LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – While the more significant rankings will arrive Tuesday from the College Football Playoff committee, Texas Tech has climbed in the weekly AP and Coaches Polls.
Texas Tech climbed two spots, to fifth on the AP Poll. Tech is up one spot in the US LBM Coaches Poll, up to sixth. Last week the College Football Playoff committee ranked Tech fifth.
Texas Tech recorded its second conference game shutout of the season Saturday, defeating West Virginia 49-0 in Morgantown. The Red Raiders will face the BYU Cougars 11 a.m. Saturday in the Big 12 Championship at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Following Texas A&M’s loss to Texas, the Aggies dropped from third to seventh on both the AP and Coaches polls Sunday.
AP Poll released Nov. 30: 1. Ohio State, 2. Indiana, 3. Georgia, 4. Oregon, 5. Texas Tech, 6. Ole Miss, 7. Texas A&M, 8. Oklahoma, 9. Notre Dame, 10. Alabama, 11. BYU, 12. Miami (FL), 13. Vanderbilt, 14. Texas, 15. Utah, 16. Virginia, 17. USC, 18. Michigan, 19. James Madison, 20. North Texas, 21. Tulane, 22. Arizona, 23. Navy, 24. Georgia Tech, 25. Missouri
US LBM Coaches Poll released Nov. 30: 1. Ohio State, 2. Indiana, 3. Georgia, 4. Oregon, 5. Ole Miss, 6. Texas Tech, 7. Texas A&M, 8. Oklahoma, 9. Notre Dame, 10. Alabama, 11. BYU 12. Vanderbilt, 13. Miami (FL), 14. Texas, 15. Utah, 16. Virginia, 17. USC, 18. Michigan, 19. James Madison, 20. North Texas, 21. Tulane, 22. Arizona, 23. Georgia Tech, 24. Tennessee, 25. Navy.
Here are stats provided by Texas Tech Athletics Saturday:
Texas Tech’s eight Big 12 wins mark its most in a single season since joining the conference in 1996. Texas Tech and BYU both finished 8-1 in league play, marking the ninth and 10th times in Big 12 history where a team has won eight or more conference games. Texas Tech went on the road to win four times during Big 12 play with victories at Utah, Houston, Kansas State and then West Virginia today. Utah and Kansas State rank among the Big 12’s top-four teams in terms of homefield advantage since 2022 (trailing Texas Tech). Each of Texas Tech’s 11 wins this season have come by at least 20 points with the latest being today’s 49-0 victory over the Mountaineers. Texas Tech is the only team in the FBS with at least 11 wins by 20 or more points as the next-closest team is fellow Big 12 member Utah with eight. Texas Tech has won all eight games during Big 12 play alone by that margin. Today’s win marked the 11th time this season the Red Raiders have won by 20 or more points, which matches the Big 12 record that was originally set by Oklahoma in 2008.Texas Tech is only the sixth team in the past 100 years (since 1925) to win at least 11 regular-season games by at least 20 points, joining Nebraska (1971), Florida (2008), Florida State (2013), Alabama (2018) and Ohio State (2019).Texas Tech shut out its second opponent this season against the Mountaineers after previously blanking Oklahoma State, 42-0, on Oct. 25. The Red Raiders had not previously shut out multiple Big 12 opponents in the same season since 2000. It was the first Big 12 road shutout by the Red Raiders since defeating Baylor, 28-0, in 2005. Texas Tech created two takeaways in the win, giving the Red Raiders 27 now for the season and 12 in the last four games alone. Texas Tech came into today’s game ranked tied for second in the FBS for turnovers gained. Tech is plus-9 in the turnover margin the last four games and is now plus-13 overall this season. The Red Raiders are now outscoring opponents by a plus-31.9 points per game margin this season, which is second in the FBS behind only Indiana (33.4). Texas Tech is now allowing only 11.3 points per game as one of the nation’s top defenses. The Red Raiders entered this weekend as the Big 12 leader and ranked fourth in the FBS for scoring defense. Texas Tech limited West Virginia to only 37 rushing yards, continuing the Red Raiders’ dominance up front as the Red Raiders entered this weekend as the FBS leader in rushing defense. Texas Tech is now allowing only 68.9 yards per game on the ground. In addition to its defense, Texas Tech remains one of the highest-scoring offenses in the country as the Red Raiders are now averaging 43.2 points a game after today’s win. Texas Tech entered the weekend ranked third in the FBS for scoring offense.Texas Tech entered this weekend as the only FBS to rank in the top five in the FBS this season in scoring offense, scoring defense and takeaways per game. The Red Raiders, who are looking to become the first FBS program to do so since Florida in 2008, will likely stay in the top five of all three categories after this weekend. Texas Tech is now 10-0 this season in games Behren Morton starts at quarterback. Morton, who threw for 300 yards for the ninth time in his career and third time this season, has now led the Red Raiders to 25 wins as Texas Tech’s starting quarterback, which trails only Graham Harrell (28) among quarterbacks in the Big 12 era. 
Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (10) lines up against West Virginia during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/Kathleen Batten)(Kathleen Batten | AP)
JACOB RODRIGUEZ FOR HEISMAN
Jacob Rodriguez led another dominating defensive performance by the Red Raiders and added his second rushing touchdown in as many games to continue his quest for the Heisman Trophy. Rodriguez shared the team high with four tackles, including one shared stop for a loss, before exiting midway through the third quarter with the victory already in hand. Rodriguez scored the game’s opening touchdown, going from the Wildcat into the end zone from only 1-yard out to cap Texas Tech’s opening drive.
