Final Wrap: Texas 49, Texas Tech 24

GETTING STARTED

• Weather at Kickoff: 54 degrees, overcast, drizzly, wind E at 0 mph
•   Today’s game was televised nationally on FOX.
• Today’s game marked the 69th all-time meeting between Texas Tech and Texas.
•   Texas Tech won the coin toss and elected to defer until the second half. Tech is 9-3 in the pregame coin flip this year.
• Texas Tech wore its black-white-black uniform combination for the first time this year. The Red Raiders move to 12-8 since 2009 when wearing this combination.
•   Today’s game captains were seniors Terence Steele (OL), Travis Bruffy (OL), Broderick Washington Jr. (DL) and Douglas Coleman III (DB).
•   Today’s attendance: 93,747

ROSTER NOTES

•   Sophomore slot receiver Dalton Rigdon sat out for the second week in a row after starting the first 10 games. Junior McLane Mannix started in his place.
•   Senior linebacker Jordyn Brooks missed his first game of the year and finished his career seventh among Tech defenders in career tackles.
• Freshman corner Alex Hogan received his first career start.

Starters – (Offense) – (LT) Travis Bruffy, (LG) Madison Akomnonu, (C) Dawson Deaton, (RG) Weston Wright (RT) Terence Steele, (QB) Jett Duffey, (RB) SaRodorick Thompson, (WR) Erik Ezukanma (TE) Donta Thompson, (WR) RJ Turner, (WR) McLane Mannix; (Defense) – (DE) Eli Howard, (T) Broderick Washington, Jr., (N) Jaylon Hutchings, (LB) Adam Beck, (LB) Riko Jeffers, (LB) Xavier Benson, (Spur) DaMarcus Fields, (CB) Alex Hogan, (CB) Zech McPhearson, (S) Adrian Frye, (S) Douglas Coleman III.

TEXAS TECH’S LOSS…

•   Gives Texas Tech a 4-8 overall record and 2-7 mark in Big 12 play.
•   Gives Texas Tech a 17-52 all-time record against Texas, including a 7-31 mark in Austin.
•   Gives Texas Tech a 6-18 record against Texas in the Big 12 era.
•   Gives Texas Tech a 13-11 record in regular-season finales during the Big 12 era.
•   Gives Matt Wells a 48-42 record all-time as a head coach.
•   Gives Matt Wells a career record of 4-8 at Texas Tech.
•   Gives Matt Wells a career record of 0-1 against Texas.

TEXAS TECH TEAM NOTES

• Texas Tech started fast by forcing a Longhorn punt and scoring a touchdown on the opening possessions for both teams. It’s the first time since the opening two games of the season Tech has accomplished that start. The Tech defense held its opponent scoreless on their opening drive eight times in 12 games. On the reverse side, the Tech offense reached the end zone four times on its opening drives.
• On Texas Tech’s first two drives alone, it ran 17 plays with 10 of those going for 10-yards or more.
• The special teams unit blocked its third kick of the season as Zech McPhearson came in off the edge to erase Texas’s first PAT try. The three blocks are Tech’s most in a season since 2008 and tied for the second-most dating back to 2000.
• The Red Raiders held a 14-6 lead after the first quarter on Friday and finished the year outscoring opponents 86-53 in the first quarter. Defensively, only four teams were able to find the end zone in the first quarter against the Red Raiders.
• This was the first game this season Tech has had multiple 100-yard receivers. Texas Tech has had a 100-yard receiver in four straight games and six of the last eight overall.
• The race to be Texas Tech’s leading receiver in 2019 came down to the wire with redshirt freshman Erik Ezukanma’s 664 yards taking the top spot. He’s the first freshman to lead the team in receiving since Michael Crabtree in 2007.
• Texas Tech moves to 4-4 on the year when scoring first and 4-4 when leading at the end of the first quarter.
• Texas Tech has now scored in 282-straight games dating back to the 1997 season, a streak that now ranks eighth nationally and second in the Big 12 Conference.

NOTING THE RED RAIDERS

• Jett Duffey has thrown for at least 300 yards in four straight games and in six of his eight starts overall. He followed his 444-yard game against Texas in 2018 with 399 yards Friday on 36-of-58 passing with two touchdowns. The 58 passing attempts were a career high.
• KeSean Carter totaled a career-high 125 receiving yards in the first half alone and finished with 150 in the contest. He also set a career high in receptions with 11, which matched the most by a Red Raider this season (RJ Turner, 11 vs. Iowa State). Carter caught his second touchdown catch of the season on Friday with the other coming against Oklahoma State. The 13-yard grab from Jett Duffey capped off an 11-play, 80-yard opening drive for Tech and marked his third career touchdown.
• SaRodorick Thompson led the Red Raiders in rushing with 84 yards on 21 carries. He has been Tech’s leading rusher seven times this season with six of those coming in Big 12 play. He tallied his team-leading 12th rushing touchdown of the season and has found the endzone eight times in the last six games alone.
• Zech McPhearson became the second Red Raider since 2000 to have two blocked kicks in a season, joining Kerry Hyder in 2013. McPhearson came off the edge to get his second block of the year as he also got a PAT attempt at Kansas.
• Erik Ezukanma recorded a career-high 135 yards, the first 100-yard game of his career. He also tallied a touchdown while matching his career high with seven catches. Ezukanma has caught a touchdown in three-straight games, a career high. He now has four touchdowns on the season and five for his career.
• Xavier Benson recorded a career-high nine tackles. His previous high was eight on two different occasions, most recently against K-State last week.
• DaMarcus Fields recorded a career-high 13 tackles. It’s his second career game with 10+ tackles, the last coming in 2018 against West Virginia.
• Adam Beck got in on his first career sack on Friday.
• Eli Howard was in on a sack Friday and finished with sack credit in six of nine Big 12 contests.
• Trey Wolff hit his only field goal attempt, a 23-yarder in the third quarter. He improved to 20-of-22 for the year with his 20 made tries ranking second on Tech’s single-season list, just three away from matching the school record by Ryan Bustin in 2013.

Matt Dowdy