Preseason Predictions for Texas Tech Football for the 2026 Season
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High expectations once again for Texas Tech heading into the upcoming season.
USA Today is predicting that Texas Tech will win the Big 12 this season. For their 2026 Preseason All-Big 12 team on offense, they have tight end Terrance Carter Jr. and offensive lineman Howard Sampson, with Carter Jr. being an unanimous selection. For their defense and specialists teams, Texas Tech has the most players listed out of any other Big 12 team by a large margin.
On their defense team, USA Today lists six Red Raiders players among the 11 players on their all-defensive preseason team. Defensive linemen Adam Trick, Mateen Ibirogba, and AJ Holmes all made the team, with Holmes being a unanimous selection. The Red Raiders also had two of the three selections for linebacker, Ben Roberts and Austin Romaine, named to the USA Today preseason team. Cornerback Brice Pollock was the sixth Texas Tech player named to the defensive team.
The Red Raiders got two of the three specialist selections, with kicker Stone Harrington and punt and kick returner J'Koby Williams as the selections. Six Texas Tech players were named to the honorable mention team as wide receivers Coy Eakin and Malcolm Simmons, running back Cameron Dickey, offensive lineman Sheridan Wilson, defensive back Brenden Jordan, and defensive lineman Trey White all made USA Today's all honorable mention Big 12 preseason team. Finally, they named Ben Roberts Big 12 football preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Here is where Texas Tech is ranked in the national preseason rankings for the 2026 college football season.
After Brendan Sorsby is no longer playing for the Red Raiders this upcoming season, ESPN dropped Texas Tech out of their top 10 preseason rankings. They do explain that Texas Tech has enough playmakers on both sides of the ball to get back to the CFP in 2026.
The NYTimes/The Athletic dropped Texas Tech lower in their national preseason rankings, but they did include the Red Raiders in their top 10, being ranked No. 10. They point out the health of quarterback Will Hammond is imperative to the Red Raiders' success this season.
CBS Sports has Texas Tech ranked No. 9 in their national college football preseason rankings.
Athlon Sports has Texas Tech ranked lower than the above-mentioned national publications' rankings. They have the Red Raiders as the favorites to win the Big 12 again, but they have them ranked outside of the top 10 primarily due to the departure of Sorsby this offseason and David Bailey and Jacob Rodriguez to the NFL draft.
Fox Sports has Texas Tech ranked the second-lowest in its national college football preseason rankings, placing the team outside the top 12. They, like Athlon Sports, highlight the key losses of key players from last season and the uncertainty at the quarterback position as reasons they are ranked lower than most other national publications.
The Sporting News has Texas Tech ranked very low in their preseason college football ranking in comparison to all of the other mentioned national publications. They are ranked No. 20 primarily due to uncertainty at the quarterback position.
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Ryan Kay is a journalist who graduated from Michigan State in 2003 and is passionate about covering college sports and enjoys writing features and articles covering various collegiate teams. He has worked as an editor at Go Joe Bruin and has been a contributor for Longhorns Wire and Busting Brackets. He is a contributor for Texas Tech On SI.