In a game featuring the past two Big 12 champions, Arizona State will face No. 10 Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon in Lubbock, Texas.
The programs enter the game with different momentum, however.
Texas Tech (5-0, 2-0) is one of nine remaining undefeated FBS teams. The Red Raiders also have an 11-game home winning streak and have captured at least their first five games for the second consecutive season, a first in program history.
Arizona State (3-2, 1-1), meanwhile, was routed Oct. 3 by Baylor but bounced back with a 30-12 win at home over Hawaii last week.
Sun Devils coach Kenny Dillingham, however, described that victory as “blah.”
“I want to play better,” he said during his Monday press conference. “I think we’re better than that. I think we can get better.”
Arizona State did not pull away until late in the third quarter, when freshman running back Cardae Mack scored on a 67-yard touchdown run that gave the Sun Devils a 24-6 lead.
Mack finished with a career-high 154 yards and two touchdowns.
Although Dillingham said he is leery of Texas Tech and playing in Lubbock, where the Red Raiders play in an “unbelievable environment,” he said he is confident of his team’s chances.
“I expect to win every game,” Dillingham said.
Arizona State is 0-for-Texas with blowout losses at Texas A&M (48-20 on Sept. 12) and at home against Baylor (55-19).
Texas Tech led late in the teams’ meeting last October in Tempe, Ariz., before Arizona State rallied for a 26-22 victory. The loss was the Red Raiders’ lone defeat of the regular season, and coach Joey McGuire said he has used it as a teaching point with his staff.
“I challenged the coaches yesterday, because we didn’t do that last year,” McGuire said Monday. “We found a way to come back, but we didn’t find a way to win the game. I thought they outcoached us last year in winning that game.”
Sam Leavitt led Arizona State downfield in its last possession in that game, capped by Raleek Brown’s 1-yard touchdown run with 34 seconds left.
Leavitt is now at LSU and Brown plays for Texas.
Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley now leads the offense, throwing for 1,229 yards on 99-of-158 passing and 12 touchdowns, with three interceptions.
Kyson Brown, out most of last season with an ankle injury, is the top rusher with 290 yards on 55 carries.
Arizona State offensive linemen, center Tana Alo-Tupuola and right guard Wade Helton, are slated to return. Alo-Tupuola missed the Hawaii game for personal reasons, while Helton has been sidelined since Arizona State’s loss at Texas A&M because of an ankle injury.
The Red Raiders have forced 10 turnovers through five games, including seven interceptions across their last two victories. They recorded three interceptions against Sam Houston on Sept. 26 and four in a 29-7 victory at Colorado on Oct. 3 before a bye week.
Arizona State committed four turnovers in its loss at Texas A&M.
Will Hammond, who completed 22 of 37 pass attempts for 167 yards in last season’s loss at Arizona State, will get another shot at the Sun Devils. He has completed 68.3% of his passes (97 of 142) for 1,102 yards and five touchdowns, with five interceptions, this season.
–Field Level Media
