LUBBOCK, Texas – The Red Raiders are back on the road this Saturday, traveling to face their sixth ranked opponent this season at No. 7 TCU. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
The game will receive top billing with a national broadcast on FOX, as well as a Big Noon Kickoff, which will air from 10-11 a.m. from the TCU campus during pregame. This is Texas Tech’s first appearance on Big Noon Kickoff since the show began in 2019.
Gus Johnson will have the call, with Joel Klatt providing the analysis and Jenny Taft on the sidelines. Fans can also access the game from their mobile device or stream using the FOX Sports app.
The Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game over 46 affiliates across 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 channels 158 or 200, and also on the Varsity app.
CITY FOR THE DIADIR TROPHY ON SATURDAY
- Texas Tech and TCU renewed their battle for the Saddle Trophy in 2017. Both schools previously played for the Saddle Cup from 1961-70 before its sudden demise. A replica trophy was created for the 2017 meeting following discussions between the two schools. It includes the logos of both programs and results from more than 60 years of competition.
- Texas Tech will look for its third win over a ranked opponent this season when the Red Raiders travel to Fort Worth for the annual Battle for the Saddle game with No. 7 TCU. The Red Raiders have left the metroplex with the Saddle in hand in two of their last three visits after winning during the 2016 and 2018 seasons.
WELCOME HOME TO THE METROPLEX
- Texas Tech has the largest alumni base in the United States outside of Lubbock in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex as approximately 40,000 graduates currently reside in the area. Texas Tech has great fan support in the DFW area due to their large alumni base as Texas Tech hosted Baylor at AT&T Stadium in Arlington every year from 2009-18 as well as spring football games at The Star in Frisco recent years. Meanwhile, the Red Raider basketball program turned a neutral site first and second round NCAA site in Dallas into the United Supermarkets Arena with capacity crowds in 2018.
- The return to the metroplex will be a homecoming of sorts for many members of the Red Raider roster as Texas Tech has 36 players on its roster that call the DFW area home. That list includes many notable starters like running back SaRodorick Thompson Jr., wide receivers Myles Price, Jerand Bradley, Trey Cleveland III and Brady Boyd, offensive lineman Caleb Rogers, defensive lineman Jaylon Hutchings and linebackers Kosi Eldridge and Dimitri Moore.
- Four members of the Texas Tech coaching staff are former high school head coaches in the DFW area, most notably Joey McGuire, who guided Cedar Hill to three state titles during 14 memorable seasons. Additionally, longtime DFW head coach Kenny Perry, former Dallas Lincoln head coach Zarnell Fitch and legendary South Oak Cliff head coach Emmett Jones appear on the Texas Tech team.
RADIO RADIO TRAVELS TO DFW FOR TCU’S 65TH ALL-IN-ONE MEETING
- Texas Tech and TCU will meet for the 65th time in history on Saturday with the Red Raiders leading the all-time series with a 32-29-3 advantage. This will be the 10th meeting between the two former Southwest Conference foes since the Horned Frogs joined the Big 12 prior to the 2012 season.
- The two schools previously had a five-year streak where the visiting team prevailed from 2015-19 and the Red Raiders beat Fort Worth twice during the 2016 and 2018 seasons. TCU ended that streak in 2020 with a 34-18 win and then added a 52-31 win a year ago in Lubbock.
- Texas Tech’s current three-game losing streak to the Horned Frogs is the longest since the 1958-60 seasons under then-head coach Dewitt Weaver. The last loss for the Red Raiders in that stretch came in 1960, the first year as members of the Southwest Conference for both Texas Tech and TCU. The Red Raiders have not lost four straight to the Horned Frogs since the two schools first began their series in 1926 and TCU won the first five meetings (1926-30).
- Texas Tech and TCU were previous members of the Southwest Conference from 1960-95 where the Red Raiders had a 21-12-3 advantage in those games. The two schools met twice as non-conference foes in 2004 and 2006 before TCU joined the Big 12 in 2012. The two schools split those two games with the Red Raiders delivering a 70-35 rout in 2004 and a 12-3 victory. After that. by the Horned Frogs two years later.
