It's November? It's time for Texas Tech football to be special again

The Texas Tech football team is back in business and making bowl games a regular occurrence. With a 23-22 win over No. 10 Iowa State on Saturday in Ames, Iowa, the Red Raiders are eligible to play for the fourth straight year.

In as many bowls Texas Tech has played in – the next one will be No. 42, keeping the Red Raiders in the top 20 all-time appearances – they have never won four in a row. They have a chance to do it this year, and Joey McGuire said Monday that that is one of the goals.

The Tech coach found reasons for the Red Raiders to keep going after back-to-back losses to Baylor and TCU threatened to derail their season.

Jacob Rodriguez isn't interested in the bare necessities. Not after the Red Raiders won by nearly two touchdowns on Saturday as underdogs and had to run two minutes of offense in the rain to score the winning touchdown. Pulsating finishes like this – losing the lead with 2:11 to go and regaining it 20 seconds later – can turn moods and expectations upside down.

“We definitely have more to come,” the Tech linebacker said. “I think a bowl game is key for us. I think this team still has a lot left, a lot of life in us. I think that during this losing streak we had guys who had good heads in their heads, so it's very pleasing to be able to keep playing and get this win.

Might also make sense. Tech's upset at Jack Trice Stadium, coupled with an even more impressive upset by Houston against Kansas State, left the Red Raiders (6-3, 4-2 in the Big 12) tied with K-State, which they had , who finished fourth in the conference, did not play. But BYU (8-0, 5-0) could be a paper tiger, Iowa State (7-1, 4-1) still has to play K-State (7-2, 4-2) and Tech has its chance in the surprising Colorado (6-2, 4-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Jones AT&T Stadium.

And in the McGuire era, the seasons are now getting more interesting. With the calendar flipped to November, the Red Raiders are 9-2 under their third-year coach, including his bowl wins over Ole Miss and Cal. The only teams to beat Tech late in the last two seasons — TCU in 2022, Texas in 2023 — reached the College Football Playoff.

There are some rough edges that need to be smoothed out. On Saturday, the Red Raiders led 17-16 in the fourth quarter, unnecessarily used Wildcat quarterback Jalin Conyers on a critical four-and-1, ended up getting a delay-of-game penalty and tried it anyway. Didn't work, although Behren Morton's throw almost ended up in the hands of Josh Kelly under heavy pressure. The Red Raiders committed too many penalties, including three false starts on their winning drive.

And a defense that had stepped up with key stops all day finally collapsed at the worst possible time, delivering a 44-yard touchdown pass with 2:11 left.

Smaller teams might have gone under. The Red Raiders covered 71 yards in 12 plays before Conyers paved the way for running back Tahj Brooks with a game-winning 6-yard touchdown. Early in the series, Morton missed a long throw to Kelly, but hit two game-winning throws to Kelly and one each to Caleb Douglas and Jordan Brown.

It was a trip that you won't soon forget. Given the circumstances of the last two weeks, it could save the season. Not only did everyone lose to beatable Baylor and TCU teams, but they also learned that the Bears or the Horned Frogs — or your scanner-savvy neighbor — could have been listening in on in-game communications.

There were even more concerns about the health of Morton's shoulder. It turned out to be a false alarm, and Morton took off and threw a couple of touchdown passes.

Rodriguez played as central a role as anyone, making 13 tackles, including two sacks, and causing a fumble. The first eight times Iowa State reached the Tech 35-yard line, the Cyclones came away with a touchdown and three field goals.

There is no quitting with these Red Raiders.

For this reason, they have a little more leeway. A season that would have been in jeopardy for seven days is once again full of possibilities.

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