Explaining Why Arizona State-Texas Tech Rematch is so Anticipated

TEMPE -- 198 days remain until the first game of the 2026 Arizona State football season.

One of the more anticipated seasons in recent years is set to be ushered in on September 5 against Morgan State in anticipation for an incredibly challenging road schedule that includes Texas A&M, BYU, and rival Arizona.

There's potential that none of the above are the most anticipated game of the upcoming season, as a rematch with a fellow Big 12 representative in a previous College Football Playoff in the mix as well.

Carter Bahns of CBS Sports cited Arizona State's trip to Texas Tech as one of the most compelling rematches during the 2026 season

Arizona State-Texas Tech One of Most Anticipated Rematches

Sep 21, 2024; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham visits with Big 12 official Lawrence Doss in the first half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images | Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images

"Texas Tech took only one loss prior to the 2025 CFP, and it was a 26-22 defeat on the road at Arizona State... A rematch against the Sun Devils should again be one of the toughest tests on Texas Tech's schedule, and from Kenny Dillingham's perspective, this contest is an opportunity to reestablish his Arizona State program as the best in the Big 12. Both squads inked top-15 transfer portal classes, as is the new standard in Tempe and Lubbock."

Bahns highlights the most straightforward reason behind the anticipation - the two programs battling for the heart of the Big 12.

The Sun Devils are battling with Texas Tech for virtually everything in the conference - recruits, conference titles, prestige, and the pursuit of a national title. There is bound to be a tensity in the air when two programs are chasing the same thing, especially when both have taken a different approach as far as the means to the end go.

One of the other main components behind the potential excitement and contentious nature of the upcoming matchup is that the teams have split the last two matchups. Texas Tech won in Lubbock in 2024 (in the year Arizona State won the Big 12), while the inverse happened the year before.

The relative even nature of the last two meetings, the ever-expanding expecations that the programs are being faced with, and the recruiting pipelines that both are currently battling in make this a budding rivalry that has potential to become one of the best in the new era of college football.

Arizona State and Texas Tech are squaring off in Lubbock on October 17 this season - just one day short of the one-year mark of ASU's victory in Tempe in 2025.

rrre — Oct 18, 2025; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils wide receiver Jordyn Tyson (0) against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the second half at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Read more on the bold strategy that head coach Bobby Hurley employed with comments on 1/21 here, and on why Arizona State may have saved the season with the win over Cincinnati on Saturday here..

Please let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page when you click right here.

Please follow us on X when you click right here, as well as @khicks_21 for nonstop Arizona State coverage!