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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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Oct 23, 2021; Lubbock, Texas, USA; The Texas Tech Red Raiders Masked Rider leads the team onto the field before the game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 23, 2021; Lubbock, Texas, USA; The Texas Tech Red Raiders Masked Rider leads the team onto the field before the game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 5: Houston @ Texas Tech

Whenever an in-state team from the FBS comes to Lubbock, it’s always a fun game.  That has been the case in recent years when Houston has climbed the Caprock to tangle with the Red Raiders and now that these two long-time rivals are in the same conference again, this series will take on far more importance than it has for nearly three decades.

However, Tech should be heavily favored when this contest kicks off on September 30.  That’s because Houston is expected to be one of the worst teams in the Big 12.

Picked 12th out of 14 teams in the preseason conference poll, the Cougars will have an uphill battle in the Big 12 because of a talent gap.  Not only will they have to replace last year’s starting QB, Clayton Tune, and star receiver, Tank Dell, but they also saw their projected starting running back transfer to Colorado in the spring.

What’s more, a U of H defense that ranked 112th nationally in points allowed last fall will have to replace its top five tacklers.  That includes defensive end Derek Parish who had 10 tackles and 4.5  sacks against the Red Raiders a season ago despite playing with a full cast on one hand.

To put the Houston talent gap in perspective, understand that their starting QB, Donovan Smith, was Texas Tech’s third-string QB at the end of 2022.  While the former Frienship Tiger is wildly athletic and has a big arm, he is also a walking turnover as evidenced by the seven INTs he threw in his four starts last year.

Last season, Houston had aspirations of crashing the College Football Playoff as a Group of 5 school the way Cincinnati did in 2021.  That didn’t happen as the Cougars would drop three of their first five games on the way to an 8-5 record.

This year, life in the Big 12 will serve a huge dose of humility to a program that has come to be known as one of the most brash and cocky in the nation despite really having no justification for those attitudes. By the time Houston comes to Lubbock, they will already have faced a tough UTSA team and TCU (both games at home) meaning they could arrive with a pair of defeats on their ledger.

While Smith’s return to Lubbock might provide some extra motivation, the reality is that Houston doesn’t match up with Tech in any area this year.  So look for this to be a game Tech handles with relative ease.

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