We are just a day away from the start of the 2022 Texas Tech football season. So let’s take a shot at predicting how the season will play out by predicting all 12 regular-season games.
Texas Tech vs. Murray State
It will be interesting to see how the Red Raiders come out of the gates against FCS opponent Murray State in game one. But regardless of what we see from the first showing of the Joey McGuire era, it is hard to envision anything but a win for the home team.
The Racers were merely an average FCS team a season ago and were non-competitive in their two games against FBS teams. Expect more of the same when they come to Lubbock.
The Racers simply will not have the firepower to keep up with the Red Raider offense. After all, last season, they averaged a mere 21.5 points per game.
The only hope that the visitors have in this one is for Tech to be disjointed offensively. That’s a possibility given that the Red Raiders will be executing a new offensive scheme and will be breaking in a new corps of outside receivers. Also, the Racers will need the Tech offensive line to be leaky as it tries to round into form after an offseason of personnel and position changes.
This is a game in which Tech will have a much larger margin for error given the talent disparity between the two programs. That’s always a huge factor in games with an FCS opponent.
The Racers will need virtually everything to go their way in all three facets of the game and even that may not be enough. After all, it wasn’t enough for Houston Baptist to pull the upset over Tech in 2020 nor was that enough for Stephen F. Austin to take down the Red Raiders last fall.
It could be argued that both of those FCS teams played harder and better than Tech and yet neither could close the deal. Murray State won’t be able to either.
Tech has never lost to an FCS opponent and that streak will stay alive this year because there is no way the Red Raiders will be overlooking the Racers given that this will be McGuire’s debut. Expect Tech to come out and play with their hair on fire taking on the persona of their head coach. It shouldn’t be close as Tech will open 2022 with a resounding victory.