The 2026 college football season is almost here, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders have a lot of reasons to be confident entering the season.
Rankings lists have been released ad nauseum over the past several weeks, and the Red Raiders are generally ranked quite high. They have a strong defense and a good chance to improve with Will Hammond now the starting quarterback.
ESPN’s SP+ recently published its rankings and had Texas Tech ranked No. 8. Bill Connelly of ESPN commented on the list and compared it to the US LBM preseason coaches poll, and he seemed to think that the coaches poll was sleeping on Texas Tech a bit.
“I fear I might be a little too confident in the Red Raiders this season, since they steamrolled through the Big 12 last year despite often mediocre quarterback play,” Connelly wrote. “Am I already taking their portal abilities for granted? Am I assuming too much from a defense that had to reload quite a bit in the front six? The pollsters downgraded Tech to 12th, but SP+ has my back, starting them eighth despite the turnover. That’s a pretty solid reinforcement of just how good they were in 2025.”
Texas Tech also has four of the highest-graded returning defensive tackles in the Big 12, according to PFF, including A.J. Holmes Jr., Mateen Ibirogba, Julien Laventure and Bryce Butler. That could lead to a lot of success this season, at least on the defensive end.
The SP+ rankings are much higher on the Raiders than the coaches poll, so it will be interesting to see if they can outperform their expectations.
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This article originally appeared on Red Raiders Wire: Texas Tech called underrated in preseason US LBM coaches poll
Reporting by Curt Bishop, Red Raiders Wire / Red Raiders Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Curt Bishop, Red Raiders Wire | USA TODAY Network
