Texas Tech walks into its meeting with Sam Houston carrying the kind of confidence that comes from being tested and surviving it. Joey McGuire made clear this week that the Red Raiders are not treating Saturday’s matchup like a simple tune-up, even with Texas Tech installed as a 34.5-point favorite and ranked No. 11 in the country.
McGuire pointed to Sam Houston’s ability to hang around in recent games, especially against Troy and Tulsa, as a reason his team has to stay sharp. He also singled out the Bearkats’ quarterback, who enters the game seventh in the nation with 973 passing yards, along with 67 completions and nine touchdowns.
"It's going to be a great game. They're 1-2, but they played really tight against Troy and Tulsa.
You look at Troy, they won Week 1, they're 3-0. It's a fake punt that actually turns into a long touchdown that ends up beating Sam Houston.
They played them really tight. Good team.
They're really going to test us. We've been tested in the secondary.
They're going to test us. Their quarterback is seventh in the nation passing (with) 973 yards.
He's completing 67 of his balls with nine touchdowns. And I know Coach Long, he likes to air it out, so it's going to be a real test for us."
Texas Tech also comes in with momentum from a win last week, and McGuire said the team is still in the middle of sorting itself out while getting healthier at the same time. He said the late-game response mattered, and he highlighted several players who helped that happen.
"This team, we showed it last week, whenever we got down and played the last eight minutes, as crazy as it sounds, we're still finding ourselves, and we're finding guys that are going to step up. And then we're also getting healthier.
Trey White being healthy tonight was huge. BJ Jordan being back was huge.
I thought our young safeties tackled really well, but they fight. These guys have a lot of confidence and man, it was good to see Will Hammond turn it loose tonight in a critical game with his feet."
The matchup takes place Saturday, September 26, at 11:00 a.m. CT at Galaxy Stadium in Lubbock, where Texas Tech is 12-2 in 2025 and Sam Houston is 2-10.
The Red Raiders lead the series 2-0, including a 59-45 win in the last meeting on September 5, 2015. Texas Tech is led by McGuire, who is 38-18, while Phil Longo is 10-26 at Sam Houston.
The game will air on TNT Sports, with radio coverage on the Texas Tech Radio Network.
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