Texas Bowl Preview Capsule

By foxsports
Published

No. 22 LSU (8-3) vs. Texas Tech (7-5), 9 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Line: LSU by 7.

Series Record: LSU leads 2-0.

WHAT'S AT STAKE

Texas Tech look to extend its bowl winning streak to five games and get its first win over LSU when the Red Raiders and Tigers meet in the Texas Bowl in Houston. It will be just the third meeting between these schools and the first since 1957. The Tigers are in a bowl game for a school-record 16th straight year and look for a win after losing to Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl last year.

KEY MATCHUP

Leonard Fournette vs. Texas Tech's run defense. Fournette is third in the nation with a school-record 1,741 yards rushing and the Red Raiders are allowing 271.8 yards rushing a game, which ranks 125th in the country. Fournette's 158.3 yards rushing a game lead the nation and the Tigers rank ninth in the country by piling up 245.9 yards rushing a game.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

LSU: LB Deion Jones. He leads LSU with 92 tackles, 11 1/2 tackles for losses and has four sacks. The senior also has six quarterback hurries and two interceptions, one he returned for a touchdown.

Texas Tech: QB Patrick Mahomes. He's seventh in the nation with 4,283 yards passing and has thrown for 32 touchdowns. He's added 484 yards rushing and his 10 touchdown runs are a school record for a quarterback. He's the sixth quarterback in FBS history to have thrown for 4,000 yards and ran for 450 yards in a single season and his rushing yards are the fourth-most by a quarterback in Texas Tech history and the most since 1972.

FACTS & FIGURES

Texas Tech is 3-0 in its last three bowl games in Texas. ... LSU coach Les Miles is 6-4 in bowl games at LSU. ... These teams first met in 1954. ... Texas Tech's last win over an SEC team in a bowl game came against Tennessee in the Gator Bowl in 1973. ... LSU has won four straight games over Big 12 teams. ... Texas Tech is the only school in one of the Power Five conferences to score at least 25 points in each game this season. ... LSU is 48-3 in non-conference games under Miles. ... The Red Raiders have scored at least 50 points a school-record six times this season. ... The Tigers have won at least eight games in 16 straight seasons. ... Texas Tech is playing a bowl game in Houston for the fifth time.

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Online:

AP College Football website: collegefootball.ap.org