Texas Tech football: Night games at The Jones have not been advantage recently

Though fans love night games at home, the Texas Tech football team has not been able to make the most of games played under the lights in recent years.

This week, the Texas Tech football team will conclude its home schedule with the rare Big 12 night game.  This will be just the 13th Big 12 game Tech has played under the stars in Lubbock this decade and though fans might believe that kicking off after the sun sets gives the home team an advantage, that hasn’t been the case for our beloved Red Raiders since the end of the Leach era.

In 2010, Tech dropped a 24-14 contest to Texas in which Taylor Potts and the offense mustered just one touchdown.  But later that season, the famed Jones Stadium magic helped the Red Raiders stun No. 12 Missouri 24-17.  That night, the Red Raiders fell behind 17-3 but rallied to win on a 5-yard Potts to Lyle Leong TD pass with 6:46 to play.

A year later, the marquee game of the year was the final game between the Red Raiders and Texas A&M, perhaps ever.  That night, the Aggies claimed a 44-40 win at Jones Stadium after jumping out to a 44-30 lead early in the 4th quarter and hanging on to deny a late Red Raider rally.

One week later, the No. 17 KSU Wildcats came to town and emerged from The Jones with a 41-34 win in a 7 pm kickoff.  Despite leading 28-20 at the break, Tech managed just two second-half field goals that night.

The woes continued two games later when Tech was humiliated by Iowa State 41-7 in a 6 pm kickoff.  Surprisingly, that came just a week after the Red Raiders somehow managed to take down Oklahoma in Norman.

2012 was a year without a night Big 12 game in Lubbock.  But in 2013, Tech opened conference play with a 20-10 win over TCU on a Thursday night over TCU.  Until this year’s win over Oklahoma State, that was the last time the Red Raiders managed a home win over a ranked team.

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Tech had a chance to get another ranked win in Lubbock that year but failed in that endeavor as they lost 54-34 to No. 18 Oklahoma State.  That night, Tech was actually the higher-ranked of the two teams but the No. 15 Red Raiders scored only 10 points in the final half.

2014 saw Texas again come to town for a night contest.  When Pat Mahomes, who was making his first career start for the Red Raiders, was knocked out of the game with a concussion, the only QB Tech had to rely on was walk-on freshman Vincent Testaverde leaving the Red Raiders with no shot in a 34-13 loss.

Again in 2015, there were no home night games in Lubbock.  2016 brought Kansas to town on a Thursday night, a 55-19 win that is most remembered for the shoulder injury that took Mahomes out of the game in the third quarter.

Of course, the most memorable game from that year was the shootout with OU.  That night, both teams put up exactly 854 yards of offense in the 66-59 Sooner win.

2017 saw Tech drop a hard-fought 41-34 game to No. 15 Oklahoma State in which the Cowboys won on a 16-yard Mason Rudolph TD run.  And a season ago, Tech dropped back-to-back night games at home to OU and Texas, both by one-score margins.

In all, the Red Raiders are just 3-10 this decade in night games at home.  That’s not all that surprising given how poorly this team has played in general at home.

But the idea that a night game gives the Red Raiders any greater advantage this week against Kansas State is false.  All that it really guarantees us these days is that we get to enjoy a full day of college football and spending time with friends before we the Red Raiders disappoint us again, rather than having them spoil our day right off the bat.