Texas Tech football basking in its moment in the sun | Williams
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As the final few minutes wound down on the latest Texas Tech football win in a season chock full of them, I knelt just beyond Jones AT&T Stadium’s south end zone and tried to take it all in.
I looked toward the northwest corner end zone, thinking about Jamie Gill’s perfect-strike touchdown pass to Travis Price to beat the Aggies in 1989. I looked over to the southeast end-zone corner, remembering Zach Thomas’s pick-six to conquer the Aggies in 1995.
Oh, things change with Jones AT&T Stadium. The new south end zone building skyscraper put me in the shadows. But when the Red Raiders have it rolling, the vibe from the bleachers feels the same as it did 30 or more years ago.
I know a great many folks favor Tech football memories that happened after dark. For me, there’s something about moments that unfolded on brilliantly sunlit afternoons.
These days, in the fourth quarter of Tech games, the mind can wander. All nine Red Raiders victories have been by more than 21 points. Outside of their 26-22 loss Oct. 18 at Arizona State, the Red Raiders have gone largely unchallenged on their march to 9-1, a top-10 ranking, and now the lead in the Big 12 standings going into mid-November.
With regular-season games remaining against UCF and West Virginia, it’s not too hard to picture a conference title in sight.
Lord knows Tech fans have sat through enough sad Saturdays to earn their turn at this position.
Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez was asked after Tech’s 29-7 victory over Brigham Young on Saturday, Nov. 8, how much West Texas and Texas Tech needed a weekend such as the one that just unfolded.
“I mean, not so much needed, but deserved,” Rodriguez said. “I think everybody in West Texas deserved this weekend. They love football, and they love Texas Tech football, and I believe that they deserve this, and we’re so thankful and happy to be able to give it to them.”
Years from now, there’s maybe no single play you’ll remember from Saturday. Maybe Cole Wisniewski’s body-slam tackle of a leaping Bear Bachmeier. Maybe Rodriguez tipping an interception to himself and recovering a backward-pass fumble, more additions to his lengthy personal highlight film.
Mostly, the Red Raiders slowly, methodically grounded the Cougars into sawdust, which is their MO. When the outcome’s not in doubt almost from the opening kickoff, no single play is going to have a lot of posterity.
But the scene. The scene all week just might stick with you. First came Raiderville, more than 2,000 Tech students pitching tents, rubbing elbows with their heroes and camping out those six days to Saturday.
When Tech coach Joey McGuire made his game-week presentation on Tuesday, introducing the next opponent, his second slide showed all those kids camping. He wanted his guys to grasp they were playing for not only the people in the building, but for the hopes and dreams of their fans and fellow students.
If it didn’t completely resonate right away, it did as the week played out.
“The energy they brought to us every single day … ,” McGuire said. “Like, we’re at practice or we’re walking in the building and not one single player whenever I’m down in the training room or I’m walking through the weight room that they’re not like, ‘Coach, do you see what’s going on outside? Do you see what’s going on outside?’
“Man, our students were absolutely incredible this week. I thought our stadium was electric.”
When the students packed up from the south side of the stadium early Friday, ESPN’s College GameDay cranked to life on the west side.
Nick Saban in Lubbock? You think you’ve had flight-connection hassles during the government shutdown? College football’s coaching godfather for the past however many years must’ve thought he’d landed on another planet.
At least Saban might have come away with some grudging appreciation for the Red Raiders. After all, they’ve been winning in — dare we say it? — SEC style. The receivers drop too many passes. The offensive linemen are jumpy. The quarterback’s forever banged up. The operation can misfire a little much for a team with designs on making noise in the College Football Playoff.
The defense, though? The defense has backstopped the Red Raiders all year.
The latest display came on a day with sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. That was a little warm for mid-November. It was fitting, though, considering the Red Raiders don’t often have an outlook this bright as they drill deep into the fall.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football basking in its moment in the sun | Williams
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