Need to know: Texas Tech and BYU are still the most likely matchup in the Big 12 title game. According to ESPN Analytics, Texas Tech has a 93% chance to reach it, BYU is second with a 55% chance and Cincinnati is third (19%). If BYU captures the Big 12, Texas Tech could claim a regular-season win against the eventual Big 12 champ, which would help boost its résumé and the case for playoff inclusion as the league runner-up.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 29 at West Virginia. The Red Raiders have at least an 80% chance to win their two remaining regular-season games, but this one is slightly more difficult than against UCF because it’s on the road at a difficult venue.

ESPN’s David Hale on the college football weekend, with either a compliment or a backhanded compliment:

If there was any doubt who the favorite in the Big 12 should be, Texas Tech set the record straight with a dominant 29-7 win over BYU on Saturday.

Cameron Dickey ran for 121 yards and a touchdown, Behren Morton played mistake-free ball, and the Red Raiders’ defense was suffocating, led by Jacob Rodriguez, who had 14 tackles and an interception. The Red Raiders had three takeaways, held BYU to just 255 total yards and allowed just three conversions on 14 third-down tries.

It’s further proof that Texas Tech’s decision to treat the transfer portal like the buffet at a Golden Corral was a stroke of brilliance. After all, nothing bad has ever happened after consuming too many portions of popcorn shrimp that have been sitting under a heat lamp for six hours.

Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer with 5 questions remaining and I sort of hate that now Texas Tech won by dominating too much, thus meaning the Big 12 may only get 1 team in the CFP:

As for the Big 12, it got what it wanted in plenty of attention on Texas Tech’s win over BYU but the nature of that one-sided affair could cost the conference in the long term. The lack of nonconference wins means the league already had slim hopes of getting two teams into the field. It probably needs BYU to win out and win a close rematch with the Red Raiders to make two bids possible. How far the committee will drop the Cougars is something to keep a close eye on. If it’s behind Texas and Oklahoma, commissioner Brett Yormark might have to hope for Notre Dame to be upset to free up a spot for a pair of Big 12 teams.

CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli on week 11 and what if Texas Tech is that good and BYU isn’t bad at all?

The final score was not truly indicative of how the game played out. If not for the continuation of Texas Tech’s red zone struggles — Tech settled for four field goals and turned the ball over on downs in five of their seven red zone possessions, averaging only 3.7 points per trip — this could’ve been more like a 41-7 kind of game. Maybe the committee will forget all about that if it’s evaluating BYU as an at-large candidate at the end of the season, but I doubt it.

At this point, it feels like the Big 12 Championship will be Texas Tech facing the winner of BYU at Cincinnati on Nov. 22.

College Poll Tracker appears to be fixed and as you know, this tracks every voter for the AP Poll and Texas Tech has moved up 1 spot to No. 8.

Via adidas, Patrick Mahomes and adidas continued their Team Mahomes program at Texas Tech:

“Texas Tech will always be home for me, so I’m proud to give back to the school and community who helped shape me on and off the field,” said Patrick Mahomes. “As the partnership with adidas continues to evolve and expand, we’re redefining not just the future of Red Raider sports, but college athletics more widely.”

The second Team Mahomes cohort features Red Raider athletes from many of the school’s top programs, including returning members NiJaree Canady (Softball) and Sam Courtwright (Soccer), alongside Behren Morton (Football), Christian Anderson (Men’s Basketball), and Malachi Snow (Track). The athletes met Mahomes earlier today and will be honored during the game.