Top 5 matchups for Week 6 of the 2024 college football season

5. Texas Tech at Arizona – Saturday, 11 p.m. ET, FOX

Texas Tech and Arizona will meet for the first time as Big 12 opponents on Saturday night, but they have a long history of playing each other on the gridiron. The two programs first met in 1932 and played annually from 1946-59 and again from 1971-79. The last meeting between the Red Raiders and the Wildcats came in 2019, and it was a rare Arizona victory, as Arizona has won just five of the 33 games played in the series.

The Wildcats are around a touchdown favorite to claim win No. 6 over Texas Tech this weekend, but the Red Raiders can’t be overlooked. Texas Tech is 4-1 this season with its only loss coming in Week 2 at Washington State and has shown an ability to win close games with back-to-back one-score victories over Big 12 opponents. The Red Raiders are led by the 15th-ranked total offense in the country that has scored 44 points or more in three of five games thanks to junior quarterback Behren Morton and star running back Tahj Brooks.

That could be bad news for an Arizona defense that has struggled at times, particularly in the Wildcats’ lone loss to Kansas State, but is coming off of a road win at Utah where it allowed just 10 points. Perhaps the bigger concern for head coach Brent Brennan has been the Wildcats’ offensive struggles as quarterback Noah Fifita hasn’t quite found his 2023 form. Even so, Arizona is finding ways to win, and victories here and next week at BYU would go a long way in the Wildcats contending for a Big 12 title.