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Texas Tech Takes Its Perfect Record on the Road to Austin to Face the Longhorns

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Football

Texas Tech will look to continue its hot start to the 2021 season Saturday when the Red Raiders open Big 12 play against Texas inside Darrell K Royal Texas-Memorial Stadium. The Red Raiders head to the state capital with their first 3-0 record to start a season since 2017.

INSIDE THE SERIES

  • Texas Tech and Texas will meet for the 71st time in history and the 62nd-consecutive year Saturday afternoon. The Longhorns control a 53-17 all-time advantage in the series, which includes a 31-7 mark in games played in the state capital.
  • The Red Raiders have left Austin with a win in two of their last three trips after topping the Longhorns, 48-45, in 2015 and then 27-23 in 2017. It marked the first time in program history where Texas Tech has won back-to-back road games over Texas.
  • Outside of the 2019 meeting in Austin, the two in-state rivals have gone to the wire over the past six years as five of those meetings have been determined by a touchdown or less. Texas Tech has used some late-game heroics in two of those wins as Jakeem Grant hid behind the offensive line before scampering 40 yards around the left side to the end zone to give Texas Tech a 48-38 lead with 2:41 remaining in the 2015 victory. Justus Parker, meanwhile, picked off a Sam Ehlinger pass with just over two minutes remaining in 2017, setting up a Cameron Batson touchdown from Nic Shimonek that was followed by a Douglas Coleman III interception to seal the victory.
  • Texas Tech will be making the trip to Austin on a non-Thanksgiving Day weekend for the first time since the 2011 season when the two schools met on Nov. 5. It will be the first time the Red Raiders traveled to the state capital in the month of September since 2009 when the Longhorns edged Tech, 34-24, on Sept. 19.
  • This will be the seventh time in the past nine years the two in-state rivals have entered the game unranked. Prior to the 2013 season, at least one of the two schools entered the annual matchup ranked nationally in each of the previous 15 meetings from 1998-2012. The two exceptions came in 2018 when Texas was ranked 19th and then a year ago when the Longhorns were No. 8 nationally.

FAMILY TIES

  • There are several ties between the Texas Tech and Texas programs, none possibly more noticeable than Red Raider senior linebacker Colin Schooler and his brother Brenden Schooler, a senior wide receiver for the Longhorns. The Schooler brothers were previously slated to play their final collegiate season together at Arizona in 2020 before both deciding to transfer after the Pac-12 delayed its season. Brenden Schooler played his first three seasons at Oregon before transferring to Arizona and then Texas.
  • Colin Schooler will need a win this weekend to even the all-time series with his brother as the two split a pair of meetings while at Oregon and Arizona. Brenden Schooler and the Ducks topped Arizona, 48-28, in 2017 in the first meeting between the two siblings before Arizona routed Oregon, 44-15, the following year. A year ago, Brenden Schooler and Texas rallied to top the Red Raiders in Lubbock. This will be the final year of eligibility for both brothers, who both chose to return to the collegiate ranks for the extra year allowed due to the 2020 COVID-shortened season.

CAREER NOTABLES VERSUS THE LONGHORNS

  • Texas Tech's last trip to Austin was a breakout game of sorts for Erik Ezukanma as the then-redshirt freshman hauled in seven passes for 135 yards and a touchdown. It was the first 100-yard performance of Ezukanma's career at the time. He followed with seven catches for 91 yards and another score a year ago as Ezuknama has totaled 14 catches for 226 yards and a pair of touchdowns over his career against Texas.
  • DaMarcus Fields has recorded 21 tackles and a pass breakup during his career against Texas. He notched a career-high with 13 tackles in the 2019 meeting against the Longhorns, his first of now two games with double digits for tackles.
  • Riko Jeffers leads the team with 27 career tackles against Texas, which includes 1.5 that have gone for a loss. Jeffers had nine tackles in his first meeting against Texas in 2018 and followed with eight stops in 2019 and 10 a year ago. His 10 tackles against Texas last season marked his most recent game with double-digit tackles.
  • Austin McNamara has had a couple memorable performances in the punting game as he is averaging 48.4 yards per attempt, considerably higher than his already impressive 45.5 career average.
  • Jacob Morgenstern arrived at Texas Tech known for his prowess on special teams from his time at Duke and proved it in only his second game as a Red Raider a year ago as he got his hands on a Texas punt attempt. He also had what was a career high five tackles, including one that went for a loss.
  • SaRodorick Thompson, who returned to the Texas Tech back field last weekend for the first time this season, has 190 career rushing yards and three touchdowns in his career against Texas. Those totals include 104 rushing yards versus the Longhorns a year ago, his third of now four career games with at least 100 yards on the ground.

