Texas Tech's Tenure As AP Top 10 Team Done After 5-Spot Slide

LUBBOCK -- Texas Tech suffered its first loss of the season in a 37-24 stunner to Cincinnati, which saw the Bearcats bully the Red Raiders in their home of Nippert Stadium.

Alongside the defeat came the negative impact on the national thought of Texas Tech and that was manifested in the rankings around the sport.

READ MORE: Texas Tech Takes 9-Spot Coaches Poll Hit After Cincinnati Meltdown

In one of the most prevalent polls, voters in the Associated Press Top 25 chose to send the Red Raiders down to No. 13 in the latest release on Sunday.

Following its two-week stint in the top 10 of the rankings, Texas Tech is left on the outside looking in and back around the same spot it began the season after being No. 12 in the preseason.

The five-spot slide could have been worse for the team after a double-digit loss to an unranked opponent, but still highlights the importance of every matchup here on out for the program.

Head coach Joey McGuire echoed that do-or-die mentality in the immediate aftermath of the loss.

"They understand we put ourselves behind the eight ball, but we control all of that. It's very important we don't allow this to happen again in this conference because this conference is tough," remarked McGuire.

The AP seemed to agree with McGuire's final takeaway, with a generous showing for the Big 12 in its poll.

Although it was a particularly rocky week for the teams at the top of the conference, the Big 12 as a whole had a historic week in the subsequent rankings.

Six of the league's teams made their way into the AP Top 25, which is the most since 2012 and is a silver lining after a less than ideal outing.

Leading that pack of a half dozen is Utah, which shifted up to No. 6 off a late-night comeback win over Houston and stands as the last unbeaten in the Big 12 following losses by BYU and Texas Tech.

Speaking of the Cougars, they remained in the top 10, almost assuredly by the merits of their previous win over No. 5 Notre Dame, and are now at No. 8.

The other Big 12 Cougars, Houston, took a slight drop after the aforementioned defeat at the hands of the Utes and checked in at No. 18.

Arizona rose three spots to No. 22 on the heels of another blowout win over Iowa State, while Oklahoma State jumped back into the rankings at No. 24 with their own lopsided result against Colorado.

With this much talent around the league comes the possibility of disaster every week, which the presumed top dogs found out the hard way against teams that are not even a part of this elite class.

READ MORE: Texas Tech Leads 'Bad' Week 8 for Big 12 Unbeatens

But Texas Tech will get its chance to take on a few of these ranked foes down the stretch, with a date with one of them as soon as this Saturday.

The newly ranked No. 22 Arizona Wildcats are bound for Galaxy Stadium this weekend for an 11 a.m. clash between one-loss teams that could set the trajectory for each team moving forward and the rest of the Big 12.