The Texas Tech Red Raiders, under head coach Joey McGuire’s leadership, have made some drastic improvements throughout this season. The head coach of the Texas Tech football team absolutely should be proud of the way the Red Raiders played this year.
So it makes a ton of sense that he would have Texas Tech as the No. 6 team in the country.
And how do I know that?
Well, the Coaches Poll has offered a bit of transparency for college football fans as the final ballots have been shared so that folks can get a glimpse of how coaches voted.
That includes Joey McGuire’s ballot.
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire places the Red Raiders at No. 6 in his final Coaches Poll rankings of 2025-2026 CFB season
Here’s where Texas Tech’s head coach ended up placing teams in the final Coaches Poll rankings for the 2025-2026 college football season:
- Indiana Hoosiers
- Miami Hurricanes
- Oregon Ducks
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- BYU Cougars
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Utah Utes
- Texas Longhorns
- Vanderbilt Commodores
- Houston Cougars
- Virginia Cavaliers
- Southern California Trojans
- Michigan Wolverines
- Arizona Wildcats
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- Tulane Green Wave
- North Texas Mean Green
- James Madison Dukes
- TCU Horned Frogs
First and foremost, I love that McGuire bumped the BYU Cougars above the Texas A&M Aggies, placing a fellow Big 12 team in the top 10 of his ballot for the final college football rankings for the 2025 season. I appreciate that in so many ways.
And it’s not the only instance of some Big 12 bias from the head coach of the Red Raiders.
Utah ended up being a spot above Texas at No. 13, Houston is ranked at No. 16, Arizona is sitting at No. 20, and then TCU has the No. 25 spot.
None of those rankings are totally egregious (though I think Houston might be something of a tricky team to evaluate in totality), but it does feel like the Red Raiders head coach gave Big 12 teams a slight benefit of the doubt where some other voters may not have.
I don’t think that’s a bad thing and I deeply appreciate it. Why not stump for the Big 12 (in a healthy, measured, and totally reasonable way)?