Texas Tech football team sets up shop in Shreveport for Independence Bowl
SHREVEPORT, La. — A welcoming committee slipped Mardi Gras bead necklaces over the heads of Texas Tech football players and coaches. Youngsters from a magnet elementary school cheered for them around lunchtime Wednesday as they pulled up in buses to the team hotel.
A sign inside greeted the team with "Geaux Red Raiders."
Texas Tech might not be in the biggest of bowls or the latest ones after Christmas and into the New Year. The Red Raiders will actually play on the first day of this year's bowl season, and that's saying something given they were 3-5 at one point. Tech and California, two 6-6 teams who salvaged their seasons with three-game win streaks in November, square off at 8:15 p.m. Saturday in the Independence Bowl.
"It means a lot more than people think," Tech safety Julien (C.J.) Baskerville said, "because although it is a standard for us to at least make a bowl game, just the way the year started ... nobody in the nation saw us getting to a bowl game whenever we started 1-and-3. For us to come out in November and play the way we did, for us to be in this position ... it's how our year has been, and we just kept plugging along. Again, it means the world to us, and we've just got to end it the right way."
Dollars and events: How Texas Tech football budgets Independence Bowl trip using $1.056 million from Big 12
Busy Saturday: Pick your place: Dec. 16 forces a choice on Texas Tech football, basketball fans
Both teams arrived Wednesday to begin onsite preparations.
Cal had not been bowl-eligible since 2019 and, being picked ninth in the Pac-12 to start the season, there were doubts about the Golden Bears' likelihood of doing it this year.
If there's a team needing to prove it's excited to play on Saturday, that team might be Tech, given the Red Raiders fell well short of preseason expectations.
"I've done it for 29 years. I've never had this many injuries," Tech coach Joey McGuire said. "We were sitting there at 3-and-5, and there's a lot of teams in the country that would have folded, and we didn't. We went on a three-game winning streak. ... And so I was proud of the guys, the way they fought. And then again, I'm really excited to be playing in this bowl."
McGuire said defensive end Dylan Spencer (shoulder) and wide receiver Jordan Brown (hamstring) are questionable for the game. Both had been projected to play key roles, because their positions already were depleted. Since the regular season ended, six Tech receivers have had their names in the NCAA transfer portal, Loic Fouonji the only one still with the team.
Brown has 22 catches for 256 yards and a touchdown. If healthy, he probably would start.
"We'll see," McGuire said about his availability. "He's got a hamstring, so it's always tough with a wide receiver."
The Red Raiders still have rotation regulars Xavier White (34-495-1), Coy Eakin (29-310-1) and Drae McCray (26-236-2) to lead the receiver unit, along with Brady Boyd, active only late in the season after he stayed in the four-game redshirt window.
Spencer's being questionable is magnified by his playing the same position as Myles Cole, an every-game starter this season who opted out of the Independence Bowl in his hometown. The latter development came to light Tuesday, but McGuire said the coaching staff knew of Cole's plans a week ago and that he's already in Miami, training for pro day.
"I always tell the players, 'I'm going to back your decision, whichever way you go,' " McGuire said, "because he's going to be drafted, and the people that represent him thought it was better to start training. ... I expect him to get invited to the combine. You always want your guys to play, but I also understand you have the opportunity to get drafted, that's life changing, so I'm always going to side with those guys and always have those guys' backs."
Joseph Adedire and Charles Esters now are the projected starters at end. McGuire said Harvey Dyson could be the next man up, and special-teams standout Terrell Tilmon and true freshman Amier Washington are other possibilities. McGuire didn't mention inside linebackers Bryce Ramirez and Jesiah Pierre, but both have played on the edge a great deal.
Regarding Spencer, McGuire said, "I hate it for Dylan if he can't go, because if you have an old guy who doesn't play in the game, then you're going to have a young guy be really excited."
Tech conducted its two heavy game-prep practices in Lubbock, so the Red Raiders did not work out after their arrival Wednesday. Cal practiced Wednesday at Independence Stadium, and Tech is scheduled to practice there at 11:15 a.m. Thursday. Both teams are scheduled to attend a Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Thursday and visit the Holy Angels residential facility on Thursday afternoon.
College football
Who: Texas Tech vs. California
What: Independence Bowl
When: 8:15 p.m. Saturday
Where: Independence Stadium, Shreveport, Louisiana
Records: Texas Tech 6-6, California 6-6
Line: Texas Tech favored by 3. Over-under: 58 points.
TV: ESPN
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football team sets up shop in Shreveport for Independence Bowl
