The Red Raiders sit 3-0 despite results that are less convincing than last season. Still, Joey McGuire welcomes the doubts.
LUBBOCK, Texas - Most knew Friday night's Big 12 opener between No. 13-ranked Texas Tech and No. 22 Houston would look a lot different than the Red Raiders' run to a conference championship last season.
Some even picked Texas Tech to lose, but head coach Joey McGuire likes that type of adversity.
"I appreciate that," McGuire said about the skeptics who picked against the Red Raiders this week after two underwhelming wins to start the year. "That adds fire to it. Just keep picking against us. We love that stuff. We love being doubted."
Texas Tech didn't steamroll the Cougars like they did nearly every conference opponent in 2025, but the Red Raiders still managed to earn a victory, a 28-26 thriller at Galaxy Stadium that came down to a goal-line stop on a 2-point conversion attempt.
"We don't look the same [as last season]," McGuire said. "But we're 3-0."
The doubt came early, and rightfully so. Houston scored on its first possession, and then Texas Tech surprisingly jogged out backup quarterback Thomas Castellanos for the first snap. The opening play from scrimmage was an obvious miscalculation, and Castellanos' throwaway pass was intercepted along the sideline. The Red Raiders got down 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Will Hammond would eventually come on (to a roar from the sellout home crowd on the second series) and perform well, completing 17 of his 27 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown.
McGuire said there were two scripted plays the offense would start Castellanos for, and from then on, he only ever entered the game again in his customary red zone rushing opportunities. The Florida State transfer picked himself up with a rushing score in the second quarter, which gave Tech its first lead.
The Red Raiders' "vanilla" offense was partly by design in the first two games of the season. Wide receiver Kenny Johnson, who starred against the Cougars with 113 receiving yards and a touchdown, said there was plenty of the scheme yet to be shown heading into the matchup with Houston.
Things really began opening up as Texas Tech found momentum in the second half. Rushing touchdowns by J'Koby Williams and Cam Dickey helped hold the lead after timely connections between Hammond and his receivers.
"[Offensive coordinator Mack] Leftwich did a great job dialing them up. I'm so proud of him," Hammond said about taking shots downfield. "Lot of people were giving him a lot of crap this week. It was tough in the building, not gonna lie. But you know what, we're a group of people, we respond, and we know how to handle adversity and that's exactly what we did."
The Cougars' late punch shifted the urgency to Texas Tech's defense. Conner Weigman found tight end Patrick Overmyer over the middle for a touchdown with just under a minute remaining. The former 5-star quarterback's dive into the end zone for a game-tying 2-point conversion came up inches short of the goal line as he was hit by linebacker Austin Romaine and tackle Mateen Ibirogba.
Hammond and Johnson recalled the moment from the sideline as if it had come straight out of a movie. Perhaps West Texas' own, Friday Night Lights (Texas Tech was hosting its first Friday night home game since 1941, long before the movie and series were released).
The Red Raiders host Sam Houston in a step back into non-conference play next weekend. Texas Tech is sure to be the favorite in every game left on the schedule, and unlike this meeting with Houston, a wider margin of victory is expected against the Bearkats.
Still, McGuire knows the true maturation of this team is in progress and not close to being settled.
"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."
"I still truly believe we're trying to find ourselves," the coach added. "The more [Hammond] gets snaps under his belt, and the more we play together, then we're just going to keep getting better as a team."
"Just from the outside, people thinking that, just because we had an awesome season last year, that it's supposed to be the same," said returning defensive tackle A.J. Holmes Jr. "But we're still working and getting better every day.
"Just because it's starting off a little rocky doesn't mean it's gonna end that way."
