Five Swing Games For Texas Tech In 2018

Each year, there are a handful of games on every team’s schedule that could swing the balance of the season.  Here are the five games that the Texas Tech football team must win if it is to exceed expectations in 2018.

There is more uncertainty surrounding the 2018 Texas Tech football team than perhaps since 2000 when Mike Leach was entering his first season as head coach.  With no proven quarterback on the roster, a completely new group of receivers and a head coach still trying to cement his job status (certainly in the eyes of the fan base if not as much in the eyes of AD Kirby Hocutt), predictions on what the Red Raiders’ 2018 record will be are less than exciting.

The bulk of the prognosticators have the Red Raiders finishing with between five and seven wins and being in the lower third of the conference standings.  College Football News has Tech as 5-7 while some oddsmakers have Tech’s over/under win total at just 6.5.

Fortunately, offseason predictions are usually about as reliable as teenage summer romances.  Every season, a number of teams rise up to surpass expectations while others inevitably disappoint.

For example, consider Athlon’s 2017 Big 12 predictions.  Athlon predicted Texas would win nine games (five more than the Horns ultimately won) and that Baylor, which went just 1-11, would go 6-6.  And last year, Athlon saw Iowa State to be a 5-7 team but the Cyclones finished the year with eight wins.

Obviously, predictions are an inexact science, which should give hope to Texas Tech football fans that the Red Raiders can be an overachieving team in 2018.  But if the Red Raiders are to exceed expectations, they must perform well in the swing games that on paper look like they could go either way.  Here are five crucial swing games on the schedule that will go a long way in determining what type of season 2018 will be.