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Texas Tech football: Why the Red Raiders can compete for a Big 12 title

By Matthew Conner

Sep 16, 2023; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders wide receiver Jordan Brown (4) makes a touchdown catch in front of Tarleton State Texans defensive safety Dabari Hawkins (5) in the second half at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 16, 2023; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders wide receiver Jordan Brown (4) makes a touchdown catch in front of Tarleton State Texans defensive safety Dabari Hawkins (5) in the second half at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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July 12, 2023; Arlington, TX, USA; The Big 12 Championship Trophy on display during the first day of Big 12 Media Days in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, July 12, 2023. Mandatory Credit: Sara Diggins-USA TODAY Sports
July 12, 2023; Arlington, TX, USA; The Big 12 Championship Trophy on display during the first day of Big 12 Media Days in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, July 12, 2023. Mandatory Credit: Sara Diggins-USA TODAY Sports /

Though the 2023 Texas Tech football season is not off to the start that anyone in Raiderland expected, there is plenty left on the table this fall.  Most importantly, the dreams of a Big 12 title are still alive.

Sure, at just 1-2 on the year, Tech is no longer a trendy pick to reach the conference championship game.  However, the Big 12 journey is only beginning in earnest this week and with each game, teams will rise and fall in the minds of observers and fans.

Of course, it was fun to hear people talk about Joey McGuire’s team being a darkhorse College Football Playoff contender throughout the offseason.  Now, with that dream dead, some fans might have lost a significant portion of their enthusiasm for what this season could hold.

However, the possibility of a Big 12 Championship should also thrill people in scarlet and black.  That’s because it has been a remarkably long time since this program has won a conference championship.

The last time Tech won a conference title was in 1994 when the Red Raiders shared the league crown with Texas.  However, people in College Station like to point out that the Aggies actually had the best record in the Southwest Conference that season (6-0-1) but they were on probation thus allowing Tech and UT to share first place at 4-3 in SWC play.

That puts Tech’s conference championship drought at 28 seasons.  What’s more, the last time the program won an outright conference crown was 1976.  However, that is far from the length of Iowa State’s current drought.

Remarkably, the Cyclones have not won a conference championship since 1912.  That’s one of the longest droughts in the NCAA.

However, Iowa State can claim something that Tech can’t.  The Cyclones have at least played for the Big 12 title.  In 2020, they fell to Oklahoma 27-21 in Arlington, Texas as they fell just short of ending over a century’s worth of disappointment.

Tech, on the other hand, has never appeared in the Big 12 Championship game.  In 2002, Kliff Kingsbury had a chance to QB his team to the conference title game by winning the regular-season finale at Oklahoma but the Red Raiders were destroyed 60-15 by the No. 4 Sooners resulting in a third-place finish in the Big 12 South.

2005 saw Tech finish second in the South division with a 6-2 record.  Unfortunately, that year saw Texas go 8-0 in league games to win the South on their way eventually winning the National Championship.

Even the best Red Raider team of the Mike Leach era, the 2008 squad, couldn’t get to the Big 12 title game.  That year, Tech, Texas, and Oklahoma finished in a three-way tie in the South meaning that the BCS rankings determined the team that would represent the South in the title game, an opportunity that went to the Sooners.

Since then, Tech hasn’t come close to playing for the conference crown.  Since the conference reinstated the title game in 2017 after a six-year hiatus, the Red Raiders’ best finish in the league was last season’s fourth-place finish.

This year, Tech hopes to finally get a shot at winning an elusive conference title.  That’s a dream that is entirely attainable, even if most people are off of the Red Raider bandwagon.  So let’s look at some reasons to believe that Tech could still make a run in the Big 12 this year even after a disappointing non-conference showing.

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