Texas Tech will be in Dallas for their portion of the Big 12 Media Days where head coach Matt Wells, center Dawson Deaton, and linebacker Riko Jeffers will be in attendance. If tuning in is your thing, this is the schedule:

Wells and his player representatives will specifically be featured on the ESPNU broadcast from 11:15-11:45 a.m. Thursday. Wells will move across the stadium turf at 11:35 a.m. for his press conference in front of the nearly 500 credentialed media in attendance. That press conference will air exclusively via Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

In addition to television coverage, Wells will speak with the crew at Big 12 Today on SiriusXM around 1:30 p.m. Thursday. The Red Raiders will also meet with representatives throughout the day from CBS Sports, FOX Sports, College Gameday and various radio stations from across the state.

24/7 Sports’ Parker Thune (who is a writer that covers the Sooners) had his breakdown of the Big 12 finish and predicted Texas Tech to finish 4th! I mentioned yesterday that someone picking Texas Tech 6th was the highest I’ve seen and now Thune raises the bar.

4) Texas Tech — Okay, this one probably comes as a bit of a surprise. I’m particularly high on the Red Raiders in Matt Wells’ third season, as Oregon transfer Tyler Shough should provide stability to a quarterback position that has been a constant question mark in Lubbock ever since the departure of Patrick Mahomes. Erik Ezukanma earned preseason All-Big 12 honors at wideout, and SaRodorick Thompson is one of the more underrated running backs in the nation. I think the Red Raiders will surprise some people en route to eight or even nine wins.

24/7 Sports’ Nick Kosko ranks the top 10 quarterback transfers and Tyler Shough checks in at #5:

Last season, in seven games, Shough finished his final season at Oregon with 1,559 yards, 13 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 63.5% completion percentage. As a member of the Class of 2018, Shough was a four-star prospect according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He was the No. 1 prospect in the state of Arizona, the No. 7 pro-style quarterback in the class and the No. 140 overall prospect in the class. With two seasons under his belt, he’ll give Texas Tech some stability at the position, likely for a couple of seasons. In fact, the Red Raiders might be one of those sleeper teams in the Big 12.

Kansas City Star beat reporter for K-State, kellis Robinett tweeted that K-State AD Gene Taylor said that there would be no postponement or cancellation of games this year. So if a team, like, I dunno, Baylor is continually postponing games because they have Covid issues, then that team will forfeit the game. And according to SI’s Ross Dellenger reported that Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby discusses the advantage of having vaccinated vs unvaccinated players:

Across the Big 12, most schools’ football teams are at least at a 75% vaccination level, Bowlsby told Sports Illustrated. As is the case in most if not all other conferences, the Big 12 is treating those unvaccinated differently from those who have had the shot. Unvaccinated players are still being tested regularly. That will continue through the season, Bowlsby says. Across the NCAA, players choosing not to get vaccinated will find themselves subject to contact tracing and quarantine rules, the biggest disrupters of 2020.

I remember a handful of Baylor basketball games being postponed because of Covid issues and obviously, teams that are more vaccinated than not will be less likely to be out for multiple weeks. Not being out for multiple weeks is good for a football team.