One of the lures of baseball, purists say, is that the national pastime is timeless, that it is measured by outs and innings, not a scoreboard clock. Baseball games, in theory, can last forever.
Then again, so can Texas Tech football games. Or at least it seems like some of them go on and on and on.
Did you know the Red Raiders’ game with Oklahoma State two weeks ago lasted four hours and 20 minutes? That’s nearly an hour and a half longer than the average college game.
Certainly TV timeouts — ABC televised the game in its prime 2:30 p.m. slot — had something to do with the game seeming interminable. Also a factor was Texas Tech’s penchant for passing. Incomplete passes, as you know, stop the clock.
Oklahoma State won, 51-49. A week earlier in Boulder, Colorado outlasted Kansas by a similar score of 50-47. And the KU-CU game went into overtime, too. How long did it last? Three hours and 30 minutes.
Do the math. The KU-CU game was 50 minutes shorter than the OSU-Tech contest.
So aerial-oriented is Texas Tech that an average Red Raiders game lasts three hours and 41 minutes. That’s longer than any game KU has played this season.
The Jayhawks’ longest game so far was that 31/2 -hour nail-biter against Colorado. The second longest was the 42-35 win at Wyoming. That one lasted 3:25 — mainly because Wyoming’s radio timeouts were longer than a filibuster.
Most of KU’s eight outings have lasted about three hours — 3:09, to be exact.
Speaking of time, you still have plenty left to enter the weekly Wanna Whack Woodling contest at KUsports.com. All you have to do is make your picks for Saturday’s Big 12 Conference games. If your selections are sager than mine — not a problem in most instances — you might win a nifty We Whacked Woodling T-shirt.
This week is easier than usual because only five games are on tap instead of the customary six. Iowa State and Missouri originally were scheduled to collide Saturday, but the game was moved to Nov. 29 because ABC wanted a turkey for Thanksgiving weekend.
Here are this week’s picks:
Texas 19, Nebraska 15 — Classic match of irresistible force (Texas averaging 42.2 points per game) and immovable object (Nebraska surrendering just 11.4 ppg.). Cornhuskers turned into Corndogs in first league road game at Missouri, but will push the envelope in Austin.
Kansas State 45, Baylor 0 — Wildcats could be down following emotional win over arch-rival Kansas, but Bears barely are breathing. Baylor gave KU a tussle two weeks ago in Lawrence, but Bears’ second trip to Sunflower State will be a seed-spitter.
Oklahoma 33, Oklahoma State 12 — Cowboys can throw monkeywrench into BCS rankings with eighth straight win, but Sooners too talented to toss chances at national championship out the window in fabled Bedlam Series.
Texas Tech 99, Colorado 88 — When Texas Tech and Colorado play, defense means that chain-link partition in the backyard. Tech leads nation in total offense, but Raiders are dead last in total defense. Colorado next-to-last nationally in scoring defense. Colorado’s best hope for this 6 p.m. game? A power outage in Lubbock.
Texas A&M 29, Kansas 22 — Aggies sinking slowly in the Southwest with five losses in last six games. Kansas hopes to prove it won’t drop off the end of the earth like it did late last year when QB Bill Whittemore went down.
