Texas Tech left Houston with a 28-26 win to open Big 12 play and move to 3-0, but the Red Raiders still haven’t tapped into what looks like a higher offensive gear. That part of the team has yet to clear 35 points in a game, and the biggest reason for optimism is that Will Hammond looked like a quarterback on the rise in game three.
Hammond’s performance against Houston was strong in every way that mattered. He finished 17 of 27 for 257 yards and a touchdown, numbers that only tell part of the story.
Three passes that should have been caught were dropped by Terrance Carter Jr., Micah Hudson and Coy Eakin at key moments, including one by Carter that could have turned into a long touchdown. If those plays are made, Hammond likely goes over 300 passing yards for the first time this season and probably adds another touchdown, too.
The interception on his stat line also came with a heavy asterisk. Late in the first half, Hammond took a shot downfield to Hudson on a go route, but Hudson ended up on his back after slipping, and the defensive back came away with a one-handed pick.
Even with those missed chances around him, Hammond still produced one of the best outings of his career. He averaged 9.5 yards per attempt, the best mark he has posted as a college starter. His 257 passing yards were also his most in a Big 12 game and the second-highest total of his career, trailing only the 280 yards he threw for against Arkansas in the 2024 Liberty Bowl.
It was also a day that began in a strange way. Texas Tech tried to get cute and keep Hammond off the field for the opening snap, using a package for backup QB Tommy Castellanos instead.
That sequence backfired immediately when Castellanos threw an ill-advised interception on his only pass attempt. Hammond could have reacted poorly to that, but instead he seemed to use it as fuel.
There’s also evidence that he’s getting more comfortable physically after last season’s knee injury. He’s been more assertive in each game this year as he learns to trust his body, and against Houston he ran five times for 30 yards while also looking mobile in the pocket and on the move.
That growth matters because Texas Tech has been building toward this moment. Game three was originally the target for Hammond’s return when the offseason started, though that timeline moved up after the Brendan Sorsby saga.
Even so, he is still in the early stages of getting all the way back physically and mentally. The benefit for Tech was that he had two games under his belt before Houston.
If this had been his first action of the season, the Red Raiders likely would not have gotten through one of their biggest tests of the regular season.
Now the schedule gives Hammond and the offense a chance to keep climbing. Texas Tech gets Sam Houston this week, and the Bearkats are 1-2 and have not faced a Power-4 opponent.
After that comes Colorado, which just allowed 41 points in a 34-point loss to Northwestern. Then comes the open week, right at the midpoint of the season.
After that, the grind begins. Tech will play seven straight Big 12 games to finish the regular season, which means the next two weeks are a real chance for the offense to find its rhythm before the heavy lifting starts. That matters because this year’s defense is not the top-5 national unit that the 2025 defense was, so the Red Raiders may need to win a shootout or two to get where they want to go.
If Hammond keeps trending the way he did against Houston, Texas Tech’s offense could finally start looking like the version everyone has been waiting for.
In Other News...
Houston Just Became Part Of A Bigger Big 12 TV Debate
Texas Techs 28-26 win over Houston ended up drawing a much larger audience than the box score alone suggested, giving the Big 12 another data point in a season where Friday night exposure is becoming part of the conversation. The game averaged 3.028 million viewers on FOX College Football Friday and peaked at 4.074 million, a strong number for a matchup that had conference implications but not the kind of national-title gravity usually needed to move the needle on television.
FOX said the audience was 31% above its average Friday night college football viewership from last season, while the networks current Friday package is averaging 2.575 million viewers, up 11%. With multiple Big 12 games still set for Friday nights on FOX, results like this only add weight to the idea that the leagues scheduling profile could be shaped by how these windows perform, and Houstons place in that debate is now tied to more than just one close finish in Lubbock. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Techs Quarterback Problem Just Changed That Sorsby Debate
Texas Techs quarterback room has been one of the sports stranger cautionary tales for a while now, and the latest chapter only adds to the uncertainty. Injuries had already thinned out the group, and the programs hopes of finding stability took another hit when transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby ran into a gambling-related NCAA suspension that eventually pushed him out of the picture. Since then, the Red Raiders have been forced to keep patching things together while trying to find a workable answer under center.
The search has not produced much clarity in 2026, even after a narrow win over Houston and a start from Thomas Castellanos that ended with an interception. Texas Techs effort to fight for Sorsbys eligibility through legal channels created its own mess, drawing backlash from around the Big 12 and leaving the debate around his case far from settled. For a team trying to move on, the quarterback issue still feels like the problem that wont stay buried. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Faces One Early Test After That Houston Escape
Texas Tech got its Big 12 slate off to a nerve-racking start last week, surviving Houston 28-26 behind quarterback Will Hammond and leaving little doubt that the Red Raiders are already in the kind of games that can define a season. A win is a win, but an 11th-ranked team that has to sweat out its conference opener usually comes out of it with both confidence and questions, and the schedule doesnt exactly offer a long breather.
Sam Houston comes to town next as an FBS opponent that has already shown it can keep games tight. The Bearkats have opened with two close losses and one convincing victory, with quarterback Landyn Locke giving them a passing game that has caused problems, so Texas Tech gets another early chance to prove the Houston escape was just a bump and not a warning sign. [Read more 🡒]