Texas Tech football stuns No. 11 Iowa State on the road to reach bowl eligibility

The Texas Tech football team is starting to like playing Iowa State in November when the Red Raiders have five wins on the season. In November of both 2021 and 2022, the Red Raiders took down Iowa State in one-score games to earn bowl eligibility and on Saturday night, they did the same by stunning the No. 11 Cyclones in Ames, 23-22.

Tahj Brooks found the endzone from the "wildcat" formation with just 0:20 left in the fourth quarter to give the Red Raiders the win. It was a fitting end to a game that saw the Red Raider running back surpass 4,000 career rushing yards (the third Red Raider to do so) and move into second place on the program's all-time rushing list.

This is the highest-ranked team Tech has beaten on the road since toppling No. 3 Oklahoma in Norman in 2011. What's more, the win helped snap two weeks of bad vibes for a team that had not won a football game since beating Arizona 28-22 on October 5.

Here are some quick thoughts about what we saw in this unexpected upset.

Tahj Brooks becomes an even bigger Texas Tech legend

After carrying the ball just seven times for 39 yards in the first half, Tahj Brooks put the offense on his shoulders once again in the second half. Ending the game with 122 yards and a TD on 25 carries, he was again a workhorse.

Tech's offense wasn't pretty and QB Behren Morton struggled for much of the game but thanks to Brooks, the Red Raiders got just enough out of that side of the ball. And credit to offensive coordinator Zach Kittley for the play design on the final touchdown.

After not running a play out of the "wildcat" formation all game, he went to that well with the game on the line. Splitting Morton out at a receiver spot and direct snapping the ball to Brooks (who had TE Jalin Conyers in the backfield as a lead blocker) Brooks outflanked the ISU defense around the end because the Cyclones had to send so many of their defenders to the other side of the field where four receivers were split out wide.

That seemed to catch the Cyclones off guard and led to an easy score for Brooks. That will be one of the career-defining moments of Brooks' career as he helped carry his team to a stunning upset of a previously undefeated ISU team.

Texas Tech QB Behren Morton comes up big when it counts

This game wasn't a walk in the park for Red Raider QB Behren Morton. He ended the game just 21 of 40 passing for 237 yards and two touchdowns with two picks.

Remember, he was facing the best statistical passing defense in the nation. Thus, no one ever expected him to light up the Cyclones.

However, on the final drive, when the game was on the line, Morton led a 12-play 71-yard march. On that possession, he did miss two deep shots to open receivers that could have scored if he had thrown better passes, however, given that Tech would eventually score the game-winning TD, those misses were actually a blessing because they allowed the offense to drain more time off of the clock.

Still, Morton was good on that last drive minus those two misses on deep shots. There wree two specific plays he made that we critical.

With Tech facing a 3rd-and-15, Morton scrambled for eight yards. Then, on 4th-and-7, he laced an eight-yard pass to Josh Kelly over the middle to keep the drive and the game alive. Those two plays shouldn't be overlooked in this win.

Later on that drive, Morton threw a frozen rope to Kelly on the sidelines for 13 yards. Then, he improvised a bit and found Jordan Brown over the middle with a floating pass to set up the game-winning TD run.

Morton isn't a perfect QB and he played an ugly game at times on Saturday. However, after a week of hearing people calling for his backup to take over the offense, he led the team on the game-winning drive in a hostile stadium against the best pass defense in the nation. That could be the moment when he really came of age as a starting QB.

Texas Tech's defense shows tremendous fight

Give credit to the Texas Tech defense. After giving up an average of 495 yards and 47 points in the last two games, the Red Raiders showed some backbone against a balanced and talented Cyclone offense.

Yes, ISU put up 432 yards (299 through the air). However, the Red Raiders came up with a fumble recovery, a fourth-down stop, two sacks, and six tackles for loss.

What's more, ISU had only one huge play, a 44-yard TD pass that put ISU up 22-17 in the fourth quarter. All night, Tech made the Cyclones drive to score. Outside of the Cyclone's TD at the end of the first half and their final score of the game, all of ISU's scoring drives required at least seven plays.

That's the type of effort that will win games for the Red Raiders. This team doesn't need the defense to be the 1985 Chicago Bears to win. It just needs some resistance from that side of the ball and it got plenty of that this afternoon.

Texas Tech continues to thrive in "Joevember"

Given that the Red Raiders are now 7-2 in November games under head coach Joey McGuire, Texas Tech fans are starting to call the last month of the regular season "Joevember". That's certainly refreshing for a fan base that had grown accustomed to seeing the Red Raiders fade down the stretch during the Kingsbury and Wells eras.

What's more, McGuire is winning November games that carry weight. He's beaten Oklahoma, TCU, No. 16 Kansas (on the road), and now No. 11 Iowa State (on the road) in November. If he can keep up that type of performance over the next three games, he'll put his team in position for its best season since 2009.