LUBBOCK, TX – For the first 15 minutes of the Big 12 clash against Houston, the Texas Tech fans looked like they came dressed for their own funeral. 

Turns out, the blackout under the Friday Night Lights in West Texas will be remembered as the night Will Hammond was embraced as the starting quarterback for the Red Raiders, even though he started the game on the bench. 

Hammond experienced the cruel reality of college football over the last nine months. He tore his ACL in late October last year in the win over Oklahoma State. He then watched as Texas Tech brought in a high-priced transfer at quarterback in Brendan Sorsby. And he sat by as the Red Raiders made every attempt to keep him eligible. 

Former Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos was added in late August. He was brought in as a backup who could help in the red zone and on gadget plays, but any conspiracy theories that he was brought in to take Hammond’s job when things got hard were encouraged when he took the first snap of the game. 

Any quarterback controversy in the Hub City ended when Tommy Castellanos trotted out as the starting quarterback and promptly tossed an interception that would make a novice in the AC College Football video game blush. 

“Will Hammond is our starting quarterback,” Joey McGuire said after the game. “We have packages for Tommy (Castellanos), and those packages will continue to grow. We had two plays that we were going to run there (to start the game with Castellanos). If we don’t get pressure, we have a huge play starting right off the bat.” 

By the time Hammond took his first snap at quarterback, his team trailed 10-0. He ran onto the field to a chorus of cheers. He was no longer the inexperienced starter trying to earn the respect of a fan base that knows good quarterback play. He was back in a familiar role – as the gunslinger off the bench who needed to provide a spark. 

The Cougars led 10-0 and were complete control of the game when defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong dialed up a blitz on 3rd and 12 with less than a minute left in the 1st quarter. Hammond was forced to scramble out of the pocket before finding Kenny Johnson for a 28-yard completion and the Red Raiders’ first first down of the game. 

“Huge,” Hammond said when asked about the importance of that third down completion. “I had a clean pocket and executed.” 

Four plays later, Hammond found Johnson again, this time for a 35-yard touchdown that put Texas Tech back in the game and life back in the sold-out crowd. Three quarters later, he confidently skipped off Cody Campbell Field with more swagger, and fanfare, than he entered with. 

Hammond wasn’t perfect, to be sure. He was 17-of-27 for 257 yards and one touchdown and one interception while adding 30 yards on the ground. 

But he was clutch. He completed five of his last six passes and was 9-of-13 for 118 yards in the second half. And he was great on third down, finishing 4-for-7 for 70 yards in those high-pressure moments. 

“That was Will Hammond’s sixth start as a quarterback and I think he’ll continue to get better,” McGuire said. “The one thing I was proud of, what we really challenged him to push the ball down the field, and he did. I told him before the game, ‘look don’t worry about making a mistake, turn it loose.’ And he did, man. He turned it loose with his feet and he turned it loose with his legs.” 

Texas Tech rolled through the Big 12 last season, winning every Big 12 game by at least three scores. The Red Raiders only played one one-possession game last season and that was its lone Big 12 loss to Arizona State. 

It was clear from the first quarter of the first game against Arkansas Pine-Bluff last season. It’s looked murkier to start 2026. The Red Raiders beat Oregon State 45-14 in Week 3 of last year. They struggled to a 35-24 win against the Beavers last week. 

Maybe Texas Tech isn’t the 2025 version of itself. But it is also true that the 2026 team isn’t in its final form. 

The Red Raiders spent the first six months of the offseason believing a different quarterback would be the starter. They spent the first seven or eight months wondering if Hammond would be ready by Week 1. That’s a lot of live practice reps lost for a young quarterback. Tech looks like an offense still finding itself because it is. 

“I still truly believe we’re trying to find ourselves,” McGuire said. “The more (Hammond) gets snaps under his belt, and the more we play together, then we’re just going to keep getting better as a team.” 

The Red Raiders might not be the runaway favorite to win the Big 12 like most thought entering the season. Houston, like Oregon State last week, proved that this team isn’t invincible. But they’re undefeated. And they’re still the favorite, in no small part because the conference schedule that doesn’t include BYU or Utah. 

And while last year’s version of Texas Tech didn’t need to win the dog fights, doesn’t mean the program can’t. McGuire is now 13-5 in one-possession games as the head coach at Texas Tech. 

So, even if we learned that this team doesn’t have the ceiling of last year’s, we also learned that this team could take a punch.