The Red Raiders sit inside the top 15, but Joey McGuire would be the first to tell you that Texas Tech can compete beyond their preseason ranking.
LUBBOCK - Texas Tech was ranked No. 12 in the Associated Press preseason top-25 poll, matching the ranking the Red Raiders received in the U.S. LBM coaches poll released earlier this offseason.
"We still have a lot to do, but we're a very experienced team," head coach Joey McGuire said this week about the current state of his program.
McGuire said his team can feel the anticipation of the season approaching as they put the finishing touches on fall camp.
The Red Raiders will hit the field for real on Sep. 5 when they host Abilene Christian in the newly-named Galaxy Stadium here in Lubbock.
Tech's ranking is the program's second-best preseason AP position, only behind the 1977 team that was preseason ranked No. 8 in the country.
"We are ready; we're chomping at the bit to hit somebody else," McGuire said.
The coach said previously that he had the Red Raiders either eighth or ninth in his coaches poll, and while Tech is lower than that spot in both major releases thus far, they remain the top dog among Big 12 teams.
Texas Tech is ahead of BYU (No. 14), Utah (21) and Houston (23) among conference foes.
The Red Raiders will not play either BYU or Utah this season, and will meet the Cougars on Sep. 18 in Lubbock to open Big 12 play.
With these lofty expectations of defending a conference championship - and additional roadblocks in the world of eligibility injunctions and a documentary crew that is following the Red Raiders this season - McGuire said he manages it all by knowing that it's all for good reason.
"Number one, when you win you have to deal with all of it. There's nothing better than winning," he said. "All the stuff that has gone on up until this point is another reason that we're ready to get up to a football game and get on the field and put some doubters - some of those doubts they have about us - put on display that we're a really good football team.
"It's all part of it. To me, as long as we're talking about Texas Tech and the Double T, and we're moving in that direction - I can do that all day long. I'm here for it."