TEXAS TECH ALL-TIME IN BIG 12 OPENERS

  • Texas Tech enters this weekend with a 14-11 all-time record in Big 12 openers. The Red Raiders have dropped each of their last two Big 12 openers after falling at No. 6 Oklahoma in 2019 and then No. 8 Texas in overtime a year ago.
  • This will be the fifth time in school history and the second time in as many years where the Red Raiders have kicked off league play against the Longhorns as Texas is a perfect 4-0 in those games with wins in 2001, 2009, 2010 and 2020. Texas was ranked among the top-10 teams nationally entering each of those four games. This will be the first time Texas Tech has opened Big 12 play against an unranked Texas team. 
  • In fact, this will be the first time since 2016 where the Red Raiders have not faced a ranked opponent to open conference play. Over the course of its 25 league openers in the Big 12 era, Texas Tech has been slated against a ranked opponent 12 times.
  • The Red Raiders are 11-2 against unranked foes in Big 12 openers all-time with the lone two losses coming at Texas A&M in 2000 and at Oklahoma State in 2007.

FIRST GOAL ACHIEVED: RED RAIDERS WRAP PERFECT NON-CONFERENCE SLATE

  • The victory over FIU crossed off one of the first goals for Matt Wells this season: a 3-0 start to the season with three non-conference victories. The Red Raiders went on the road to defeat Houston to start the season and then followed with home victories over Stephen F. Austin and FIU for their first 3-0 start since the 2017 season.
  • Texas Tech head coach Matt Wells is now 6-1 in non-conference games during his tenure at Texas Tech and is 18-14 over his career with 10 of those losses coming to power-five schools, nine of which that were during his tenure at Utah State. The victory over FIU sealed the first undefeated non-conference slate of Wells' career (not including 2020 where there was only one non-conference game).
  • Over the course of its time in the Big 12, Texas Tech has wrapped non-conference play without a blemish 13 times now, advancing to a bowl in 11 of those seasons - 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017. The lone year the Red Raiders failed to make a bowl game following an undefeated non-conference slate came in 2011.
  • The FIU victory also pushed Texas Tech's non-conference home winning streak to 14 games as the Red Raiders have won 39 of their last 40 contests dating back to the 2002 season. The Red Raiders are an impressive 46-2 overall in non-conference home games since moving to a spread offense in 2000.

NEWS & NOTES FROM THE FIRST THREE WEEKS

  • The victory over Houston marked the fourth-straight for the Red Raiders over the Cougars as Texas Tech is now 16-3 against former Southwest Conference foes since the league disbanded in 1995. The Red Raiders have now won nine of the past 10 meetings against Houston, including four of the five meetings since joining the Big 12 in 1996.
  • Texas Tech notched four interceptions in the win over Houston, its most in a game since the Red Raiders picked off five passes against SMU early in the 2008 season. The Red Raiders are one of four schools who have notched at least four interceptions in a game this season, joining Tennessee, Troy and Kent State, the final one of which has done so twice already.
  • Texas Tech recorded its second defensive touchdown of the season thanks to Marquis Waters' momentum-changing 72 yard return in the first quarter versus FIU. The Red Raiders are one of 13 FBS program to own multiple defensive touchdowns in 2021. The INT also increased the Red Raiders' season total to five, each of been made by a different player, and matches the team total of five INTs in 2020 (10 games).
  • Texas Tech's five interceptions so far this season lead the Big 12 and rank tied for 10th nationally entering this weekend.
  • Texas Tech has limited opponents on the ground and through the air this season as the Red Raiders are giving up only 290.3 yards of total offense per game. That currently ranks 29th nationally and fifth in the Big 12 entering league play. Texas Tech's 871 yards of total offense allowed thus far is the fewest through three games since 2012 when the Red Raiders gave up 481 yards to the likes of Northwestern State, Texas State and New Mexico.
  • Tahj Brooks has been the breakout star for the Texas Tech offense through the first three weeks as he has carried 35 times for 284 yards and four touchdowns. Brooks has been explosive in finding the end zone, scoring on touchdown runs of 41 and 44 yards against Houston before breaking loose on a 67-yard scamper against SFA. To this point in the season, Brooks joins Ohio State's TreVeyon Henderson as the only FBS running backs with three runs of at least 40 yards or longer. He leads the Big 12 and ranks seventh nationally, averaging an impressive 8.1 yards per carry.
  • Brooks finished with a career-high 134 rushing yards against Houston and then added 103 on the ground versus SFA, marking his first two games to reach the 100-yard mark. He currently ranks 32nd nationally and fifth in the Big 12 for both rushing yards and rushing yards per game (94.7) and 27th in the FBS for rushing touchdowns (4).
  • The Red Raiders added to their list of explosive plays of 50 yards or better, with now seven, behind a Kaylon Geiger 52-yard catch, and Dalton Rigdon's 59-yard catch. Texas and Michigan lead the nation in that category with seven a piece.
  • Xavier White added a 52-yard run against SFA as part of seven carries for 88 yards and a touchdown. With that run, Texas Tech has four carries go at least 40 yards this season, which ranks tied for second nationally despite not adding to that total against FIU.
  • Texas Tech scored 35 points the first half against FIU, the most points in a first half since scoring 35 against West Virginia in 2019.
  • Tech ran 28 plays and scored 28 points in the second quarter. The last time Tech scored 28 points in a single quarter was on Sept. 8, 2018 against Lamar in the second quarter.