There are dozens of different ratings and metrics that you can look at throughout a college football season to try and get a sense of which team is overperforming or underperforming, who does well in certain situations, and where certain trends are heading in any given moment. In the end, one of the biggest questions that every fan and analyst is trying to answer is simple: Who is good, and who is not?
The answer is often subjective, but when you’re able to boil it down to a number, compared to average, it becomes clearer. That’s what ESPN’s Football Power Index does, offering a measure of team strength intended to accurately predict a team’s future performance. It judges how much better a specific team is compared to average, using past results, simulations, and the remaining schedule.
For the Texas Tech Red Raiders, expectations are relatively high going into the 2026 season, according to FPI.
Released earlier this week, the Football Power Index has the Red Raiders ranked No. 10 in the nation with an FPI of 20.0, trailing only the Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers and ahead of the Texas A&M Aggies and Oklahoma Sooners.
The FPI predicts that Texas Tech will have a 10.8-1.8 record, with a 25.2% chance of going undefeated this year and a 45.9% chance of repeating as Big 12 Champions. It also predicts that the Red Raiders have a 57.9% chance of making the College Football Playoff, an 8.5% chance of making the national championship game, and a 3.7% chance of winning the championship, which ranks as the 8th-best odds in the nation.
Though Texas Tech has experienced some bumps in the road this offseason thanks to the Brendan Sorsby situation, they are still well-suited to find success this season and should feel good about where they stand going into the new season.
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This article originally appeared on Red Raiders Wire: Where Texas Tech Red Raiders rank in ESPN FPI entering 2026 season
Reporting by Zachary Neel, Red Raiders Wire / Red Raiders Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Zachary Neel, Red Raiders Wire | USA TODAY Network
