Thursday night in Lubbock, the Texas Tech football team picked up a much-needed win over TCU 35-28 thanks in large part to a pair of interceptions from senior safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, the second of which came on TCU’s final possession as the Frogs were driving to potentially tie the game.
The win moved the Red Raiders to 4-5 on the year and helped keep their hopes of making it to a bowl game alive. It also ended TCU’s four-game overall winning streak in the series.
Beating the Frogs in Lubbock for the first time since 2013, Tech was able to finally make enough plays down the stretch to win a one-score game. That’s been a rarity in 2023.
After pulling out wins in all four of their one-score games in 2022, Joey McGuire and Co. had seen their fortunes reverse this season. Losses this year to Wyoming, Oregon, and West Virginia all came down to one score but in each, Tech was unable to make the winning plays that they made in similar games a year ago.
That changed against the Horned Frogs as the Red Raiders finally came through in the clutch. Here are some rapid reactions to what went down at Jones Stadium on Thursday night
Taylor-Demerson is the hero that Texas Tech has been missing
One massive problem that has plagued the Red Raiders for the last month has been the inability to force turnovers on defense. In fact, Tim DeRuyter’s side of the ball had not picked off a pass since the West Virginia game on September 23 and had not forced any turnover at all since recovering a fumble against Baylor on October 7.
Since the defense’s last takeaway, the offense had given the ball away eight times. That’s why Tech entered the game last in the Big 12 in turnover margin. But against TCU, Tech won the turnover battle for the first time since the trip to Morgantown.
All night long, it seemed that Taylor-Demerson was destined to get at least one interception. In the first half, he picked off a pass but the play was nullified due to a roughing the passer penalty on linebacker Ben Roberts.
The one that sealed the Saddle. 🐰 pic.twitter.com/FtSg1fT0MJ
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) November 3, 2023
What’s more, there were two or three more balls that either hit Taylor-Demerson in the hands or fluttered to the ground just out of his reach. Fortunately, when the game was turning in TCU’s favor, he finally came up with one that counted.
After TCU had erased a 13-point deficit to take a 21-20 third-quarter lead, he snagged an errant Josh Hoover pass and returned it to the TCU 31. Two plays later, Tahj Brooks would bang his way into the endzone from nine yards out to put Tech in front for good.
Then, on the final TCU drive of the game, Taylor-Demerson came up with the game-saving play. With the Frogs already having moved the ball to the Tech 44 and still having 0:55 remaining to find the endzone and force overtime, Hoover sent another off-target pass in Taylor-Demerson’s direction and the Red Raider safety was able to quash any Horned Frog uprising.
The former high school running back from Oklahoma now has nine career picks but this was his first two-INT game as a collegiate. At a time when his team was desperate for a defender to step up and make game-changing plays, that’s exactly what Taylor-Demerson did to seal the win.