The 2025 Texas Tech football schedule has been set. On Tuesday, the Big 12 conference finally released its full schedule for this fall giving fans some football news to chew on in the heart of basketball season.
We already knew who the Red Raiders were going to play this season. But now, we know the order of the games.
Tech will once again have seven home games and five road contests. However, the Red Raiders will have only four home conference games while heading out for five conference road tilts.
Another interesting aspect of the 2025 season, one that we already knew about, is that the Red Raiders will play only one team from the state of Texas, Houston. What's more, no in-state team will come to Jones AT&T Stadium this fall. Without doing extensive research, one has to wonder if that has ever been the case in the history of Texas Tech football.
So with that said, let's look at some important takeaways from the full Texas Tech schedule. And we'll start by examining how Texas Tech avoided having to do something that no college football program wants to do.
2025 Big 12 Football Schedule Release 🏈🗓️
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) February 4, 2025
Texas Tech Football | @TexasTechFB pic.twitter.com/OtLjPZWWh7
Texas Tech will not play any Thursday or Friday games in 2025
In the modern age of college football when there are more television partners than ever for each conference, the demand for programming inventory is at an all-time high. So to satisfy that, conferences have been putting some of their games on Thursday and Friday nights for the past couple of decades.
A game during the week is something no program wants to have, especially if that game is at home. That's particularly true for Texas Tech. First of all, Tech has an unusually high number of season ticket holders that live multiple hours away from Lubbock making it difficult for a huge portion of the fan base to get to a Thursday or Friday game.
Second, high school football remains a massive priority in West Texas meaning Tech fans may have to miss a mid-week game because they are at a high school game supporting their child. Fortunately, the Red Raiders have no Thursday or Friday games this season.
The last time Tech hosted a game on a day other than Saturday was in 2023, a 35-28 win over TCU on a Thursday night. Therefore, many feared that Tech might be in line for another non-Saturday home game this season. That didn't happen, though, and that should make everyone in Raiderland happy.
Texas Tech will be road warriors to begin Big 12 play
In 2024, the Red Raiders had the luxury of playing their first two Big 12 games at home and they won those contests vs. Arizona State and Cincinnati. In 2025, though, the first two and three of the first four conference games will take place away from Lubbock.
Tech opens Big 12 play at Utah, a tough place to play. That will be the first road game of the season and it will not be an easy environment to iron out the nuances of traveling as a team for the first time.
Then, the Red Raiders head to Houston where new defensive coordinator Shiel Wood will have his homecoming after being the Cougars' D.C. last season. Following a home game with Kansas, Tech will then travel to Tempe, Arizona to take on the defending Big 12 Champions, Arizona State. That's not an easy four-game stretch to start league play.
Texas Tech faces a daunting back-to-back set of games in early November
The most difficult two-week stretch of the season will come at the start of November. In fact, that could be where it will be determined if Texas Tech is truly a Big 12 contender.
On November 1, the Red Raiders will be in Manhattan, Kansas to take on Kansas State. Tech hasn't beaten the Wildcats since 2015 and has not won in Manhattan since 2008. What's more, KSU will be one of the trendy picks to win the Big 12 next season making this yet another daunting trip to "The Little Apple".
Then, seven days later, the Red Raiders will host BYU. The Cougars were one of the surprise teams in the nation in 2024 and they return most of their key pieces this fall. They too will be a popular pick to make noise in the conference this season.
Tech has performed well in November during head coach Joey McGuire's tenure. Hopefully, that trend will continue this fall but it won't be easy because this two-game set will be tough to navigate unscathed.
Texas Tech ends the regular season with the same opponent as 2024
In 2025, the Red Raiders will end the regular season just like it ended the 2024 regular season, by playing West Virginia. Last fall, the Red Raiders took apart the Mountaineers in Lubbock 52-15 but next season, can they do the same in Morgantown?
It would have been nice to play at West Virginia early in the season. That's because the Mountaineers will be breaking in a new head coach this year, Rich Rodriguez, who will be in his second stint as the program's head coach. While he knows WVU well, it will still take time for his overhaul to take effect and that's why getting that game early would have been nice.
Instead, when these two teams meet to fight over the soul of John Denver, WVU will have had a full season under Rodriguez to iron out the wrinkles. Hopefully, the Red Raiders will still be able to come away from Morgantown victorious, though.
Texas Tech's open weeks are not placed very advantageously
Finally, it is always worth looking at where a team's open weeks fall. Unfortunately, this season, Tech's two open dates don't come at the most ideal times.
The first week off will be on September 27. That will come after just four games, between the trip to Utah and the trip to Houston. While the Utah game might be physical (given the Utes' typical style of play) meaning a week to recover after that game could be nice, it would be more beneficial to have the first open week later in the season.
That's because the second open week comes in the second-to-last week of the regular season. Tech will be off on November 22 after hosting UCF and before taking on West Virginia.
A week off before the final regular-season game isn't very advantageous. What's more, it means that Tech will go nearly two straight months without an open date.
Of course, the hope is that the Red Raiders will be playing in the Big 12 title game the week after playing West Virginia. If that proves to be the case, then an open week on the second-to-last Saturday of the regular season could suddenly pay huge dividends. Let's hope that is exactly how it plays out.