Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (3-0, 1-0)
Bad Guys: Sam Houston Bearkats (1-2, 0-0)
Where: Galaxy Stadium | Lubbock, Texas
When: Saturday, September 26th @ 11:00 am
TV & Streaming: TNT
Radio: The Varsity Network
The Line: Texas Tech -34.5
Game Notes: Texas Tech | Sam Houston
Weather Report: Sunny, High 90 Low 65

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Let’s kill the ‘student-athlete’ label, and not for the reason you think

Fort Lewis A&M football player Ray Dennison died on Sept. 26, 1955, some 30 hours after he’d suffered a head injury in a game against Trinidad State. When Dennison’s widow filed a workers’ comp claim, the NCAA devised a legal shield: He’s a student-athlete, you see, not an employee entitled to such benefits.

Walter Byers, the original and longtime executive director of the NCAA, didn’t deny the self-serving nature. In his 1995 memoir, “Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes”, Byers acknowledged the term was invoked to counter “the dreaded notion that NCAA athletes could be identified as employees by state industrial commissions and the courts. We crafted the term student-athlete and soon it was embedded in all NCAA rules and interpretations as a mandated substitute for such words as players and athletes.”

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese: Will Texas Tech football maul Sam Houston? Our predictions for the Week 4 game

Texas Tech 42, Sam Houston 10: The Red Raiders could use a statement-like win. Even after beating Houston, Tech fans want to see a dominant effort. This is an opportunity to reach another level.

Red Raider Sports’ Lane Selph: ‘He played with a chip on his shoulder’: Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire talks Will Hammond, plus more on weekly radio show

McGuire also thought offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich was more aggressive with his play-calling against Houston and indicated that style of play-calling isn’t going away. McGuire said Texas Tech plans to continue calling the offense in a similar fashion moving forward.

One play McGuire specifically highlighted was Kenny Johnson’s catch on third-and-12 in the first quarter, when Texas Tech could not string together any positive plays. McGuire called Johnson’s back-shoulder reception “huge” and pointed to it as the play that changed the momentum of the game.

Red Raider Sports’ Mason Turnbow: Brenden Jordan returns, and Davin Martin shines as Texas Tech’s secondary takes a step forward

Texas Tech cornerback Davin Martin was listed as a starter on the depth chart ahead of the Houston game. Davin is more than capable of being a starter, as the staff said back in the offseason they thought they had 3 starters at corner. Martin showed in his first start as Red Raider that he was more than capable filling in for Amier Boyd. One play in particular that stood out to him was his 3rd down pass breakup.

“I think I did pretty good. It was fun. said Martin, “I’d say my third-down stop, I think that was the best one, and just the environment, the crowd, Friday night against U of H.” It’s my hometown, so pretty fun.”

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese: Is Bailey Maupin returning to Texas Tech women’s basketball?

Maupin is one of several Class of 2022 recruits fighting the NCAA’s institution of the five-for-five eligibility model that refused to include that high school class. She was granted a temporary restraining order in Dallas earlier this month. But like men’s players Darrion Williams and Donovan Atwell, who have also earned temporary restraining orders, Maupin’s path back to playing isn’t quite set in stone.

“She is in some lawsuits right now that she’s looking at,” Gerlich said of Maupin, “but right now she’s not on our roster and we don’t know what that looks like moving forward.”

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Rayford Young relives win over KU in Texas Tech Hall of Fame inductions

The neat part of the story within the family is that Candice, Young’s wife for the past 26 years, had to work that day and that she and their 5-month-old son Trae — now a four-time NBA All-Star — got there just in time for the good part.

“The second half started,” Young said. “She was there, my sister was there and Trae was there, and I don’t know if the Holy Ghost got in me, but to score 35 points in the second half, man, it was special. I think it was really cool because I’m always going to be part of the first team that beat KU in Lubbock.”

Red Raider Sports’ Benjamin Golan: Aaron Britt Jr. explains why Texas Tech felt like home

“I’d probably just say the coaches, man, the environment too,” Britt Jr. said. “I came down last weekend and it was just a great environment. Right when I stepped there, it just felt like home. From just the coaches to like the fans and everybody, the team that’s there too, they came and welcomed me pretty good. So I’d just say that, and I think the main thing is definitely just the coaches. I love Coach McCasland, I love Coach AC (Achoki Moikobu), Coach Buff (Kellen Buffington), I love those guys.”