Texas Tech football: Takeaways from the 2022 schedule

Though there is still one game left in the 2021 season, Texas Tech football fans have turned their attention to next season as the program released its 2022 schedule on Wednesday.

Being as it is an even-numbered year, the Red Raiders will have a fifth Big 12 home game giving us seven home games overall next season.  What’s more, it is the year when the high-interest conference games such as Texas, OU, West Virginia, and Baylor all will take place at Jones Stadium.

So let’s take a closer look at the intriguing aspects of next year’s slate of games.  And let’s begin by looking at the tough non-conference slate.

Non-conference will not be a cakewalk

Even throughout the past decade, when Texas Tech football has fallen on hard times, the non-conference portion of the schedule has typically been a bit of a cakewalk.  In fact, the program has gone 21-4 in non-conference play since the start of the 2013 season.  What’s more, the Red Raiders have not lost two non-conference games in a regular season since falling to Ohio State and N.C. State in 2002.

But that could very well happen in 2022.  That’s because, after opening with FCS opponent Murray State in Lubbock, Tech then faces two tough tests with Houston in Lubbock and N.C. State in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Those two contests will be rather daunting given that they will be the first two FBS games of the Joey McGuire era.

Remember, Houston is currently sitting at 11-1 and is preparing for the Conference USA title game against Cincinnati.  Thus, regardless of what happens for the remainder of 2021, the Cougars will head into next year with tons of momentum.  Meanwhile, the Wolfpack ended this regular season with a nice 9-3 mark so they too have to feel good about the direction of their program heading into bowl season.  Therefore, the non-conference portion of next season will be no walk in the park to open next year.

Tough 3-game stretch to open Big 12 play

When conference play arrives, life doesn’t get any easier for the Red Raiders.  Opening Big 12 play with Texas for the third-straight year, Tech will then face consecutive road games at Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

The Red Raiders have not beaten Texas in Lubbock since 2008’s classic and have not taken down the Horns at all since 2017.  What’s more, Tech has not won in Manhattan, Kansas since that same 2008 season having lost their last five games at KSU.  Finally, Tech is just 1-8 since 2003 in Stillwater.  In other words, if the Red Raiders are going to get off to a strong start in league play next season, they are going to have to put an end to some negative trends against the Horns, Wildcats, and Cowboys.

Late November in Ames

Whenever Tech’s even-year schedule comes out, I always look to see when the Red Raiders have to travel north to play Kansas State and Iowa State because the time of year for those trips often plays a huge role in the outcome of those games.  That’s because it seems like Tech almost never plays well when having to travel north late in the season when it is often rather frigid.

Next year, Tech’s trip to Ames falls in the second-to-last week of the regular season.  That’s on November 19th, the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving.  Could another cold-weather environment be waiting for Tech again in 2022?

On November 17, 2018, on a brutally cold afternoon in Manhattan, Kansas State took down Tech 21-6 in a game where Kliff Kingsbury famously decided to leave the sideline heaters in Lubbock.  In 2016, on another frosty afternoon, Tech fell in Ames 66-10 in a late-November game.

We could go on but the point is clear; Tech has not played well on the road in cold weather environments in recent years having won just one November game on the road against those two schools since the Big 12 went to the round-robin schedule format.  In fact, Tech hasn’t won a November game against KSU or ISU since 2014’s win in Ames.  In 2022, they will have an opportunity to change that narrative when they head to Ames late in the season.

Oklahoma after Thanksgiving

Texas Tech has traditionally struggled to fill Jones Stadium on the Saturday after Thanksgiving as the vast majority of the student body is back home for the holiday and the tens of thousands of season ticket holders who live multiple hours away from Lubbock seem less likely to make that trip one final time so close to a holiday.  Next year, will that be the case even though the opponent on the regular season’s final Saturday will be the Oklahoma Sooners?  It will be interesting to find out.

Remember, this will very likely be the final time Oklahoma ever plays a game in Lubbock.  Thus, the home fans would be wise to show up and take in one last contest against one of the nation’s true blue blood programs.  But for years, Tech has tried to petition the Big 12 not to schedule a home game on the final Saturday of November because of traditionally poor attendance.  Hopefully, this game will have some serious ramifications on the conference standings and that will be enough to have a strong home showing from the Red Raider populace despite the holiday.

Home bookends

One aspect of the schedule that plays out well for Tech is that the schedule is heavily slanted towards Lubbock to both open and close the season.  That’s got to be exciting for McGuire and Co.

Tech opens the year with two home games giving the team an opportunity to find its footing under the new coaching staff.  Then, the year ends with four of six games in Lubbock.

Back-to-back games in Lubbock against West Virginia and Baylor to close out October will be pivotal for the Red Raiders.  Then, after a trip to TCU, Tech will host KU in what we expect to be the most winnable conference game of the year.  That proceeds the trip to Ames and the visit from OU, two games that will be extremely tough at the end of the season.

Of course, given Tech’s recent track record against the Cyclones and Sooners, the Red Raiders had better get to bowl eligibility before those last two games. And because of a home-heavy schedule that is entirely possible for McGuire in year one.