Texas Tech got the kind of win that usually turns heads, but the polls barely flinched.
The Red Raiders beat No. 22 Houston 28-26 on Friday night in Lubbock, rallying from a 10-0 first-quarter hole to pull out one of the biggest wins of Joey McGuire’s tenure. It was the sort of result that looked like it should spark a meaningful climb in the rankings.
Instead, Texas Tech nudged up only one spot to No. 11 in the Associated Press Poll and two spots to No. 10 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.
That leaves plenty of room for frustration among fans who expected a ranked win to send the Red Raiders surging. Texas, meanwhile, stayed put at No. 1 in both polls after beating UTSA in Austin on Saturday. Georgia and Notre Dame held the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in both rankings.
The top of the AP poll has Ole Miss at No. 4 after its win over LSU in Oxford on Saturday night, while defending National Champion Indiana sits at No. 4 in the Coaches poll. Miami, Ohio State, Alabama, and BYU follow in both rankings, with Texas Tech filling out the top 10 in the Coaches poll and LSU occupying No. 10 in the AP poll.
Elsewhere in the Big 12, Utah is No. 15 in both polls, and Houston is still hanging on at No. 25 in the AP poll. The Cougars, though, disappeared from the Coaches poll altogether after coming close to leaving Lubbock with a win.
The modest rise for Texas Tech says as much about the current poll landscape as it does about the Red Raiders themselves. Once a team is already sitting near the top 10, there just isn’t much room to make a giant leap. Ole Miss was the only team in the AP top 15 to climb more than two spots, and that came with a top-10 win in the featured game of the week.
Still, Tech’s slow climb has become part of the conversation because people keep waiting for a more convincing performance. The Red Raiders have not covered the spread in any game in 2026, and in the last two games the favored team has been pushed into fourth-quarter survival mode. Had Cam Dickey not given himself up on Friday night’s final possession instead of scoring a sure-fire TD, Tech would have covered in week three.
That has fueled a narrative that the Red Raiders have fallen short of the standard outside observers expected. The bar was set high after the dominant 2025 run to the College Football Playoff, and Tech only added to the hype by talking big in the offseason. With a schedule viewed by many as one of the weakest in the nation, the assumption was that this team would cruise back into playoff position.
Instead, every close call has been magnified, and the 3-0 start has not earned the kind of national respect Tech wanted.
If the Red Raiders want a bigger move in the polls, the formula is simple: win more comfortably. There are no other ranked teams on the regular-season schedule right now, and any future top-25 opponent before a possible Big 12 title game would likely be a team that has just squeezed into the bottom of the rankings rather than a top-15 challenge.
That means the path to more national buzz runs through lopsided wins. Starting this week at home against Sam Houston, Tech needs a few blowouts to start changing the story around the team - and maybe calm a few nerves across Raiderland while it’s at it.
In Other News...
Texas Techs Place In The New Top 25 Feels Bigger Now
Ole Miss win over LSU on Saturday rippled well beyond the SEC, and it gave the latest AP Top 25 a sharper look for teams trying to measure where they really stand. The Rebels moved all the way up to No. 4 after the 32-24 victory, while LSU slid to No. 10, and the rest of the league shuffled around them with Florida checking in at No. 21 and Mississippi State at No. 24.
For Texas Tech, the bigger takeaway is how crowded and volatile the middle of the poll feels right now. Oklahoma dropped out despite winning, SMU and Houston both saw movement after their recent games, and every weekly change only adds weight to where the Red Raiders landed in the new ranking. In a poll this unsettled, being inside it matters, but staying there is going to take another clean answer on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Big 12 Race Is Already Taking Shape Around Houston
Three weeks into the 2026 college football season, the Big 12 is already sorting itself into tiers, and Texas Tech has a seat near the top with BYU and Arizona State. That early pack has started to separate from the rest of the league, giving every conference game a little more weight than usual as teams try to establish themselves before the schedule gets fully crowded.
Around the league, there has already been enough movement to suggest this race may not stay tidy for long. West Virginia picked up a notable non-conference win over Virginia, Cincinnati and UCF both flipped halftime deficits into victories, and Arizona State handled Kansas in the first FBS game in London despite an uneven offensive showing. For Texas Tech, the bigger question now is whether its early position is a real foothold in the standings or just the opening act of a longer climb. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Suddenly Has Company In A Big 12 Rankings Fight
Week 3 brought a little more clutter to the Big 12s upper tier, and Texas Tech is now sharing the spotlight with a few familiar names. Four league teams are in the latest AP Top 25, with BYU surging to No. 9 after beating Colorado State, while Utah, Houston and the Red Raiders all stayed in the poll. West Virginia is also lurking just outside, drawing votes and inching closer to a ranking of its own.
For Texas Tech, that means the early-season conversation around the Big 12 is starting to feel crowded in a hurry. The Red Raiders are still in the mix, but with BYUs rise and Utah and Houston holding their spots, every week is beginning to matter a little more for anyone trying to stay relevant in the national picture. [Read more 🡒]