Houston vs. Texas Tech Prediction, Odds and Key Players to Watch for College Football Week 3 - Sports Illustrated

Tech came into the season as the team to beat in the Big 12, but wins over lesser opponents didn't exactly wow oddsmakers or fans watching from Jones AT&T Stadium. Houston smells blood. A road upset in Lubbock would blow the conference race wide open heading into October.

For a program trying to prove it belongs at the top of the Big 12, this is the kind of test that actually means something. Beat Houston comfortably and the doubts from those first two performances start to fade. Struggle again, or lose outright, and the preseason hype fades fast, replaced by real questions about whether Tech overachieved its ranking. Fans packing the stadium Friday aren't just watching a nonconference tune-up anymore, they're watching the first real data point on whether this team is a contender or a pretender.