It is going to be interesting to see how Texas Tech football fans handle the upcoming offseason. Will the masses in scarlet and black decide to believe the hype once again or will years of failing to break through in a big way make Red Raiders approach the 2025 season with a show-me attitude?
However individuals decide to proceed, it is becoming obvious that the Red Raiders are again going to be a trendy "dark-horse" contender to make the College Football Playoff. That is what 247Sports is already calling head coach Joey McGuire's team.
In an article published Wednesday, Cameron Salerno and some of his colleagues at 247Sports.com listed nine potential "dark-horse" candidates to make the next 12-team College Football Playoff. The Red Raiders were included in that group.
After saying that Texas Tech will enter 2025 as "the" favorite in the Big 12, the article points to Tech's top-rated transfer class, the addition of new defensive coordinator Shiel Wood, two recent top-30 recruiting classes, and a manageable schedule next fall as reasons to believe that Tech is about to break through and make the playoff.
Of course, Red Raider fans might be skeptical. After all, last offseason many were promoting the Red Raiders as potential College Football Playoff party crashers and those predictions didn't come to fruition. Instead, McGuire's team went just 8-5 overall this past season and wound up playing in yet another inconsequential bowl game while failing to be a true contender in the Big 12 race.
It wasn't the first time in the McGuire era that Tech has failed to make national noise after being a trendy offseason "dark-horse" pick as the same was said about the Red Raiders prior to the 2023 season. As a result, many Red Raider fans have said that they are no longer going to buy into any offseason hype surrounding the Texas Tech football program.
This is easy offseason fodder and given the success of programs like Arizona State, SMU, and Indiana that came from out of nowhere to reach the College Football Playoff in 2024, everyone in the sport will be on the lookout for the next surprise team to make noise on the national scene. Whether or not Red Raider fans want to believe that their team could fit that bill is up to each individual fan. But just the fact that Tech is already listed as a playoff dark horse is a sign that the hype surrounding the program is only going to build as we work our way through the long offseason.