TTU Football Preview: Red Raiders turn attention to No. 10 Iowa State

TEXAS TECH at #11/10 IOWA STATE

Ames, Iowa | Jack Trice Stadium
Nov. 2, 2024
ESPN | 2:30 p.m. CT

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech (5-3, 3-2 Big 12) will look to knock off a top-10 opponent on the road for the first time since 2011 on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. when facing No. 11/10 Iowa State (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames. The Red Raiders, coming off back-to-back losses for the first time this season, can clinch bowl eligibility for the 42nd time in program history with a win. A victory would also mark Texas Tech’s first on the road over an opponent ranked in the top 10 in either major poll since the Red Raiders shocked top-ranked Oklahoma early in the 2011 season.

Television coverage will be provided by ESPN with Dave Pasch behind the mic providing the play-by-play. He will be joined by Dusty Dvoracek in the booth providing analysis while Taylor McGregor will be reporting from the sideline. The broadcast can be accessed from any desktop or laptop computer, a personal cellular device and television streaming services using the ESPN app.

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 381, as well as on the Varsity app.

TWO HOME GAMES LEFT; ONE OF TWO ALREADY SOLD OUT

  • Texas Tech has just two home games left, Nov. 9 versus Colorado and Nov. 30 versus West Virginia.
  • Texas Tech announced an advanced sellout of its next home game, Nov. 9 against Colorado, on Sept. 5. Limited inventory remains for its regular season finale against the Mountaineers on Nov. 30.
  • When Nov. 9 rolls around, it will be the fourth sellout (60,229) out of its first six home games this season having sold out versus ACU (Aug. 31), Cincinnati (Sept. 28) and Baylor (Oct. 19). Its other two home games were near-capacity crowds on Sept. 14 versus North Texas at 11 a.m. (57,865) and Sept. 21 at 2:30 p.m. versus Arizona State (58,795).
  • While seats are sold out via the Texas Tech Athletic Ticket Office, tickets can be found via SeatGeek for the Nov. 9 contest against Colorado, the official secondary ticket provider of Texas Tech Athletics.
  • Tickets for the West Virginia game can be purchased online at TexasTech.com or by speaking to a ticket sales representative at 806-742-TECH.
 BROOKS INCHING CLOSER TO 4,000 YARDS
  • Tahj Brooks will enter Saturday’s game needing only 23 rushing yards to become just the third Red Raider and ninth Big 12 player in history to reach 4,000 career yards.
  • Brooks, who is third in the country this season with 132.1 rushing yards per game, joins Boise State’s Ashton Jeantyas the only rushers in the country to rush for at least 100 yards in every game this season (minimum of 7 games).
  • His chase to snap Byran Hanspard’s career rushing total is now down to 242 rushing yards after carrying 30 times for 121 yards and a touchdown at TCU.

RED RAIDERS MOVE TO NOVEMBER 

  • The month of November has been advantageous for the Red Raiders under Joey McGuire, who is a combined 6-2 in the month during his first two seasons.
  • Texas Tech is 2-1 all-time in road games at Iowa State during the month of November as the Red Raiders won the last meeting in Ames amid frigid conditions in 2022.
  • This weekend’s matchup will place the Big 12 leaders in scoring offense and scoring defense against each other as the Red Raiders are averaging 38.1 points per game and will face an Iowa State defense that is giving up only 14.4 points.

RED RAIDERS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS 

  • Texas Tech will be facing a top-25 foe for the first time this season on Saturday as Iowa State enters this week ranked as high as No. 10 in the polls. The Red Raiders are 3-6 against ranked opponents under Joey McGuire, which includes a 1-5 mark in road games. Texas Tech’s lone road win came at No. 16 Kansas a year ago as the Red Raiders used a strong defensive performance for a 16-13 victory. Texas Tech is 0-3 against top-10 teams thus far under McGuire.
  • The Kansas victory was Texas Tech’s first road win over a ranked opponent since the Red Raiders topped No. 15 Oklahoma State, 41-17, in Stillwater to open Big 12 play in 2018. It was the eighth-ranked road victory for Tech during the Big 12 era and their second all-time over Kansas.
  • Texas Tech will be searching this week for its first victory over a top-10 team on the road since shocking No. 1 Oklahoma, 41-38, midway through the 2011 season. The Red Raiders have not topped a top-10 opponent at home or on the road since routing No. 4 West Virginia, 49-14, in 2012.
  • The Red Raiders will likely face a top-25 opponent in consecutive games starting with the Cyclones as Texas Tech will host Colorado the following week. The Buffaloes entered the Associated Press poll at No. 23 this week heading into an open date on their schedule.
  • Texas Tech has one other previous opponent in the rankings this week in Washington State, which is at No. 22 in both polls. The Cougars were unranked when the Red Raiders traveled to Pullman on Sept. 7 but are 7-1 this season with their lone loss coming to a fellow-ranked Boise State program.

