This past week, Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech football team took care of business on a road trip to a former Pac-12 team as the Red Raiders handled the Utah Utes and left Salt Lake City with a 34-10 win. Entering that matchup, it was billed as one of the biggest games the Big 12 had to offer this season.
In a few weeks, we’re going to get another, similar sort of billing.
In this next instance that we’re talking about, McGuire and the Red Raiders will go to a former Pac-12 member and face off on the road in a game that they’ll look to win. Except that game will be against the Arizona State Sun Devils and this season that Arizona State team is chaotic in some terrifying ways.
Cardiologists, please look away. Texas Tech fans, please pay attention. There is a very good chance that the upcoming matchup with Arizona State can be a very stressful headache for the Red Raiders (and also their fans).
Why does Arizona State keep playing stressful games and will Texas Tech’s trip to Tempe also be stressful?
Let’s work backwards through their schedule. First, let’s go ahead and address the win that Arizona State secured on Friday night as they hosted the TCU Horned Frogs and sent Sonny Dykes back to Fort Worth with a 27-24 Big 12 conference game loss.
This is a game that TCU led 17-0 in and then choked that lead away to where the score was set at 17-14 entering halftime. TCU quarterback Josh Hoover threw two picks and zero touchdowns (and he also fumbled in a devastating way on a sack).
The Horned Frogs had just 269 total yards in this game while Arizona State had 498. TCU had those three aforementioned turnovers while Arizona State had just one. The whole game was weird and stressful and this isn’t an anomaly for the Sun Devils.
A week ago, Arizona State beat Baylor 27-24. In that game, the Bears had 357 total yards while Arizona State had 400. Baylor managed to also have three turnovers. The Sun Devils didn’t have a single turnover in that game. Oh, and this particular matchup was won on a field goal as time expired.
Earlier in the season, in Arizona State’s only loss so far, the Mississippi State Bulldogs managed to get out to a 17-0 lead in the second quarter. And steadily, the Sun Devils chipped away at that until it was tied 17-17 early in the fourth quarter. With a little over a minute left in the game, Arizona State took a 20-17 lead on a field goal.
And then, on a miraculous drive at the end of the game and in impressive fashion, the Bulldogs were able to connect on a deep pass for a 58-yard touchdown to get a 24-20 win over the Sun Devils.
If it seems like Arizona State has been involved in a few stressful games, it’s because they have. And Texas Tech hasn’t really been tested against a purely chaotic and insane team just yet. I don’t know if there is a way to prep for it.
But Texas Tech fans should get ready. Go ahead and get some heartburn meds and take a deep breath folks. That trip in a few weeks to Arizona State might get weird.