No. 7: 2017 Arizona State
The No. 7 win in Kingsbury’s career came this past season when his Red Raiders got revenge on a team that embarrassed them the season prior. In 2016, Arizona State made the Texas Tech defense into a national joke en route to a 68-55 win.
That night, Tech allowed ASU running back Kalen Ballage to account for 185 total yards and an NCAA record-tying eight touchdowns. It was one of the worst defensive performances in program history and the 2016 team never seemed to rebound from the humiliation.
That’s why 2017’s 52-45 win in Lubbock was so meaningful. Not only did the Red Raiders secure an important non-conference win, they made a statement that the defense was finally headed in the right direction after the two worst years in Texas Tech history.
While surrendering 45 points is far from ideal, the improvement from the previous year was obvious. Tech allowed ASU to run for just 168 yards (133 fewer than in 2016) and Ballage was held to 64 total yards and only one TD.
Nic Shimonek and the Texas Tech offense shook out of a second-half funk to come alive in time to score the winning touchdown on a three-yard Dylan Cantrell burst to the corner of the end zone. The win was critical in that it helped set a different tone for the 2017 team, and most importantly it was the first opportunity the defense had to prove that it was no longer the worst unit in the country.
The most important narrative of the 2017 season was the significant improvement of the Texas Tech defense in year-three under coordinator David Gibbs. In the ASU game, Tech allowed 158 fewer yards and 23 fewer points to a team that featured the same star quarterback, receiver and running backs as the previous season.
This was the first indication that Kingsbury and Gibbs had started to put a representative defense in place. Now, that defense returns 10 starters in 2018 and is expected to be the backbone of the team and many predict it will be the best Red Raider defense since 2009. And that turnaround started in earnest last September when it stood up to a team that bullied it into submission just a year earlier.