Sights & Sounds: No. 7 Texas Tech Off-Balance in First Loss of Season

NCAA Football: Texas Tech at Arizona State — Oct 18, 2025; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders wide receiver Coy Eakin (3) catches a touchdown pass against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the first half at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

After not trailing for six games to open the season, Texas Tech was down two scores with under four minutes to play when they somehow stole the lead back with two minutes to play. What a story that would have been but the Sun Devils didn’t blink and drove the length of the field for the go ahead touchdown in less than a minute and half of play. In the end, the Red Raiders woke up too little too late and fell 26–22 to Arizona State notching their first loss of the 2025 season.

How will they respond? That was the theme of the postgame with Joey McGuire and team leaders Jacob Rodriguez and Coy Eakin. Find quotes of note from each plus stat leaders, highlights and a few pictures from the game.

Joey McGuire

McGuire didn’t hide his frustration but made sure to credit Arizona State for out-executing Tech when it mattered. “Well, one, hats off to Arizona State. I thought they played really well, especially defensively. That was one of the better tackling teams. That’s what I said to Kenny after the game. I thought that was one of the better tackling defenses we faced. They didn’t let a lot of extra yards go after contact or after yards after catch, which we’ve been really good at this year. So, I thought they did a great job.”

He acknowledged the Red Raiders “missed on too many opportunities,” particularly in the red zone. “Early we were holding them to field goals, and then we just didn’t counter with any kind of scores,” McGuire said. “I hate it. I hate being in a locker room and feeling like I let the guys down.”

Even in defeat, McGuire’s message stayed consistent: learn, move forward and continue working towards the team’s goals that are still on the table. “You’ve got to come back Sunday and look at the film and learn from it. We’ve got to do the same thing. It’s just a lot harder to do whenever you lose,” he said. “This is our goal: to keep winning and earn our way into the Big 12 Championship. That doesn’t change anything with the loss today. It just makes it a little bit more difficult, and we’ve got to fight our way back.”

When asked how his team would respond to its first real adversity of the season, McGuire said he was looking forward to finding out. “We’re fixing to find out how we’re going to face the loss,” he said. “That’s the adversity that you’ve got to find out. I thought that really, if you look at the whole of the game, facing adversity and coming back and taking the lead with two minutes left — we faced adversity pretty well. The biggest thing we’re going to find out is how you face a loss and drop in the rankings and hear all the noise.”

Jacob Rodriguez

Oct 18, 2025; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils running back Raleek Brown (3) scores a touchdown against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the fourth quarter at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Texas Tech’s defensive captain stood shouldered the responsibility head-on, speaking like the senior he is with his eyes forward to what is next. “We always have a 24-hour rule whether we win or lose,” Rodriguez said. “And so yeah, this one sucks, but we’ll watch the film, dive into it. A lot of areas to improve, all three phases of the game.”

Rodriguez credited Arizona State’s preparation and scheme.“I give more credit to Arizona State,” he said. “I think they schemed us up real good. They had a really good plan. I think our guys played hard, their guys played hard. I think we just kinda… the ball wasn’t bouncing our way.”

On the Sun Devils’ game-winning drive, one of the few long, sustained drives Tech’s defense has allowed all year, Rodriguez pointed to moments of execution missed. “It’s something we work every week on Wednesdays. We work two-minute drill, and we just didn’t execute a lot of our calls,” he said. “When you’ve got playmakers, they’re going to make plays. And so it’s kind of one of those where you just gotta line up and play the next one, and play the next one, and play the next one. They did a good job getting the ball in the end zone.”

As for how this team will handle their first loss? Rodriguez pointed back to accountability and the maturity inside Tech’s locker room. “We have the sense to be able to look internally and see what we did wrong and ask for forgiveness, and then not let it happen again,” he said. “You get better a lot of times off a loss. You can really see what hurts you and really attack your weak spots.”

Coy Eakin

Sophomore receiver Coy Eakin echoed the 24-hour rule from Rodriguez. “We get 24 hours to celebrate a win or 24 hours to mourn a loss. But then, once the 24 hours is up, you move on to the next,” Eakin said. “That’s kind of the plan right now: get back to Lubbock, watch film, see what we did good, see what we did bad, and after 24 hours is up, it’s on to the next.”

Asked about Arizona State’s defense, Eakin didn’t make excuses. “They’re a good football team. Every team we’ve played is a good football team. We just got to execute what’s on our game plan. I don’t think it was really them at all,” he said. “A lot of plays we were one block away or one read away from having a 30-yard gain or a touchdown.”

On his late punt return that helped swing momentum, Eakin had been waiting for his moment and gladly grabbed it when the ball bounced his way. “It was actually supposed to go to the right, and he’s been kicking it short,” he said. “So I literally told Mitch, I was like, dude, like next return, I have to take it no matter what. So it bounced, and I just saw green grass. And they held up great. I don’t think I had anybody around me in 20 yards.”

Despite the outcome, he said belief never wavered. “I always thought we were in it, even before that,” Eakin said. “I never really count us out, especially with the offense and defense that we have and the playmakers we have. After the touchdown, it was more like, okay, get ready to go do it again.”

And like Rodriguez, his comments pointed back to internal accountability. “It’s just doing your job. Even in the running game, you watch film – we’re one block away from piping one down 80 yards like we did last week.”

Texas Tech Stat Leaders

Will Hammond – 22 for 37, 167 yards passing, 2 passing touchdowns, 15 rushes, 47 yards rushing, 1 rushing touchdown

Coy Eakin – 5 catches, 66 yards receiving, one touchdown

Jacob Rodriguez – 12 tackles (7 solo), 1 tackle for loss, 2 forced fumbles

David Bailey – 5 tackles (3 solo), 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks

Behind the Game

Read more about the big moments, calls, mistakes and everything in between with stories from RedRaiderSports.com writers:

Joey McGuire’s thoughts after first loss to Arizona State

Final Whistle Feeling: Arizona State

Three Up, Three Down: Texas Tech @ Arizona State

Next Up: Home Versus Oklahoma State 10/25

Texas Tech Masked Rider | Pat Cockrell, Red Raider Sports

Texas Tech returns home looking to bounce back against Oklahoma State (1-6) who is coming off a 49-17 loss to Cincinnati. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 pm on ESPNU.

“We’re fixing to find out how we’re going to face the loss,” McGuire said. “That’s the adversity that you’ve got to find out… There’s nobody in here that hasn’t been through a loss in their career. We just have not been through a loss as a team, and so we’re going to find out how we deal with that.”