Texas Tech football lucky to survive upset-minded Abilene Christian in overtime

It seems that almost every year now, at least one team from the FBS ranks falls victim to an upset at the hands of an FCS team. Saturday night in Lubbock, the Texas Tech football team was lucky it wasn't in that boat.

In a 52-51 overtime win over Abilene Christian, the Red Raiders were pushed to the limit by a team featuring six former Texas Tech players who played like they had something to prove. Along the way, the Red Raiders were exposed, especially on the defenisve side of the football.

Giving up 615 total yards of offense (506 through the air) to an FCS opponent, many fear what will happen in a week's time when facing a Washington State team that runs a version of the "Air Raid" offense and put 70 points on Portland State on Saturday. For sure, it wasn't the start that the Red Raiders wanted to get off to.

Things began well, though, for the Red Raiders. Jumping out to a 15-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to a Tahj Brooks TD run and a Coy Eakin TD reception, the Red Raiders appeared to be on their way to a decisive win.

However, Abilene Christian was not ready to give up as the Wildcats would stay in the game and trail 32-21 at halftime. And when the Red Raider offense sputtered a couple of times in the second half, the visitors were ready to pounce.

Scoring on four of their five possessions in the second half, ACU pushed the game to overtime by hitting a field goal with just five seconds left to play. However, prior to that, the Wildcats had two throws into the endzone to take the lead.

All night long, Tech did its best to keep ACU in the game. The Red Raiders committed 11 penalties for 79 yards. They let ACU convert on 11 of 16 third-down conversions. They let Wildcat receivers run free time and time again making life easy for ACU quarterback Maverick McIvor.

The San Angelo native who began his college career at Tech completed 36-51 passes on the evening. That's a completion percentage of 70.5 for a player who completed only 55% of his passes last year.

Sure, the Red Raiders were playing without their top corner, Bralyn Lux, who missed the game with a thigh injury. In his place, redshirt freshman Jalon Peoples had to make the start and he was dreadful looking completely lost most of the night.

But it wasn't all on Peoples. The rest of the Red Raider secondary was just as bad. ACU had three receivers catch at least six passes and all three had 78 or more yards through the air. That included Blayne Taylor who caught seven balls for a whopping 141 yards and a TD to lead his team.

Thankfully, the Red Raiders got one big play from their defense to seal the win. As ACU tried to win with a two-point conversion in the overtime period, redshirt freshman defensive tackle Jayden Cofield made his first and only tackle of the evening stopping McIvor's attempted QB draw for a loss.

Joey McGuire was that close to doing something that not even Matt Wells or Kliff Kingsbury did, lose to an FCS opponent. Thus, despite the fact that he's more personable than Kingsbury and likable than Wells, he deserves just as much criticism for this performance as his two predecessors received when they came close to losing to FCS teams.

What we saw from Texas Tech on Saturday night was unacceptable and it shouldn't be celebrated. Sure, winning is better than losing but the Red Raiders are still going to be mocked and ridiculed for nearly losing to Abilene...freaking....Christian. Not North Dakota State. Not South Dakota State. Not Montana. But Abilene...by goodness...Christian.

This is a win that feels far more like a loss. It has put a wet blanket on a season that was met with such excitement and expectations. Now, Red Raider fans are left to question everything about this team and this program and the answers we get may not be pleasant or reassuring.