Cincinnati ends No. 8 Texas Tech's undefeated season with 37-24 upset win

No. 8 Texas Tech became the second undefeated team to go down in Week 8.

Just two days after James Madison’s hopes of another unbeaten season ended, Tech lost 37-24 at Cincinnati. It’s the first regular-season loss for the Red Raiders in over a year; Texas Tech last lost a regular-season game on Oct. 18, 2025 at Arizona State.

Cincinnati took a first-half lead and flipped the game in its favor late in the first half. After the Bearcats went up 17-6 with 1:37 to go, Texas Tech QB Will Hammond was intercepted by MJ Cannon with 37 seconds to go.

The Bearcats were seemingly content to take an 11-point lead into halftime. But Cole Tabb ripped off a 51-yard run on Cincinnati’s first play and immediately put Cincy into field goal range. Four plays later, JC French IV threw his third TD of the first half when he found tight end Lyviel Waters with four seconds to go in the second quarter.

Another big run from Tabb put the game on ice in the second half. After Texas Tech cut Cincinnati’s lead to 13 with a field goal, Tabb broke off a 58-yard TD run.

It’s the Bearcats’ first victory over a team in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 since the 2021 team that made the College Football Playoff beat then-No. 9 Notre Dame to move to 4-0.

This isn’t the same Texas Tech

This Week 8 game was immediately one of the biggest in the Big 12 after QB Brendan Sorsby transferred from Cincinnati to Texas Tech following a breakout season in 2025. But Sorsby was a relative afterthought on Saturday after the revelations of his sports betting habits and his eventual departure from the Red Raiders long before the football season began.

Tech pushed to add Sorsby after the offense cratered in the College Football Playoff under previous quarterback Behren Morton. Hammond — who started that game against Arizona State — suffered a torn ACL while filling in for an injured Morton as the Red Raiders won the Big 12 a season ago.

But it’s also fair to believe that a potential upgrade at quarterback wouldn’t have been enough to hide the flaws on this Texas Tech roster.

Last year’s Red Raider team was powered by a defense that allowed fewer than 12 points per game. Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez was a turnover-causing machine and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Edge rusher David Bailey’s 14.5 sacks propelled him to the No. 2 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and Romello Height added 10 sacks of his own. He’s in the NFL too.

Though Texas Tech started the 2026 season 6-0 and was forcing turnovers at nearly an identical rate to 2025, there were clear signs that this team wasn’t nearly as good as it was a year ago. Opponents averaged just 3.9 yards per play against Tech in 2025. Through seven weeks in 2026, they were averaging 5.1.