Red Raiders welcome ACU for 2024 season opener
August 27, 2024 4:59PM CDT
Sean A Dillon
ABILENE CHRISTIAN at TEXAS TECH
Lubbock, Texas | Jones AT&T Stadium
Aug. 31, 2024
ESPN+ | 6:30 p.m. CT
Lubbock, Texas | Jones AT&T Stadium
Aug. 31, 2024
ESPN+ | 6:30 p.m. CT
GAME LINKS
LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech will open its 100th season of football on Saturday when the Red Raiders welcome Abilene Christian for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff inside Jones AT&T Stadium. It will be the 10th all-time meeting between Texas Tech and ACU but the first since 1949 despite the two schools being separated by only 170 miles.
Broadcast coverage will be provided by ESPN+. Ted Emrich will have the call, alongside Dave Steckel providing the analysis. The broadcast can be accessed from any desktop or laptop computer, any personal cellular device and television streaming services using the ESPN app. Registration for the subscription service can be found at ESPNPlus.com.
Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game over 46 affiliates throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico as Brian Jensen will have the call alongside analyst John Harris and sideline reporter Chris Level. The radio broadcast can also be heard on SiriusXM channel 146 or 205, as well as on the Varsity app.
SOUTH END ZONE BUILDING SET FOR DEBUT
- In addition to its season opener, Texas Tech will officially open the South End Zone Building to Jones AT&T Stadium, a $242 million project that began following the 2022 season finale on Nov. 26, 2022.
- It will be the largest contiguous football facility in the country once completed this fall (projected in October), connecting the South End Zone Building to the Dustin R. Womble Football Center and the Sports Performance Center.
- The new facility will provide the Red Raiders with a new entrance as Texas Tech will now take the field behind the Masked Rider from the south end zone goalpost.
SINGLE-GAME TICKETS STILL ON SALE FOR ALL SEVEN HOME GAMES
- Fans still have time to lock in their seats for all seven Saturdays inside Jones AT&T Stadium this season as single-game tickets are still on sale through the Athletic Ticket Office.
- As of Monday, Aug. 26, less than 500 single-game tickets remain available for this Saturday’s season opener versus Abilene Christian.
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Tickets can be purchased online at TexasTech.com or by speaking to a ticket sales representative at 806-742-TECH.
TAHJ TIME BACK AGAIN
- Tahj Brooks will begin his quest for Byron Hanspard’s career rushing record against Abilene Christian as the senior running back is among the top returners in all of college football.
- His return puts the top spot on Texas Tech’s career rushing chart clearly in Brooks’ sights as he will need 1,167 yards to match Hanspard’s record. Brooks moved to seventh all-time in program history with 3,052 career rushing yards after his successful 2023 campaign where he recorded 1,538 yards on the ground, the fourth-highest total in program history.
- His progress this season can be tracked on TahjTime.com.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
- 1: Tahj Brooks’ first rushing touchdown will move the senior into the top 10 in Texas Tech history as he has found the end zone 28 times via the ground over his career, including in eight of the final nine games last season.
- 25: It has been 25 years since Texas Tech lost consecutive season openers as the Red Raiders are 68-28-3 all-time to start the season after victories in 19 of the past 21 season openers.
- 81: The Red Raiders added nine transfers from Division I teams to their 2024 roster who have accumulated 184 starts over their respective careers. Three of those are offensive linemen that makeup 81 of the 184 starts.
FIVE RED RAIDERS NAMED TEAM CAPTAINS
- Joey McGuire announced back in January the naming of five team captains for the 2024 season in senior running back Tahj Brooks, senior offensive lineman Caleb Rogers, junior quarterback Behren Morton, junior linebacker Jacob Rodriguez and senior linebacker Bryce Ramirez.
- The five captains, all previous members of McGuire’s leadership committee during the 2023 season, were tasked with identifying and developing new leaders for the football program throughout spring practices as well as enhancing Texas Tech’s player-led culture.
- This is the first time during McGuire’s tenure he has named set captains as he previously relied on a leadership committee of upperclassmen from each position group.
SEASON TICKETS SOLD OUT AGAIN
- Texas Tech sold out of season tickets for the second consecutive season in early May as Red Raider fans purchased more than 32,000 season passes for the 2024 campaign. This total does not include seats reserved for Texas Tech’s student body, either. Texas Tech has also sold out of its entire premium seating inventory in all areas of Jones AT&T Stadium, including the new south end zone addition.
- Over his three seasons as head coach, Texas Tech has added more than 13,000 season tickets since McGuire’s hiring in November 2021. Texas Tech previously sold 28,000 season tickets for McGuire’s debut season in 2022, which, like this year’s total, ranks among the top-10 highest season ticket counts in program history.
RED RAIDERS, ACU SET FOR 10TH MEETING
- Texas Tech and Abilene Christian will meet for only the 10th time in program history on Saturday and the first time since 1949. Abilene Christian moved to the NCAA Division II level shortly after the last meeting between the two schools. The Wildcats transitioned to the FCS level prior to the 2014 campaign. This is the first of a two-game contract with the Wildcats, who will also serve as the Red Raiders’ season opener in 2026.
- The Red Raiders, entering their 100th season of football on campus, faced Abilene Christian in only its seventh game as a college football program, making the short drive south to top the Wildcats, 10-7, in 1925 under head coach E.Y. Freeland. The two schools met in each of Texas Tech’s first seven seasons as a college football program but only twice after that despite being separated by less than 170 miles.
TEXAS TECH-ACU CONNECTIONS
- This weekend’s opener will mark the return to Jones AT&T Stadium for Abilene Christian head coach Keith Patterson, who was previously Texas Tech’s defensive coordinator under Matt Wells from 2019-21. He accepted the ACU position following the 2021 season and is 12-10 now in his two seasons in Abilene. Patterson, who was named the WAC Coach of the Year following his debut in 2022, led the Red Raiders for one game as acting head coach during his tenure, pushing Texas Tech to a 16-13 victory over Kansas in the 2020 regular-season finale. ν The ACU staff also features two other former Red Raider employees in linebackers coach Conor Dubin and associate head coach and defensive line coach Nick Holt. Dubin was a defensive quality control assistant on the Texas Tech staff for all three seasons of Patterson’s tenure from 2019-21, while Holt was a senior offensive analyst for the Red Raiders during the 2021 campaign.
- Abilene Christian quarterback Maverick McIvor began his career as a Red Raider, serving as a backup over the 2019-21 seasons after signing with Texas Tech out of San Angelo Central High School. He is one of seven former Red Raiders on the ACU, joining wide receivers Hut Graham, Trey Cleveland and Nehemiah Martinez as well as punter Grant Nickel, offensive lineman Tay Yanta and tight end Jed Castles.
- On the Texas Tech staff, offensive coordinator Zach Kittley is the son of Texas Tech Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Wes Kittley, who previously served in the same capacity at ACU from 1985-99 where he won an unprecedented 29 national track and field championships, the most in Division I and II combined. Kittley has added two more national championships to his career total while in Lubbock, leading the Red Raiders to the 2019 NCAA Outdoor crown and then the 2024 NCAA Indoor title this past season. He is the longest-tenured head coach in Texas Tech history as the 2024-25 academic year marks his 26th leading both the men’s and women’s track programs.
- The Red Raiders have one Abilene Christian transfer on their roster in junior defensive back Luke Dillingham, who played in 10 games for the Wildcats over the 2021-22 seasons. He joined the Red Raiders ahead of the 2023 campaign.
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Release Provided By Matt Burkholder Texas Tech Athletics
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