Texas Tech football: Breaking down the Red Raiders’ 2020 schedule
Tech hosts Baylor on a Thursday night
The reason there is a week off between the WVU and Baylor games is because Tech plays Baylor on a Thursday night. Therefore, the Big 12 is obligated to give both teams the previous Saturday off.
The conference’s media rights contract required teams to play on Thursday night periodically and it appears that next year, it’s the Red Raiders’ turn to bite the bullet and host a Thursday night for the first time since 2016. Though this will be a nationally televised game, no program likes to have to give away a precious home Saturday game for a Thursday night contest.
This is especially true for Texas Tech given that roughly half of the season ticket holders live multiple hours from Lubbock. For programs like UT, Baylor, TCU, or OU, that is not the case.
While many fans will celebrate this as an extra excuse to take a couple of days off work and have a four-day weekend, there will be plenty of families that don’t want to pull their kids out of school for two days or will not be able to take time off thus making it impossible for them to attend what will be one of the most highly-anticipated games of the season given the way this year’s game with the Bears ended.
It would be much better if the Thursday night opponent were Kansas, a team that Tech doesn’t figure to need a raucous home crowd in its corner to beat. That was the case in 2016 when KU came to Lubbock on a Thursday night and took a 55-19 beating in a game most remembered for the shoulder injury sustained by Pat Mahomes at the end of a long run. Nic Shimonek had to finish that game for the Red Raiders but since the Jayhawks were the opponent, disaster was averted.
Two years earlier, Mahomes took his first-ever snaps as a Red Raider on a Thursday night in Stillwater. It was a forgettable debut for the future star who came on in relief of the injured Davis Webb to fumble and throw a pick on his first play. Ultimately, Tech fell to the Cowboys 45-35.
Of course, last season, Tech won in Ft. Worth on a Thursday night when Jett Duffey made his first career start in a 17-14 victory over the Horned Frogs. It was a similar type of game to the 2013 Thursday night visit TCU made to Lubbock in Kliff Kingsbury’s Big 12 head coaching debut, a 20-10 Red Raider triumph in 2013.
Though the Bears catch a break by coming to Lubbock on a weeknight next year, there’s certain to be enough animosity surrounding their visit to put the stadium close to capacity. On the bright side, at least this is one conference game we don’t have to worry about being at 11 am.