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Texas Tech and Houston Open the 2021 College Football Season Inside NRG Stadium Saturday

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Football

Texas Tech will look to open the 2021 season on a positive note Saturday when the Red Raiders face Houston in the Texas Kickoff from NRG Stadium in Houston. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. with television coverage on ESPN.

Mark Jones and analyst Robert Griffin III will join sideline reporter Quint Kessenich on the call as the ESPN will carry the game nationally. The game can also be found using the ESPN app on any streaming platform.

Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game over 46 affiliates throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico as Brian Jensen will have the call alongside analyst John Harris, sideline reporter Chris Level and engineer Steve Pitts. The radio broadcast can also be heard on on XM channel 201, Sirius channel 133 or via the TuneIn app.

INSIDE THE SERIES

  • Texas Tech and Houston will meet for the 33rd time in program history Saturday as the Cougars lead the all-time series with a 18-13-1 advantage. The Red Raiders enter this weekend having won eight of the last nine games versus the Cougars.
  • This will be the fifth meeting between the Red Raiders and Cougars since the Southwest Conference disbanded following the 1995 season. Texas Tech is 3-1 in those games with wins in 2010 at home (35-20), in 2017 at Houston (27-24) and in 2018 at home (63-49).
  • While this weekend's game is being play in the city of Houston, it will be considered a neutral-site contest due to it being played at NRG Stadium, the home of the Houston Texans, instead of on-campus at TDECU Stadium. The two schools previously faced each other at a neutral site twice, which took place during the 1993-94 seasons at the Alamodome in San Antonio where the Red Raiders combined to win both games by a score of 92-7.

 
TEXAS TECH-HOUSTON CONNECTIONS

  • There will be several noticeable ties between the two schools this weekend, none greater probably than Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen, who was the inside receivers coach for the Red Raiders from 2000-04 and then co-offensive coordinator from 2005-07. Holgorsen departed the Texas Tech coaching staff prior to the 2008 season to take the offensive coordinator position at Houston. This will be the first time the Red Raiders have faced Holgorsen while with the Cougars as Texas Tech was previously 2-5 against him during his eight seasons leading Big 12 foe West Virginia.
  • Holgorsen's tenure at Texas Tech coincided with the playing careers of several staff members who have returned to their alma mater, including offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie (2004 quarterback), outside receivers coach Joel Filani (2003-06) and Associate A.D. for Football Administration Antonio Huffman (2003-06).
  • Holgorsen also has another Red Raider great on his staff in running game coordinator and offensive line coach Brandon Jones, who starred at Texas Tech from 2003-06 before beginning his coaching career as an offensive assistant from 2007-08. He returned to Texas Tech as the offensive line coach from 2017-18 before moving to Houston. Prior to returning to Texas Tech, Jones was the run game coordinator at Cal where he worked alongside Red Raider special teams coordinator Mark Tommerdahl, who served in a similar role with the Golden Bears from 2013-16.
  • Texas Tech defensive coordinator Keith Patterson worked under Holgorsen early in his tenure at West Virginia as Patterson was the Mountaineers' co-defensive coordinator in 2012 and then sole defensive coordinator in 2013. He departed West Virginia following that 2013 season to begin a four-year stretch at Arizona State.
  • Patterson has also worked with three other members of the Houston staff as he and Archie McDaniel were both on staff at Tulsa in 2010 when Patterson was in his final season as co-defensive coordinator, while McDaniel was the Golden Hurricane's tight ends and H-backs coach. He also worked with special teams coordinator Mark Scott and passing game coordinator Shannon Dawson at West Virginia. Dawson was opposite Patterson as the Mountaineers' offensive coordinator each of Patterson's two seasons, while Scott was a defensive graduate assistant.

STAT NOTABLES vs. HOUSTON

  • DaMarcus Fields is the only Red Raider who has multiple starts in his career against Houston as he earned the nod at cornerback in both the 2017-18 matchups between the two schools. Fields had three tackles in each of those games, forcing and then recovering a late fumble to go with a pass breakup in 2017 before adding a pair of pass breakups and a tackle for a loss the following year.
  • Riko Jeffers has also faced Houston twice in his career as he recorded a pair of tackles in both matchups. He is one of eight active Red Raiders who have faced Houston at least once in their career, joining Fields, Adrian Frye, Seth Collins, SaRodorick Thompson, Dawson Deaton, Dalton Rigdon and Nelson Mbanasor.

RED RAIDERS IN SEASON OPENERS

  • Texas Tech is 66-27-3 all-time over its 96 season openers after opening 17 of the past 18 years with a victory. The lone loss during that stretch came in 2018 when the Red Raiders fell to Ole Miss, 47-27, in their only other appearance all-time in the Texas Kickoff. Tech rebounded to route Montana State, 45-10, in 2019 and then topped Houston Baptist, 35-33, a year ago.
  • Prior to the loss to Ole Miss, the Red Raiders boasted the third-longest winning streak nationally for season openers, trailing only Ohio State and Alabama among FBS programs at the time. Texas Tech's 15 game winning streak in season openers was previously its longest in program history.
  • Matt Wells is 4-4 over his career in season openers, which includes a perfect 2-0 mark with the Red Raiders. Wells led Utah State to wins over Southern Utah in 2015 and Weber State in 2016, while all four losses came to power-five programs, including two to preseason top-15 teams in No. 9 Wisconsin (2017) and No. 11 Michigan State (2018).

OPENING THE SEASON ON THE ROAD
Texas Tech is opening its season in a neutral-site contest for only the second time since 1959 when the Red Raiders faced Texas A&M in Dallas. Tech also met the Aggies in Dallas to start the 1958 season and prior to that traveled to Oklahoma City to battle then Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) to open the 1940 campaign. Texas Tech will be opening its season away from Jones AT&T Stadium for only the sixth time since 2000. The Red Raiders, who are 13-16-1 all-time in season openers away from Lubbock, have won three of their last four season openers on the road, defeating SMU to start the 2004, 2007 and 2013 seasons. The lone loss during that stretch came to Ole Miss in 2018.
 
BACK IN HOUSTON

  • The city of Houston is a hotbed to not only recruits, many of which are on the Texas Tech roster, but also to one of the school's largest alumni bases. This will be Texas Tech's fourth game in Houston since the 2015 season alone as the Red Raiders previously faced LSU in the 2015 AdvoCare Texas Bowl before starting its four-game series with the University of Houston in a road game in 2017 and then back at NRG Stadium to face Ole Miss in the Texas Kickoff in 2018. The Red Raiders helped set the Texas Bowl attendance record against LSU as 71,307 fans were on hand in NRG Stadium.
  • Texas Tech currently boasts 12 student-athletes from the greater Houston area, including Adrian Frye (Houston), Eric Monroe (Houston), Tyrique Matthews (Houston), Trey Wolff (Spring), Jake Justice (Houston), Robert Wooten (Stafford), Bryce Ramirez (Missouri City), Caleb Rodkey (Missouri City), Tony Bradford Jr. (Houston), Gilbert Ibeneme (Pearland), Mason Tharp (Klein), Larry Moore (Missouri City).