The Texas Tech Red Raiders just flat out looked awful against the Oregon Ducks. Truly a disaster for the Red Raiders. The Red Raiders entered the College Football Playoff with the No. 3 scoring offense in the country and they just simply were held scoreless in the Orange Bowl by the Ducks.
Dan Lanning’s defense was remarkably impressive when facing Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders looked incredibly sloppy in so many ways. Behren Morton was just chucking balls up in a way that sure looked careless (or he looked lost) and the entirety of the Red Raider offense looked covered in rust.
This is a game that, on paper, Texas Tech looked like it should’ve been ready for. But somehow, some way, the Red Raiders weren’t able to do anything to move the ball against Oregon and Texas Tech became the latest victim of the 12-team playoff’s first round bye curse.
Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders are the latest victims of the College Football Playoff’s first round bye curse
Here’s what I mean:
Teams with first-round byes in the expanded CFP era are on the way to 0-6. https://t.co/qQVoH5xBHd
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 1, 2026
Texas Tech is just the latest victim of this trend. Teams that get a bye in the 12-team College Football Playoff are now 0-6.
I’m not saying that there’s an actual curse in play here, but I’m not saying there isn’t! With the way the Red Raiders played against Oregon, I’d be willing to consider the possibility that Texas Tech actually was the victim of a curse here.
Behren Morton completed just 18 of 32 passes for a terrifyingly low 137 yards and he threw a couple of interceptions. Texas Tech’s offense as a whole gained a grand total of 215 yards. This team looked lost in so many ways.
And the discussion of whether or not the Red Raiders were dealing with rust should be had, but that doesn’t excuse what happened on the field with the Red Raider offense. Because it’s certainly clear that Texas Tech’s defense wasn’t having issues with execution.
But when you combine this game with all of last season’s results and then the way the Ohio State Buckeyes lost, the rust narrative (or the curse narrative) makes a fair bit of sense.