The Red Raiders received the ball first, taking it all the way to inside ASU’s 10-yard line before J’Koby Williams fumbled the ball away. Three plays later, Ben Roberts intercepted Cutter Boley’s pass and ran it 24 yards for the first score of the game.

The scoring didn’t stop with Roberts in the first quarter, as quarterback Hammond found the end zone with an 11-yard run and Williams redeemed his fumble with a 62-yard rushing touchdown. At the end of the first half, Tech had racked up 404 offensive yards and led 43-10. In the previous five weeks, the Red Raiders averaged just 13.8 points in the first half. 

“I thought this was one of the best weeks of practice that we’ve had,” Tech head coach Joey McGuire said. “But there was a sense of urgency, but also anger. A lot of different people saying, ‘hey, this doesn’t look like last year’s team.’ Well, it’s not last year’s team, but this team is still 6-0 and finding ways to win.”

Aside from Williams’ fumble, the Beckville native put together a career performance. At the end of the first half, Williams had already achieved a career-high of 141 rushing yards along with two touchdowns. His previous career-high was 135 yards against Kansas State last season. 

Williams concluded the game with 200 all-purpose yards. McGuire said because of his energy during the first half, the Red Raiders were able to run more counter plays, which they haven’t run as much as they’ve wanted this season. 

“We ran it a lot better,” McGuire said. “One play that’s been kind of crazy, it’s kind of a secondary play that hadn’t been great is outside zone. That was another play that we ran really well. I thought one reason we did is I thought J’Koby was really on his tracks, made the right cuts, and he really hit it with a lot of speed.”

The narrative surrounding Tech’s slow start to games has been strongly attributed to the play of Hammond. The Austin native has struggled at times with the timing of his throws and recognition of his reads. 

McGuire said during Tech’s bye week before Arizona State, it was an emphasis for the Red Raiders to make Hammond’s play progression as easy as they could. Hammond’s play in the first half reflected that bye week philosophy. 

Hammond finished the first two quarters having completed  14 of 20 passes for 209 yards, 75 more yards than he threw for in total against Colorado, along with a passing and rushing touchdown. 

“I think it all started with just us having a great week of practice,” Hammond said. “I thought it was our best week all season, and that carried into the game. That’s a good message to continue to relay to the guys about important practices, and it’ll show up in the game.”

The Red Raiders will look to build on its first-half efficiency against Arizona State as they travel to face Cincinnati next Saturday at Nippert Stadium.