Texas Tech slides but stays dangerous in ESPN’s preseason Top 25 after Brendan Sorsby’s exit rocks the Red Raiders’ Big 12 title hopes.
Texas Tech football just took a punch to the mouth before the 2026 season even kicked off, but the Red Raiders aren’t exactly buried.
After the Brendan Sorsby gambling scandal and ugly breakup with the program, ESPN’s updated preseason Top 25 still has Texas Tech sitting at No. 11 ... bruised, embarrassed and suddenly fascinating.
Texas Tech dropped three spots, but not out of the national conversation. Not out of the Big 12 title race. Not out of the College Football Playoff hunt.
ESPN clearly still sees enough meat on the bone in Lubbock to keep the Red Raiders ahead of several name-brand programs, including BYU at No. 12, Oklahoma at No. 13, Michigan at No. 14 and Alabama at No. 16.
Still, there’s no sugarcoating it… Losing Sorsby changes the temperature around this team.
Texas Tech spent the offseason acting like a program ready to crash the big-boy table. The Red Raiders pushed chips into the middle, built championship expectations around Sorsby and looked like one of the most dangerous teams in the Big 12.
Then the gambling controversy hit, the legal noise followed, and suddenly the quarterback plan went from strength to flashing red light.
Now, the question is simple: can Texas Tech still be Texas Tech without the quarterback it expected to ride?
The national rankings suggest yes, at least for now.
Ohio State opens at No. 1 with Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith giving the Buckeyes a terrifying offensive core.
Oregon sits at No. 2 with Dante Moore and Dylan Raiola in the quarterback room. Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas round out the top five, with Arch Manning leading a Longhorns team that’s trying to muscle back into the Playoff picture.
Indiana, fresh off a perfect 16-0 national championship season, checks in at No. 6 with TCU transfer Josh Hoover taking over for Fernando Mendoza. Miami, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and LSU complete the top 10, giving the SEC and Big Ten plenty of early-season swagger.
But Texas Tech at No. 11 is the chaos spot.
The Red Raiders are no longer the clean offseason darling. They’re the mystery box.
The talent is still there. The expectations haven’t disappeared. The Big 12 is still wide open. But the margin for error just got a whole lot thinner.
Texas Tech wanted 2026 to be a coronation. After Sorsby, it’s become a survival test. And honestly? That might make the Red Raiders one of the most compelling teams in college football.
