<\/p>\n
Rather than wallow in pity, and swim in anger, few schools from either the Pac-12 or Big 12 got over it to move ahead better than Texas Tech.<\/p>\n
Whatever they did, and however much money they spent, in the fall of 2025 the Red Raiders are enjoying the return they desire.<\/p>\n
When Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12<\/a> in the summer of 2023, it left a school like Texas Tech not just hurt but seething. The justified fear was that without a conference affiliation with the two biggest schools in the Big 12 would be catastrophic to Texas Tech University, its football team, the entire athletic department, and to Lubbock itself.<\/p>\n Today, the Red Raiders rank eighth in the first playoff rankings,<\/a> and on Saturday morning will host ESPN\u2019s College GameDay before its game against No. 7 BYU. This is the most significant event at Lubbock in well over a decade.<\/p>\n There is a rumor that GameDay guest picker, ex-Tech QB Patrick Mahomes, will bring a friend with him to the game. Taylor Swift.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been crazy here this week. There are people everywhere. The kids have been camped out all week. The weather has been gorgeous,\u201d said Tech grad Nick Muscari said in a phone interview. Muscari is a Lubbock resident who owns and operates to two restaurants in Lubbock, The Reserve Culinary Tavern and Gator\u2019s Bayou.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the biggest thing that\u2019s happened here since \u2018The Crabtree Game.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Texas Tech\u2019s rise and fall<\/p>\n \u2018The Crabtree Game\u2019 was the last time GameDay was in Lubbock, and it turned out to be the biggest night in Tech\u2019s history: Nov. 1, 2008, when the No. 6 Red Raiders defeated No. 1 Texas, 39-33<\/a>. Receiver Michael Crabtree caught a game-winning 28-yard touchdown pass with 1 second remaining.<\/p>\n When UT and OU bailed on the Big 12, the fear was a night like that would never happen again. And that all of that business, and exposure, they brought would evaporate.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe I feared that a little bit, but football is king around here, and as long we\u2019re competitive we\u2019ve done pretty good business,\u201d Muscari said. \u201cIs there anything as big as Texas or Oklahoma? Probably not, and for us to be where we are today I thought was a long shot.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the Big 12 I thought there was a window for us, but to be in the top 10 wasn\u2019t something everyone was thinking about. This game (against BYU) feels just as big as that game (in 2008 against Texas), that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n The last time the Red Raiders were ranked this high was when they reached No. 2, under the late Mike Leach<\/a>, the week after they beat UT in \u201808. Leach would last one more season at Tech before he was fired, and it has taken this long for the Red Raiders to regain the momentum that they had built.<\/p>\n How Texas Tech got back to 2008<\/p>\n To be where the Red Raiders are today requires the celestial alignment of moving pieces that don\u2019t always get along, even if they do operate under the same roof. To be where Tech means its president<\/a>, its board, athletic department and a few major boosters are all coordinated, and agree with the other.<\/p>\n And coaches, too.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a lot of egos, and opinions, demanding air time.<\/p>\n