No. 12 Texas Tech opens its season Saturday against Abilene Christian, and this one comes with plenty of familiar faces on the other sideline.
The Red Raiders are trying to move past the kind of opener that sticks with a fan base for a while: last year’s 52-51 overtime escape against ACU. This time, both programs are showing up with reshaped rosters, and Tech’s overhaul has been especially dramatic. Over the last two seasons, the Red Raiders have stacked one of the nation’s top transfer classes, landing No. 1 in 2025 and No. 6 in 2026.
ACU, meanwhile, is bringing a strong Red Raider connection back to Lubbock. The Wildcats are coached by Keith Patterson, who was Texas Tech’s defensive coordinator under Matt Wells from 2019-21.
Graham Harrell, a Texas Tech legend and last year’s Ring of Honor inductee, is ACU’s offensive coordinator. Joel Filani, a former Tech wide receiver from 2004-08, coaches the Wildcat receivers and will be inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame later this year.
“We’re really excited about Saturday, and it’s going to be fun seeing some familiar faces and one of the greatest Red Raiders of all time. Graham Harrell is one of my favorite people in the world.
I love his dad (Texas high school coaching legend Sam Harrell). As you all know, he’s one of my mentors and it’s going to be good to see Joel and Joseph Plunk, who played for us, so I’m excited that they’re coming into Galaxy Stadium and I’m excited to get this season started!,” said Texas Tech head football coach Joey McGuire.
Plunk, the son of Tascosa head coach Ken Plunk, played safety for Tech from 2020-24.
Tech’s roster also has its own ties to ACU and the area, with defensive lineman Tanner Allen, offensive lineman Kaden Carr, defensive lineman Isiah Crawford, cornerback Deante Lindsey, defensive back Javeon Wilcox and tight end Jayden York all listed among the players suiting up.
Unlike a typical opener, ACU has already logged a game. The Wildcats started the season last Saturday with a 21-14 loss at Lamar.
Quarterback John David Black went 15 of 25 for 142 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. ACU had a shot to tie the game with 19 seconds left, but Black was stopped out of bounds and the Cardinals took over on downs at their 4-yard-line.
Romelo Boykin and Cristian Driver caught the two ACU touchdowns and combined for 110 yards in that game.
Texas Tech second-year defensive coordinator Shiel Wood said his defense is already focused on what ACU can do through the air.
“They’ve got similar skill sets, I think they both throw the ball pretty well and can run around, extend plays and scramble,” he said. “So whichever one of them is in the game, I expect them to run their offense, and we’ll be prepared to defend the schemes that they’re going to throw at us hopefully based off of our prep.”
McGuire said ACU should be better than people expect, and he pointed to the value of already having game film on the Wildcats.
“I expect Abilene Christian to make a big jump and play really well. I also think they were a lot like most teams in game one.
You’re trying to figure out exactly who you are and what you do well, and you feel like you’re in a good spot against each other, but until you play somebody else, you don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like,” he said. “They do, so they have an advantage coming into the game that they’ve already played a game, but it also helps for us.
We know exactly who we’re playing and, we’ve got some good, game film to where we’re looking at what they do on defense. ”
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