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Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville has already seen this rivalry from one side, as a defensive coordinator for Texas A&M in 1994. He hasn't been back to College Station since, but he'll get a taste of the in-state rivalry from the other side on Saturday with his band of Red Raiders. "It’s a game that, just listening to people talk about it, it was very dear to the Aggies hearts, because it was kind of like brother versus brother. I’m looking forward to it," Tuberville said. "It'll bring back some old memories."
Through eight weeks, Texas Tech and Texas A&M are among the league's most disappointing teams, currently occupying the bottom of the Big 12 South. Texas Tec can blame the "transition year" but this was supposed to be "The Year" for Texas A&M.
"Everybody talks about A&M-Tech. We understand it’s just another game, but this year, it’s a game we really need to win," said Texas Tech quarterback Taylor Potts. "It’s an important game to us, because we need to win it to keep our season going, and stay on the right track."
Tuberville is still a long way from having to answer questions about his job status, but the Aggies' Mike Sherman is still looking for his first winning season in three tries at Texas A&M. The quickest way to ratchet up the frequency of those type of conversations is to lose games like these, especially when the loser will be alone at the bottom of the division.
Sherman began the season with the league's Offseason Player of the Year in quarterback Jerrod Johnson, but he's since been relegated to the bench, splitting exactly half the team's snaps with backup Ryan Tannehill in last week's win over Kansas. Sherman knew he didn't have to make the decision on his starter for this week's game on Monday, and he didn't, instead electing to wait. But for this week's game, his selection is crucial. A loss, barring a defensive meltdown, would likely a mean a switch to the other the following week.
If Tannehill does get the start, at least it'll be at Kyle Field, but that fact hasn't been entirely comforting in this series: The road team has won the last two games in the rivalry.
Texas Tech is coming off recent road success, winning for the first time in school history on the road against Colorado last week.
"It’d boost our confidence a lot, going on the road and winning again," Potts said.
It'd give a much-needed boost to the record, too.
After a frustrating 0-2 start in conference play featuring a 52-38 loss to Texas Tech, a win would be the third in four games for the Red Raiders.
"Everybody’s focused, everybody’s doing well and wants to keep doing well," Potts said. "Our team needed to make plays. On offense we needed to make plays and do our jobs, and we've been doing that."
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