We’re roughly one-third of the way through the 2025 college football season and the Texas Tech Red Raiders are starting to look more and more like a legitimately impressive team that can make the College Football Playoff this season.
It’s still very early in the season and there’s plenty of games left to be played. Still, with the way the Red Raiders played through their first four games of the season, Texas Tech is really doing an impressive job of convincing people across the country that it belongs in the College Football Playoff discussion this season.
Of course, when you put up 34 points on the Utah Utes and then limit their offense to just 10, you make it clear that those early season non-conference blowout wins weren’t just flukes. Now, fresh off a bye week, Texas Tech is looking to continue to build momentum moving forward.
And if the Red Raiders keep winning, they’ll wind up in the College Football Playoff. Potentially against a well-known team from the Big Ten. If you ask ESPN college football analyst Mark Schlabach where the Red Raiders will end up, it’s in exactly that sort of situation.
College Football Playoff projections, Week 6: ESPN analyst Mark Schlabach puts Texas Tech in CFP matchup vs Penn State
James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions are coming off an overtime loss against Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks and that’s something that Penn State fans are probably pretty mad about! But, the good news for Penn State fans is that Schlabach has them making the college football playoff as the No. 11 seed.
And given that he’s projecting the Nittany Lions to meet up with the Red Raiders, that means he’s also got Texas Tech as the No. 6 seed.
These two teams play very different brands of football and it’d be interesting to see them meet up in December. Of course, since Texas Tech is the higher rated team in this projection, that puts the hypothetical game in Lubbock.
Should this matchup actually happen, it’d be the second time in as many seasons that the Nittany Lions would get to face a team from Texas in the College Football Playoff as the SMU Mustangs faced Penn State in the first round last season.