After another week of chaos in college football, the bowl projections have been shuffled. Let’s see where the Texas Tech football team is projected to land after its loss to Iowa State.
The Texas Tech football team failed to earn its sixth win of the season and qualify for bowl eligibility Saturday against Iowa State. A win would have been the earliest that the Red Raiders had earned bowl eligibility since 2013 when they started 7-0 in Kliff Kingsbury’s first season.
But despite the fact that Tech still has not officially qualified for postseason play, virtually every expert believes the Red Raiders will eventually obtain win no. 6. Now, in the latest round of bowl projections, there is more of a consensus among various outlets about where the Red Raiders will be sent for their bowl game.
Four different outlets, ESPN.com, CBSSports.com, the Orlando Sentinel and 247Sports.com place Texas Tech in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. In that game, to be played on New Year’s Eve in Memphis, Tennessee, Tech would face off with an opponent from the SEC.
The Orlando Sentinel, Kyle Bonagura of ESPN.com, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports and 247Sports all have the Red Raiders taking on South Carolina. The Gamecocks are currently 4-3 on the season with wins over Costal Carolina, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Tennessee and losses to Georgia, Kentucky and Texas A&M.
Speaking of the Aggies, Mitch Sherman of ESPN.com has Tech and A&M meeting in Memphis. But as we have discussed before, that seems highly unlikely to come to fruition given the Aggies’ outright refusal to play Texas Tech or UT in any bowl game since leaving the Big 12.
Sports Illustrated predicts an appearance in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl in Houston vs. Missouri. The Tigers are 4-4 and 7th in the SEC East having an 0-4 record in conference play. Their best win on the season is a 40-37 win at Purdue in week three.
Of course, this would be a rematch of former Big 12 rivals. The schools last met in 2011 and the Tigers hold a 6-3 lead in the all-time series.
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Another possible opponent in Houston could be Auburn according to The Sporting News. The Tigers have been one of the season’s biggest disappointments sitting at 5-3 overall and having lost two of their last three games after beginning the season ranked in the top 10.
Tech and Auburn do share a common opponent in Ole Miss. The Red Raiders fell to the Rebels 47-27 in the season opener (in Houston) while Auburn beat the Rebels 31-16 in Oxford, MS on October 20th.
Most Texas Tech fans seem to prefer a bowl game trip to San Antonio and at least one publication believes that may come true. The College Football News has Tech in the Valero Alamo Bowl vs. Washington out of the Pac 12.
Like Auburn, Washington has plummeted from a preseason top 10 ranking to being unranked thanks to a 6-3 record. The offensively challenged Huskies are coming off a poor showing in a 12-10 loss to California and have lost two of their last three games.
Perhaps Texas Tech could reunite with another former Big 12 bunkmate. According to Athlon Sports, the Red Raiders could renew acquaintances with Colorado in the Cheez-It Bowl.
Formerly known as the Cactus Bowl, the Cheez-It Bowl is played in Phoenix at Chase Field where the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball play their home games. Tech and Colorado have met 10 times with each school winning five games. They last met in 2010 when Tech pulled out a 27-24 comeback win in Boulder.
Of course, the Red Raiders could drastically improve their bowl prospects and completely set the Big 12 and national landscape on its side by beating Oklahoma this week. Should that happen, next week’s bowl projections will be fascinating to review.