Not surprisingly, Texas Tech officially announced that they would cancel their 2025 road game against Colorado State and replace it with a home game against Kent State. The move can be traced back to a disastrous night in Wyoming.
Last season, the Red Raiders started off their season against the Wyoming Cowboys in Laramie, Wyo. Lightning caused the game to be postponed and Tech lost 35-33 in double OT, ruining their season hopes and dreams before the second week of the season.
To be clear, whatever Texas Tech officials say about the decision to limit (or eventually eliminate) the practice of playing away games against teams outside of the Power 4 conferences, this shift in scheduling strategy wouldn’t be nearly as significant if the school hadn’t lost to Wyoming on national television last year.
Indeed, Tech officials have said their desire to play seven home games a year is an effort to maximize the revenue generated from Jones Stadium, particularly the new $250 million south endzone structure, but talk of backing out of scheduled away games against Group 5 Conference opponents and ceasing the purchase didn’t begin until after the loss to Wyoming.
This new philosophy could have a big impact on Red Raiders fans. For example, the Red Raiders are scheduled to play at North Texas in 2027. Since the Red Raiders are scheduled to only host six games that season, will the athletic department try to buy up tickets to those games and add a seventh home game?
If this were to happen, Tech would play the game in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which is home to the largest number of Red Raiders alumni outside of Lubbock. Of course, Tech may make an exception for the game given how important the Dallas-Fort Worth market is to the university. Meanwhile, the Red Raiders would also play at TCU that season, giving the DFW Red Raiders a chance to see their team in person.
Of course, this reactive policy change will be costly in the short term — Tech will have to pay Colorado State $1 million to withdraw from next season’s games — but the long-term financial impact seems worth it to university officials.
But one also has to wonder how this philosophy will be perceived: Will it appear as though Tech is acting like a power broker, refusing to budge on away games against programs that are perceived as inferior to the Red Raiders?
Or will this be seen as an attempt to take an easier route by limiting as much as possible the number of away games the team has to play, especially away games that they could lose? Either way, the Red Raiders are moving forward with this new plan.
It’s a change of pace that we were all expecting, it’s not the end of the world, and Lubbock fans will benefit from the move, but I can’t help but feel like it’s also somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction to a terrible night in the Rockies.
