Three Baylor Bears who could give Texas Tech fits this Saturday in Lubbock

At first glance, the Texas Tech football team looks like it should be a heavy favorite to beat Baylor in Lubbock this weekend. After all, the Red Raiders are 5-1 on the season and 3-0 in Big 12 play while Baylor is just 2-4 overall and 0-3 in conference action.

The ESPN.com matchup predictor gives Texas a 66.8% shot at coming out on top Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, FanDuel.com lists Tech as a 6.5-point favorite in this matchup.

Certainly, this is a matchup of teams and programs headed in opposite directions. The Red Raiders are enjoying the best start to a season since Joey McGuire took over as head coach. Meanwhile, the Bears are yet to win a game against a team from a power conference and they have only one win over an FBS program, Air Force.

With all of that said Texas Tech should be on guard this weekend. That's because Baylor is playing not only to try to save its season but for the rest of the year, the Bears will also be playing to save head coach Dave Aranda's job. That could make them a dangerous squad to face.

What's more, Baylor has played some good teams down to the wire this year. Were it not for a miracle Hail Mary pass on the last play of regulation and then an overtime fumble at the goal line, the Bears likely would have beaten Colorado in Boulder. And when BYU went to Waco, Baylor fought back from 28-7 down in the first half to have a chance to win the game with a touchdown in the final two minutes before throwing a game-clinching interception in a 34-28 defeat.

Of course, the last time the Bears came to Lubbock, they pulled off an upset on the night Pat Mahomes II went into the Texas Tech Ring of Honor. That night, in October of 2022, both teams entered the game 4-3 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play.

Unfortunately, Baylor played its best game of the season while Tech played its worst. The result was a 45-17 Baylor romp that spoiled the Mahomes celebration.

The point is that Tech can't afford to take this game for granted despite Baylor's struggles this year. The Red Raiders haven't exactly been blowing Big 12 opponents out and Baylor has yet to be thoroughly dominated in any of its defeats this season.

What's more, Baylor has some top-end talent that could be a problem for Texas Tech. So let's take a look a three Bears that Red Raider fans should know about.

Texas Tech didn't recruit Baylor QB and Lubbock native Sawyer Robertson out of high school

One player who will have extra motivation to play well this weekend is Baylor QB Sawyer Robertson. A Lubbock native and a product of Coronado High School, he returns to his hometown looking to stick it to his hometown university, one that didn't recruit him out of high school.

In the class of 2021, there were two high school QBs with Lubbock ties that the Matt Wells coaching staff could have targeted. That year, Wells and Co. threw all their efforts at landing Behren Morton from Eastland, Texas, a 4-star recruit who was born in Lubbock and spent his childhood on the South Plains.

That meant that Robertson didn't get much, if any love from his hometown university. In fact, he didn't even get a scholarship offer from the Red Raiders.

Both Robertson and Morton were four-star recruits according to 247Sports.com. Robertson was rated the No. 16 QB in the class and Morton was the No. 19 QB in the class. In other words, they were essentially even as recruits but Tech clearly preferred Morton at the time.

Of course, the staff that overlooked Robertson is no longer at Tech. So does he still harbor some ill will towards the Red Raiders? Who knows. But there is no doubt that his competitive side wants to play well in his return to the 806.

This is Robertson's second year in Waco after one year at Mississippi State where he played for Mike Leach until Leach passed away at the end of that season. He didn't begin this year as the starting QB for the Bears but stepped into the role when Toldeo transfer Dequan Finn was injured early in the season.

Robertson has gone just 1-3 since taking over. He's completing 59.2% of his passes and he's thrown for nine touchdowns with three picks. Averaging 244.5 yards per game through the air, he is an efficient player who hasn't yet taken over a game and carried his team to a win. However, he would love to do that against the hometown school that didn't recruit him out of high school so look for him to try to put his best foot forward this week.

Baylor receiver Josh Cameron will test the up-and-down Texas Tech secondary

This year, the Texas Tech secondary has struggled with consistency due in large part to injuries to key contributors. Saturday, it will have to keep a lid on Baylor's top wide receiver Josh Cameron.

This year, Cameron leads Baylor with 18 catches, 277 yards, and four touchdowns. Though those numbers are relatively mild, he is averaging 15.4 yards per catch proving that he has been a big-play threat.

This season, he's been hit or miss. In three games, he's had fewer than 15 yards receiving. But in the other three, he's put up at least 59.

That includes his huge game against BYU. That day in Waco, Cameron caught seven passes for 125 yards and two scores.

A redshirt junior, the 6-foot-1 pass catcher is on pace to shatter his career bests which he established in 2022 with 28 catches and 386 yards. He certainly has the ability to put opposing defenses on alert and Tech will certainly know where he is on every snap.

The good news is that the Red Raiders will likely be as healthy in the secondary as they have been all year. The team's top corner, Brayln Lux is off of the injury report for the first time all season and the only regular contributor that was listed as "out" or "questionable" for Saturday is safety Chapman Lewis who is dealing with a hamstring injury.

Hopefully, the Red Raiders will be able to match up with the Bears receivers on Saturday. That's because Baylor is one of the worst rushing teams in the Big 12 so the goal has to be to slow down Baylor's passing attack.

Texas Tech will see a familiar face on the edge of the Baylor defense

Another Bear coming to town this weekend who is familiar to Texas Tech fans is Steve Linton. The sixth-year senior played outside linebacker for the Red Raiders last year but now will be on the enemy's sideline for Saturday's contest.

In 2023, he disappointed after transferring to Tech from Syracuse. He posted only 22 tackles and 3.0 sacks in eight games failing to live up to the offseason hype that surrounded his arrival.

However, he had one impact game. Against Baylor in Waco, he recorded three sacks and two forced fumbles in the Red Raiders' blowout win. That obviously impressed the Baylor coaching staff who brought him in after he and Texas Tech mutually parted ways this past offseason.

This year, he has already racked up 13 tackles and 2.0 sacks. But like last year, most of his productivity has come in one game. Against Colorado, Linton had five tackles and 2.0 sacks. Outside of that, he hasn't been nearly as impactful.

Though Linton hasn't proven to be a consistently disruptive force off of the edge for Baylor thus far, he has the physical tools and the athleticism to be a problem for the Tech offensive line, a unit that has been marginal at best this year. If Linton is motivated to show the Red Raiders that they should have kept him around, then he could pose a problem in his return to Jones Stadium.