HOUSTON \u2014 Hours after their team bus passed droves of friendly tailgates stationed in enemy territory, and not that long after scattered tortillas rained down from the TDECU Stadium\u2019s highest levels, Texas Tech\u2019s players packed inside a cramped make-shift media room and reckoned with the moment. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s different from what I\u2019m used to,\u201d defensive end David Bailey, a Stanford transfer, said. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to take it all in and enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Take your time. <\/p>\n
The wait\u2019s been worth it. <\/p>\n
Texas Tech, still undefeated after Saturday\u2019s 35-11 win over Houston in front of a sold-out crowd that quarterback Behren Morton classified as a home game, is now more than just a plucky upstart with a sizable bankroll led by a former high school coach whose reviews are unimpeachable. <\/p>\n
The Red Raiders (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) are on the doorstep of college football\u2019s upper crust. They can invade it on Sunday in the same manner that their fanbase did a stadium eight hours from home. <\/p>\n
Texas Tech could garner a single-digit ranking in Sunday\u2019s AP Top 25 poll for the first time since the 2008 season. It\u2019s already the Big 12\u2019s top-ranked team and left no doubt Saturday when its defensive front swallowed the Cougars (4-1, 1-1) and its offense rolled for 552 yards to blemish what had been a perfect record. It\u2019s now among the nation\u2019s best \u2014 by way of record, statistics and performance \u2014 and can safely stake claim as the second-best team in its home state. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of times that we felt like we could\u2019ve scored more points than what we did,\u201d head coach Joey McGuire said. \u201cBut, at the end of the day, there were teams that went on the road that were expected to win and didn\u2019t. There were teams that went on the road and had dogfights like this and couldn\u2019t handle the adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGuire, thrice a state champion at Cedar Hill, didn\u2019t go into specific details on which teams he\u2019d referenced. Here\u2019s a few guesses: No. 9 Texas, the top-ranked preseason team, was upset on the road by a Florida team that\u2019d previously been in the midst of a spiral. No. 7 Penn State, a College Football Playoff participant last year, lost across the country to a UCLA team that fired its head coach two weeks ago. <\/p>\n
All the Red Raiders did was navigate their own redzone inefficiencies, pass for 345 yards against one of the nation\u2019s best statistical aerial defenses, rush for another couple hundred while shutting out the Cougars in the game\u2019s final two quarters. They\u2019ve won each of their first five games by at least 24 points and are a top-12 team nationally in both total offense and defense. <\/p>\n
That, coupled with the upset losses from Texas and Penn State, has opened a window for the Red Raiders to slide into single-digit territory. Texas A&M, ranked No. 6 and still undefeated after a Saturday win vs. Mississippi State, is the only team within the state of Texas that should be ranked ahead of them come Sunday afternoon. <\/p>\n
The Longhorns have two losses and have hardly looked comfortable on offense against legitimate competition. TCU and Baylor, with one and two losses respectively, are at least a tier below Texas Tech, and SMU couldn\u2019t beat either of them. The Red Raiders entered this week with the fifth-best SP+ rating \u2014 which ESPN describes as a \u201cmeasure of college football efficiency\u201d that\u2019s based on the quality of each team\u2019s games \u2014 in the country. They were the only team outside of the Big 10 ranked within the top five. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got one goal and mission and we\u2019re going to accomplish that mission,\u201d Morton, a senior who\u2019s spent his entire career in Lubbock, said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a really cool change of program culture that I\u2019ve seen at Texas Tech. From winning, man, five, four games a year to doing what we\u2019re doing now speaks volumes of coach McGuire and what he\u2019s doing for this program.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was asked to consider the possibility that Texas Tech could be a top-10 team by the time it hosts Kansas next weekend. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe standard is the standard,\u201d Morton said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to play at our standard of football every week and see where the polls take us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The standard has taken them pretty far thus far. <\/p>\n
Texas Tech prediction: Can Red Raiders contain Kansas QB Jalon Daniels?<\/span> Texas Tech has held Big 12 dual-threat quarterbacks to a combined 34 rushing yards in 2025.<\/p>\n Panelists from The Dallas Morning News, The Ticket and NBC5 select outcomes for college football games, straight and against the spread.<\/p>\n
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