LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The No. 13 Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) finally have a chance to set aside frustrations from last week\u2019s loss when they take on the No. 22 Arizona Wildcats (6-1, 3-1) Saturday in a Top 25 showdown.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Texas Tech head football coach Joey McGuire said it\u2019s now a \u201cfive-game season\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve turned this into a five-game season where there\u2019s no room for error,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s going to come down to who can play the best each Saturday. And we\u2019ve got to play much better, especially this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
One advantage the Red Raiders will have is the return of running back Cameron Dickey, who suffered an ankle injury earlier this month at Colorado. In the five games prior to his injury, Dickey has had 57 carries for 242 yards and four touchdowns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be good to have him back,\u201d McGuire said. \u201cHe\u2019s just another guy that\u2019s been in some big games that\u2019s got a lot of experience and a lot of juice.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the last few weeks, running back J\u2019Koby Williams has taken over as one of the most explosive running backs in the conference, having amassed 86 carries for 240 yards and five scores this season. Quarterback Will Hammond is trying to find more consistency after last week\u2019s game, where he had an interception and fumble in the first half in Tech\u2019s 37-24 loss at Cincinnati, which came a week after his strongest performance of the year against Arizona State. Backup Thomas Castellanos could possibly see more time on the field on Saturday. So far, Castellanos has completed three of five passes, including two touchdowns and one interception. On the ground, he\u2019s had 15 carries for 76 yards and two touchdowns.A strong performance will be needed for Tech\u2019s offensive line. The Wildcats\u2019 defense has established an aggressive pass rush, where 17 players have accounted for at least one half sack, ranking fifth in the Big 12 allowing 314.9 yards per game.Either quarterback could look to give wide receiver Kenny Johnson more time to score. The Pitt-transfer leads the Red Raiders in both receptions (31) and yards (499), but has only scored once. Fellow receiver Micah Hudson is still looking for his first touchdown of the season.Along with Dickey, tight end Terrance Carter, Jr. is also listed as probable for Saturday\u2019s contest. In his five games of play, he\u2019s made 17 catches for 151 yards and one score and is heavily regarded as one of the top situational players on Tech\u2019s offense.On the defensive side, the Red Raiders will face Arizona\u2019s high-powered passing offense, which averages 310.9 yards per game, ranking ninth nationally and second in the Big 12. The Wildcats offensive coordinator is Seth Doege, who was Texas Tech\u2019s starting quarterback from 2011-12.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat he is doing is he has got a quarterback, a fifth-year senior, really extremely talented that he\u2019s got him playing at a really high level. That quarterback drives everything, he\u2019s pretty special, and Seth\u2019s doing a great job,\u201d McGuire said. <\/p>\n
The Wildcats are led by quarterback Noah Fifita, who enters the game with a passer rating of 174.12. Through seven games, he has completed 167 of 225 passes for 18 touchdowns and four interceptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quarterback\u2019s a playmaker, he can hurt you with his arm, he can hurt you with his legs. They\u2019re one of the top passing offenses in the country, they\u2019re averaging 36 points a game, and he\u2019s got some really nice tools on the perimeter to get the ball to,\u201d said Texas Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood.<\/p>\n
The Red Raiders\u2019 defense has already made history in its previous for games, which have all seen a Red Raider return an interception for a touchdown, beginning with linebackers Austin Romaine (two vs. Sam Houston), John Curry (Colorado), and Ben Roberts (Arizona State), and safety Peyton Morgan (Cincinnati). However, Tech\u2019s defensive unit as a whole currently ranks 13th in the conference allowing 372.9 yards per game in its first seven games.<\/p>\n
Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. at Galaxy Stadium.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The No. 13 Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) finally have a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[6550,2698,315,2880,261,168,170,169,1769,874,415,873,67339],"class_list":["post-481831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-wildcats","tag-big-12","tag-big-12-football","tag-college-football","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-texas-tech","tag-texas-tech-football","tag-texas-tech-red-raiders","tag-texas-tech-university","tag-university-of-arizona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}