Bodie Ratliff. Lubbock.
That's the whole introduction, mostly. I ride bareback broncs on weekends and chart Air Raid concepts during tumbleweed season, which out here is most seasons. I'm not much for long speeches. But my editor says I need 1,200 words, so I'll make an exception. For the Red Raiders, I'll talk all day.
Guns up. Wind's up. Let's ride.
Part 1: Saturday in Lubbock
Texas Tech 53, Arizona State 25.
One word: thorough.
AP billed it as a meeting of the past two Big 12 champions. We're the reigning one. We're 6-0, 3-0 in the league, and we moved up to No. 8 in this week's AP poll. With that win we set a school record with our eighth straight regular-season conference victory, and we've won 12 straight at home. AP said that's one short of the longest home streak in school history, from 1942. We're 18-2 since the start of last season.
The start was rough for about four minutes. J'Koby Williams fumbled at the Arizona State 2 on our opening drive, the 13th play of it. Three plays later, linebacker Ben Roberts picked off Cutter Boley and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown. AP said that's the fourth time in three games one of our linebackers has returned an interception for a touchdown. Fourth. Our linebackers score more than some offenses.
Then the first half turned into a stampede. We scored on our last seven drives of the half: four touchdowns and three Stone Harrington field goals, from 31, 42 and 37 yards. It was 43-10 at the break, and we already had 404 yards. Will Hammond went 18 of 26 for 232 yards, threw an 11-yard touchdown to Coy Eakin and ran one in from 9. Kenny Johnson caught seven passes for 120 yards.
And Williams? He bounced back from that fumble with 165 yards on 11 carries. His touchdown runs went 62 and 38 yards. On the 38, he went through a gap, got by one defender and spun past another. I've seen broncos with less wiggle. Terrance Carter Jr. added a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
We were without Cameron Dickey, who has a high ankle sprain. We hope he's back on his feet soon. Williams carried the load for both of them.
Arizona State scored 15 points after halftime. Fine. We'd already roped the calf.
One more thing. AP pointed out that 17 of the Red Raiders' 18 wins since the start of last season have come by double digits. Coach Joey McGuire is 41-18 in five seasons, with a 26-5 mark at home. In rodeo terms, that's a cowboy who stays on for eight seconds just about every time he climbs into the chute. Steady. That's the word.
Part 2: Riding East
Saturday, noon Eastern, FS1, at Nippert Stadium. No. 8 Texas Tech (6-0) at Cincinnati (4-2). It's Cincinnati's 100th Homecoming, so they'll have a parade and a big crowd in red. Funny. We wear red too.
Series: Texas Tech 1, Cincinnati 0, one tie. We tied 10-10 in Cincinnati in 1968 and won 44-41 at home in 2024.
What Cincinnati Brings
Respect where it's due. JC French IV hasn't thrown an interception all season. Nine touchdowns, 70.6% completions. Last week he threw for a career-high 389 yards. Cole Tabb has eight touchdowns on 49 carries. The Bearcats run for 231.2 yards a game, 11th in FBS, and they're plus-5 in turnovers.
Now the other side of the ledger.
They lost at West Virginia 45-42 last week. AP said West Virginia never led until the final kick. Cincinnati was up 42-35 with 5:35 left and lost. They punted West Virginia back to its own 1 with 2:05 to go, and West Virginia still went the length of the field for a game-winning field goal.
One word: leaky.
The Bearcats' defense allows 434.3 yards a game, 128th in FBS. Its pass defense is 136th, at 294 yards a game. Opponents convert 49.4% of their third downs, 126th. Two weeks before that, Arizona beat them 34-7. They've lost two straight.
West Virginia's Mike Hawkins Jr. threw for 464 yards on them, a career high, and DJ Epps caught eight balls for 163. That's not a secondary. That's an open gate.
One word: spin. We have a back who spins.
What We Bring
Our run defense allows 82 yards a game, fifth in FBS. A.J. Holmes Jr. has four sacks, and Austin Romaine leads us with 42 tackles. That's the matchup: their run game, 11th, against our run defense, fifth. Somebody gets bucked off.
Our offense scores 37.8 points a game, 17th in the country. Williams has 538 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Hammond has 1,334 passing yards and is completing 68.5% of his throws. Johnson leads the receivers with 418 yards.
Honest note. Our pass defense ranks 134th, at 281.8 yards a game. Theirs ranks 136th. So both secondaries will be busy. The difference: our front stops the run. Theirs doesn't stop much.
Two Towns, Few Words
Lubbock. Population 257,141 at the 2020 census. Tenth-most populous city in Texas. We sit on the Llano Estacado, the high, flat plains of West Texas, and our nickname is Hub City, because we're the center of everything for a long way around. We're the 10th-windiest city in America. We don't mind. Wind's up.
Buddy Holly came from here. There's a West Texas Walk of Fame in the Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza downtown. And our Masked Rider is Texas Tech's oldest mascot and was the first official mounted mascot in the country. Black horse, red cape, galloping onto the field since 1954. Your mascot can't do that, Cincinnati. It's a Bearcat. I'm still not sure what that is.
Our stadium, "The Jones," opened in 1947. ESPN lists it as Galaxy Stadium now. It's where we've won 12 straight.
Cincinnati. Nice river town. Big old buildings. They call themselves the Queen City. They also call themselves the City of Seven Hills, after the seven hills of Rome. Borrowed hills. In Lubbock, we don't borrow hills. We don't have any. We're honest about it.
For a while, Cincinnati also went by "Porkopolis." That one's earned.
And their famous dish, Cincinnati chili, is a Mediterranean-spiced meat sauce served over spaghetti. Over spaghetti. They call a five-way "chili" when it's got noodles, cheese, onions and beans in it. Out in West Texas we call that "lunch, confused." I respect the commitment. I'll eat two.
The 2020 census showed Cincinnati growing for the first time since 1950. Seventy years to grow. That's a long wait between harvests. Cincinnati football fans know about long waits, too: their team just waited 60 minutes against West Virginia and still didn't get to the finish.
To be fair, the Queen City did give the world the first all-professional baseball team, in 1869. Good for them. We'll play football.
The Last Word
Here's how I see it. Texas Tech has a top-five run defense, a back who breaks long runs, a quarterback getting more comfortable every week and a 12-game home streak that says we know how to finish. Cincinnati can run, and its quarterback takes care of the ball. But its defense ranks 128th, and it just gave away a seven-point lead in the last five minutes. Homecoming crowds get loud. Then they get quiet.
One word: ride.
Guns up. Wind's up.
My call: Texas Tech Red Raiders 35, Cincinnati Bearcats 23.