It’s hard to imagine a worse situation.
It’s the kind that’s derailed so many Texas Tech seasons throughout the program’s history.
Starting quarterback Behren Morton’s Saturday ended early in the third quarter after taking a big hit and staying on the turf at Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium, one of the toughest venues in college football.
Utah looked like a preseason title contender in the Big 12, boasting an offensive line coach who Kyle Whittingham says is the best he’s had in two decades as a head coach — a tenure that includes three conference titles.
But this Texas Tech is different. And now, it’s 4-0 after piling on the Utes late for a 34-10 road victory, putting it on track to compete for a College Football Playoff bid.
Money talks.
The Red Raiders spent more than $5 million in the transfer portal on five defensive linemen: David Bailey from Stanford, Romello Height from Georgia Tech, Lee Hunter from UCF, Skyler Gill-Howard from Northern Illinois and A.J. Holmes from Houston.
It was the unit with the highest expectations on a roster being paid around $25 million thanks to an influx of oil money from billionaire super booster Cody Campbell, and early on, it looks like money well spent.
Texas Tech’s defense entered this weekend ranked 10th nationally in yards per play (3.7) through three games against inferior competition. It held the Utes to 3.8 yards on 69 offensive snaps (for 263 total yards), forced four turnovers and kept them out of the end zone for the game’s first three quarters. Devon Dampier, Utah’s dynamic quarterback, was limited to 162 passing yards on 38 attempts and only 27 rushing yards.
The defense ranked 123rd last season in the same category, allowing 6.5 yards per play. In the last decade, it hasn’t had a defense finish higher than 59th. More often, it’s been outside the top 100. But in the NIL era, cash translates to results more directly than ever before. And Texas Tech has it and used it to buy the nation’s No. 2 transfer class to upgrade its roster.
Time will tell how this season ends, but the Red Raiders’ win Saturday was their first in a ranked matchup since 2018.
Texas Tech has finished in the top 15 just once since 1976. It has never played for a Big 12 title.
Since firing Mike Leach in 2009 near the end of a 9-4 season, the Red Raiders have yet to win nine games in a season. Leach was the only coach since that 1976 season to win 10 games.
Texas Tech is on its way to rewriting its own history. The Red Raiders attacking the transfer portal with cash was the hottest topic in the Big 12 throughout the offseason. There was plenty of skepticism from fans and coaches about how it would work.
“The pressure that’s going to come with all the money Texas Tech spent is going to be tough,” one Big 12 head coach told The Athletic.
So far, it looks like the Red Raiders are handling the pressure just fine.
Utah employed no such strategy in building its offensive line, which is among college football’s most experienced, accomplished and dominant units.
And yet, it was Texas Tech’s cash-fueled, transfer-heavy unit that won the day and gave the Red Raiders an inside track to winning the school’s first Big 12 title in a league that looks wide open at the top.
It’s possible Saturday’s game will be replayed again in Arlington on championship weekend.
The questions will continue. Will it work long term? Is this bad for college football? Is this a shortcut that undermines the reasons many coaches got into college football?
The Red Raiders won’t hear them. They’re too busy celebrating.
They’ve seen Saturday’s game so many times over the last few decades. It’s a game Texas Tech loses. It’s a game in which Texas Tech gets bullied at the line of scrimmage.
Instead, Texas Tech won. Utah was left with a black eye that cost $5 million to deliver.
College football has changed.
And the Red Raiders are reaping the benefits.
(Photo of Amier Boyd, John Curry: Rob Gray / Imagn Images)
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