Texas Tech opens McGuire’s 3rd season with first game against Abilene Christian since 1949

Abilene Christian at Texas Tech, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

BetMGM College Football Odds: No line.

Series record: Abilene Christian leads 6-3.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

Texas Tech opens coach Joey McGuire’s third season with its first game against Abilene Christian since 1949. That is an FCS program only about 170 miles from Lubbock. The Red Raiders lost in double overtime at Wyoming to start last season, and will try to avoid dropping consecutive season openers for the first time in 25 years. Former Texas Tech defensive coordinator Keith Patterson is going into his third season as ACU’s head coach with a 12-10 record.

KEY MATCHUP

Red Raiders running back Tahj Brooks ran for 1,538 yards last season, with eight 100-yard games. He also had at least 95 yards in three other games. Abilene Christian gave up 210 yards rushing per game last season. Brooks is 1,167 yards shy of Byron Hanspard’s career school record of 4,219 yards rushing from 1994-96.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Abilene Christian: Maverick McIvor is going into his third season as the Wildcats starting quarterback. He spent three seasons at Texas Tech before that, but never played in a game for the Red Raiders. McIvor threw for 1,972 yards last year with 17 TDs and five interceptions.

Texas Tech: Junior quarterback Behren Morton started eight games for the Red Raiders last season, and of those seven games that he finished they won six of them. Morton took over for injured Tyler Shough, then played through his own shoulder issues. Morton was a full-go in preseason practice after T ech held him out of the last part of spring drills after he was declared the starter.

FACTS & FIGURES

The Red Raiders added three offensive linemen through the transfer portal that arrived with a combined 81 career starts. ... Texas Tech is entering its 100th season of football. The seventh game in its program history was a 10-7 win at Abilene Christian on Nov. 11, 1925. ... Texas Tech’s Drae McCray led the Big 12 last season averaging 27.6 yards on kickoff returns. He had three returns of at least 50 yards, including a 100-yard touchdown.

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