Arizona State Sun Devils at Texas Tech Red Raiders

Arizona State's rebuild meets Texas Tech's title defense in Lubbock, and both rosters look nothing like the ones that closed out 2025.

Bush’s Picks

ASUTTU

ASUTTU

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Best BetTexas Tech

Texas Tech is the far more proven program right now, coming off a Big 12 title and CFP trip, and that gap in overall roster continuity and coaching stability is real even with the offensive line churn. Arizona State's talent influx is legitimate, but folding in a new quarterback and 25 transfers on the road against the conference favorite is a tough ask in October. Back the Red Raiders to handle business at home.

Arizona State

• +Deepest, most athletic roster of Dillingham's tenure
• +LB Owen Long led all of FBS in tackles
• +Praised as one of Big 12's offseason winners
• −Only 11 of 34 regulars return from 2025
• −Lost first-round WR Jordyn Tyson, top CB prospect Abney
• −Quarterback job still unsettled between Boley, Keene

Texas Tech

• +Reigning Big 12 champs, first CFP appearance
• +RB duo Cameron Dickey and J'Koby Williams both back
• +Consensus favorite to repeat as Big 12 champs
• −4 of 5 starting offensive linemen could be gone
• −Sorsby's eligibility saga clouds QB1 clarity
• −Hammond still working back from torn ACL

Kenny Dillingham didn't leave Tempe for a bigger job this offseason, but he basically built a new team anyway. Only 11 of Arizona State's 34 regulars from a year ago are back, and the Sun Devils leaned hard on the portal to fill the gaps, adding 25 transfers including 16 from power-conference programs. Texas Tech, meanwhile, is trying to prove last year's Big 12 title and CFP berth weren't a one-off, even after the Orange Bowl loss to Oregon exposed how much the offense stalled against elite competition.

The quarterback picture on both sides is still being sorted out days before this one. Arizona State is choosing between Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley and Arizona native Mikey Keene after Sam Leavitt's foot injury pushed him out the door and into the portal for LSU. Texas Tech has its own drama at the position: Brendan Sorsby won an injunction that clears him to suit up in 2026 after a gambling investigation, but he's set to sit the first two games and slot back in for the Big 12 opener, while Will Hammond, the guy the staff actually likes, is still working back from a torn ACL. Neither program will have full clarity on QB1 by kickoff on Friday, October 16, so expect hedging from both staffs right up until game week.

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ASU Arizona State

TTU Texas Tech

What's not in question is the difference in stakes. Texas Tech enters as the presumptive Big 12 favorite again, with sportsbooks pricing the Red Raiders as heavy chalk to win the conference. Arizona State's staff is selling patience, pointing to newcomers like linebacker Owen Long, who led all of FBS in tackles last season at Colorado State, as reasons the defense can hold up even in year one of the transition.

Arizona State Sun Devils

Oct 9?vs Hawai'i—

Oct 2?vs Baylor—

Sep 19?@ Kansas—

Sep 12?@ Texas A&M—

Sep 5?vs Morgan State—

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Oct 2?@ Colorado—

Sep 25?vs Sam Houston—

Sep 18?vs Houston—

Sep 12?@ Oregon State—

Sep 5?vs Abilene Christian—

Arizona State's calling card the last two seasons has been overachieving with less proven talent, and Dillingham's staff has been credited as one of the winners of this Big 12 offseason for how aggressively they attacked the portal. But losing Jordyn Tyson, a first-round-caliber receiver, and cornerback Keith Abney II, a projected top-five corner prospect, is the kind of talent drain that doesn't get patched overnight, transfers or not.

Arizona State Sun Devils

(0)

Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report

Texas Tech Red Raiders

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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report

Texas Tech's issue isn't talent, it's continuity. Four of five starting offensive linemen could be gone from last year's group, and a defense that carried the program to Arlington and beyond is going to lean on backups replacing several key departures. The one clean positive: Cameron Dickey and J'Koby Williams are both back in the backfield, giving whoever wins the quarterback job a proven run game to lean on while things get sorted out up front.