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

Joey McGuire will get the most out of Texas Tech

There’s no way to deny that Joey McGuire is far from a proven commodity as a college head coach.  That’s why some outside of the Red Raider fan base might still be waiting to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially after a 1-2 start to the year.

Still, Texas Tech football fans believe that McGuire has an innate ability to get the best out of his team.  That’s another reason to think that Tech could be a surprise in the Big 12.

Last season, Tech was out-played from an effort standpoint in only one game, the 45-17 loss to Baylor in Lubbock.  Outside of that, McGuire got the most out of his roster on a weekly basis.

While that didn’t lead to a win each week, it did mean that Tech was able to hold second-half leads at Oklahoma State and TCU, two teams that were ranked 7th nationally when they faced the Red Raiders.  That was also the reason why Tech beat Texas, Oklahoma, and Ole Miss, three teams that were considered more talented than McGuire’s.

McGuire is a master motivator.  He gets his players to buy in and that’s something that his predecessors weren’t able to do.

Neither Matt Wells nor Kliff Kingsbury were able to get their rosters to live up to their full potential.  In fact, each seemed to have a knack for draining the fight out of his team, especially as the season wore on.

McGuire is so much more effervescent than either Kingsbury or Wells and that seems to rub off on his team.  Last year, the Red Raiders played their tails off week in and week out and that led to some unexpected wins.  If McGuire can continue to instill that culture in his team this season, Tech could fight its way to a Big 12 title game appearance.