Good morning. We’ll do a stock-up and stock-down tomorrow or Wednesday complete with a look at the past week’s and upcoming week’s Big 12 action. I was incredibly tired last night (from 3 hours of sleep the night before). Since it is a bye week I don’t have the sense of pressure to get something out, we (who am I kidding, I mean I) can sort of take a bit of a break. And the stock-up and stock-down as well as a look back and forward to the Big 12 games will likely be on Wednesday. Fitsum has his district cross-country meet this morning and Youssouf has a football game this evening, so I’ll be pretty busy today.
On the Gridiron
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Does defense get an A after Texas Tech football win at Arizona? | Report card
Defense: A
The unit played under pressure for most of the night and kept rising up. Rodriguez had 13 tackles, a sack, a pass breakup and a forced fumble. The defense set the tone with a fantastic first half that included a fourth-down stop deep in Tech territory and two interceptions that the offense converted into 11 points. Quite an effort with the defensive-edge unit and the defensive backs depleted.
Dallas Morning News’ Justin Apodaca: 5 takeaways from Texas Tech–Arizona: Red Raiders find a way to win again against Wildcats
Red Raider defense keeps Tech in game
The Red Raider defense held the Arizona offense out of the endzone four times. The Wildcats were forced to turn to kicker Tyler Loop, who was 4-for-4 late into the fourth quarter.
Loop missed a key field goal down the stretch, allowing for the Tech offense to retake the lead in the waning minutes of the game.
On the final Arizona drive of the night, Tech forced a fumble by Arizona receiver and projected first-round pick Tetairoa McMillan, icing the game for Tech.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Tahj Brooks’ 3 TDs, Gino Garcia’s 2 FGs lead Texas Tech football past Arizona
Before Saturday, the last time a Texas Tech football team started 3-0 in the Big 12 was 11 years ago. Those 2013 Red Raiders actually got to 7-0 for the season, 4-0 in the conference and No. 10 in the national rankings before losing five in a row.
The current Red Raiders will happily take their chances with the remaining schedule, especially since they solved one of their biggest bugaboos Saturday night, beating a good opponent on the road. Texas Tech outlasted Arizona 28-22 in Tucson, mounting a fourth-quarter comeback after blowing a 15-point halftime lead.
“Sixteen (points) unanswered,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “We came back and answered at the right time.”
Gino Garcia kicked a go-ahead field goal with 2:21 left and, after the Red Raiders recovered a fumble, Tahj Brooks went 32 yards for the last of his three touchdowns with 1:53 to go. Garcia’s kick put Tech ahead 21-19, and the Brooks score made it 28-19. In between, Arizona kicker Tyler Loop made the last of his five field goals.
“I am really proud of this football team,” McGuire said. “We had a lot of fight tonight, and we finished.”
Arizona Daily Star’s Justin Spears: Arizona’s offense goes MIA, Wildcats fall to Texas Tech in Big 12 home opener
Arizona faces 17th-ranked BYU (5-0) Saturday afternoon in Provo.
“I still absolutely believe in our players and this team, and I think this conference is really tough,” Brennan said. “We’re going to take a look at this and figure out what we need to get right and what we let go from tonight and get ready for the next one, because that’s going to be a really tough one at BYU. They’re coming off a bye.
“So we have a lot of work to do. … If we could’ve answered with touchdowns in the red zone, I think we could’ve kicked the door down on the game, but we didn’t. That’s the hard truth.”
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Big 12 power rankings: Kansas State football keeps No. 1; Iowa State, Texas Tech move up
5. Texas Tech (5-1, 3-0)
Last week: 7
This week: Idle
What to know: Tech has won seven games in a row decided by eight points or fewer. How long can that last?