On the Diamond
Texas Tech softball is in Austin for the Bevo Classic and will face UMass, Maryland, and Texas over the course of the weekend. All games will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
Texas Tech baseball opens the season in Chapel Hill today with a double-header today and a game tomorrow against North Carolina, who is ranked preseason No. 6 and went 48-17 last year and was in the College World Series. There are links to follow the live stats and to watch on ESPN in some form or fashion.
GAME ONE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (0-0) vs. No. 6 North Carolina (0-0)
DATE: Friday, Feb. 14, 2025
TIME: 4 p.m. (ET)/3 p.m. (CT)
LOCATION: Chapel Hill, N.C.
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Jack Cebert (6-5, 5.20 ERA) vs. Jason DeCaro (6-1, 3.81 ERA)
GAME TWO:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (0-0) vs. No. 6 North Carolina (0-0)
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025
TIME: 2 p.m. (ET)/1 p.m. (CT)
LOCATION: Chapel Hill, N.C.
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Mac Heuer (4-5, 5.94 ERA) vs. RHP Aidan Haugh (4-3, 4.83 ERA)
GAME THREE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (0-0) vs. No. 6 North Carolina (0-0)
DATE: Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025
TIME: 1 p.m. (ET)/Noon (CT)
LOCATION: Chapel Hill, N.C.
PITCHING MATCHUP: TBA vs. TBA
On the Gridiron
You all posted this in the comments when it came out, but there’s no point in not highlighting it here as well. ESPN’s Max Olson has a terrific piece on Texas Tech football’s recruiting efforts in the transfer portal and the biggest takeaway for me is that if you had any doubt that Texas Tech was owning expectations, you would be wrong.
The article details how Texas Tech, The Matador Club, James Blanchard, and Cody Campbell brought in one of the best portal classes in the country, arguably top 3 in the nation.
“I talked with Cody and Coach McGuire,” Blanchard said, “and Coach was like, ‘Man, if they can help us win the Big 12, let’s just go ahead and go all-in. Let’s do it.'”
Texas Tech brought in 17 new players in December, including seven of the top 75 players in ESPN’s transfers rankings, good enough for the No. 2 ranked portal class in early January. And nobody outside of Lubbock, Texas, saw it coming.
The total cost of the splurge? More than $10 million.
Blanchard admits there were some nerves and jitters as December neared and it was time to compete. But he felt fully prepared for what he calls the “beautiful chaos” of sorting through thousands of available players, making calls and offers, scheduling official visits and negotiating with agents.
“It’s chaotic, but I’m a psychopath for it,” he added. “To me, it’s becoming the most exciting event of the college football season for personnel people. National Signing Day used to be our Super Bowl. Not anymore. The portal window is now, and I love it.”
At the start, Campbell said he’d be disappointed if Texas Tech didn’t end up with a top-five portal class. Blanchard was focused on No. 1.
“I don’t think they understood how aggressive we were going to be,” McGuire said.
The article details how the entire class comes together and the end of the article (which I recommend that you read the entire thing) goes to Blanchard and his belief that Texas Tech will win a Big 12 Championship:
After the portal haul he pulled off, Blanchard doesn’t mince words about Texas Tech’s ambitions.
“This place has never gone to the Big 12 championship or won one,” Blanchard said. “Everybody from the top down is wanting one in Lubbock, Texas. I can’t imagine. It’ll be a dream.
“But it’s gonna be a dream come true, because it’s about to happen.”
There are a couple of things that I think about this situation, namely that McGuire has always said that he doesn’t run from praising his team or his players and this article is no different. I suppose that is some sort of brashness is either appreciated, loathed, or future material for fans who think that Texas Tech simply won’t live up to expectations. The second thing is that although I think that Blanchard and his staff recruit the right kind of players I don’t know if his method produces high-end players that are capable and can play. We haven’t quite reached the point where we know and now all of these players are coming in as transfers.
CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello on the idea that football may adopt a more NFL-like schedule with OTAs and get rid of spring practices and the spring game. Nebraska’s Matt Rhule said that by displaying players, it gives other programs an opportunity to find and sell players.
CBS Sport’s Dennis Dodd on the idea of a college sports CEO:
The newly created CEO position — if House is approved — would get college sports as close to that Supreme Leader as there has ever been.
A transition team of athletic directors, compliance officers and general counsels are in the process of finalizing the process, Yahoo reported, before Judge Claudia Wilken is expected to approve House on April 7.
A source with intimate knowledge of the transition team told CBS Sports that the executive board underneath the CEO would probably be “weighted” toward the SEC and Big Ten.
However, sources say that who that CEO person (or persons) will be is less important than the penalties that can be applied. In a post-House world, that’s where major college sports is likely to clash next.
Sources told CBS Sports frustration over the current NCAA enforcement system will allow the conferences to refine and improve the investigatory process.
Congrats to Tahj Brooks, Jalin Conyers, Josh Kelly and Caleb Rogers for being invited to the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine!