LUBBOCK, Texas — The last time Texas Tech hosted Houston in a ranked matchup was 1976. It was the Cougars first season in the Southwest Conference after years of beating at the doors, and the Red Raiders’ first chance to win an outright conference championship for the first time 

Houston and legendary coach Bill Yeomen spoiled the party that time, splitting the conference championship. Texas Tech would have to wait 50 more years to finally win their next outright title. But facing their first test as reigning champions, ghosts of disappointments past weighed on the newly dubbed Galaxy Stadium. 

It came down to a two-point conversion attempt after No. 22 Houston stormed back to cut No. 13 Texas Tech’s lead to two on a last-second touchdown drive. 

Then, a clock issue halted the game. 

Then Texas Tech called a timeout. 

The crowd was on pins and needles, watching their season hang in the balance, the only ranked opponent on the schedule only two yards away from forcing overtime. 

Houston quarterback Conner Weigman was pressured on the dropback and darted left. Defenders scratched and clawed, trying to drag him down as he reached for the goal line. In a mass of humanity, he was ruled down inches short, a moment straight out of a Friday Night Lights script. 

Replay confirmed the call that he was short of the goaline and Texas Tech clinched its shakiest win of the past two years. But it was a win: a 28-26 Red Raiders victory. 

“It was kind of like a movie,” wide receiver Kenny Johnson said. “Like we were just up there, waving towels, just trying to get everybody to hype up. It was so great, the defense came up big for us.”

There was something off about this game. Friday nights are reserved for high school football in West Texas. Both Texan coaches — Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and Houston’s Willie Fritz — protested the game’s presence on Friday night with hats honoring the Texas High School Coaches Association. 

The 90-degree desert heat mixed with an alumni base often facing drives of more than five hours to Lubbock for football games. And yet, the stadium was packed at kickoff, awaiting perhaps the biggest game of the season. 

“This is just what we do,” one alumnus told me after driving eight hours from Houston. “We show up for the Red Raiders.” 

Needing a spark

The first half was a comedy of errors for a Texas Tech program facing its first big test after winning a Big 12 championship. Houston running back Makhi Hughes embodied one of the ghosts of Tech past. He was on the sideline during the Red Raiders’ humbling 23-0 loss against Oregon in the College Football Playoff, a performance that keeps Lubbock up at night. 

Hughes bullied his way down the field, setting up a field goal to open the game, among his 99 all-purpose yards of the game. Weigman took the reins from there, turning a Texas Tech turnover into a touchdown to push the lead out to 10. 

McGuire told reporters after the game that Texas Tech planned to throw Houston off by trotting quarterback Tommy Castellanos onto the field for the first two plays and throwing downfield. That way, the Cougars would have to cover the whole field instead of viewing him as only a runner. Instead, Castellanos sailed a throwaway, which was intercepted, leaving the crowd stunned. 

Quarterback Will Hammond, who McGuire reiterated is the program’s one and only starter after two weeks of criticism, was unfazed. 

After a tentative first two games, Hammond took the early deficit as a challenge. He averaged a pedestrian 7.2 yards per target over his first two games, but launched the ball downfield against Houston to the tune of an 11.2 average depth of target. And still, he completed 63% of his passes and posted a career-high 89.7 PFF passing grade in a start. 

“The best thing about this team is everyone’s always ready,” Hammond said. “We always have that next man up mentality. And whether I got the first play or not, we won the game. That’s all that matters.”

Hammond connected with Johnson for a 28-yard reception to end the first quarter and swing the reception. Four plays later, he launched his first real strike, finding Johnson coming out of a scissors route in the corner of the end zone. 

Two drives later, he connected for another pair of 20-yard shots to Terrance Carter and Coy Eakin to set up another touchdown run. The team responded to their leader. Even when Weigman connected for an incredible touchdown pass, the team responded with a dynamic rushing drive from J’Koby Williams to take a lead the Red Raiders would never surrender. 

“A lot of it is just taking a deep breath,” McGuire said. “Some of it is just that you’re so geeked up and you have guys trying to do too much. I just need you to do your job for four to seconds. I thought the guys responded to that.” 

Managing pressure

Texas Tech’s defense was a national phenomenon last season, holding opponents to a nation-best 3.9 yards per play. The Red Raiders lost four defensive starters to the top 70 picks of the NFL Draft, restocking in the transfer portal. 

Through three games, the newcomers have struggled to meet the moment. The Red Raiders didn’t give up more than 103 yards rushing in a game last season. The Cougars rumbled to 176 yards. Weigman passed for 282 yards and three touchdowns, clearing Hammond’s 257 yards passing. 

“There’s definitely pressure,” defensive end Adam Trick said, “but it’s also the standard of excellence here.” 

When the game mattered most, the unit bowed up. In only four second half drives, the Cougars forced two punts. After the Cougars drove into the red zone late in the third, Texas Tech earned a rare tackle for loss on Hughes and drew a false start, pushing them from four-down territory into a field goal. Those saved points proved invaluable. 

“I think people from the outside think that just because we had an awesome season last year means we’re supposed to do the same,” defensive tackle A.J. Holmes said. “But we’re still working and getting better every day. Just because it’s started off a little rocky doesn’t mean it’ll end that way. As you can see, we’re still getting better.” 

McGuire said in the preseason that he thought this team could be better defensively than the one that broke nearly every program record. He asked for a few more weeks to decide whether his mind was changed, after getting star transfer defensive end Trey White back at 100%. 

Last season, Texas Tech played six games before a single one was decided by fewer than 20 points. The Red Raiders were 0-1 in one-score games, the lone regular season loss against Arizona State quarterbacked by a then-backup Hammond. 

Winning ugly still counts. It’s still a win. 

“This is a different team,” McGuire said. “You go from January to mid-June with one team and then you go through camp with a quarterback that’s just getting his feet underneath him. It hasn’t looked pretty, man. But we’re continually finding a way.

“We beat a ranked opponent tonight. That’s huge.”