Nobody’s carrying a heavier backpack full of expectations heading into 2025 than Joey McGuire and Texas Tech. The Red Raiders have turned the NIL faucet into a fire hydrant, pumping oil money straight into Lubbock like it’s 90s Wall Street. After an 8-5 ride in 2024 — equal parts fireworks and defensive collapses — the Red Raiders now have analysts out here calling them Playoff crashers. CBS Sports got them at double-digit wins. Joel Klatt’s already whispering College Football Playoff. Josh Pate says Big 12 champs. Translation: Tech’s seat at the grown-man table is being reserved. And McGuire just pulled out the big card — channeling Rodney Allison vibes with a blast from the past.

On August 22, inside Episode 3 of Texas Tech Football: The Brand, McGuire FaceTimed Texas Tech legend Rodney Allison, the OG before Johnny Football made it cool. McGuire hyped him up, saying, “I’m going to tell you right now, man, he’s in Hawaii right now. He’s one of my favorite people in the entire world. They always say he was Johnny Manziel before Johnny Manziel. The way he could run, how tough he was. He loved football. Like, he would be one of these guys right now that if he was in this room with us, that we would just gravitate to him because of how much he loves football and how much he loves football.” Then he handed the digital mic to Allison, who wasted no time turning storytime into a sermon.

The Red Raider legend’s advice: Never take even a single rep in practice for granted, because that might define a program’s history: “We played together, we bled together. I mean, just the whole deal was just a very close culture of players believed in having one purpose – and that was to show up on Saturday and win football games. And you’ve got to do that. I mean, we believed in each other, and that’s what made that team so special. I mean, every practice, every meeting, every second was utilized to the fullest to get the full potential out of that team. And to me, that’s what this team’s got to do. They’ve got to take advantage of every situation.”

Then came the pure scar tissue. He went back to ’76, when Tech was 8-0, top-10 ranked, about to punch that Cotton Bowl ticket. And then came Houston. He marched the Red Raiders inside the five. Four yards from history. Then — boom — picked off at the one. Ball game. Season derailed. “The thing I want to tell these guys sitting in this room was from that experience—but I’ll never forget that one play, and I still remember it 49 years later—that one play, that maybe if I would have just done one more minute of studying, paid attention just a bit better in one drill.” And why so? Allison has the answer.

“Because years and history and all that are defined by a few moments. And that you have opportunities, and I would just encourage everybody sitting in that room—coach, player—don’t waste one second. Don’t waste one meeting. Don’t waste one snap. Don’t waste one rep in practice. ’Cause you never know what play that’s going to make the difference in being 12–0, 11–1. ’Cause it’s going to define you for the rest of your life. What could have been the course of Texas Tech football history.” That’s generational regret laid bare for a roster built on $28 million receipts.

That 1976 crew was legit. They started 8-0, ranked No. 5, beat Texas, A&M, and Baylor, and looked every bit like kings of the SWC. Houston ripped it away with Elvis Bradley’s soul-snatching interception. Instead of Cotton Bowl glory, Tech settled for 10-2 and a Bluebonnet Bowl. Allison walked off MVP, but that pick became the scar tissue he carried for decades. That pick (interception) robbed Texas Tech of having the biggest season in their history.

Look, Allison was Johnny Manziel before Johnny Manziel was Johnny Manziel or even born. The man piled up over 4,000 passing yards, nearly 1,000 rushing, and had Tech inside the top 10 before dual-threat quarterbacks were even cool. He brought that same burn straight into McGuire’s locker room — telling kids with oil money fueling their future not to mess it up with wasted reps.

Can Texas Tech make the playoff cut? Can they win the Big 12? Is 2025 the Red Raiders’ year?

Rodney Allison’s regret speech was less about nostalgia and more about slamming the reality check. “Don’t waste a rep,” wasn’t a metaphor. It was a scar talking. That’s why McGuire brought him in — because this 2025 Tech roster is the closest thing the program’s had to being that good since Mike Leach’s Air Raid circus. But instead of just riding vibes, McGuire’s reminding his squad: all the oil money in the world won’t save you if you blink in a moment that matters. Allison’s interception is the proof.

And with this group? They’re trotting into the season with Behren Morton’s 3,335 yards and 27 TDs, plus portal pickups stacked like Costco bulk buys. Romello Height. David Bailey. Skyler Gill-Howard. Oh, and Micah Hudson — a five-star freak running routes like TSA lines don’t exist. This offense isn’t the problem. It’s the defense that got cooked for 34.8 points a night in 2024, handing out touchdowns like Halloween candy.

Let’s keep it real: Texas Tech is playing Monopoly with oil barons bankrolling the board. Cody Campbell and Terry Fuller turned NIL into an oil rig, pumping millions into the Matador Club. McGuire dropped $11-ish million on big timer 17 portal bodies this offseason — good for the No. 1 transfer haul in the nation. That’s not just ‘aggressive’. That’s reckless genius. It’s buying up Park Place and Boardwalk before the dice even roll.

The roster is built for a CFP push, and the schedule is buttered for a run. ESPN ranks it the fourth-easiest in the Big 12. CBS has them at 10-2. Only ASU and Kansas State look like speed bumps. In a 12-team playoff, that’s all you need — double-digit wins and one “prove-it” moment against a big dog. But Allison’s reminder lingers: one slip, one pick at the wrong time, and all the oil money in West Texas can’t polish away the regret.

Texas Tech fans have lived in ‘what if’ purgatory since the 70s. Leach’s 2008 squad touched glory but never broke through. Now, McGuire’s Red Raiders have the bank account, the roster, and the analysts calling their shot. The question isn’t talent. It’s discipline. Can they avoid the Allison moment? Can they turn oil money into Playoff equity instead of another ‘so close’ story?

Allison’s haunting words gave the locker room a blueprint: win every rep, don’t waste one second, because that single snap might be the difference between Cotton Bowl folklore and College Football Playoff history. Joey McGuire knows it. The Red Raiders know it. And now, every fan in Lubbock is sitting on edge, wondering if this team’s 2025 season will be remembered as Johnny Football déjà vu — or as the year Texas Tech finally cashed every check written in oil money.