10 Things: Texas Tech 42, Oklahoma State 0

1. Game Links:

2. Not a Test. No matter the score or anything else, I would not treat this score in any way other than essentially a non-conference win against an obviously inferior opponent. There are certainly good things to take away from this game and I’m not discounting those at all, but this game was not a a measuring stick in any way other than to point out things to work out. That’s not fair, as fans we should enjoy wins and I agree with that to an extent, but I’m looking at Kansas State and BYU as they absolutely dominated on the road yesterday.

3. Grades.

C	PASS OFFENSE
The pass offense while Hammond was at quarterback and while Griffis was at quarterback. The QB Rating (not the same as QBR) for Hammond was 139.1 and Griffis was 205.8. Griffis aired the ball out significantly more and connected. Maybe a C for Hammond and an A for Griffis averages out to a B. And to be clear, I feel terrible for Hammond and am hoping for the best, but am prepared for the worst news. I’d also add that the line allowed 3 sacks and just 1 hurry (I sometimes hate this statistic as I don’t think it is entirely accurate) so not all of my criticism is on Hammond.
C	RUN OFFENSE
Not really impressed here at all. The blocking seemed less than stellar to be honest and Oklahoma State was a terrible run defense coming into this game. I don’t know what it is going to take for them to get man-on-man and be better, but I’m looking forward to it. And we know that the running backs can absolutely go-off so the lack of production isn’t on them at all from my end of things.
B	PASS DEFENSE
How to judge something when the quarterback simply doesn’t have the arm to throw the ball? Give the defensive backs credit for only giving up 87 passing yards and Oklahoma State was 14 of 35 for 45% completion percent. And I’d also add that I can’t count the number of times that the OSU quarterback had to just throw the ball away because there was nothing open down the field.
A	RUN DEFENSE
Knowing that a team is going to run the ball a lot and then limiting them to under 100 yards qualiies as good on my end of things. Statistically, OSU ran for 95 yards on 32 carries for 3 yards a carry. I will take that for sure.
A	SPECIAL TEAMS
A kickoff return and a blocked punt is the good for sure. You sort of hate to see a missed extra point and the lone field goal was for 45 yards and a miss, not the end of the world. Getting those big plays out-weights any bad for me.
C	COACHING
I don’t think the coaching was poor, but I do wonder about the decision to continue to start Hammond if Griffis is the better option. And I know how tihs works, you start the guy with the better pedigree and all of the things, but I do wonder about Arizona State and a quarterback that can get the ball down the field and move the offense a bit more efficiently. Maybe the same production would not have happened, that’s total speculation.

4. Offensive Line Better? A week after head coach Joey McGuire basically called out the offensive line and his conversation with three of the lineman all saying that they needed to be better, I don’t know that they stayed on their blocks and I don’t know that they dominated an Oklahoma State defense that’s been giving up 160 yards a game against opponents. This should have been better. Without question and it was not. I’m not an offensive line expert but there were too many times where Hammond was rushed and the line simply didn’t stick on blocks and continue to drive defenders. Mitch Griffis very first play on the 4th and 1 was absolutely blown up because Sampson whiffed on a block and didn’t get in the way or block anyone. Go dominate some folks.

5. Jacob Rodriguez is the Best. I don’t know what else Jacob Rodriguez can do to be the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, but I cannot think of a more dominant defender than Rodriguez. the strip for a touchdown was absolutely needed when the offense had been completely stagnant and that poor running back had no idea he was about to be robbed. Rodriguez knew how to guard the ball better than the running back as he ran into the endzone. Absolutely dominant in just about every respect.

6. Harrell’s Big Day. I didn’t want to go the entire weekend without highlighting Graham Harrell being the 12th member of the Ring of Honor. I don’t know how to describe Harrell other than he’s the most prolific quarterback to ever suit up for Texas Tech, the combination of stats and wins combined was second to none in my opinion. That’s a very difficult thing to quantify and you’re not wrong if you think it’s someone else, but his name deserves to be on the stadium.

The moment. https://t.co/nuwidF6amP pic.twitter.com/o6KCcb5ET6

— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) October 26, 2025

It’s official ✨

Congratulations @Coach_GHarrell, and welcome to the Ring of Honor! pic.twitter.com/zFFkUXBlrg

— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) October 25, 2025

7. Stats.

The 2nd quarter was not a quarter for offense. Both teams combined for 109 yards of total offense, 71 from Texas Tech and 38 from Oklahoma State. Both failed to convert a 4th down and both teams held the ball for about 7 minutes. Just pretty terrible overall. That 1st half ended up being 176 total yards, which in retrospect isn’t terrible. The 2nd half was definitely more productive in some respects. Texas Tech had 167 passing yards and just 27 rushing yards, which you’d like to see Texas Tech close out Oklahoma State by running the damn ball. I’d still say that Griffis was really good in the 2nd half and if you can’t run the ball, then let it rip. (I should also add that of the 167 yards, 151 of them happened in the 3rd quarter. You could have turned the TV off for the 4th quarter.)
Texas Tech’s offense was 9 of 16 on 3rd down, 56%, which is great. Another situation where you hate to see the down and distance at 7.3 yards needed on 3rd down. That’s way too high. Of those 3rd downs, 5 of them were 3rd and long and went just 1 for 5 on those. Overall, Texas Tech averaged 9.2 yards per 3rd down.
Texas Tech scored 42 points and was only in the red zone 3 times. That’s kinda crazy and speaks to how this team scored without having the ball and some of that was gifted by the blocked punt.
The Texas Tech defense held Oklahoma State to 5 of 17 on 3rd down and they only needed 5.8 yards to go on 3rd down, but they only averaged 3.1 yards on 3rd down.
Texas Tech was in passing downs only 32% of the time, which is weird considering the fact that this team really couldn’t run the ball really all that well.
Texas Tech had 11 big plays, which is a pass over 15 yards and a run over 10. That’s 8 passes for 219 yards including 5 from Griffis and 3 running plays. Oklahoma State had just 2.

8. Idle Thoughts.

You love to see the fact that there were no pre-snap penalties and the only penalty was a Sampson holding penalty.
I haven’t even had time to write about how Behren Morton is in street clothes for the entire 1st half and then suits up in the 2nd half after Hammond is injured. Griffis finishes the game and Morton wasn’t needed, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that before. Morton is likely ready and going to start against Kansas State and his absence from this game was because McGuire was pretty certain that this game was in the bag.
Oliver Miles at running back. I know this was because they didn’t want to play Dickey and Williams when the game was out of hand. I also know that Michael Henderson is a bit banged up.
The two receiver drops were big drops, but I thought that this group played better. That drive in the 3rd quarter with about 6 minutes left was maybe the best drive of the game except for the fact that Cam Dickey couldn’t punch the ball in (not his fault).
First shutout of a Big 12 opponent for Texas Tech since 2005 when Texas Tech defeated Baylor 28-0 (which was on the road) and the first Big 12 shutout at home since 2001 when Texas Tech defeated Texas A&M 12-0.
J’Koby Williams is electric.

9. Coach Comments.

10. Tortilla Tossin’ Players of the Game.

Mitch Griffis gets his first tortilla for going 9 of 13 for 172 yards, a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown.

J’Koby Williams had 169 all-purpose yards, including a 99 kickoff return for a touchdown, a 20-yard catch for a touchdown and 60 total yards receiving overall and the nadd in 4 rushes for 10 yards.

Jacob Rodriguez led the team with 10 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, a strip in a danged running play that resulted in a touchdown for Rodriguez. He’s one of a kind.