Texas Tech football: Predictions for Red Raiders vs. Baylor

Tahj Brooks will have a career night

It isn’t too bold to suggest that Tahj Brooks will have a huge impact tonight.  After all, he’s one of the best RBs in the country and he’s playing the best football of his career.  With three 100-yard games in a row, he’s now fourth in the Big 12 in yards per game average and third in total yards rushing.

So to make this prediction a little more interesting, I’m going to say that Brooks will set a career-high on the ground in Waco.  That would mean that he’d have to eclipse the 158 yards he put up earlier this year against Tarleton State.

While that is a pretty tough number to top, he will have a shot given that he’s going to be facing a truly awful run defense.  Baylor ranks just 113th nationally in rushing yards allowed per game at 184.0.

That includes last week when the UCF Knights ran for 235 on Aranda’s defense.  Certainly, a Tech offense that appears to have dedicated itself to running the football again has to be eager to see if the Bears have fixed that flaw in just a week’s time.

Now, Brooks might not surpass his career-high in rushing if we see another productive day from Cam’Ron Valdez.  Matching Brooks with 106 yards on the ground last week, he will get more opportunities tonight after his breakout game as a Red Raider.

Obviously, at some point, Tech can’t continue to ride Brooks as hard as it has the last three weeks when he’s averaged 21.6 carries per game.  After all, he’s on pace for 199 carries in the regular season, which would be 52 more than he’s ever had in college.

Still, something makes me feel like this game will be close and that Brooks will be the piston that drives Tech’s offensive engine as OC Zach Kittley turns to his security blanket over and over again.  Look for Brooks to break off a couple of lengthy runs to help up his per-carry average and surpass his career-high against one of the worst rushing defenses in the NCAA.