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Texas Tech football: Red Raiders ranked too low by USA Today

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 2: The Texas Tech Red Raiders take the field for a game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on November 2, 2013 at AT&T Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Oklahoma State won the game 52-34 (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 2: The Texas Tech Red Raiders take the field for a game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on November 2, 2013 at AT&T Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Oklahoma State won the game 52-34 (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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In a USA Today ranking all 76 teams set to play football this fall, the Red Raiders check in at No. 43, a ranking that seems a bit too low.

In a normal season, there are 130 teams competing in the FBS subdivision of college football.  However, that number has dropped to 76 this fall as four conferences, the PAC 12, Big 10, MAC, and Mountain West have decided to sit out the 2020 season.

Thus, the people at USA Today have taken it upon themselves to rank the teams that still plan on playing this year.  And Texas Tech sits at No. 43 on the list.

Interestingly, Tech is the seventh-highest ranked team in this poll that is coming off of a losing season.  And only two other teams that are also coming off 4-8 seasons, Middle Tennessee and Ole Miss (No. 36 and No. 37 respectively), are ranked higher.

As for the rest of the Big 12, OU is the highest-ranked team at No. 4.  Meanwhile, Texas sits at No. 8 after an 8-5 season in 2019.

Also coming off of an 8-5 season, Oklahoma State is at No. 12.  With virtually every important starter back from last year’s team, the Cowboys are considered by many to be serious Big 12 title contenders.

At No. 21 you will find TCU.  That’s an awfully inflated ranking given that the Frogs went just 5-7 last year and that their QB Max Duggan may not play this year.

A darkhorse Big 12 contender is Iowa State, which is two spots behind TCU at No. 23.  Kansas State, another 8-5 team from last year, finds itself at No. 31 on the list as head coach Chris Klieman is set to enter his second season on the job in Manhattan.

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At No. 35 is West Virginia, which was just 5-7 last year including a loss to the Red Raiders in Morgantown.  Many may feel that ranking to a bit inflated as well.  But perhaps the biggest surprise of the Big 12 teams may be the No. 50 ranking of Baylor, which went 11-3 last year and played in the conference title game.

Kansas rounds out the Big 12 teams at No. 67 after a 3-9 debut for head coach Les Miles.  Of course, one of those three victories was over the Red Raiders in Lawrence.

Atop the ranking is Clemson, which will enter the season the prohibitive favorite to claim another title.  Behind the Tigers are Alabama and Georgia.

On the other end of the spectrum, UTEP is the bottom team on the list at No. 76.  After a 1-11 season, the Miners were set to open 2020 against Texas Tech in El Paso but that game was canceled when the Big 12 decreed that its members could only play one home non-conference game.

Tech fans may also find the rankings of some teams just ahead of the Red Raiders somewhat interesting.  As we mentioned earlier, Middle Tennessee is seven places higher than Tech despite also coming off of a 4-8 2019 season.  Meanwhile, a Georgia Southern team that was only 7-6 last year is at No. 40.

light. Related Story. The all-time Texas Tech team from Houston

But of course, preseason rankings are arbitrary as they are merely guesses.  By the end of this year, Texas Tech could jump many of the teams on this list and might be one of the surprises in the nation.  The good news is that it appears we will soon get to find out just how all 76 of these teams stack up.  That’s something that not every team in the nation can say in 2020.

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