College football preseason Power Rankings: Realistic best case and worst case for each top 25 team
Our writers take a look at the highest ceiling and lowest floor for each of the top 25 teams in the initial college football Power Rankings.
No. 23 Texas Tech Red Raiders
Best case: A first conference title since 1994 (and a first solo title since 1955). When the media votes you fourth in the conference, it's naming you a contender. Joey McGuire's second Tech team will face a deluge of tricky road trips (Wyoming, West Virginia, Baylor, BYU, Kansas, Texas) plus home games against Oregon and both of last year's Big 12 championship-game participants. If they retain last year's close-game magic -- they were 4-0 in one-score finishes -- they could maneuver through a memorable season, sneak into the title game at 7-2 or so, and then win it.Worst case: As with K-State, it's hard to win all your close games twice. And there are so many potential close games on the schedule that a seriously disappointing campaign, replete with a 5-7 record or so, is on the table. It's not likely -- we're talking about lowest floors here -- but Tech still has a lot to prove defensively, and there's nothing saying the Red Raiders will be as successful on fourth downs as they were a year ago, when they attempted more fourth downs than anyone (52) and also ranked 18th in fourth-down conversion rate (64%). Turn a few more of those into turnovers on downs, and the season goes sideways. -- Connelly
