When a city is named “The Most Boring Town in America,” one would need to raise some serious questions as to whether or not it is worthy of a football trip in the Fall. Luckily for those in Lubbock, Texas, football is king and they play a good brand down on the Plains. Lubbock ranks 89 in the Top 100 College Football Towns in America countdown.
To celebrate 100 days until the start of the college football season, HERO Sports is counting down the Top 100 FBS College Football Towns in America. Each day, starting May 17 and ending Aug. 24, a new city will be revealed. We will analyze the city, the program, the good and bad of the city as well as the bottom line. If you got a problem, @me on Twitter.
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89. Lubbock, Texas – Texas Tech
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With Texas Tech struggling on the recruiting trail, there are questions about the future success of the program. (Photo: Ralph D. Russo, The Associated Press)[/credit]
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The Program
To no fault of its own, Texas Tech has never been able to climb into the upper-echelon of Texas football. Lonestar state schools Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M and TCU have all had varying degrees of success as a national championship contender. The Red Raiders, however, have never finished the season in the Top 10 and haven’t won a conference championship since 1994. Despite lacking the hardware to challenge historically, Texas Tech has never had an issue competing. The Red Raiders have had just five losing seasons in the last 30 years.
The concerning aspect is two of those losing seasons have come within the last four years. Texas Tech signed the Big 12’s second-worst recruiting class of 2018–worse than even Kansas. Ouch.
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The City
It’s 350 miles to Fort Worth or Waco, 340 miles to Norman and 370 miles to Austin or Stillwater. If you’re in Lubbock, you are not going anywhere else. Its isolation has been the city’s gain. CNN recently ranked Lubbock the 12th midsize metro to open a small business. On the other side of the spectrum, Movoto ranked the city’s non-fast food restaurants as the worst. Guess that’s a wash?
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The Good
One of the early pioneers of Rock and Roll, Buddy Holly called Lubbock home. Kliff Kingsbury is arguably the most attractive head coach in college football. As legend has it, when his face appears on the stadium’s screen, there is a high volume of fans reportedly losing consciousness. Get out of the city and visit Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the United States. Just a 90-minute drive from Lubbock.
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The Bad
A 90-minute drive is short by Lubbock standards. In the winter, they don’t get snow storms, but rather ice storms. Lubbock was essentially a dry town (alcohol could only be purchased at bars or restaurants) up until 2009. Just last year, the EPA released a study stating around a dozen contaminants were found in Lubbock’s drinking water. Those included arsenic, chloroform and radiological contaminants.
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Bottom Line
When traveling to–essentially–a deserted island with no ocean, you better hope the football is good enough to entertain you, because you might have some trouble finding something else. Texas Tech has succeeded in that aspect…for now.
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NEXT: Top 100 College Football Towns: No. 90 – Laramie, Wyoming
