By Missy Grimes

TEXAS TECH VS. ARKANSAS
Memphis, Tenn. | Liberty Stadium
Dec. 27, 2024
ESPN | 6 p.m. CT

GAME LINKS

• Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Texas Tech Game Notes (PDF) | Arkansas Game Notes (PDF)
• Texas Tech Media Center

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech (8-4, 6-3 Big 12) will make its 42nd bowl appearance in school history on Dec. 27 at 6 p.m. when the Red Raiders face former Southwest Conference rival Arkansas (6-6, 3-5 SEC) in the 66th-annual AutoZone Liberty Bowl. It will be Texas Tech’s second trip to the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in the last four seasons as the Red Raiders started their current bowl-winning streak in Memphis by defeating Mississippi State, 34-7, in 2021. It will be the 38th all-time meeting in the series versus Arkansas and the first ever in a bowl game.

Television coverage will be provided by ESPN with Anish Shroff behind the mic providing the play-by-play. He will be joined by Andre Ware in the booth providing analysis while Paul Carcaterra will be reporting from the sideline. The broadcast can be accessed from any desktop or laptop computer, a personal cellular device and television streaming services using the ESPN app.

Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game over 46 affiliates throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico as Brian Jensen will have the call alongside analyst John Harris and sideline reporter Chris Level. The radio broadcast can also be heard on SiriusXM channel 84, as well as on the Varsity app.

TEXAS TECH ALL-TIME IN BOWL GAMES

• The Red Raiders are appearing in a bowl game for the 42nd time in school history after going 6-3 during Big 12 play with wins in three of their last four games. Texas Tech leads all current Big 12 programs for all-time bowl appearances and ranks tied for 20th nationally among NCAA FBS teams alongside Ole Miss and Washington.
• Texas Tech is 17-23-1 all-time in bowl games with wins in 12 of its last 16 contests, including in each of the past three years with victories over SEC counterparts Mississippi State in the 2021 AutoZone Liberty Bowl and Ole Miss in the 2022 TaxAct Texas Bowl. The Red Raiders followed with a 34-14 victory a year ago over Cal in the 2023 Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl.
• Texas Tech will be looking to end its season with a bowl win for a fourth-consecutive season for the first time in program history. The Red Raiders previously ended three straight seasons from 2002-04 with a bowl win under Mike Leach but failed to extend that streak with a narrow 13-10 loss to No. 13 Alabama in the 2005 Cotton Bowl. Texas Tech has won four-straight bowl games once in its history from 2009-13 but not in consecutive seasons as the Red Raiders were not bowl eligible in 2011 following a disappointing 5-7 campaign.
• Texas Tech’s current streak of appearing in four-consecutive bowl games is its longest since the Red Raiders did so over a school record 11-straight years from 2000-10. It matches the second-longest streak in program history from the 1993-96 seasons.

RED RAIDERS SEARCHING FOR WIN NO. 9

• Texas Tech will look to secure its first nine-win season since 2009 with a win over Arkansas. The nine-win mark has been the goal for the Red Raiders since falling to Colorado early in November as Texas Tech enters its Liberty Bowl appearance with wins in each of its last two games against Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
• With a win over the Razorbacks, this would be the 15th time in program history that the Red Raiders have recorded nine or more wins in a season. It would be the sixth time the Red Raiders have done so since joining the Big 12 Conference as a charter member in 1996. All five other occurrences came during the Mike Leach era from 2000-09.
• A victory over Arkansas would also propel the Red Raiders into the offseason on a three-game winning streak, marking the second time under Joey McGuire that Texas Tech has ended its season riding a three-game or better winning streak.

HAMMOND TO MAKE FIRST CAREER START

• True freshman quarterback Will Hammond will make his first career start against Arkansas after Behren Morton underwent shoulder surgery following the regular season.
• Hammond will become the eighth true freshman in school history to start at quarterback and the second to do so in a bowl game, joining Davis Webb, who was the Offensive MVP of the 2013 Holiday Bowl victory over Arizona State.
• Hammond is the first true freshman quarterback to make his first career start in a bowl game and only the fourth freshman to start under center in a bowl.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

• 1: Texas Tech boasts a 1,500-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard receiver for the first time in program history this season in Tahj Brooks and Josh Kelly. The duo is one of only two in the FBS to hit those marks this season.
• 9: Texas Tech has won nine consecutive bowl games against unranked foes, the second-longest active streak by any team this century behind only Utah’s 10-game streak from 2001 to 2017.
• 16: Joey McGuire has recorded 16 wins against Big 12 opponents through his first three seasons, matching the most for a Texas Tech head coach in the same span in school history. He is now 16-11 against Big 12 foes.

