It’s Kliff Kingsbury time at Texas Tech, and the Red Raiders are thrilled to have their former quarterback back -- and curious to see what he’ll do in his first season as a head coach.
2013 Texas Tech football schedule: Dates, toughest opponents and more
Kliff Kingsbury is the new head coach in Lubbock, and the Red Raiders need his QB expertise right away as they try to install a new quarterback in their pass-heavy offense. Follow @SBNationCFB
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Tommy Tuberville's departure left a bad taste in the mouths of many. He ditched Texas Tech overnight for Cincinnati in the now-American Athletic Conference, a slap in the face for a big conference program. But it worked out perfectly as Kingsbury -- who threw for 3,000 yards three times in Mike Leach's Air Raid -- returns to Lubbock after coaching Johnny Manziel to a Heisman in his only season as Texas A&M's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Here’s a look at their 2013 slate:
2013 Texas Tech schedule
Projections from Football Outsiders’ 2013 college football almanac.
Although Kingsbury has never been a head coach, his work with Manziel at Texas A&M and with Case Keenum at Houston shows his abilty to get the offense rolling. The Red Raiders need that expertise right off the bat as they try to replace Seth Doege, whose 4,205 passing yards were the third most in college football. Michael Brewer has looked fine in scant snaps thus far in his career, and he seems the likely candidate to step in and run the offense.
Four wins seem pretty easy: the Red Raiders should handle all three of their non-conference games, and Kansas’ odds of even coming close to a conference win this year are long.
From there, it could go very well with a new guy in charge or we could see some growing pains. West Virginia is a similarly pass-heavy team replacing a quarterback, but the Red Raiders will have to beat them in Morgantown. Luckily, Texas Tech is on the good side of the Big 12’s nine-game conference schedule, with five home games against four road games, including winnable matchups against Iowa State, Kansas State and Baylor.
The highlight of the schedule has to be Thanksgiving. The slot that used to be filled by Texas' rivalry with Texas A&M went to TCU last year, and now its the Red Raiders' turn to head up to Austin and try to spoil turkey dinners for a bunch of Longhorns fans. It'll be tough -- Texas should be good this year -- but it will be a feature opportunity for the Red Raiders to get their first win against Texas since Graham Harrell's miracle last-second touchdown to Michael Crabtree in 2008. The game will be one of only two on Thanksgiving, alongside the Egg Bowl in Mississippi.
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