Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire ready for Liberty Bowl eager to quiet Arkansas fans

Joey McGuire grew up on the Texas-Arkansas border with his family season-ticket holders for the Razorbacks, a team known locally as the Hogs. The number for his first landline telephone as a teenager literally ended in 1464 — or 1HOG.

McGuire is now wrapping up his third season as coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders with a game against Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl on Friday night.

“I'm going to enjoy hearing it, but we ain't going to hear it for long,” McGuire said of Arkansas fans doing their well-known cheer. “We're going to be ready to play them, and we're planning to come out on top.”

Texas Tech (8-4, 6-3 Big 12) wrapped the regular season winning its last two, including a rout of West Virginia. The Red Raiders also won this bowl, sponsored by AutoZone, in 2021 by routing Mississippi State. A win Friday night would give Texas Tech its first nine-win season since 2009.

These old Southwest Conference foes last met in 2015 with Texas Tech winning three of the past four overall, including that one nine years ago.

Arkansas (6-6, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) can end coach Sam Pittman's fifth season with a winning record with a victory after a close loss to then-No. 24 Missouri to finish the regular season. His Razorbacks needed three overtimes to beat Kansas in one of 2022's most thrilling bowls.

Being here is a nice change after going 4-8 in 2023 even with Pittman balancing the early signing period, netting 15 players in the transfer portal and recovering from a total hip replacement.

“Last year was worse,” Pittman said. “We weren't in a bowl. We weren't around our kids. They were home for Christmas.”

Quarterback change for Texas Tech

With Behren Morton choosing shoulder surgery after the regular season, true freshman Will Hammond will make his first start for Texas Tech. He will be the eighth freshman quarterback in school history to start and the second to do so in a bowl. He joins Davis Webb, who led the Red Raiders to a win in the 2013 Holiday Bowl over Arizona State.

Who's coming, staying and gone

The Red Raiders will be without wide receiver Josh Kelly, who caught 89 passes for 1,023 yards and five touchdowns. He ranked eighth in the Football Bowl Subdivision for receptions, but Kelly is prepping for the NFL draft. Texas Tech was the third collegiate stop for the sixth-year senior after four seasons at Fresno State and one at Washington State.

They will have running back Tahj Boyd to help Hammond. Boyd ran for 1,505 yards and 17 touchdowns in 11 games, including a season-high 188 yards in that win over West Virginia. Boyd also caught 28 passes for 199 yards and a TD.

Arkansas will be without four key Razorbacks who opted out to start prepping for the NFL draft, including wide receiver Andrew Armstrong and defensive linemen Eric Gregory and Landon Jackson. The biggest hit may be running back Ja'Quinden Jackson, who led the Razorbacks with 15 TDs and was part of an offense that ranked second in the SEC and 10th nationally with 32 rushing touchdowns.

Pittman still has quarterback Taylen Green, who ran for seven TDs and threw for 13 more.

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