INSIDE THE ARKANSAS SERIES

• This will be the 38th all-time meeting between the two former Southwest Conference rivals who met annually from 1957-91 until Arkansas departed for the Southeastern Conference. The Red Raiders have won three of the last four games in the series that has historically been controlled by the Razorbacks, who maintain a 29-8 all-time lead.
• Texas Tech and Arkansas will be meeting in a bowl game for the first time in school history. The two schools have never met at a neutral site as every previous contest in the series has taken place at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock or either War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock or Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
• Texas Tech has faced Arkansas only twice since the Razorbacks left for the SEC, which came in a home-and-home non-conference series during the 2014-15 seasons. The Razorbacks rushed for 438 rushing yards and controlled the clock to top the Red Raiders, 49-28, to start the series. The Red Raiders returned the favor a year later with Patrick Mahomes II accounting for three touchdowns in a 35-24 victory in Fayetteville. Mahomes finished 26-of-30 in the win, throwing for 243 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for 58 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
• The two schools have already scheduled another future non-conference series against one another as Arkansas will travel to Lubbock during the 2030 season followed by a trip to Fayetteville by the Red Raiders a year later. The home-and-home series follows another similar scheduling agreement against fellow Southeastern Conference foe Mississippi State set for the 2028-29 campaigns.

TEXAS TECH-ARKANSAS CONNECTIONS

• There will be multiple people on the Texas Tech staff who are familiar with Arkansas offensive line coach Eric Mateos, who served in a similar role at Baylor from 2021-23. Mateos was on the opposite side of the ball from Joey McGuire that season, who departed the Baylor staff in November to accept the Texas Tech position. Fellow Texas Tech assistant coaches Justin “Juice” Johnson and Josh Bookbinder were both on the Baylor staff that season as was head strength and conditioning coach Lance Barilow.
• Texas Tech has one player from the state of Arkansas in redshirt freshman Garrett Morphis, who grew up in Monticello before moving to Waco, Texas, in high school.

SOUTH END ZONE BUILDING MAKES GRAND DEBUT

• Texas Tech officially opened the South End Zone Building to Jones AT&T Stadium, a $242 million project that began following the 2022 season finale on Nov. 26, 2022.
• The $242 million project will mark the largest contiguous football facility in the country, as the south end zone building will connect, via a skybridge, to the Womble Football Center and the Sports Performance Center, which opened in 2017 as Texas Tech’s indoor football practice facility and indoor track and field venue. Which in total will feature more than 340,000 combined square feet of space.
• The Red Raiders now enter Jones AT&T Stadium each gameday through the Gary Petersen Field Club, a 12,000-square-foot premium space that is among the first of its kind in college football. It is one of several new premium areas as Texas Tech has added 17 new luxury suites, on the 3rd floor of the South End Zone building, to go along with 500 club and loge box seats and two spacious party decks on the concourse. Texas Tech now boasts 102 premium suites throughout Jones AT&T Stadium to go along with more than 2,500 club and loge box seat options.
• Joey McGuire and his staff moved into their new coaches’ offices on the second floor of the south end zone building in July, giving them a stunning view overlooking Cody Campbell Field at Jones AT&T Stadium. The office location places McGuire and his staff steps from each position room and the sky bridge connected to the Womble Football Center where offensive and defensive breakout rooms will be located as well as a team meeting space and a state-of-the-art walkthrough area on the second level.
• Texas Tech started to phase in the opening of the Womble Football Center side of the project in mid-November, having its first workout in the new strength and conditioning center on Nov. 17. The two-story building will maintain its football strength and conditioning area, as well as the sports medicine and equipment areas on the main level as part of the new layout. The Red Raiders’ main locker room will also be located in the Womble Football Center, which includes space for 120-plus athletes and modern primary designs from Hollman that are fully ventilated and contain USB charging ports and DreamSeat technology for every player.

COURTESY TEXAS TECH ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

COURTESY ARKANSAS ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS