On Saturday, when Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders go southeast to face off against the Houston Cougars, we’ll have a chance to witness two teams with identical records match up. Both Texas Tech and Houston are 4-0. Both the Red Raiders and the Cougars are 1-0 in Big 12 play. Interestingly enough, both teams have wins over Oregon State.
And even though there are all of those aforementioned similarities between these two teams through their first four games of the season, it’s worth noting that the Red Raiders are definitely expected by most to come out on top of this game.
That includes the ESPN Analytics Matchup Predictor, which is definitely predicting that the Texas Tech football team has a great shot of beating the Cougars on the road this weekend.
ESPN FPI Matchup Predictor gives Texas Tech an overwhelming chance of beating the undefeated Houston Cougars
According to the Matchup Predictor, the Red Raiders currently have a 74.5 percent chance of beating the Cougars in Houston on Saturday. A win over UH would give Texas Tech its fifth win of the season overall and the Red Raiders’ second win in conference play, bumping them up in the Big 12 standings just slightly.
A loss to Houston, which apparently there’s a 25.5 percent chance of, would be pretty devastating for Texas Tech and their overall hopes for what this season can be.
Even though the Cougars are unbeaten, they don’t seem to be all that impressive of a team right now. Houston’s most impressive win so far this season is likely against the Colorado Buffaloes, a team they beat 36-20. But given that Colorado is at the bottom of the Big 12, maybe that win isn’t all that great either?
When comparing a common opponent in Oregon State, the winless Beavers went toe-to-toe with Houston and forced the Coogs into overtime, where UH ultimately won by three points. Meanwhile, Texas Tech beat Oregon State 45-14. It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out.