ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — After nearly upsetting No. 4 TCU at home last week, Texas Tech was confident it could keep up with No. 5 Baylor on Saturday at AT&T Stadium. Instead, the balanced Bears left the Red Raiders behind in a hurry.
Seth Russell passed for 286 yards and four touchdowns and ran for two more scores, and Shock Linwood rushed for a career-high 221 yards and two touchdowns to help Baylor beat Texas Tech 63-35.
Baylor (4-0, 1-0) entered with the FBS’ top offense in scoring (64.0 points per game), total offense (767.0 yards per game) and rushing yards (379.7 per game). The Bears gained 680 yards, 368 rushing.
Texas Tech (3-2, 0-2) dropped its second straight game after sweeping its nonconference opponents. It lost 55-52 to TCU in the closing seconds last week.
The Red Raiders committed four turnovers, two resulting in touchdowns, and committed 17 penalties for 142 yards. They rushed for only 106 yards on 24 attempts.
“Against a top-5 team in the country, you can’t let that happen,” Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “I don’t think we gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game like we did last week.”
“It’s unacceptable, and I take responsibility for that,” center Jared Kaster said. “I’m an older guy, and we really push that and emphasize that all season.”
Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes was 32 of 50 for 415 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Mahomes hurt his left knee last week in the first quarter, was listed as day to day during the week, but started and played into the fourth quarter.
“You can tell he’s not that comfortable with it yet,” Kingsbury said about Mahomes. “It was dramatically better than it was last weekend and the beginning of the week. So, hopefully, we can take another step this week and it feels that much better next Saturday.”
Texas Tech receiver Devin Lauderdale was lost in the first quarter to a leg injury after catching three passes for 16 yards. The Red Raiders were already playing without injured receivers Dylan Cantrell and Ian Sadler.
“He (Mahomes) did a good job hanging with some of those young guys,” Kingsbury said. “A couple stepped up and made big plays.”
Texas Tech receiver Devin Lauderdale was lost in the first quarter to a leg injury after catching three passes for 16 yards. The Red Raiders were already playing without injured receivers Dylan Cantrell and Ian Sadler.
“He (Mahomes) did a good job hanging with some of those young guys,” Kingsbury said. “A couple stepped up and made big plays.”
Mahomes’ touchdown passes were 55 yards to Zach Austin (his first career catch), 37 yards to Cameron Batson and 13 yards to Tony Brown. Austin had 8 catches for 110 yards and Brown five catches for a team-high 117 receiving yards.
The Red Raiders entered ranked fifth in total offense (594.5 yards per game), third in scoring (53.8 points per game) but 122nd in total defense (556.3 yards per game).
Baylor has averaged 58.4 points in beating Texas Tech each of the last five meetings, all at AT&T Stadium.
“I don’t think it was a dominating win,” said Bears coach Art Briles, a Texas Tech graduate and former Red Raiders assistant coach. “I think it was a good win against a really good football team.”
The Bears have won five straight against Texas Tech, all at AT&T Stadium, averaging 58.4 points. The win gives the Bears a 37-36-1 edge in the series, which began in 1929.
Last week against TCU loss, the Horned Frogs scored the winning touchdown on a tipped pass with 23 seconds to play. Linebacker Pete Robertson said that disappointing finish had no carryover effect against Baylor.
“Not at all,” Robertson said. “We can’t give a team like that opportunities to make plays off any mistakes you make. We’ve got to play more together, come together as a team after this loss.”
Kingsbury, in his third season, is 0-5 against top-10 opponents.