Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech football: Pros of a Big-12-only schedule

By Matthew Conner

ARLINGTON, TX - DECEMBER 07, 2019 - Detail view of Big 12 logo as the Baylor Bears band plays on the field before Baylor plays the Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 Football Championship at AT&T Stadium on December 7, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - DECEMBER 07, 2019 - Detail view of Big 12 logo as the Baylor Bears band plays on the field before Baylor plays the Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 Football Championship at AT&T Stadium on December 7, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /
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SaRodorick Thompson #28 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders tries to get around Lane Taylor #21 of the Lamar Cardinals. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
SaRodorick Thompson #28 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders tries to get around Lane Taylor #21 of the Lamar Cardinals. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

No FCS game

Most of us despise the fact that every Power 5 conference school in America has decided to play one FCS team each year.  Fans hate the non-competitiveness of those games, media members find little of interest to cover leading up to and following those games, and deep down, coaches have to know that there’s nothing much to gain by bludgeoning an FCS opponent into surrender.

Still, the financial ramifications of these matchups keep this unwanted custom alive.  Power 5 ADs know that this is a guaranteed home game, which will bring in millions of dollars without having to deal with negotiating a return game to the opponent’s home field.  But even more, these games are massive to the budgets of the FCS teams because the payout they get for volunteering as tribute is enough to fund most of their school’s athletic budget for the entire year.

The good news is that in 2020, we might not have to fight through the thrashing of watching the Red Raiders slap around Alabama State for three-plus hours in possible 95-degree heat in week two.  Though yesterday, I did say that we should start to appreciate these stress-free games more than we do, I still contend that I’d rather Tech play another Group of 5 team and take our chances with a tougher opponent.  It makes for better viewing and those matchups are more likely to entice those of us who live hours away from Lubbock to make the trek to the Hub City, and out of town football fans are huge stimulators of the Lubbock economy in the fall.

The last time one of Texas Tech’s games with an FCS team was even remotely interesting was in the 2014 season opener when Arkansas State put a 42-35 scare into QB Davis Webb and the Red Raiders.  Since then, Tech has beaten its yearly FCS punching bag by an average of 44.8 points per game.  So if we don’t have to sit in the hot West Texas sun just to witness the Red Raiders lift their hind leg on another FCS program content to be the hydrant upon wich Tech urinates, it won’t make any of us all that upset.

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