Shortly after his Texas Tech football team was matched up Sunday with Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl, Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire recounted his family’s Arkansas heritage and his childhood Razorbacks fandom, complete with Hog hat.
That’s one storyline to know when Tech (8-4) and Arkansas (6-6) square off at 6 p.m. Dec. 27 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Here are some of the other intriguing angles.
On their best days, the Razorbacks and the Red Raiders showed they can play up. Tech’s the only team in college football this season to beat both teams playing in its conference championship game. The Red Raiders took down Big 12 title winner Arizona State on Sept. 21 and upset then-No. 10 Iowa State on Nov. 2, dealing the Cyclones their first loss.
On Oct. 5, Arkansas stunned then-No. 4 Tennessee, which is in the College Football Playoff. It was the Razorbacks’ first time to beat a top-5 opponent at home in 25 years and the biggest win of coach Sam Pittman’s five-year tenure.
The Razorbacks opened as a 2½-point favorite, but attrition’s a concern. Andrew Armstrong, the SEC leader in catches (78) and receiving yards (1,140), has declared for the NFL draft. So have starting defensive linemen Landon Jackson (team highs of 9½ tackles for loss and 6½ sacks) and Eric Gregory.
Six starters also reportedly are entering or expected to enter the NCAA transfer portal: Offensive guards Patrick Kutas and Josh Braun, wide receiver Isaiah Sategna, tight end Luke Hasz, defensive end Nico Davillier and safety T.J. Metcalf. Armstrong, Sategna (37-491-1) and Hasz (26-324-4) were the Razorbacks’ top three in pass receptions, and Sategna is the team’s punt-return man.
More:Arkansas football transfer portal live updates: Tracking who’s in, out for Razorbacks
Related:Texas Tech football vs. Arkansas odds: Liberty Bowl opening line, betting info
Texas Tech’s Doak Walker Award semifinalist is out of eligibility when the season ends, but did it end for him with the regular-season finale when he received a standing-ovation sendoff? Or will he put on the Double T helmet one more time?
Brooks could add to his career total of twenty-three, 100-yard rushing performances. He also needs 23 yards to pass Byron Hanspard for most rushing yards in a Tech uniform. Brooks is the official school record holder with 4,557, but the NCAA didn’t count statistics from bowls in its records before 2002, costing Hanspard 360 yards. He’d have 4,579 yards by today’s records-keeping method.
McGuire likes to call Texas Tech the home of the Texas High School Coaches Association, an expression of his open-door policy toward his old fraternity. Texas high-school programs produced some of Arkansas’ most marquee players, though, including leading rusher Ja’Quinden Jackson from Duncanville and starting quarterback Taylen Green from Lewisville.
Jackson quarterbacked Duncanville to the Class 6A Division I state final in 2018, but switched to running back early in his college career. The 6-foot-2, 233-pound senior started the season with three straight 100-yard games and now sits at 790 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns.
Green, 6-6 and 230, is a dual threat with 2,813 yards and 13 touchdowns passing and 521 yards and seven TDs rushing. A two-year starter for Boise State in 2022 and 2023, Green has nine career games with at least 75 yards rushing.
It was a hectic eight days for the Texas Tech staff after the regular-season finale. Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley took the head-coaching job at Florida Atlantic, and McGuire fired defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter and secondary coach Marcel Yates. Then he hired Houston defensive coordinator Shiel Wood and Texas State offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich, two young, fast risers.
Leftwich met the team Sunday, and Wood was due in town Monday when the Red Raiders resumed practice.
As much he prioritizes winning nine games, McGuire says the new coordinators won’t have a big role in bowl prep. First, he wants them meeting with transfer-portal targets. Then he wants them evaluating the roster of returning personnel and how those players might fit new schemes.
Wide receivers coach Justin “Juice” Johnson and outside linebackers coach C.J. Ah You will call the shots in the Liberty Bowl, so who knows what to expect.
Related:Joey McGuire lays out Liberty Bowl preparation plan for Texas Tech football staff
Both Liberty Bowl teams played Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The Razorbacks somehow lost a 39-31 double-overtime game on Sept. 7 despite outgaining the Cowboys 648 yards to 385.
The Red Raiders beat the Cowboys 56-48 on Nov. 23 with Behren Morton passing for a career-high 401 yards and linebacker Jacob Rodriguez sealing the outcome in the final five minutes with a fumble-recovery touchdown and an interception.
Before you go:How Texas Tech football can make CFP next year: An off-season to-do list
