Well... That wasn’t ideal. Not by any stretch of the imagination. The Texas Tech Red Raiders were completely and totally unable to sustain any sort of success on the road as they fell short against Arizona State, who is arguably the most stressful team in America this season.
Joey McGuire and the Red Raiders just couldn’t get the job done. This is a game where Texas Tech couldn’t even get 300 yards of offense against an Arizona State team that hasn’t exactly had the most impressive defense in the Big 12.
And just about the entirety of the small amount of offensive success that the Red Raiders had all came in the latter part of the second half. The offense started sputtering early on and Tech wasn’t able to get on the board until the second quarter. At halftime, Arizona State held a 9-7 advantage over the Red Raiders.
Unfortunately, things completely and totally spiraled in the third quarter and the early part of the fourth quarter.
Texas Tech drops road game in infuriating fashion against the Arizona State Sun Devils
Arizona State was able to extend its lead to 16-7 in the third with a short touchdown pass from Sam Leavitt and then a 28-yard field goal gave the Sun Devils a 19-7 lead with a little over 14 minutes left in the game.
The Red Raiders were able to get a 1-yard touchdown plunge from Will Hammond and then a quick touchdown pass from Hammond with two minutes left in the game to claim a 22-19 lead over Arizona State.
However, Texas Tech’s defense was unable to hold against the Sun Devils, who were able to march down the field and score with less than two minutes left in the game, bumping the score to an Arizona State advantage of 26-22.
The offensive miscues from the Red Raiders were infuriating and are alarming. Hammond completed just 59 percent of his passes for 167 yards. He did have two touchdown passes, but also managed to throw a pick as well.
For some reason, Hammond got 15 carries, which he turned into 47 yards and a touchdown, but the combination of Cameron Dickey and J’Koby Williams had just 12 carries and 66 yards.
Now, Texas Tech is no longer unbeaten. The perfect season is over. The Red Raiders will need to do some soul searching to figure out how they’ll respond. On top of that, Mack Leftwich and Joey McGuire will need to find a way to build an offense if Hammond is going to continue to be the starter moving forward.