NewzLUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — J’Koby Williams ran for a career-high 165 yards with two long touchdowns after an early fumble, Ben Roberts returned an interception for a touchdown and No. 10 Texas Tech overwhelmed Arizona State 53-25 on Saturday in a matchup of the past two Big 12 champions. The reigning champion Red Raiders (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) broke a school record with their eighth consecutive regular-season conference victory since a 26-22 loss last year at Arizona State.
Their 12th home win in a row is one short of the longest streak in school history set in 1942. Texas Tech led for good on Roberts’ 24-yard pick-6, the fourth time in three games a Red Raiders linebacker returned an interception for a touchdown. That came three plays after Williams’ fumble at the Sun Devils 2 on the 13th play of the game’s opening possession.
The Red Raiders scored on the last seven drives of the first half, with four TDs and three field goals by Stone Harrington (31, 42 and 37 yards) for a 43-10 halftime lead. They already had 404 of their 502 total yards by then. “That was something that was totally different,” coach Joey McGuire said.
“We’ve been really slow starting and playing great in the second half. I was really excited the way we started. It wasn’t that we did anything different.
We just executed better and played at a really high level.” Reed Harris had his Big 12-leading eighth TD catch for Arizona State (3-3, 1-2) on the first drive after halftime, on a 2-yard pass from backup Mikey Keene. Will Hammond, the starter for Tech in last year’s game at Arizona State when Behren Morton was injured, completed 18 of 26 passes for 232 yards with an 11-yard TD to Coy Eakin. Kenny Johnson had seven catches for 120 yards.
“Will grew today as a quarterback,” McGuire said. “He did some things today, extremely composed, that I haven’t seen. But I haven’t seen a half like that out of him.” Williams had only 11 carries and his two TD runs covered 100 yards.
Summary from source