Texas Tech hasn't had a losing season since the inception of the Big 12, the only team in the Big 12 to hold that distinction. Baylor hasn't had a winning season over the same period, beginning in 1996.

Texas Tech has been to a bowl every season since 2000.

Baylor hasn't seen the postseason since 1994.

But take a look at ESPN's bowl projections and you'll see Baylor on both lists and Texas Tech missing on one.

Saturday in the Cotton Bowl, the two will meet at a neutral site in Dallas, but at a crossroads.

Win, and the Bears are 5-1, with a spotless 2-0 conference record atop the Big 12 South.

A loss for Texas Tech would mean a 2-3 start, but most importantly an 0-3 start in Big 12 play and a frustrating spot alone at the bottom of one of college football's toughest divisions, an unfamiliar place for the Red Raiders, who have never finished lower than fourth in the South. Worse, considering two of those three losses would come to Iowa State and Baylor, two teams most Texas Tech faithful penciled in as wins when the season began.

Suddenly, Saturdays have become even more important very early in the season for both teams. The hard part is making sure that doesn't affect either team's preparation.

After a 45-10 loss to TCU earlier in the year, coach Art Briles stressed that his team would be judged after 12 games, not three. His stance is the same after Baylor dismantled foe Kansas, 55-7, for the most lopsided conference win ever, a performance that ranked among the best of Briles' tenure.

"It's just one win on one Saturday. We're certainly experienced enough to understand that as a staff and as a team," Briles said. "We'll be judged at the end of the season, by the complete season, but right now we're just trying to break it down and play one game one week and focus on the small picture."

Texas Tech rebounded from a 24-0 deficit against Iowa State, but lost 52-38. It fell in a 14-0 hole in the first quarter against Texas and lost, 24-14.

"We just keep starting slow," coach Tommy Tuberville said. "We can catch up because we can throw the ball pretty well, but we have to be able to keep that consistency going."

Transitioning Texas Tech will face a Baylor team building on two years under Briles and brimming with confidence after the Kansas win.

"It just feels right," quarterback Robert Griffin said of the 4-1 start. "We’ve been working hard for three years to get where we are right now. We've just got to keep working hard and not get happy, not get satisfied. This team, it can be great, but it’s up to us to make sure that it happens."

That "right" feeling was the same one Griffin got looking up at the scoreboard on Saturday. But he told his teammates the same thing: Don't get too high on winning. Baylor's goal when the season started wasn't to win four games.

Texas Tech beat Baylor by just a touchdown in each of the past two seasons, and Griffin missed last year's game. He ran for 99 yards and two touchdowns when the Bears lost to then-No. 8 Texas Tech in 2007.

"It's a new team. I know everybody wants to talk about the past few years against Tech and how close we've been, but it's a new team. They have a new coach. And we have a new mindset as a team here at Baylor," Griffin said. "We're going out there trying to play our best to get another win and get us closer to our goal."

This year, achieving that goal of a bowl game and beyond may have to come at the expense of Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders stumbling start means they need badly to prevent that.