TEXAS TECH, TCU CONNECTIONS
- This weekend’s game will pit the Red Raiders against another Texas Tech graduate in TCU head coach Sonny Dykes. Dykes, the son of Red Raider head coach Spike Dykes, received his bachelor’s degree in history from the university in 1993 and was a member of the Texas Tech baseball program for two seasons. He previously spent seven seasons as an assistant coach for his alma mater, serving as receivers coach from 2000-04 before adding the title of offensive coordinator from 2005-06. Dykes will become the fourth Texas Tech graduate to face his alma mater as an opposing head coach, joining Tom Wilson (Texas A&M 1978-81), Art Briles (Baylor 2008-15) and Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma 2017-21).
- Dykes isn’t the only Texas Tech graduate on TCU’s staff as offensive coordinator Garrett Riley earned his general business degree from the university in 2012. Garrett Riley, a West Texas native from Muleshoe, is the younger brother of Lincoln Riley .
- Texas Tech, meanwhile, has a TCU graduate on its staff in defensive line coach Zarnell Fitch, who earned his degree in communications with a minor in social work in 2006. Fitch was a two-year letterman for the Horned Frogs from 2004-05 when he made three starts as a senior, notably making a pair of interceptions that season from his inside spot. He arrived at Texas Tech after serving six seasons in a similar capacity to his alma mater under former head coach Gary Patterson.
- Fitch isn’t the only former TCU assistant now on the Texas Tech staff as associate head coach and special teams coordinator Kenny Perry takes his first college job with the Horned Frogs. Perry, a DFW native, served as TCU’s director of high school relations in 2013 before being promoted to cornerbacks coach the following year. Additionally, he previously worked under TCU head coach Sonny Dykes as a special teams quality control analyst at SMU in 2020 and then special teams coordinator for the Mustangs in 2021.
NEWS & NOTES ON TCU HEADLINES
- After a stretch of five ranked opponents in the first six games, Texas Tech will look to win at least two of its final four games to become bowl eligible for the second straight season and 40th time in school history. Texas Tech is looking to return to a bowl in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2012-13 campaigns.
- Texas Tech heads into November at 4-4 overall for the first time since 2017 and the sixth time during the Big 12 era. In the previous five appearances, the Red Raiders have won at least two games in November to achieving bowl eligibility four times (1997, 1999, 2010, 2017) with the only exception coming in 2016.
- Texas Tech has just 401 total penalty yards on 49 flags, marking its second-lowest total through eight games since the start of the 2000 season. The Red Raiders had previously been penalized 40 times for 341 yards at the same point in the season. last.
- Baylor’s loss snapped Texas Tech’s perfect 4-0 record at home this season. A win over Kansas or Oklahoma in November would mark the Red Raiders’ most wins in a season since Texas Tech finished 6-1 inside the friendly confines of AT&T’s Jones Stadium in 2019.
- The loss to Oklahoma State snapped the Red Raiders’ six-game hitting streak by scoring at least 30 points that dates back to early in the 2021 season. Texas Tech is 3-1 in such games this season. after their win over West Virginia.
RED RAIDERS LOOKING FOR TOP-10 WINS
- With a win this weekend, the Red Raiders will secure their first win over a top-10 team on the road since Oklahoma’s 41-38 victory over Norman during the 2011 season. TCU marks Texas Tech’s sixth ranked opponent. own this season as the Red Raiders are 2-3 in those games they have won in that time – No. 25 Houston and No. 22 Texas.
- More importantly, a win would push the Red Raiders one step closer to a bowl appearance in their first season under Joey McGuire as Texas Tech closes its season with three currently unranked opponents toward the bottom of the Big 12 standings in Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma. .
TOP TWO OFFENSES SHOWN FOR TWO BIG 12 OFFENSES
- The Big 12’s top two offenses will square off on Saturday as TCU leads the league with an average of 44.2 points per game and 518.6 yards, while the Red Raiders lead the league in passing yards per game (338.0) while ranking second in total offense, averaging 475.9 yards per game. game.
- While Texas Tech continues to boast one of the nation’s best offenses, its defense ranks in the top half of the Big 12 for total defense as the Red Raiders give up only 365.8 yards per game. That average would make Texas Tech’s defensive performance the best in total defense since 2009.
-Tech-
