5-1 vs. TCU
Since Texas A&M bolted the Big 12 for the SEC, TCU has become to many Red Raider fans the program that is the most fun to hate. But more importantly, perhaps no program in the conference spends more time in head-to-head competition with Texas Tech in regards to landing recruits, gaining respect and trying to make the jump to the upper tier of the league structure than Texas Christian.
For years, dating back to before the Horned Frogs joined the Big 12, TCU seemed to use Texas Tech as a measuring stick, regardless of the sport. Well, if that remains the case, the Frogs found that in the most important sports, they fell far short of the Red Raiders over the last ten months.
Texas Tech came remarkably close to sweeping TCU in football basketball and baseball this year with the Frogs’ only win being anything be decisive. In mid May, the Frogs came to Lubbock for a three-game baseball series and left town having lost two of those contests by a combined score of 15-6.
The one game they managed to win was the most memorable because it was a 14-inning pitcher’s duel that was scoreless through the first 10 frames. Finally, TCU scored two runs in the top of the 14th to win 3-1. Low scoring games are rare at Rip Griffin Park but on that Friday night, the pitchers on both teams ruled the day.
Speaking of defense, when Tech and TCU met on the football field in September, the two teams combined for just 31 points in a 17-14 Red Raider victory. In that game, backup QB Jett Duffey, who began the season as the third-string option on the depth chart, made his first start of the season after Alan Bowman left the West Virginia game with a collapsed lung.
Though he threw for just 190 yards, he ran for 89 including a game-winning 38-yard touchdown with just over 7:11 to play. It was the second-straight win in Ft. Worth for the Red Raiders who now own a 32-26-3 lead in the all-time series.
In basketball, Tech made short work of the Frogs in both meetings this year. The Raiders embarrassed TCU 84-65 in Lubbock on ESPN’s Big Monday and followed that up by handing a 81-66 thumping to TCU in Ft. Worth in early March. On the season, Tech outscored their neighbors to the west by 34 total points but the margin between the two teams felt far greater.
Ultimately, it may be more important for Texas Tech to have success against TCU than any other Big 12 school. Since the Frogs came into the conference, no school has been more impacted than Tech, which relies so heavily on the Dallas-Ft. Worth area as a top recruiting and alumni base. That’s why 2018-19’s dominance of the Horned Frogs in the three most important sports was especially important as Tech continues to separate itself from its long-time little brother.