Many who tune into the Big 12 Conference championship game on Saturday may not be diehard fans of the Texas Tech football team.
Joey McGuire has set out to make the Red Raiders a player on the national stage, and taking on the BYU Cougars in AT&T Stadium in Arlington is as good a step as any to bring in some of the casual college football fans into what’s going on in Lubbock.
For those who don’t know much about the Red Raiders, welcome. To help you understand the program, its players, and its history, here’s a brief crash course about what you may hear from the television broadcast.
Has Texas Tech football ever won the Big 12 Championship before?
This marks Texas Tech’s first trip to the Big 12 Championship game in program history.
The conference did not hold a title game between 2011 and 2016, not that the Red Raiders would have made it there. The Big 12 resumed the championship game in 2017 and has had eight entirely different teams playing for the league crown the past four years.
Texas Tech has never won the Big 12 title. The closest it came was in 2008 when it tied for the South Division regular-season championship. But the Red Raiders missed out on the title game, which featured Oklahoma and Missouri.
When’s the last time Texas Tech won a championship in football?
Most of Texas Tech’s success came a long time ago. That includes the Red Raiders’ last conference championship, which came back in 1955 when Texas Tech won the outright title in the Border Conference.
Will Texas Tech football make the College Football Playoff?
Odds favor the Red Raiders making the CFP. Texas Tech is ranked 4th in the latest CFP rankings, released Tuesday, and is in line for a bye into the quarterfinals with a win over BYU. A loss to the Cougars shouldn’t do much besides make Texas Tech play in the first round, likely at home in Jones AT&T Stadium.
Was Texas Tech football good with Patrick Mahomes?
Bit of a mixed question, so here’s the skinny. Patrick Mahomes first joined Texas Tech intending to play both baseball and football, but his acumen on the gridiron was so high that head coach Kliff Kingsbury talked him into ditching baseball.
Mahomes has since gone on to be the gold standard in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs. Mahomes ranks third in Texas Tech history in career passing yards (11,252), career passing touchdowns (93), pass attempts (1,349) and completions (857).
Despite this, the Red Raiders were mediocre in Mahomes’ career. Texas Tech went 4-8 in 2014, 7-6 in 2015 and 5-7 in 2016.
How did Texas Tech football suddenly become good?
Despite what some may think, the Red Raiders have demonstrated significant growth under McGuire before this season. They’ve had four consecutive winning seasons for the first time since the mid-2000s and made it to a bowl game each of the past five years (including this year).
What about the transfer portal and NIL money?
Can’t really call it the elephant in the room while McGuire and mega-booster Cody Campbell — who is also the chairman of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents — spent the last year doing a media blitz touting the money spent on NIL money to get this year’s team out of the transfer portal.
McGuire initially set out to add about 10 players from the portal this time last year. That snowballed into 20-plus additions, including the starring outside linebacker duo of David Bailey from Stanford and Romello Height from Georgia Tech. They’ve anchored a complete shift in the defense’s capabilities, going from one of the worst units in the country to one of the best.
Yes, much of this team was built through the transfer portal. Still, NIL money also kept guys like Heisman-hopeful linebacker Jacob Rodriguez and quarterback Behren Morton in Lubbock longer, so it’s not all new faces doing the damage.
Do Texas Tech fans still throw tortillas during football games?
No. Please don’t make me go into detail. They do not throw tortillas anymore. The practice was banned by Texas Tech athletics earlier this season. Fans have responded very well to this new reality.
