Monday, the college football offseason calendar passed another important marker when the preseason Associated Press Poll was released. To no one's surprise, the Red Raiders were included in the top 25, and actually, they are in a great place in the rankings to begin the season.
Sitting at No. 12 to begin the year, Tech is the highest-ranked Big 12 team. The other members of the conference in the first poll are No. 14 BYU, No. 21 Utah, and No. 23 Houston.
At the top, Ohio State checks in at No. 1, followed by Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Texas. Other Texas schools in the top 25 include Texas A&M at No. 8 and SMU at No. 19.
This is the highest that Texas Tech has been to start the season since 2008, when Tech was also at No. 12 in the initial AP Poll. In all, the program has been ranked by the AP to start the season on just eight occasions. The highest was a No. 8 ranking in 1977.
Texas Tech is in great position to move up quickly
While every fan wants to see their team ranked as high as possible, even to begin the year, Tech actually might be in the best possible situation by sitting at No. 12. That ranking puts Tech in line to quickly move up the rankings early in the season while avoiding the external pressure that might come with a top-5 preseason spot.
Many early-season games will pit teams ranked ahead of Tech against opponents more than capable of knocking them off. In week two of the season, Ohio State plays at Texas, so one of those top-five teams will fall in the polls. Also that week, No. 10 Oklahoma is at No. 16 Michigan.
The next week, when Tech hosts Houston on a Friday night, there aren't many marquee games featuring ranked teams. But a week later, Oregon will travel to No. 14 USC, Oklahoma and Georgia will face off between the hedges in Athens, and A&M will be at No. 11 LSU.
Then, October opens with No. 7 Miami making a tough trip to Clemson (which opens the season unranked). The point is that the Red Raiders will likely rise up the rankings and be solidly in the top-10 before the season's halfway point, assuming that they handle their business, of course.
Naturally, the polls don't carry the weight that they once did in the sport thanks to the College Football Playoff, but they are still an important component of NCAA football. Fortunately, Texas Tech has risen to the point where we can eagerly look forward to each new set of rankings knowing that the Red Raiders will be included. And who knows, in no time at all, Tech might be close to the top of the polls.
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