Arizona–Texas Tech football rivalry

Historically, Arizona and Texas Tech were rivals in the now-defunct Border Conference, playing every year from 1946 to 1959.[3] In 1932, Texas Tech won the first ever meeting, which was played on their campus in Lubbock, 21–0.[4] Arizona won their first match up in the series on November 11, 1936, 7–6 (their only win in Lubbock to date).[5] Texas Tech has been mostly dominant in the series, including winning 15 straight games from 1937 to 1958, with games not being played in 1943 or 1944 due to World War II. The first 18 match-ups occurred while both programs were members of the Border Conference. Following 16 games were non-conference matchups with Texas Tech joining the Southwest Conference, in 1956, and later the Big 12 Conference, in 1996. Arizona stayed in the Border Conference until it joined the Western Athletic Conference, in 1962, and then the Pac-10 Conference, in 1978.

Arizona and Texas Tech played each other for nearly the entire 1970s, from 1971 to 1979 (they did not play in 1970), with the Red Raiders going 7–1–1 against the Wildcats, which included their first and only game while both teams were ranked in 1974. Texas Tech was ranked 17th, while Arizona was ranked 9th, with Texas Tech winning the game, 17–8. Both teams split a home-and-home series in 1988 and 1989 with the Wildcats winning the 1988 matchup and the Red Raiders winning the 1989 one. Arizona won the most recent matchup between the two teams during the 2019 season in Tucson, 28–14, in which was only the Wildcats’ fifth win over the Red Raiders in their history. They were scheduled to play a return home game in Lubbock during the 2020 season but the game was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and planned to be replayed in 2034.[6]

Arizona was later invited on August 4, 2023, into the Big 12 Conference, starting in the 2024 season,[7] in which the rivalry will be revived and played for the foreseeable future.

• List of NCAA college football rivalry games