The Red Raiders easily played their best game of the season so far this past weekend in Waco. While Baylor is not in the top echelon of the conference, this game was still a much-needed win. While both sides of the ball played pretty solid, the defense was really in the driver’s seat the whole way. Minus a couple of blown assignments in the secondary and pass fits, the 806 D played remarkably well.

The defensive line had their best game of the season by a mile. They combined for 4 1/2 TFLs and 4 sacks, along with numerous hurries on Blake Shapen all night long. At the forefront of this performance, was Syracuse transfer Steve Linton. Linton had a monster line of 3 solo tackles, 3 TFLs and 3 sacks. Very eye-opening stats, to say the least, something we have been expecting out of him for the first 1/2 of the season and have yet to really see. What’s truly crazy about this performance is that Joey McGuire stated he was basically a game-time decision. He’s been battling an injury since fall camp, and I think it’s truly hampered what’s been able to do until now.

There’s a huge game looming in Lubbock this weekend, with K-State coming to town. They’ve got a QB in Skylar Howard, who can run. We all know as Tech fans, that it has been one of our largest Achilles heels for what seems like forever. Linton and co. will also be facing a much better offensive line this week. For Tech to really stay in/win this game, we need Linton and this defensive line to play their 2nd great game in a row. Gaps have to be filled, containment has to be kept and bad mistakes must be limited.