There is no question that the Texas Tech football team still isn't firing on all cylinders on offense. That was certainly the case in the first half of Saturday's win over Sam Houston, and the main culprit was interceptions from starting QB Will Hammond.
The first-year starter threw picks on three first-half possessions in a row during which time the game's momentum shifted to the visitors. We have now gone deep enough into the season to be concerned about Hammond's tendency to commit turnovers. In fact, he's given the ball away in every game this season, and that can't continue if the Red Raiders are going to win the Big 12.
In the season's first game, Hammond's only memorable mistake was an ill-advised throw along the sidelines as he was rolling to his right. Instead of running for the first down, he decided to try a risky throw downfield that was intercepted by Abilene Christian.
A week later, at Oregon State, he wasn't picked off. However, he did lose a fumble while being tackled after trying to scramble.
Then, in the Houston game, Hammond threw a pick when Tech was driving to take the lead just before halftime. On that play, he tried to throw a go route to wide receiver Micah Hudson, but Hudson lost his footing and was unable to fight for the ball, leaving the Houston defensive back to make a one-handed interception.
That led to Saturday's career-high three picks. Two of them were simply bad decisions on Hammond's part, and one came when his arm was struck as he tried to throw the ball from his own end zone.
So far this season, Hammond has a terrible TD/INT ratio. He's actually thrown only four touchdowns to five interceptions through four games, which is not what the Red Raiders need from their starting QB. In fact, he has thrown the most interceptions in the Big 12. What's more, his five picks have come on only 112 passes, meaning he's averaging an interception every 23.2 passes thrown. To put that in perspective, last year's starter, Behren Morton, threw only six INTs on 332 passes, or one every 55.3 attempts.
Unfortunately, this is a continuation of a trend for Hammond. Throughout his brief college career, he's been rather turnover-prone. In 16 career appearances, he's thrown ten picks. He's also lost two more fumbles.
In all, he's started seven games and turned the ball over in all but one. And that one exception was last season's Oklahoma State game in Lubbock, when he left early after tearing a ligament in his knee.
Turnovers will be all the more critical for Texas Tech this season given that the 2026 team is not as dominant as the 2025 team was. Last season, Tech's giveaways were not usually as impactful as they could have been given the strength of the defense, which led the nation in takeaways, meaning it was just as likely to get the ball back for the offense as to give up points.
Last fall, Tech won the turnover battle in seven games. However, this season, Tech has yet to accomplish that feat. Even worse, Tech has lost that aspect of the game in each of the last two weeks.
In all, Tech is 127th out of 138 teams in interceptions thrown per game at 1.7. While one of this season's picks goes on the ledger of backup Tommy Castellanos, Hammond has been primarily responsible for those struggles.
Sure, we must remember that Hammond is still green as a starter. Additionally, he missed all of spring practice while rehabbing his knee, so he lost critical practice reps in the offseason.
With that said, though, there is no way Tech can win the Big 12 if Hammond doesn't start to take care of the football. He must begin to cut way down on his giveaways and play clean football, all while still finding ways to be aggressive when called for. That is a balancing act that is usually only achieved through experience, something Hammond is short on.
Texas Tech doesn't have an eternity for Hammond to figure it out, though. This team has title aspirations in 2026. But for those to come true, the starting QB can't be a turnover liability, as has been the case in the first four games.
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