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Texas Tech football: Ranking the 2023 home games by difficulty

By Matthew Conner

Oct 9, 2021; Lubbock, Texas, USA; A general overview of Jones AT&T Stadium during the game against the Texas Christian Horned Frogs and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 9, 2021; Lubbock, Texas, USA; A general overview of Jones AT&T Stadium during the game against the Texas Christian Horned Frogs and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 3, 2022; Lubbock, Texas, USA; A general view of the home side of Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field during the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Murray State Racers. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 3, 2022; Lubbock, Texas, USA; A general view of the home side of Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field during the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Murray State Racers. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 6: Tarleton State @ Texas Tech

I’ll never stop complaining about the practice of FBS teams playing an FCS team every year.  It is a terrible waste of time for fans and there’s nothing to gain for Texas Tech and other FBS teams by beating the snot out of a team from the lower division.  However, those games aren’t going to go away anytime soon.

This year’s sacrificial lamb will be Tarleton State, a program that was in Division II until 2019.  What’s more, the Texans belong to the Western Athletic Conference, a former FBS league that dropped football altogether in 2012 only to revive it in 2021 at the FCS level.

In past years, Tech has at least taken on some of the top FCS programs.  Games against Sam Houston State, Eastern Washington, and Montana State were also laughable but at least those programs were some of the best in the sport’s second level.

Tarleton is not in that class. Last year, they were just 6-5 overall and 1-3 in conference play.  That included a 59-17 loss at TCU.  In fact, this is a program that has not topped the six-win mark since 2019 despite playing against such rancid foes as Eastern New Mexico, William Jewel, Fort Lewis, and Dixie State.

Thus, the task of playing a night game at Texas Tech in week three will likely be more than a bit intimidating for the Texans.  The only question about this contest will be whether the Red Raiders are able to put forth maximum effort a week after playing Oregon and a week before starting Big 12 play on the road at West Virginia.  If McGuire’s team can put forth a solid effort, the Texans will not have much in the way of resistance making this by far the easiest home game of the season.

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