Ole Miss, Texas Tech schedule 2018 season opener in Houston

Ole Miss and Texas Tech will face each other in a neutral site game in 2018. 

The Ole Miss Rebels and Texas Tech Red Raiders have agreed to play in Houston in the Advocare Texas Kickoff game, according to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy. The neutral site game is hosting Houston and Oklahoma in 2016 and LSU and BYU play in the game in 2017.

Ole Miss and Texas Tech last played each other in the 2009 AT&T Cotton Bowl. the Rebels won that game 47-34 and Ole Miss holds the lead in the series between the two schools at 3-2.

The Rebels will be no stranger to premiere early season non-conference matchups by the time the game with Texas Tech comes around. Ole Miss opens up against Florida State this season in Orlando and will face the Cal Golden Bears in the third game in the 2017 season.

Playing Texas Tech also meets the SEC rule of conference members having to schedule a game against a Power 5 school each season. Ole Miss also opens the 2020 season in Houston against the Baylor Bears.

Texas Tech is well accustomed to playing SEC teams. They played Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl, as well a home and home series during the Eli Manning era at Ole Miss. The Red Raiders also played Arkansas the past two years and played LSU in the Texas Bowl last season.

The future of this matchup looks very intriguing with Ole Miss a national play and Kliff Kingsbury seemingly steadily moving Texas Tech further and further up in the Big 12.

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This game will also feature future starting Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson in his junior year at Ole Miss. Current Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be gone by then but the next prolific passer will step up in his absence.