It really feels like Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders are in a tier all of their own in the Big 12 right now. Truly, this Texas Tech team just keeps rolling and thrashing folks left and right. Through the first six games of the 2025 Texas Tech football season, the Red Raiders have bowled over each of their opponents and won by some rather significant margins.
Focusing in on Texas Tech’s most recent win, the Red Raiders were able to outgain Kansas by nearly 200 yards all while missing their starting quarterback for most of the game. A big reason for that? The 372 rushing yards on just 40 carries (which is good for 9.3 yards per carry, by the way).
I mean, that’s just incredible. Texas Tech absolutely had no issue with KU’s run defense. On the flipside, the Red Raiders defense held the Jayhawks to just 47 rushing yards at a rate of 1.2 yards per carry.
One big reason for that is the way the Red Raiders recorded nine sacks (for 92 yards) against Kansas. Texas Tech’s defense controlled the line of scrimmage and punished Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels on a very regular basis. In total, there were 14 tackles for loss, which totaled 111 yards.
And performances like this are making it abundantly clear that the Red Raiders are at the top of the Big 12 right now.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders look like the best team in the Big 12 and right now it doesn’t seem close
Let’s take a look around some of the other teams that are at or near the top of the Big 12 standings, shall we? As we do this, let’s start with some of the Big 12 teams that Texas Tech hasn’t played up to this point in the season.
First, there’s the Iowa State Cyclones, who are now 5-2 on the season and 2-2 in Big 12 play, with road losses to Cincinnati (somewhat excusable given how good the Bearcats look this season) and Colorado (less excusable, the Buffaloes are struggling this year). Iowa State was a trendy preseason pick to win the Big 12 this season and they’re going to have a tough time making that happen at this point.
We can also take a look at Arizona State, who struggled on the road against Mississippi State (and lost in Starkville in the process) and then completely fell apart on the road at Utah, losing by 32 points in Salt Lake City.
As for some of the other Big 12 teams that reside in the Lone Star State? Well, TCU just dropped a game to the 3-4 Kansas State Wildcats to fall to 1-2 in Big 12 play while the Baylor Bears are 4-2 but have a disappointing loss to a disappointing Auburn team and a close loss to Arizona State.
What about some of the other Big 12 teams at or near the top of the Big 12 standings?
Let’s skip BYU for a moment, we can come back to them in a few weeks after that game pans out, but the Cougars just don’t look all that amazing after underwhelming performances against Colorado, West Virginia, and Arizona.
We can take a look at Utah (a team that Texas Tech demolished), Houston (another team that Texas Tech demolished), and Kansas (and yet another team that Texas Tech demolished) if anyone would like, but I’m not sure any of that is truly necessary right now.
And then there’s Cincinnati. I’m not entirely sure of what to do with Cincinnati. I didn’t expect Cincinnati to be this good, so good for Cincinnati. And I, for one, welcome a potential matchup between Texas Tech and Cincinnati in the Big 12 championship game.
Texas Tech boasts the best offense and defense in the Big 12 right now
After week seven, the Red Raiders are sitting with the best offense and the best defense in the Big 12, which really is quite the accomplishment to have. It's a good combo to have! You win a lot of games if you have a good offense and you win a lot of games if you have a good defense and Texas Tech happens to have both!
The Red Raiders have the No. 1 total offense in the conference as they gain an average of 558.2 yards per game and also the best total defense in the Big 12 with an average of 256.8 yards per game allowed.
Texas Tech leads scoring in the Big 12 with the No. 1 scoring offense by putting up 47.5 points per game and also the Red Raiders lead the Big 12 with the No. 1 scoring defense by holding opponents to just 12.2 points per game.
The No. 2 team for both scoring offense and defense is the Utah Utes. And that game in Salt Lake City ended up with the Red Raiders on top 34-10.
It really feels like Texas Tech has shown the capability of handling just about anyone in the Big 12 at the moment.
The Big 12, as a whole, is a bit bizarre this year and there are plenty of ways to dissect that. But right now, the Red Raiders appear to be the best team of the bunch and I’m not entirely sure it’s all that close. There’s six more games on the schedule to really explore that though.