There isn’t a Big 12 football program with a bigger target on its back than the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
The Preseason AP Top 25 tapped Joey McGuire‘s program at No. 12 in the nation after a crushing defeat at the hands of Oregon in last year’s College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Brendan Sorsby dominated offseason headlines and presented the college sports landscape with its biggest debate since revenue sharing arrived atop the 2020s.
Texas Tech boasts 16 different starters, including 11 returners from last year’s team, as they seek a second Big 12 title in 2026.
This wasn’t case even a year ago when Texas Tech spent a record $28 million on its roster; That figure flirts with $40 million a year later, as the Red Raiders double down in their chase to become the league top dog. It’ll come through some hazards this season with fellow contenders BYU, Utah, Houston, Arizona and TCU all making cases for a similar run this fall.
Make No Mistake, This is a Dangerous Offense
With or without Sorsby, who carried an NIL evaluation of $5 million, the Red Raiders are going to be a dangerous football team.
https://www.heartlandcollegesports.com/2026/07/24/texas-tech-taps-its-starting-quarterback/ proved a dependable backup to Behren Morton last year, and by the end of July, the sophomore had outright won the starting job as Mack Leftwich’s offense moves forward without the Cincinnati transfer Sorsby. Cameron Dickey, a First Team All-Big 12 running back for the Red Raiders last year, is a focal point of the offense with 1,124 rushing yards as a sophomore. Through the air, tight end Terrance Carter is a Second Team All-Big 12 big man for Hammond to hit, and there’s a duo of experienced receivers, Coy Eakin and senior Kenny Johnson, lending more dependable hands and speed to the pass game.
Anchoring all of it is senior center Sheridan Wilson, who has 27 different starts across his last two seasons in Lubbock. Enter new left tackle Howard Sampson from North Carolina, and another starting tackle in sophomore Jacob Ponton, and an already deep Texas offensive line has a steel-plated layer entering Week 1 against Abilene Christian.
New Faces on Defense
Texas Tech allowed as little as 11.8 points per game last year under coordinator David Shiel Wood. That stat was virtually unmatched in the Big 12 and finished third in the entire FBS for the 2025-26 football season.
Individually, linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (128 tackles) and defensive end David Bailey (14.5 sacks) were to major vacancies in the offseason blueprint for the Red Raiders. Kansas State transfer Austin Romaine (66 combined tackles) is a strong grab at linebacker and will be a nice pairing returning senior Ben Roberts; Miami (Ohio) senior transfer Adam Trick and South Dakota State senior transfer Trey White are two new, experienced faces to watch at defensive end.
They’re replacing two NFL Draft picks on defense in Rodriguez and Bailey, but the silver lining is the 57 different starts they gained from the transfer portal. That’s a lot, and it bodes well for a defense that’s used to having experience dudes up and down the depth chart. How they translate to the field is the final test, and luckily for Tech, they’ll get a big test early (see below).
Sept. 18 vs. Houston
You might remember how much controversy this game stirred online earlier this year when Texas Tech oracle Cody Campbell scoffed at the idea of playing an in-state home game against Houston on Friday night.
Funny enough, Houston will get Oregon State to begin the season on Sept. 5, and Texas Tech will travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Beavers in Week 2 before hosting the Cougars in Lubbock. It’ll be the first true test for each program, as Willie Fritz looks to lead Houston to its first win in the series as a member of the Big 12 and for the first time as a program since 2009.
Connor Weigman and the Cougars are no joke, and this game being on a Friday opens up national television to a Big 12 matchup that’ll have most folks rushing home from work to get the bean dip ready. It’s early enough into the schedule where both teams get a litmus test of their strength, without necessarily speaking for their entire 2026 odds.
