Texas Tech has announced three additions to its future football non-conference schedule as the Red Raiders have signed one-game agreements with Kent State for 2025, Sam Houston State for 2026 and Incarnate Word for the 2029 season.
As part of the announcement, Texas Tech will prioritize a seven-game home football schedule moving forward as part of a new non-conference scheduling philosophy adopted this offseason. In future seasons, Texas Tech will prioritize three home non-conference games on even years when the Red Raiders are limited to only four Big 12 home dates. In odd years where the Red Raiders host five Big 12 home games, Texas Tech intends to play on the road against a fellow power-four autonomy school.
With its three new scheduling additions, Texas Tech will host seven home games inside Jones AT&T Stadium in each of the next three seasons and four of the next five years overall. The lone exception during that stretch is the 2027 season when Texas Tech will return its upcoming home game against North Texas, while hosting only four Big 12 home contests.
Both the Kent State and Sam Houston State games replace a previously scheduled home-and-home agreement between Texas Tech and Colorado State, which the two schools have mutually agreed to cancel. The Sam Houston State contest is scheduled for Sept. 26, 2026, the fourth week on the college football schedule as the Red Raiders are expected to open Big 12 play a week prior that season.
It will be the first all-time meeting between Texas Tech and both Kent State and Incarnate Word. The Red Raiders are a perfect 2-0 all-time against Sam Houston State after topping the Bearkats at home, 80-21, in 2005 and again in 2015 by a 59-45 margin. This will be the first matchup with Sam Houston State as an NCAA FBS opponent after the Bearkats moved to Conference USA from the FCS ranks prior to the 2023 season.