Williams' 64-Yard Dagger — Texas Tech Outlast Arizona 34–26

Texas Tech changed quarterbacks this week, and the gamble won them the game of the day in the Big 12. With starter Will Hammond benched, Thomas Castellanos made his first start of the season and accounted for three touchdowns, and J'Koby Williams landed the dagger — a 64-yard touchdown run on third-and-1 with 2:05 to play — as the No. 13 Red Raiders beat No. 22 Arizona 34–26 at Galaxy Stadium in a top-25 showdown between two 6–1 teams.

Castellanos was not asked to out-throw Noah Fifita, and he didn't: he finished 11-of-24 for 144 yards and two touchdowns through the air. He beat Arizona with his legs instead, carrying 19 times for 117 yards and a score, the engine of a Texas Tech rushing attack that piled up 328 yards. Arizona, for all of Fifita's brilliance, ran for 12 yards all afternoon. The ground gap — 328 to 12 — is the story of the game underneath the highlights.

And the highlights were loud. Arizona struck first with a field goal, Castellanos answered with a 24-yard touchdown to Terrance Carter Jr., and then Fifita produced the play of the day: backed up on third-and-12 at his own 6-yard line, he escaped the pocket and found Isaiah Mizell down the sideline for a 94-yard touchdown. When Kedrick Reescano finished a 14-play, seven-minute march with a short touchdown, Arizona led 17–7 and the upset was on. Fifita finished 33-of-45 for 417 yards, and Mizell caught seven balls for 182.

It flipped in the third quarter. Castellanos tied it with an 8-yard keeper, Reescano punched in another short score only for the extra point to be blocked, and then Texas Tech made the call of the game: facing fourth-and-2 at the Arizona 27, the Red Raiders went for it — and threw for the end zone. Castellanos hit Kenny Johnson for a 27-yard touchdown and a 24–23 lead they never gave back. A Stone Harrington field goal stretched it to 27–23, and even after Texas Tech fumbled once and punted once down the stretch, Arizona's late march stalled and the ball came back with under three minutes left.

Three plays later it was over. On third-and-1 near the two-minute warning, Williams took a handoff up the middle, found the seam, and turned a clock-killing call into a track meet — 64 yards, 34–23, ballgame in everything but arithmetic. Williams finished with 175 yards on just 14 carries. Arizona drove to the 5 in the final minute and settled for a field goal and one last onside try, which Texas Tech smothered before kneeling out the clock.

Both teams leave 7–1 and 6–2, but only one leaves in control of its Big 12 fate. Texas Tech (7–1, 4–1) bet on a new quarterback on the biggest Saturday of its season, and the bet — plus 328 rushing yards — held off a 417-yard masterpiece that deserved a better ending than Fifita got.