Insights on the 2024 Texas Tech football schedule

As of Tuesday morning, we now have an official Texas Tech football schedule for 2024. Of course, the Big 12 had already revealed which teams the Red Raiders would face but now, we know the order of the games.

We also already knew that the first three opponents would be Abilene Christian, Washington State (on the road after a swap of games with Oregon), and North Texas. But now we can start to make plans for the fall in earnest. So let's look at the biggest takeaways from the fresh new schedule.

Texas Tech has to go to Ames, Iowa in November

Most fans may not initially care about when the Red Raiders have to travel to Ames given that 99% of us will watch that game in the comfort of our living rooms. However, the early fall weather can often give the Cyclones an advantage in the form of an arctic cold front or even a snow storm.

Our hope was that Tech going to avoid a November trip to the Big 12's version of the North Pole but that won't be the case. Joey McGuire and his team will head to Ames on November 2nd to take on ISU in a game that could see the weather be 60 degrees and sunny or 15 degrees with a windchill of 0.

According to Accuweather.com, the average temperature for Ames on November 2nd is a high of 55 degrees and a low of 34. That's nothing to be concerned about, but again, fall in the northern portion of Iowa can be unpredictable.

The silver lining, though, is that it is an early-November date. Had Tech been forced to play in Ames later in the month, say on the 23rd, the average temperature would have dropped to a high of 43 and a low of 25.

Now, it is possible that none of this could matter. After all, in 2022, Tech came away with a 14-10 win in Ames on a night when the thermometer hovered around 0.

Still, playing in frigid temperatures makes it even tougher than usual to play at Jack Trice Stadium, one of the toughest venues in the Big 12 to escape from with a victory. That's why Tech will be keeping a close eye on the forecast when this year's trip to Ames rolls around because the schedule leaves open the possibility of another cold game against the Cyclones.