The Texas Tech Red Raiders hosted the North Texas Mean Green on Saturday and scored a program-tying 52 points in the first half of the 66-21 win at Jones AT&T Stadium.
After a lackluster performance against the Washington State Cougars last week, Red Raiders quarterback Behren Morton got back on track with 273 yards passing on 15-of-19 completions with four touchdowns.
Morton left the game early with a huge lead as coach Joey McGuire gave playing time to both backup quarterbacks. Will Hammond went 5-for-7 with 10 yards while Cameran Brown threw for 11 yards on 4-of-8 passing with one interception.
The Red Raiders improved to 2-1 on the season while the previously unbeaten Mean Green fell to the same 2-1 record. In a game that was supposed to be somewhat evenly matched with both teams running similar style offenses, it was anything but on the field.
The first half was ugly for the Mean Green and quarterback Chandler Morris (no relation to head coach Eric), who threw three interceptions late in the second quarter with one being returned for a pick-6. The other two were quickly converted into points by the Red Raiders.
As the end of the half approached, Texas Tech had scored “five touchdowns in six minutes and 22 seconds,” as reported by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams. The Red Raiders scored 35 points in the second quarter while hitting the 52-point mark in the first half for just the second time in program history (2005).
The return of running back Tahj Brooks has helped spark the offense. Brook missed last week’s loss to the Washington State Cougars with an arm injury and returned on Saturday to carry the ball 17 times for 109 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game early for rest.
The Mean Green host Wyoming on ESPN Plus on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT. Next up for the Red Raiders are the Arizona State Sun Devils and they kick off Big 12 play at home on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT at Jones AT&T Stadium.
