Texas Tech's season is 12 days out from kicking off against Ole Miss, and head coach Kliff Kingsbury and staff still haven't publicly announced a starting quarterback. There are still questions to be answered at wide receiver, cornerback and special teams among others. Depending on how much Kool-Aid you have been served, you could be expecting anywhere from 4 or 10 total wins for this 2018 edition of the Red Raiders.

We decided to take a look at the schedule, ranking the games from what I believe to be the easiest to the hardest on the calendar.

The only other game in consideration here would be Kansas, but we will give them a little bit of respect and say they will be better than Lamar. Tech should have no problem taking care of the Cardinals in Lubbock, and this should be a game where the second and third stringers see plenty of action in the 2nd half.

Ahhhh Kansas. What more is there to say? Arguably the worst P5 school in the nation, they have lost 46 consecutive road games. 46! Eventually that unbelievable streak will break, however it will not happen in Lubbock. Texas Tech is 18-1 all time against the Jayhawks, and we expect that trend to continue this season.

Baylor, who is just 2-17 in their last 19 games, are not anywhere near the same team they were just a few years ago. Gone are the days of Art Briles and the explosive Veer and Shoot offense. They are recruiting well, however this is still a young team and will face depth issues, especially late in the season. Texas Tech has won 2 straight in this series, and while we expect a more competitive Baylor this year, Tech should still win this game all things considered.

This is where the schedule starts to get a little tougher. Some will laugh and say this is a G5 home game that Tech should win, but the Cougars will be tougher than many give them credit for. New Cougars' quarterback D'Eriq King is a true dual threat, exactly the type that has given Tech's defense fits in the past. They also return defensive tackle Ed Oliver who might be the best player in the nation. This game being in Lubbock tips the scales towards the Red Raiders, but it will not be an easy win.

When this game was scheduled a few years back, Ole Miss was a rising powerhouse led by consistent top recruiting classes. Whether or not they got there legally was a different question, but now former coach Hugh Freeze is gone and they are not the same daunting team we thought Tech was getting. They will still have a really good offense and SEC athletes, but their defense should be vulnerable. With this game being in Houston, you can expect 60-70% Tech fans in the building which should help. It's a coin flip type of game, but Tech needs to come out and win it because if they don't it could be a long season.

Another year, another season where Texas enters as a top 25 ranked team by most pundits. They certainly have recruited as such, but we will see if Tom Herman and company can get them to play like one. Texas Tech will never be favored against Texas, but Tech has won 2 of the last 3 in the series, and Texas still has huge question marks all over their offense. This game will also be the 10 year anniversary of the massive 2008 win against the Longhorns, and we expect the Red Raiders to come out fired up for this one.

Could have had a couple different games here but we went with KSU. They have owned Tech in recent years, no questions about it. But if you watched the games, Tech *should have* won more than just the one they did in 2015. Whether it be penalties, turnovers, kick returns, missed kicks, the Wildcats always seem to get the lucky breaks in this series. We know what Kansas State is, they will run the ball, play defense and not make mistakes. If Tech can take care of the ball and play to their strengths they will have a chance to win, if not it could be more of the same against Bill Snyder.

After winning in 2012 and 2013 against the Mountaineers, WVU has won the last four games in this series. They return a Heisman contender in Will Grier, a salty group of wideouts, and the 3-3-5 defense they run is always stout. There is no question that this is one of the toughest games on the schedule, but one that Tech needs to win (at home) if they want to be more than a fringe bowl team.

We considered having this game even higher in the tough rankings but will place it here. Under Matt Campbell the Cyclones have been a pain in the you-know-what to Texas Tech. In 2 games under Campbell, Iowa State has won both by a combined 97-23. That hurts just looking at it. Either way, Kliff Kingsbury and the offense will have to figure out a way to beat the Cover 3 Cloud coverage that ISU runs, if not it will not be a fun trip to Ames this season.

TCU, in my opinion, will be a pretty similar team to the Red Raiders this year. Their strengths are in the running game and defense. They will break in a new quarterback as well and we will see how good Shawn Robinson actually is, he was not very good in his lone start in 2017 against Texas Tech. Either way this is a Thursday night game on the road, and for as good as TCU has been the last few years, Tech has actually won 2 of the last 3 in Fort Worth. Gary Patterson will always have his teams ready, and Tech's offense is really going to have to step up here to have a shot.

No need to go over the history here, we all know what has happened the last nine years. The Raiders have had their chances in many of those games, yet came up short each time. Mike Gundy is a hell of a coach. OSU might not end up being that good this year, they lost a ton from last season's offense and still don't have a great defense, but until Tech can show they can actually beat the Cowboys this game will be one of the toughest year in and year out.

The toughest game on the schedule in my opinion, OU has won the Big 12 three years in a row. Oklahoma has won six straight in this series, many of them blowouts. The Sooners' running game and the Tech defense have simply been too much of a mismatch most years. They do lose Baker Mayfield, but return a bunch of good backs, receivers and have a really good offensive line. Tech can and has scored some on their defense, which is still a question mark, but the Red Raiders need to show they can consistently hold them out of the end zone to have a chance. The last time Tech beat OU in Lubbock, they held them to 13 points.