LUBBOCK, Texas – After much anticipation, the 2022 football season is here. On Saturday at 7 p.m., Joey McGuire starts as the Red Raiders host Murray State at Jones AT&T Stadium. It will be the first match between the two programs.
Television coverage will be available via Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Greg Mescall will have the call, along with Taylor McHargue providing the analysis. The broadcast can be accessed from any desktop or laptop computer, any personal mobile device and TV streaming services using the ESPN app. Registration for the subscription service can be found at ESPNPlus.com.
The Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game on 46 affiliates throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico as Brian Jensen will have the call along with analyst John Harris and sideline reporter Chris Level. The radio broadcast can also be heard on SiriusXM channel 99 or 206, as well as on the Varsity app.
MCGUIRE THE WIND STARTS WITH RACERS
- After an exciting offseason, Texas Tech will officially begin the Joey McGuire era on Saturday when the Red Raiders host Murray State inside Jones AT&T Stadium. McGuire was hired last November as the 17th head coach in program history, building a new brand for Red Raider Football as Texas Tech strives to be “the toughest, hardest-working, most competitive team in the country.
- Texas Tech is 10-5-1 all-time in games where its head coach is making his debut as the Red Raiders have won four straight dating back to Mike Leach in 2000.
- McGuire is one of 13 power five coaches making their respective debuts for their programs. Along with McGuire, this list includes: Mike Elko (Duke), Billy Napier (Florida), Brian Kelly (LSU), Mario Cristobal (Miami), Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame), Brent Venables (Oklahoma), Dan Lanning (Oregon ), Lincoln Riley (USC), Sonny Dykes (TCU), Tony Elliot (Virginia), Brent Pry (Virginia Tech), Kalen DeBoer (Washington) and Jake Dickert (Washington State).
WELCOME TO GET THE THREE UNIVERSITIES
- The term “Take Three” is one that many in the Red Raider program have heard every day since the hiring of Joey McGuire. The phrase is a key element of McGuire’s plan to win strategy, emphasizing the defensive goal of creating three points per game.
- Texas Tech returns six starters on its defense, including most of its secondary, such as Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, who led the Red Raiders with three interceptions a year ago. The defense also features one of the nation’s top rushers in Tyree Wilson, the Liberty Bowl Defensive MVP from a year ago, who had 13.5 tackles for loss and 7.0 sacks.
TEXAS TECH HEADS STORY AT DEBUT
- Texas Tech head coaches have a 10-5-1 all-time record when debuting on the Red Raider sideline. Joey McGuire will try to match each of Tech’s last four coaches – Matt Wells, Kliff Kingsbury, Tommy Tuberville and Mike Leach – with a win in his first game in charge of the Red Raiders. This century, Texas Tech head coaches are 4-0 in their respective debuts.
- Texas Tech hasn’t had a new head coach start a season opener since 1981 when the Red Raiders, under first-year coach Jerry Moore, fell to Colorado, 45-27, in Boulder. Spike Dykes also missed his first game leading the Red Raiders, but it came in the 1986 Independence Bowl when he was promoted to head coach after David McWilliams left for Texas.
A GLANCE AT MURRAY STATE
- This will be the first meeting between Texas Tech and Murray State, a game added before the start of the 2018 season.
- Murray State competes in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
- Murray State was picked to finish third among seven conference members in the 2022 OVC preseason poll. UT-Martin was picked to finish first (the same school current Red Raider offensive lineman Michael Shanahan played for last season) while Missouri Southeast was chosen second.
- The 2022 season will be Murray State’s final season of competition in the OVC as it is set to join the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) in 2023.
RED READERS AGAINST FCS
- Since 1978 when the NCAA split its Division I schools into two divisions, Texas Tech has compiled a 25-1 all-time record against FCS opponents. All of those games were played at Jones AT&T Stadium. Texas Tech has won its last 19 straight games against FCS foes dating back to the 1988 season. The NCAA renamed Division 1A and Division I-AA to FBS and FCS in 2006 to highlight the difference in football programs.
- This is the 12th time in the last 16 seasons that the Red Raiders have faced an FCS program in their home opener. Tech is a perfect 11-0 during that stretch.
- Texas Tech is averaging 51.0 points per game against FCS opponents. For a 10-year stretch (2010-19), the Red Raiders topped the 40-point mark in every game against an FCS program and won by an average margin of victory of 40.0 (56.7-16.7). The previous two seasons, the games were much closer with Tech claiming a 35-33 win in 2020 over Houston Baptist (on a team then led by Zach Kitley as offensive coordinator) and a 28-22 win over Stephen F. Austin last season. passed.
- Texas Tech’s only loss to an FCS program came in 1988 when North Texas stunned the Red Raiders, 29-24, inside Jones AT&T Stadium.