WHAT A WIN WOULD MEAN SATURDAY… 

  • A victory over Iowa State would push the Red Raiders to a bowl appearance for a fourth-consecutive season and the 42nd time in program history. Texas Tech leads all Big 12 programs with 41 bowl appearances in its history.
  • The loss to Baylor halted a 3-0 start to Big 12 play for the Red Raiders, who had not previously opened their league slate with three consecutive wins since 2013. It was the fifth time in program history for Texas Tech to start 3-0 overall as a Big 12 member as the Red Raiders also did so in 2008, 2005 and 1998. Texas Tech has reached a bowl game in each of its previous four occurrences with a 3-0 conference start.
  • A victory over TCU would also push the Red Raiders to 6-3 on the season, marking the first time Texas Tech won six of its first eight games since that same 2013 season. The Red Raiders started a perfect 7-0 that season before ending the regular season with five consecutive losses.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

  • 10: Texas Tech ranks tied for 16th in the FBS and third in the Big 12 with 10 interceptions this season, including nine in the last six games. The Red Raiders enter this weekend at plus-2 overall in the turnover margin.
  • 19: If Tahj Brooks rushes for at least 95 yards at Iowa State, he will match Minnesota’s Mohamed Ibrahim (2000-02) for the most consecutive games (19) with at least 95 rushing yards dating back to 1996.
  • 118.3: Number of receiving yards Caleb Douglas has averaged in the past three games. He currently ranks fifth in the Big 12 for receiving yards (422) and receiving yards per game (84.4) against conference opponents.

INSIDE THE IOWA STATE SERIES

  • This will be the 22nd all-time meeting between Texas Tech and Iowa State as the Red Raiders are 13-8 after the Red Raiders have won each of the last two meetings. The majority of the series has come during the Big 12 era as the Red Raiders are 11-8 against the Cyclones as Big 12 members.  The two schools met twice before the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996 as Texas Tech routed Iowa State, 52-0, in 1967 and then added a 24-3 victory in 1974.
  • Texas Tech will be making back-to-back trips to Ames for the first time in the series as the Red Raiders are 5-5 all-time as the road team. The Red Raiders topped Iowa State, 14-10, in their last visit to Ames in 2022, which snapped a three-game road losing streak to the Cyclones.
  • Texas Tech has won each of the past two meetings as the Red Raiders previously topped Iowa State, 41-38, in 2021 and then 14-10 in a defensive slugfest in 2022. Both victories clinched bowl eligibility for the Red Raiders, who will be looking for their sixth win once again this weekend.
  • The 2021 victory remains one of the most memorable wins for Texas Tech in recent memory as Jonathan Garibay connected on a 62-yard field goal as time expired. It marked the longest field goal in Texas Tech history and the longest all-time by an FBS kicker to win a game with less than a minute remaining. The victory snapped a five-game losing streak to the Cyclones, which was previously Texas Tech’s longest all-time in the series.
  • Of the 19 previous meetings between the two schools, only five have been determined by one possession or less as the Red Raiders are a perfect 5-0 in those games with wins in 1998, 2013, 2014, 2021 and 2022. Prior to the last two games in the series in 2021-22, each of the previous six contests had been decided by nine points or more.
  • This will mark the third time in the history of the series that the Red Raiders will face a ranked Iowa State program. The Cyclones are 2-0 as a top-25 team against the Red Raiders as Iowa State was No. 11 in the polls in their 2002 victory and then No. 24 when Texas Tech visited in 2020. Iowa State won both games by double digits.
  • The 2021 victory marked the seventh time Texas Tech has scored at least 40 points in its series with the Cyclones. The Red Raiders are averaging 37.8 points in wins over the Cyclones and just 19.4 points in losses. In fact, Texas Tech is 9-2 all-time against the Cyclones when scoring at least 30 points over the course of the series.

IT’LL BE MUCH WARMER THIS TIME

  • Temperatures in Ames on Saturday are forecasted in the upper 50s with a chance of rain (as of Oct. 27). That’s still much warmer than what the Red Raiders experienced in their last visit to Ames where temperatures were at 22 degrees at kickoff with a wind chill of 14 degrees. It marked the coldest game at kickoff for the Red Raiders since their 1992 home game against Houston where temperatures for that game were at 32 degrees with the wind chill at 5 degrees due to high winds and snow. The 2022 game at Iowa State reached single digits for wind chill later in the game.
SOUTH END ZONE BUILDING MAKES GRAND DEBUT
  • Texas Tech officially opened 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.
  • The $242 million project will mark the largest contiguous football facility in the country, as the south end zone building will connect, via a skybridge, to the Womble Football Center and the Sports Performance Center, which opened in 2017 as Texas Tech’s indoor football practice facility and indoor track and field venue. Which in total will feature more than 340,000 combined square feet of space.
  • The Red Raiders now enter Jones AT&T Stadium each gameday through the Gary Petersen Field Club, a 12,000-square-foot premium space that is among the first of its kind in college football. It is one of several new premium areas as Texas Tech has added 17 new luxury suites, on the 3rd floor of the South End Zone building, to go along with 500 club and loge box seats and two spacious party decks on the concourse. Texas Tech now boasts 102 premium suites throughout Jones AT&T Stadium to go along with more than 2,500 club and loge box seat options.
  • Joey McGuire and his staff moved into their new coaches’ offices on the second floor of the south end zone building in July, giving them a stunning view overlooking Cody Campbell Field at Jones AT&T Stadium. The office location places McGuire and his staff steps from each position room and the sky bridge connected to the Womble Football Center where offensive and defensive breakout rooms will be located as well as a team meeting space and a state-of-the-art walkthrough area on the second level.
  • Texas Tech is slated to open the Womble Football Center side of the project this fall as the two-story building will maintain its football strength and conditioning, sports medicine and equipment areas on the main level as part of the new layout. The Red Raiders’ main locker room will be located in the Womble Football Center, which includes space for 120-plus athletes and modern primary designs from Hollman that are fully ventilated and contain USB charging ports and DreamSeat technology for every player.
 
 TECH 
Release Provided By Matt Burkholder Texas Tech Athletics

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