Week 6 of the college football season is here and despite there being no ranked matchups in the Big 12, there is still plenty on the line with conference play in full swing. One of the most important games of the weekend took place in Tucson, Arizona as the Arizona Wildcats hosted the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Texas Tech is fresh off a win against Arizona State while Arizona upset Utah 23 to 10 last weekend on the road. Both teams are looking to remain unbeaten in Big 12 play with the Red Raiders sitting at 2-0 while the Wildcats are 1-0. It was a close battle but, in the end, Texas Tech came out on top 28-22. Here are my three takeaways from the game.
Arizona’s Offense Made Too Many Mistakes
After playing a fairly clean game against Utah last weekend, Arizona had some troubles on Saturday night against Texas Tech. While quarterback Noah Fifita threw for over 300 yards, he struggled with his accuracy and threw two interceptions. It also didn’t help that Arizona went away from the run game at times despite averaging four yards per carry.
But Fifita wasn’t the only one who turned the football over. Superstar wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan had a costly fumble with just a little over two minutes left in the game. His fumble helped Texas Tech take a two-possession lead.
The Wildcats also had a tough time finishing drives as the offense went 3/14 on third down. It seemed like every time they got close to scoring, they had to settle for a field goal. Kicker Tyler Loop attempted six field goals and knocked in five of them which means he scored well over half of Arizona’s points. Between the turnovers and not finishing drives, Arizona simply couldn’t get the job done against Texas Tech.
Texas Tech Found a Way
Sometimes winning isn’t pretty but at the end of the day a win is a win and that is all that matters in college football. Even when the offense struggled at times, they came up big when they needed to. Behren Morton didn’t have his best day but he didn’t turn the football over. Running back Tahj Brooks had two costly fumbles but he also scored three touchdowns to help make up for it. And when Tech needed a big play, Tahj came up huge with a 32-yard touchdown run that made it a two possession game.
The biggest reason Texas Tech won this game was because of their defense. They were able to get some pressure on Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and made him uncomfortable at times. This defense gave up just one play of over 20 yards and had four takeaways. In this conference, it’s not easy to win on the road but Texas Tech found a way to win.
Texas Tech is a Big 12 Title Contender
Last week after their win against Arizona State, I said that there is a path for Texas Tech to win eight or nine games this season. Well after this win against Arizona, the Red Raiders are sitting at the top of the Big 12 standings with a perfect 3-0 record for the first time in eleven years.
Texas Tech has a bye week next weekend and after that they will play Baylor and TCU. Those are two very winnable games which means that the Red Raiders could very well be 7-1 heading into the Iowa State game on November 2nd. After their big date with the Cyclones, they get to play Colorado, Oklahoma State and West Virginia. Their schedule sets up very nicely and I am confident that this team will be right in the mix for a Big 12 title in late November.