CHALLENGING SCHEDULE AT TAP
- The start of the Joey McGuire era will be a challenge for the Red Raiders, who will face three ranked opponents in their first four games to start the season. Tech will follow the Murray State game by hosting No. 24 Houston before traveling to close out non-conference play at No. 13 NC State. The Red Raiders will then open Big 12 play back at Jones AT&T Stadium against in-state rival No. 18 Texas.
- Texas Tech is one of only four Power Five conference schools scheduled to face at least two non-conference opponents currently ranked in the Associated Press preseason Top 25. That list also includes Pac-12 programs Oregon and Stanford, along with the SEC’s Arkansas.
- There is only one Power Five program, Mississippi State, that has more AP top 25 teams on the regular season schedule than Texas Tech with six. The Red Raiders’ preseason schedule pits them against five opponents ranked in the AP top-25 and are one of 10 Power Five teams facing that type of schedule in 2022 (Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina, Syracuse, Stanford, Arkansas, Auburn, South Carolina and Vanderbilt).
- If both Houston and NC State remain in the top 25 polls before facing the Red Raiders, it would mark the first time since 2002 that Texas Tech has faced multiple ranked non-conference opponents in a season . The Red Raiders previously started the 2002 campaign at No. 12 Ohio State before later traveling to face No. 16 NC State in the fourth week of the season.
- In addition to Houston and NC State, the Red Raiders will open Big 12 play against Texas, which is ranked No. 18 nationally in the AFCA coaches poll and also receives votes in the AP poll. Texas Tech will follow with contests at Kansas State, which is also receiving votes in both polls, and then at No. 12 of Oklahoma.
- In its history, Texas Tech has started just one other season with three of its first four games against ranked opponents since the Red Raiders last did so in 1978 against No. 9 Southern Cal, No. 6 Texas and No. 7. Texas A&M. Tech dropped all three of those games, falling 17-9 at Southern Cal and then 24-7 at home to Texas and 38-9 in College Station to the Aggies. The Red Raiders rebounded, however, to win their next six games as part of a 7-4 season under Rex Dockery.
RETURNS AS QB1 RED RAIDS
- Tyler Shough will return as Texas Tech’s starting quarterback after being sidelined for the final eight games a year ago following a season-ending injury in the Big 12 opener against Texas. Shough was named the starter by Joey McGuire after a close competition with sophomore Donovan Smith and redshirt freshman Behren Morton.
- Before his injury, Shough had already powered the Red Raiders to a 3-0 record that was highlighted by a come-from-behind win against Houston. Shough had completed 69.6 percent of his passes to that point, throwing for 872 yards and six touchdowns while rushing for two more scores.
- Shough enters the 2022 season. Shough is 8-4 as a starter between his time at Texas Tech at Oregon, where he led the Ducks to the Pac-12 Championship in 2020.
- Shough was named Texas Tech’s starting quarterback coming out of preseason camp as the senior will make his 12th career start Saturday against Murray State. Shough won the job after a three-way competition between himself, sophomore Donovan Smith and redshirt freshman Behren Morton. Smith previously started the final four games of the 2021 season after Shough was injured, earning AutoZone Liberty Bowl MVP honors after leading the Red Raiders past Mississippi State.
RAIDER WALK RETURNS FOR MCGUIRE’S DEBUT AT TEXAS TECH
- Texas Tech will bring back the Raider Walk before every home game at Jones AT&T Stadium this season as the football program debuts an improved route under new head coach Joey McGuire. Fans can greet the Red Raiders approximately two hours and 15 minutes before kickoff each Saturday as Texas Tech will unload team buses just south of the Sports Performance Center and walk north down Drive of Champions Avenue to the home tunnel . The Goin’ Band spirit squads from Raiderland and Texas Tech will be on hand each week to cheer on the Red Raiders as they begin pregame preparations. Fans are asked to line the streets before the team’s arrival and then enjoy other pre-game entertainment such as Raider Alley presented by Bud Light.
GET TICKETS AS YOU CAN
- Excitement over the hiring of Joey McGuire has been felt throughout Texas Tech Athletics since last November, as the athletic department has seen significant increases in early season ticket sales. As of Sunday, Texas Tech boasts more than 7,000 new season ticket holders this year, bringing its total to more than 28,000, which ranks in the top 10 all-time in school history .
- In addition to increasing ticket sales, McGuire experienced sold-out crowds across the state of Texas as part of the Red Raider Club Wreck’Em Tour. McGuire, who has spoken to more than 50 groups since his hiring last year, has sold out events in Dallas, Fort Worth, Midland, Abilene, San Antonio and Houston as part of a tour to greet donors and supporters across the state. . Texas Tech also benefited from sellout crowds in Lubbock with more than 1,300 fans attending the preseason Red Raider Club Kickoff Luncheon.
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