When No. 8 Texas hits the road to face Texas Tech in Saturday’s Big 12 opener at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, the Longhorns will do so as a heavy favorite according to the opening line for the game issued on Sunday by the William Hill Sports Book. Tom Herman’s club opened as a 16.5-point favorite over the Red Raiders, which is significant in the head coach’s tenure.
The spread is the largest by which Texas has been favored on the road in a conference game under Herman, surpassing the 15-point favorite the Longhorns were heading into the 2018 regular-season finale at Kansas (Texas won, 24-17, to secure a berth in the Big 12 championship game). It’s the third-highest spread favoring Texas in a Big 12 game under Herman, surpassed only by the two other meetings the Longhorns have had with the Jayhawks over the past three seasons (Texas won in 2017 as a 33-point favorite, 42-27, and last season as a 21-point favorite, 50-48).
In addition to where the Longhorns are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, Texas is No. 9 in the latest Amway Coaches Poll. A season-opening 59-3 win over UTEP saw the Longhorns take care of business, unlike Texas Tech with head coach Matt Wells overseeing a team that had to hang on for a win over FCS Houston Baptist on Sept. 12, 35-33.
The Red Raiders are coming off of a 4-8 season, which ended with a loss to Texas at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Black Friday (Nov. 29), 49-24. The loss snapped a two-game winning streak by Texas Tech in Austin and while former head coach Kliff Kingsbury was able to hand Charlie Strong (a 48-45 loss in 2015) and Herman (a 27-23 loss in 2017) defeats as an underdog (Texas was a one-point favorite in 2015 and an eight-point favorite in 2017), the story has been different in Lubbock.
Since losing in a heartbreaker in 2008, the Longhorns have rattled off five road wins in a row over Texas Tech. That’s a record for consecutive road victories by either team in the series, which has been played annually since 1960 (Texas owns a 52-17 edge in the 69 all-time meetings between the two programs).
The 16.5-point spread is by far the largest in games played in Lubbock since a Graham Harrell-to-Michael Crabtree touchdown pass helped the Red Raiders knock off the No. 1-ranked Longhorns, 39-33. The line favored Texas in 2010 (minus-3), 2014 (minus-4), 2016 (minus-3) and 2018 (minus-1) with Texas Tech a six-point favorite in 2012 (a 31-22 victory for the Longhorns).
In addition to the recent success on the road when facing the Red Raiders, history is on Herman’s side Saturday (2:30 p.m., FOX). Herman is a perfect 3-0 on the Forty Acres in Big 12 openers and has yet to lose a road opener with Texas defeating Iowa State in 2017 (17-7), Kansas State in 2018 (19-14) and West Virginia in 2018 (42-31).
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September 21, 2020 at 10:13AM
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Line for Texas Tech game opens with Texas as a heavy favorite - 247Sports
"heavy" - Google News
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