Texas Tech moved up three spots to No. 12 in the second College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, one week after debuting at No. 15 and days before a road trip to No. 25 Oklahoma State.
Why Tech moved up
The Red Raiders (8-1, 5-1 Big 12) climbed after a 53–48 comeback win over West Virginia last Saturday, when they outscored the Mountaineers 12–0 in the fourth quarter. Tech is plus-67 in fourth-quarter scoring this season, second in the FBS behind UCLA.
The Big 12 picture
Six Big 12 teams are in the CFP Top 25:
No. 2 Utah (9-0)
No. 10 BYU (7-2)
No. 12 Texas Tech (8-1)
No. 14 Houston (7-2)
No. 23 Arizona (7-2)
No. 25 Oklahoma State (6-3)
Tech has already beaten two of them, edging Houston 28–26 on Sept. 18 and Arizona 34–26 on Oct. 31.
What's ahead
Tech closes the regular season at Oklahoma State on Saturday, at Baylor, and at home against TCU on Thanksgiving. The Red Raiders control their own path: three straight wins would send them back to AT&T Stadium in Arlington to defend their 2025 Big 12 title. A loss would leave their championship game chances to tiebreakers and could affect their playoff position.
The next CFP rankings come out Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. Central. The committee will release its final rankings and the 12-team bracket on Sunday, Dec. 6.
Get kickoff details for Saturday in the Chronicle's Oklahoma State game time story, and read about quarterback Thomas Castellanos earning Earl Campbell weekly honors.
From: Texas Tech Athletics
