Cincinnati Beat No. 8 Texas Tech 37-24 for First Top-10 Home Win Since 2006

CINCINNATI: Cincinnati beat No. 8 Texas Tech 37-24 at Nippert Stadium on Saturday, October 24, 2026, handing the Red Raiders their first loss of the season in the biggest win of head coach Scott Satterfield's time at the school, Sports Illustrated reported. Fans stormed the field at the end. It was Cincinnati's first top-10 home win since 2006, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

Cincinnati improved to 5-2. Texas Tech fell to 6-1 after arriving in Cincinnati unbeaten and ranked eighth in the country.

A 21 point second quarter breaks the game open

Texas Tech led 6-3 after the first quarter. Cincinnati then scored 21 points in the second quarter and took control of the game. JC French threw a 5 yard touchdown pass to Malachi Henry to put Cincinnati ahead 17-6 with 1:37 left in the half, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

Texas Tech tried to answer before halftime and made things worse. Safety MJ Cannon intercepted a Will Hammond pass with 31 seconds left in the half. Running back Cole Tabb broke a 51 yard run on the next series of plays, French scrambled for 22 yards, and French then found Liam Waters for a 2 yard touchdown with four seconds left in the half. Cincinnati led 24-6 at the break.

French throws four touchdown passes

French threw four touchdown passes in the game and also ran for 46 yards, Sports Illustrated reported. Texas Tech cut into the lead in the third quarter. A field goal made it 24-9, and Peyton Morgan returned an interception 53 yards for a touchdown that cut the score to 24-15 after the two point try failed, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported.

French steadied Cincinnati with a 10 play, 80 yard drive late in the third quarter, capped by his touchdown pass to Larenzo Fenner, which restored a 16 point lead at 31-15, USA Today's college football live coverage reported.

Texas Tech's offense did not score a touchdown until the final minute. Its points before that came from field goals by Stone Harrington and Morgan's defensive touchdown. Harrington added a 33 yard field goal with 7:42 left in the fourth quarter to make it 31-18, and his 38 yard try earlier in the second half had missed to the left.

Tabb and the defense close it out

Tabb broke a long touchdown run in the fourth quarter that pushed the lead to 37-18, and the Enquirer reported it gave him a personal best 173 rushing yards for the day. Cincinnati's defense then forced its third turnover of the game with 4:43 left, when Jasper Beeler stripped receiver Coy Eakin and Brian Simms III recovered the fumble.

Texas Tech scored its only offensive touchdown with 59 seconds left, a 3 yard run by Quinten Joyner at the end of a 64 yard drive, for the final 37-24 score.

The win snapped a two game losing run for Cincinnati, which had lost at West Virginia a week earlier. For Texas Tech, the slow start that had followed the team this season finally cost it a game. Hammond could not reach 100 passing yards in the first half, the Avalanche-Journal reported, and the Red Raiders leave Cincinnati with their first loss and a defense that gave up four touchdown passes to a quarterback whose team had lost its previous two games.