On the Track
Titus Kimaru was named the Big 12 Runner of the Week after running an 8k (4.97 miles) at 22:36.1, which works out to about 4:32 per mile, which is insane. The cross country teams will participate in the Big 12 Cross Country Championships the first weekend of November.
At the Net
Texas Tech volleyball takes on No. 24 Colorado tonight at 6:00 p.m.
On the Pitch
Texas Tech soccer is now No. 3 in TopDrawer and No. 5 in the Coaches Poll after going 2-0 against the Arizona programs last week. The ladies head to Colorado in the final Big 12 road game on Thursday, first-touch is at 8:00 p.m.
Ŧhe Ride: Tucson/Tempe Two-Step#WreckEm | @NCAASoccer pic.twitter.com/JXS5EzBq8T
— Texas Tech Soccer (@TexasTechSoccer) October 21, 2025
On the Hardwood
The Lady Raiders were in Kansas City for Big 12 Media Day. Red Raider Sports’ Shelby Hilliard covered the event.
And that’s a wrap from KC ✨ #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/fVp3hTmeSS
— Lady Raider Basketball (@LadyRaiderWBB) October 21, 2025
Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland joined Jon Rothstein to preview the upcoming season.
CBS Sports has their CBS Sports Preseason All-American Team and JT Toppin was named to their first team:
Toppin is the leading returning scorer and rebounder in the Big 12 and the only major conference player in college basketball who averaged at least 18 points and nine boards last season – which he accomplished despite playing the fifth-most minutes per game on his own team.
The training wheels will be off for Toppin this season and it should mean wheels up for him and for the Red Raiders. Coach Grant McCasland has a system in place that will feature his star even more prominently than before, and Toppin has the talent and production to produce like a top-five player in the sport as a result. — KB
CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish previews the Big 12 (I personally always enjoy his work) and recommend you read the whole thing and thinks Texas Tech will finish 2nd behind Houston.
On the Gridiron
Texas Tech football head coach Joey McGuire with Robert Giovannetti for the next episode of What’s Next.
CBS Sports has an updated mock draft and has David Bailey at No. 13 to Washington and Romello Height at No. 30 to Detroit.
CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli has his power ratings with Texas Tech checking in at No. 10:
The Red Raiders nearly pulled off an impossible comeback against Arizona State on Saturday. If you missed it, Tech trailed the Sun Devils 19-7 with four minutes to play and then scored two touchdowns before the two-minute warning to take a 22-19 lead. However, Arizona State responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive to take the lead back in the final minute. Still, all in all, Arizona State was the better team for 58 minutes of the game and deserved to win. Tech was without Behren Morton at QB and Skyler Gill-Howard on their defensive line, which does factor into how I rate them still, but it’s not as if Morton doesn’t have an injury history. Last Week: 6 | Title Odds: +2700
ESPN’s Heather Dinich checks in on the College Football Playoff situation:
Spotlight: Texas Tech. The close loss at Arizona State knocked the Red Raiders out of the top-12 projection and onto the bubble. If Texas Tech wins the Big 12 but finishes outside the selection committee’s top 12, it would still lock up a spot in the playoff as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions. The Red Raiders are still on track to do that and have the best chance (61%) of any team in the Big 12 to reach the conference championship, followed by undefeated BYU (59.1%). Those teams play each other on Nov. 8, and Texas Tech will have home-field advantage. The two can face each other again in the Big 12 title game. Where it gets tricky is if Texas Tech finishes as a two-loss Big 12 runner-up. Some of it would depend on how the Red Raiders lost in the title game and how ASU fares down the stretch. Texas Tech has the seventh-best chance in the country to win out (23.2%), according to ESPN Analytics.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams took about 2 seconds to get over the tortillas:
From early childhood, I can’t remember a day of not being obsessed with sports. I go to the games for, as ABC’s Wide World of Sports so eloquently put it, “the human drama of athletic competition.” I realize some folks are only nominally interested in the game and much more interested in being part of a group, part of a scene. That’s why Tech higher-ups have been doing this dance for so long, wanting a rowdy atmosphere, knowing the tortilla throwing was stupid and not wanting to alienate those drawn in by it.
Hey, Texas Tech has plenty of appealing sports angles to sell. It can do just fine without the gimmick.