The Texas Tech Red Raiders may not make the College Football Playoff this season. That’s just a possibility. It’s totally possible that Joey McGuire and the Red Raiders, after losing against the Arizona State Sun Devils in Week 8 and then losing quarterback Will Hammond to injury in Week 9 against Oklahoma State, might not make it all the way to the College Football Playoff.
And while it is also still totally possible that the Red Raiders will indeed have a chance to compete in the College Football Playoff as we get there, it looks like ESPN College Football Analyst Mark Schlabach is currently not expecting that.
In the latest bowl and College Football Playoff projections from Schlabach, the ESPN analyst has the Red Raiders on the outside looking in. And instead of competing for a shot at advancing on to compete in the national championship, Schlabach has Texas Tech facing off against a former Pac-12 team and a familiar face in San Antonio.
ESPN college football analyst Mark Schlabach has Texas Tech missing the College Football Playoff and facing the USC Trojans
Following their dominant, 42-point shutout Week 9 win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Texas Tech is slated to face off against the USC Trojans in the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, according to Schlabach’s projections.
And that’s not my favorite projection for the Red Raiders given the potential that this team has when it’s healthy and firing on all cylinders like we’ve seen this team do in the past. Still, I can’t say that I’m not excited about the thought of seeing Texas Tech match up with Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans.
Just approaching it from an objective standpoint, I think that’d be a lot of fun to watch and would produce a ton of fireworks from these two offenses.
Again, I’d prefer the Red Raiders make it into the College Football Playoff, but I wouldn’t complain too much about watching them compete against USC in this matchup.