Rodriguez now has 104 tackles, 10.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, four interceptions, two fumble recoveries and an FBS-leading seven forced fumbles this season. As a reminder, he is the only player in the last 20 years (since 2005) to record at least 5 forced fumbles, four interceptions and two fumble recoveries all in the same season. Rodriguez leads a Red Raider defense that now has 27 takeaways this season as Texas Tech entered the weekend ranked tied for second nationally.
Georgia up to No. 3 behind Ohio State, Indiana in Top 25 shuffle as Oregon, Texas Tech also climb
(AP) Texas A&M fell out of the top five of The Associated Press college football poll for the first time in two months Sunday, Texas Tech notched its highest ranking in 17 years and a season-high four teams from Group of Five conferences are ranked as the top five got a shuffle with a week to go before the postseason bracket is set.
No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana, the only remaining unbeatens, are the top two teams for a seventh straight poll heading into their Big Ten title game clash on Saturday. No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Oregon each moved up a spot, and Texas Tech’s No. 5 ranking is its best since it spent three weeks at No. 2 in November 2008.
Mississippi remained No. 6 and was followed by Texas A&M, which slipped four spots after its 10-point loss at Texas. Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama rounded out the top 10 for the third straight week.
The weekend results created two top-10 matchups in conference championship games this Saturday. Besides the Big Ten showdown, Georgia and Alabama will play for the Southeastern Conference crown. The other Top 25 matchup pits Texas Tech against No. 11 BYU in the Big 12. The Atlantic Coast Conference game matches No. 16 Virginia against a Duke team that is 7-5 and received no votes in Sunday’s poll.
No. 12 Miami and No. 13 Vanderbilt traded places in the rankings. The Hurricanes, who finished the regular season with a 31-point road win over Pittsburgh, are the highest-ranked ACC team and hope to receive a College Football Playoff at-large bid. Vanderbilt slipped despite beating Tennessee by 21 points on the road.
James Madison, which will host Troy for the Sun Belt championship game Friday, moved up one spot to No. 19 and is the highest-ranked Group of Five team. Three teams from the American Conference are behind the Dukes: No. 20 North Texas, No. 21 Tulane and No. 24 Navy.
North Texas visits Tulane for the American championship game Friday. Tulane, at No. 24, was the only G5 team in last week’s CFP rankings.
In and out
— No. 22 Arizona is ranked for the first time since September 2024. The Wildcats won 23-7 at Arizona State in the battle for the Territorial Cup and are on a five-game winning streak.
— No. 23 Navy, which won 28-17 at Memphis, is in the Top 25 for the first time this season and will take its highest ranking since 2019 into the annual showcase game against Army on Dec. 13.
— No. 25 Missouri beat Arkansas by two touchdowns and returned to the poll after a one-week absence.
Tennessee (No. 18), Pittsburgh (No. 24) and SMU (No. 25) dropped out.
Poll points
— Seven straight weeks with the same Nos. 1 and 2 teams is the longest since Georgia and Michigan went 11 weeks in a row as the top two in 2023.
— The American Conference’s three Top 25 teams are its most since Nov. 20, 2022, when the same number were ranked. The league record for ranked teams is four, in 2015 and 2019.
— The last time there were four Group of Five teams ranked was the final poll of the 2024 season.
— Tennessee’s streak of 33 straight poll appearances ended after it dropped to 8-4 with its loss to Vanderbilt.
Conference call
SEC (8 ranked teams): Nos. 3 Georgia, 6 Mississippi, 7 Texas A&M, 8 Oklahoma, 10 Alabama, 13 Vanderbilt, 14 Texas, 25 Missouri.
Big Ten (5): Nos. 1 Ohio State, 2 Indiana, 4 Oregon, 17 Southern California, 18 Michigan.
Big 12 (4): Nos. 5 Texas Tech, 11 BYU, 15 Utah, 22 Arizona.
ACC (3): Nos. 12 Miami, 16 Virginia, 24 Georgia Tech.
American (3): Nos. 20 North Texas, 21 Tulane, 23 Navy.
Independent (1): No. 9 Notre Dame.
Sun Belt (1): No. 19 James Madison.
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 2 Indiana (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) vs. No. 1 Ohio State (12-0, 9-0), Saturday, at Indianapolis: It’s a matchup of Heisman Trophy front-runners in QBs Fernando Mendoza of Indiana and Julian Sayin of Ohio State. Hoosiers are one of two teams to score more than 530 points this season (532). Buckeyes are only team to give up fewer than 100 points (93).
No. 4 Georgia (11-1, 7-1 SEC) vs. No. 10 Alabama (10-2, 7-1), Saturday, at Atlanta: This will be the fourth meeting of these teams in a SEC championship game since 2018. Crimson Tide handed Georgia its only loss this season, 24-21 on Sept. 27. Bulldogs have rolled off eight straight wins since.
No. 11 BYU (11-1, 8-1 Big 12) vs. No. 5 Texas Tech (11-1, 8-1), Saturday, at Arlington, Texas: Each team will be playing in the Big 12 championship game for the first time. Red Raiders dominated the regular-season meeting in Lubbock, winning 29-7.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Copyright 2025 KCBD. All rights reserved.