Last week The Bleacher Report released their 2011 Spring recap and placed Texas Tech at 66th in the country, 9th best in the 10 team Big 12 Conference ahead of Iowa State at 84. Kansas was at 55, Baylor  49, Kansas State 37, Texas 22, Missouri 17, Texas A&M 14, Oklahoma St  7, and Oklahoma 1.

Personally, I don't think Tech will finish 9th in the Big 12. The schedule is a little rough in the conference with trips to Norman and Austin, but Tech should win games at home against Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and Iowa State. The Aggies won't be the world beaters they're expected because they lose too much on defense, Oklahoma State still won't be able to play defense, and lets face it Baylor will still be a 6-6 or 7-5 team at best.

Pull those four victories plus a doable non-conference schedule with Texas State and Nevada coming to Lubbock and a trip to New Mexico and Tech should be looking at 8 to 9 wins next season.

While Tech isn't expected to do much this fall they are always undervalued going into a season going back 15 seasons, at least, and should prove to be better than expected. Seth Doege will surprise people as quarterback, the defense will have to prove it can make stops when it matters, and the offensive line will need to protect the backfield better. Hopefully there won't be any onside kicks when they aren't needed either.

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