Texas Tech rolls into Boulder as the trendy Big 12 favorite. Colorado is still trying to prove last year's collapse was a one-off.
Bush’s Picks
TTUCOLO
TTUCOLO
OverUnder
Best BetTexas Tech
Texas Tech brings the deeper, more experienced roster into this one, and that talent gap is real even with the Hammond/Sorsby QB uncertainty clouding things. Colorado is still trying to find its footing after a 3-9 season and a defense that ranked near the bottom of the country. Back the Red Raiders to win this outright.
Texas Tech
+Widely called the Big 12's most talented, deepest roster
+6 defenders on preseason all-Big 12 teams
+USA Today picks them to win the conference
−Presumptive starter Sorsby off the roster entirely
−Will Hammond still working back from October ACL tear
Colorado
+New OC Brennan Marion and DC Chris Marve bring fresh systems
+One of the nation's top-ranked transfer classes, up to 11 new D starters
+Sanders says he's back to full health after cancer surgery
−Finished 3-9, 1-8 in league play a year ago
−Ranked 112th in offense, 121st in defense nationally in 2025
−QB job still unresolved between Lewis and Wilson
Both teams show up to Friday, October 2 with quarterback rooms nobody's fully settled on. Texas Tech was supposed to hand the job to Brendan Sorsby, but he's off the roster entirely after a gambling-related eligibility mess, leaving Will Hammond as the presumptive starter — if his surgically repaired knee holds up. Hammond tore his ACL last October against Oklahoma State, missed the entire spring, and only recently got back to throwing. Colorado's situation is its own soap opera: Julian Lewis, the redshirt freshman with 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in limited 2025 snaps, is fending off Utah transfer Isaac Wilson for the job, with Deion Sanders insisting nothing's decided.
Where the two programs diverge is roster investment. Texas Tech went full spend-to-win in the portal and analysts have called it the most talented, most experienced group in the conference — 6 Red Raiders defenders landed on preseason all-Big 12 teams, more than anyone else in the league. Colorado matched that energy with its own portal haul, reportedly good for as many as 11 new starters on defense, plus a fresh coordinator staff: Brennan Marion running the offense and Chris Marve elevated to defensive coordinator. It's two very different paths to the same goal — Tech buying proven production, Colorado betting on scheme and youth.
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TTU Texas Tech
COLO Colorado
The gap in outside expectations is stark. USA Today has picked Texas Tech to win the Big 12 outright, and multiple outlets slotted the Red Raiders inside the top 10 nationally. Colorado, by contrast, enters as one of the longest shots in the conference after a 3-9, 1-8-in-league finish that included a 7-game losing streak to close the year and bottom-15 national marks in both total offense and total defense. Sanders says the preseason snub is just extra motivation, but Boulder needs to show real progress before anyone takes that seriously again.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Sep 25?vs Sam Houston—
Sep 18?vs Houston—
Sep 12?@ Oregon State—
Sep 5?vs Abilene Christian—
Colorado Buffaloes
Sep 25?@ Baylor—
Sep 19?@ Northwestern—
Sep 12?vs Weber State—
Sep 3?@ Georgia Tech—
Recent form.
Sanders has his own comeback arc to lean on. He missed a chunk of last spring recovering from bladder cancer surgery and has said he's now back to full strength — which matters for a program that runs almost entirely on his energy and messaging. Whether that translates to wins depends heavily on how fast Marion's offense and Marve's defense gel with all the new pieces, especially against a Texas Tech front that's stacked with proven talent up and down the roster.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Colorado Buffaloes
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
This one's as much about story as it is about the scoreboard. Texas Tech is trying to prove its portal spending buys championships even with a shaky QB room; Colorado is trying to prove last season was the outlier, not the new normal. Whichever quarterback jobs get sorted out by kickoff, this early Big 12 measuring-stick game should say a lot about where both programs actually stand.
