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Baylor overwhelms Texas Tech, spoiling Patrick Mahomes' return
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- Baylor overwhelms Texas Tech, spoiling Patrick Mahomes' return
Texas Tech football fans cheered the return of favorite son Patrick Mahomes II before kickoff and at halftime. During the game, Baylor was the team doing most of the celebrating.
Richard Reese rushed 36 times for 148 yards and three touchdowns as the Bears beat the Red Raiders 45-17 Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd at Jones AT&T Stadium.
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"Probably the most frustrated I am is that we had an incredible crowd in a night game, and I did not do a good job getting these guys ready to play in front of our crowd," Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said. "It frustrates me because it was a great atmosphere and we missed the moment."
Baylor's running back Richard Reese (29), center, attempts to avoid Texas Tech's defensive back Reggie Pearson Jr. (2)Õs tackle, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, at Jones AT&T Stadium.
In a clash of styles, Baylor (5-3, 3-2 in the Big 12) dominated with its ground game, more than doubling Tech (4-4, 2-3) in time of possession. The Red Raiders, which ran at least 100 plays in four of its first seven games, snapped the ball 73 times, committed five turnovers and allowed six sacks.
"Coach McGuire preaches to us to take 24 hours," Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks said. "So we're going to take this 24 hours, take a deep look at ourselves in the mirror. …Then come to practice on Monday, Tuesday be ready to work."
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Reese's third TD early in the fourth quarter capped a stretch in which the Bears scored touchdowns on four of five possessions. Three of the four drives covered more than 70 yards.
McGuire, who promised all season to play his top three quarterbacks in one game, was good to his word. But Baylor intercepted Behren Morton three times and Donovan Smith and Tyler Shough once each. Shough, making his first appearance since he suffered a clavicle injury in the season opener, had his first throw intercepted and returned for a touchdown by cornerback A.J. McCarty with 4:04 left.
"When you're at that point where they know that you've got to throw the football, they did a good job rushing," McGuire said.
Bears running back Qualan Jones tacked on a 17-yard touchdown after that.
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Reese, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound freshman from Bellville, continued his impressive debut season. His three touchdowns increased his season total to 12. He also carried 19 times for 156 yards and three TDs against Texas State and 31 times for 186 yards and two TDs against Kansas.
Texas Tech's head football coach Joey McGuire, left, shakes hands with Baylor's head coach Dave Aranda after Baylor's win, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, at Jones AT&T Stadium. Baylor won, 45-17.
"Their main play is a wide zone," McGuire said when asked of Reese's performance. "I thought we did a good job in the first half to take that away and then they started running pin and pull. We didn't do a good job, you know, fitting that up. … But a better job in the second half on that play.
"He's (Reese) good. And the one thing that he does, he's a one-cut guy. He's very fast, loves football."
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The houseful of fans dressed in all black wanted to cheer more than the halftime ceremonies in which Mahomes was inducted into the Tech Athletics Hall of Fame and Tech football Ring of Honor. Tech shot off fireworks and unveiled on the west wall of the stadium Mahomes' name and the jersey No. 5 he wore during his seasons with the Red Raiders.
The four-time Pro Bowl quarterback raised his palms, beckoning the crowd for more noise and did a biceps flex reminiscent of his celebrations after his big plays. But he couldn't work any mojo for the Red Raiders.
A week after Tech routed West Virginia 48-10, building confidence for a strong finish to the season, the Red Raiders took a step back on offense. Morton completed only 11 of 33 passes for 152 yards.
"We missed some stuff tonight," McGuire said. "We had some overthrows that we hadn't had. We had a couple of drops early. … And could just never get going in the first quarter.
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"I was really proud of the guys, coming in 17-3 (at halftime) and then we got there to where we made it a game. And they ended up pulling away."
The freshman from Eastland briefly got the crowd going when he rallied Tech from a three-touchdown deficit by throwing for one touchdown and running for another on back-to-back series in the third quarter, bringing the Red Raiders within 24-17.
Texas Tech's quarterback Behren Morton (2) scores a touchdown against Baylor, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Henry Teeter caught the 1-yard scoring pass, ending a 15-play drive that featured four third-down conversions. On the fifth play after the TD, Reese muffed a pitchout from Blake Shapen and cornerback Rayshad Williams recovered at the Baylor 41-yard line.
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On fourth-and-7 from the 8, Morton escaped a collapsing pocket, shed a tackle by defensive end T.J. Franklin at the 6 and galloped into the end zone. That narrowed the gap to 24-17 with 2:46 left in the third quarter, but the Bears reasserted themselves.
Baylor took control of the game on two touchdown runs by Reese in the last four minutes of the first half, breaking a 3-3 tie, and blew it open right after halftime when Shapen dropped in a perfectly thrown pass to the corner of the end zone to Hal Presley. The 9-yard touchdown made the score 24-3.
Tech, hoping to cut into a 17-3 halftime deficit, had the ball first coming out of the break, but Morton was sacked on the first play from scrimmage and then intercepted on the next. Cornerback Mark Milton stepped in front of Morton's pass up the sideline for Jerand Bradley, putting Baylor in business at the Tech 34-yard line.
Reese went in from a yard out at 3:39 before halftime, capping a nine-play, 75-yard drive in which he carried seven times.
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Baylor forced a three-and-out, got the ball back with 1:51 left and went on the march again. Shapen hit Gavin Holmes for 30 yards on the second play, and same pair connected again to convert a fourth-and-5, the 23-yard gain moving the ball to the Tech 14.
On second-and-10, Shapen threw for wide receiver Josh Cameron in the corner of the end zone and Williams was flagged for pass interference. That moved the ball to the 2, and Reese took it in from there on third down with 13 seconds left in the half.
Morton had only 71 yards on 4-for-15 passing in the first half, including some big misses. He threw high and a little behind Nehemiah Martinez on fourth-and-4 from the Baylor 40 on Tech's first possession. Bears safety Devin Lemear intercepted Morton at the goal line when Morton forced a throw into heavy coverage on first down from the 32.
After a three-and-out, Tech advanced to the Baylor 15 on its fourth possession. On third-and-7, Morton had time and Martinez was open beyond the point to gain, but Morton missed him again. The Red Raiders settled for a 33-yard Trey Wolff field goal that tied it 3-3.
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"We're going to challenge our coaches to figure out what we didn't get across to everybody to execute better," McGuire said. "It's easy to point fingers after a game like this and blame. So we've got to figure out what we did wrong and get better."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Baylor overwhelms Texas Tech, spoiling Patrick Mahomes' return
