1978 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team

The 1978 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech University as a member of the Southwest Conference (SWC) during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their first season under head coach Rex Dockery, the Red Raiders compiled a 7–4 record (5–3 against SWC opponents), were outscored by a combined total of 268 to 246, and finished in fourth place in the conference.^[1] The team played its home games at Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.

1978 Texas Tech Red Raiders football
Conference	Southwest Conference
Record	7–4 (5–3 SWC)
Head coach	Rex Dockery (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Option
Defensive coordinator	Sam Robertson (1st season)
Base defense	4–4
Home stadium	Jones Stadium
Seasons ← 1977 1979 →

1978 Southwest Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Houston $	7	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 11 Arkansas	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	2	–	1
No. 9 Texas	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Texas Tech	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
No. 19 Texas A&M	4	–	4	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
SMU	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Baylor	3	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Rice	2	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
TCU	0	–	8	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 9	at No. 9 USC*	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 9–17	50,321	[2]
September 23	Arizona*	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	W 41–26	41,732	[3]
September 30	No. 6 Texas	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)	L 7–24	54,012	[4]
October 7	at No. 7 Texas A&M	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)	L 9–38	56,121	[5]
October 14	at New Mexico*	University Stadium Albuquerque, NM	W 36–23	23,167	[6]
October 21	at Rice	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 42–28	20,000	[7]
November 4	Baylor	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)	W 27–9	48,895	[8]
November 11	at TCU	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX (rivalry)	W 27–17	17,228	[9]
November 18	No. 18 SMU	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	W 19–16	45,101	[10]
November 25	No. 5 Houston	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)	W 22–21	36,691	[11]
December 2	at No. 8 Arkansas	Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, AR (rivalry)	L 7–49	43,301	[12]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[13]