Texas Tech’s latest scheduling headache is a perfect snapshot of college football’s broken non-conference model.
The Red Raiders were already dealing with one change when NC State backed out of a 2027 game because of the ACC’s new nine-game schedule. That sent Texas Tech back into the market, where USC stepped in and negotiated a pair of neutral-site games for 2027 and 2028. But according to multiple reports, including On3, USC has now backed out too.
That leaves Texas Tech with a problem that sounds simple and is anything but: the Big 12 requires a power conference game in 2027, and the Red Raiders still need to find one. Their current non-conference slate for that season includes UAPB and New Mexico, both in Lubbock, but no power conference opponent.
That’s where the system starts to show its cracks. Most schools lock in these games years ahead of time, which makes late fixes tough.
The fact that Texas Tech and USC were even talking about 2027 and 2028 was unusual, and it happened only because Tech had already lost the NC State game. Finding another power conference team with an open date this late is a hard ask.
LSU and Clemson are a good example of how far out these deals are made. They’re set to meet in their season openers on Sept. 5 in Baton Rouge, with Clemson hosting the return game from last season. That series was signed back in 2018.
That’s the larger issue hanging over Texas Tech’s situation. As the SEC and ACC move to nine conference games, the College Football Playoff committee will have a better basis for comparing teams. But the non-conference scheduling picture still isn’t clean, because not every power-conference matchup carries the same weight when some were booked seven years earlier.
It’s why the sport may need a more organized, year-to-year approach to these games. The idea of conferences claiming others won’t play them gets harder to defend if there’s a system that forces meaningful matchups. Basketball already has versions of that with the ACC-SEC challenge, and the Big 12-SEC challenge used to do it too.
A pool of power-conference teams - with Notre Dame included - could create better games every year instead of leaving schools to negotiate contracts years and years in advance with no real idea what they’ll actually get. Right now, Texas Tech is stuck living the downside of that setup.
In Other News...
Texas Tech Fans Have A Real Reason To Worry About Shiel Wood
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For Texas Tech, that kind of success brings its own anxiety. The better the defense plays, the more attention Wood is likely to attract, and the Red Raiders know they may have to start planning for life after one of the biggest behind-the-scenes drivers of their rise. Even as the program enjoys the results on the field, there is a very real sense that the challenge with Wood may be less about keeping the defense rolling now and more about how long he stays in Lubbock. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Just Got Another Big 12 Reason To Believe
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Atwells return only adds to the momentum around a program that has already brought back Darrion Williams and supplemented the roster with transfers Cruz Davis, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Jamichael Stillwell. For a Texas Tech team trying to turn continuity into contention, the combination of familiar production and fresh additions gives the Red Raiders a lot more to work with, even if the full shape of the rotation still has room to settle. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Techs NIL Edge Comes With One Big Playoff Question
College footballs money race keeps accelerating, but the newest CBS Sports look at the sports priciest rosters offered a reminder that spending alone does not always track with brand name or playoff expectation. Several SEC and Big Ten powers cleared the $40 million mark, yet Alabama was not among the biggest outlays, and Texas Tech also landed outside the top-spender conversation despite the attention its roster-building has drawn.
For the Red Raiders, that is part of the intrigue heading into the next phase of the playoff era. Texas Tech has built real NIL momentum, but the numbers also underscore how much of the national spending hierarchy can hinge on a single major contract, and how quickly one splashy addition can change the picture. Indianas title run provided a separate example of how a more modest spend can still produce on-field rewards, but it also raised the same question Tech now faces: where does investment stop being an edge and start becoming a test of how far a roster can be pushed? [Read more 🡒]