Texas Tech’s next trip comes with another late kickoff, and another chance to keep its season rolling under the lights.
The Big 12 announced that No. 15 Texas Tech will face Oklahoma State at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday in Stillwater, with the game set for ESPN. It will be the second straight week the Red Raiders are playing well after sunset after their wild 53-48 win over West Virginia in Lubbock, a game that stretched past midnight.
That victory did more than push Tech to 8-1. It also gave the Red Raiders a school-record 14 straight home wins, breaking the mark that had stood from the 1939-1942 seasons.
Quarterback Thomas Castellanos put together the kind of performance that can carry a team through a shootout, throwing for a career-high 362 yards and five touchdowns while adding 102 rushing yards of his own.
“Kudos to the guys that was catching the ball today,” Tech quarterback Thomas Castellanos said. “There’s a couple of plays where our guys went up and made some crazy catches and the offensive line gave me time today and to be able to sit back there and be confident and just trust the receivers.
“So, I mean it’s a group effort and I think we went out today and we probably put our best game out there.”
J’Koby Williams also had a big night, rushing for 160 yards and breaking loose for a 75-yard touchdown. That was the 14th rush of 75 yards or longer in program history, and the first since SaRodrick Thompson did it against Texas in 2020.
The offense was explosive all night. Texas Tech finished with 10 explosive plays and piled up a season-high 638 yards.
The defense, though, was pushed to the edge, giving up 48 points and 582 yards, both season highs. It was the most points the Red Raiders had allowed since a 56-48 win over Oklahoma State on Nov.
23, 2024.
The late-night matchup also lands at a key moment in the national picture. Texas Tech is currently No. 15 in the College Football Playoff rankings released last week, and the next set of rankings comes out at 8 p.m.
Tuesday on ESPN. Several teams ahead of the Red Raiders took losses Saturday, including No.
1 Miami, No. 6 Kentucky, No.
9 BYU, No. 10 Ole Miss, No.
12 Ohio State, No. 14 LSU, No.
18 Missouri and No. 24 Florida.
Around the Big 12, Utah now stands alone in first place at 6-0 after beating BYU, while Tech sits second by itself at 5-1. Five teams are bunched at 4-2: BYU, Houston, Arizona, Oklahoma State and Baylor.
Oklahoma State’s offense is being driven by quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who is expected to be one of the top selections in next year’s NFL Draft. In Saturday’s blowout win over Kansas State, Mestemaker threw four touchdown passes, ran for a score and even caught a touchdown pass.
“Oklahoma State’s one of the best in the country on offense and they’re really good,” Coach Joey McGuire said. “Eric (Morris) has got their offense really rolling and at different times they played really good defense, so it’s going to be a slugfest next week too at Oklahoma State.”
Texas Tech Athletics also noted that the Red Raiders are 8-1 for the second straight season. It’s the third time in program history they’ve started consecutive seasons 8-1 or better, and the 13th time they’ve reached 8-1 through nine games, with those seasons listed as 1932, 1933, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1973, 1976, 2005, 2008, 2025 and 2026.
The Red Raiders’ 5-1 start in Big 12 play matches last season’s pace. It’s only the fourth time Texas Tech has opened conference play 5-1 or better since joining the league in 1996, with the other starts coming in 2005, 2025 and 2008, when Tech went 6-0.
Tech also entered Saturday as one of eight FBS teams with at least 24 points in every game, one of three with at least 150 rushing yards in every game, and the only team to do both in every game this season. That streak is the longest to open a season in the Big 12 since 2019 Oklahoma State’s 10-game run, and it grew even more in the first half alone Saturday, when the Red Raiders put up 494 yards, including 207 on the ground.
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The Red Raiders also came out of the matchup with injury questions in the backfield, though Cam Dickey and Quinten Joyner are expected to be okay after ankle issues. With Eakin sidelined, true freshman Chase Campbell is now in line for a bigger role, giving Texas Tech a chance to see how much depth it really has at receiver while it tries to keep the offense moving. [Read more 🡒]
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For the Red Raiders, the larger takeaway is simple: the league race is not settling down anytime soon, and the rankings are reflecting that uncertainty. As the ESPN College Football Power Index updates after a volatile weekend, Texas Tech now has a case that is hard for fans to dismiss, with the kind of shifting landscape that can turn one strong stretch into a serious argument for where this team belongs in the Big 12 pecking order. [Read more 🡒]