No. 11 Texas Tech eyes 4-0 start vs. Sam Houston

No. 11 Texas Tech eyes 4-0 start vs. Sam Houston

• Texas Tech will induct eight new members to its Hall of Fame this weekend, including a pair of former Red Raider football standouts under Mike Leach in wide receiver Joel Filani and offensive lineman Louis Vasquez.
• The rest of the 2026 class features the likes of Olympic high jumper Bradley Adkins, one of the all-time best throwers in Hannah Carson, and a four-time All-Big 12 softball selection in Ashley Parker. Texas Tech will also enshrine two-time soccer All-American Jaelene Hinkle as well as men’s basketball standout Rayford Young and Eric Gutierrez, who led the Red Raiders to a pair of College World Series appearances.

• On June 18, Texas Tech announced its first sellout, this weekend’s nonconference finale against Sam Houston; it is the annual Agriculture Game and Parents Weekend on campus.
• Fans are encouraged to download their digital tickets to their smartphone’s mobile wallet before arriving at the stadium. For assistance, visit texastech.com/feature/digital-ticketing.
• Texas Tech is nearing its third sellout, with fewer than 500 seats remaining for its next home game on Oct. 17 against Arizona State.
• On May 11, Texas Tech Athletics announced it had sold out its season ticket allotment for the 2026 football season, marking the fourth consecutive year Red Raider football season tickets have sold out. Due to significant demand following the program’s continued rise, Texas Tech increased its season ticket allotment for 2026. Red Raider fans purchased more than 33,400 season tickets en route to another sellout, while the season-ticket renewal rate reached 95 percent, creating only limited availability for the wait list.
• Remaining single-game tickets can be purchased online at TexasTech.com or by contacting a ticket sales representative at 806-742-TECH.

• Will Hammond is coming off his best outing early in the season after completing 17-of-27 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown last Friday in the win over No. 22 Houston. The performance helped the Red Raiders overcome an early 10-0 deficit to notch the eighth ranked win already under Joey McGuire.
• It marked the first time Texas Tech had bounced back from a double-digit deficit to knock off a ranked team since the Red Raiders rallied to top No. 22 Texas in McGuire’s debut season in 2022.

• Texas Tech’s pass rush started to take shape in its win over Houston with outside linebackers Adam Trick and Trey White both recording sacks. It was the season debut for White, who ranks second among active FBS players with 20.5 career sacks and tied for fifth with 32.0 career tackles for loss after previously starring at San Diego State.
• The Red Raiders got to the quarterback three times versus the Cougars, including twice in the fourth quarter alone. Trick’s sack created Texas Tech’s lone takeaway of the night with a forced fumble.

• Texas Tech pushed into the top 10 of the U.S. LBM coaches poll for the first time this season, while also moving up two spots to No. 11 in the Associated Press rankings this week. It is the highest ranking of the season for the Red Raiders, who began the year at No. 12 in both preseason polls.
• This is the 21st-consecutive week the Red Raiders have appeared in the Associated Press poll, the longest run in program history. The Red Raiders previously appeared in the Associated Press poll over 20-straight weeks over the course of the 2004-06 seasons. Texas Tech rose to as high as No. 10 during that stretch, which came midway through the 2005 campaign.
• Texas Tech’s preseason ranking in both polls matched where the voters placed the Red Raiders in the Associated Press rankings prior to their memorable 2008 season. Texas Tech’s highest-ever preseason ranking came in 1977 when the Red Raiders, coming off a 10-2 season under Steve Sloan, were No. 8 overall in the Associated Press poll.

• Texas Tech has now won 10-consecutive games inside Galaxy Stadium after a 28-26 come-from-behind victory over Houston this past week. The Red Raiders are 24-5 under Joey McGuire at home since his hiring prior to the 2022 campaign, which includes a 15-4 mark against Big 12 opponents and an impressive 9-1 record during non-conference play.
• This is the longest home winning streak for the Red Raiders since rolling off 12 victories in a row beginning with a Nov. 17, 2007, win over Oklahoma in the regular-season finale and running until a loss to Texas A&M on Oct. 24, 2009. Texas Tech is currently in the midst of its sixth-longest home winning streak in school history.
• With a win over Sam Houston this week, Texas Tech would match the fourth-longest home winning streak in school history. The Red Raiders previously won 11-consecutive home games over the 1973-74 seasons under Jim Carlen and again from 2004-06 under Mike Leach. The school record was set with a 13-game home winning streak under Spike Dykes over the 1994-96 seasons.
• The Red Raiders boast the highest home winning percentage among Big 12 schools since the start of the 2022 season, ranking 14th among power conference teams. BYU is second in the league with a 20-5 record at home during that same stretch.

• This will be only the third all-time meeting between Texas Tech and Sam Houston and the first since the Bearkats joined the NCAA FBS level in 2023. The Red Raiders are 2-0 all-time against the Bearkats after routing Sam Houston 80-21 early in the 2005 season and then 59-45 in 2015. The Bearkats played at the NCAA FCS level during both of these seasons before joining Conference USA ahead of the 2023 season.
• Patrick Mahomes II threw for 425 yards and four touchdowns in the last meeting between the two schools, while also rushing for 48 yards on five carries. Jakeem Grant also found the end zone twice, rushing for a 3-yard touchdown on Texas Tech’s opening drive before returning a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown midway through the second quarter. Devin Lauderdale led the Red Raiders through the air, catching eight passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns, both of at least 25 yards. Ian Sadler caught the other two touchdown passes from Mahomes.
• Cody Hodges completed 26-of-37 passes for 436 yards and five touchdowns in Texas Tech’s 2005 rout of the Bearkats. He found Robert Johnson eight times for a career-high 209 yards in the win, leaving the game early enough for backup Graham Harrell to come in and complete 14-of-17 passes himself for 208 yards and another score. It remains Texas Tech’s second-highest scoring game to this day.

• Sam Houston has two West Texas natives on its roster in sophomore tight end Cade Hays and junior safety Lyric Smith, a Clarendon native in the Panhandle. Hays attended Lubbock Cooper High School before signing with Sul Ross State in 2024. He is the son of Sul Ross State head football coach Lee Hays, who was Texas Tech’s offensive line coach from 2013-16 under head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Release provided by MATT BURKHOLDER Texas Tech Athletics