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Raiderville filled with fun, some studying and plenty of hype for Texas Tech, BYU football
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- Raiderville filled with fun, some studying and plenty of hype for Texas Tech, BYU football
RAIDERVILLE - Texas Tech's makeshift student encampment near Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock is booming and bustling in numbers not seen in over a decade.
The temporary community featuring hundreds of tents housing students fueled on free food and snacks provided by Texas Tech coaches, athletes and other community partners has popped up when Tech football - and sometimes basketball - finds itself in high-stakes games.
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More: Where is Texas Tech football in the initial CFP ranking? First spots revealed
And Saturday's football game pitting the No. 8 Red Raiders against the No. 7 Brigham Young University Cougars at 11 a.m. in Jones AT&T Stadium is no different, with Tech hosting ESPN's College GameDay for the first time in 17 years and both teams eyeing spots in the Big 12 Championship game and even more.
"This is the big game - the game to be at," said Jesse Benavides, a senior from Harlingen who was among the nearly 2,000 students who'd already staked their claim at Raiderville by Wednesday in hopes of getting prime student seating for Saturday's game.
Welcome to Raiderville at Texas Tech
The population by Wednesday afternoon was listed at 1,710, according to a sign near where Raiderville started popping up Sunday evening in front of the Womble Football Center & South End Zone.
Texas Tech students camp out at the South side of Jones AT&T Stadium on Nov. 5, 2025 in Lubbock, Texas. Students are camping out in anticipation of the Red Raiders v. BYU Cougars football game on Saturday.
But that appeared to be a conservative estimate and a moving target, as a trail of hundreds of tents several rows deep was surrounding the south and west side of the stadium. Each tent was seemingly claimed by numerous students, and many were decked out with an assortment of TVs, grills, gadgets and other comforts you'd expect with college students.
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And the camp was still growing by Wednesday afternoon, with students including Benavides and his friend Ray Mojica setting up a tent in the grass on the west side of the stadium shortly before 5 p.m.
Texas Tech seniors Jesse Benavides, left, and Ray Mojica set up a tent at the Raiderville student camp Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 5, near Texas Tech's Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock.
The 10-by-13 Ozark Trail tent - which Mojica has used for camping in the wilderness - would be base camp for the duo and a group of about 10 friends wanting to secure their place in the student section.
"It's a pretty big tent, but we're going to be packed in like sardines in here," Benavides said.
While the two staked their tent into the ground, Mojica explained they had initially planned to start camping later in the week but moved it up to Wednesday when they saw Raiderville was filling up, and they wanted to stake their claim for the student section.
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So, they gathered necessities.
"We brought some blankets, some weights for the tent and we're going to need to get some portable chargers and possibly some electricity hooked up," Mojica said.
Later, he and friends were going to plan their schedules and shifts to man the tent while they come and go for classes, work and other obligations.
After all, it's still college.
"I've got to student teach in the morning," said Mojica, who is studying to be a teacher. "I'm going to get up and go shower and be at the school by 7 a.m. I've got it all planned out. It's a process."
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A few dozen tents to the south, senior finance major Zeke Ramos had set up his homework station on a folding table, complete with a laptop and tablet, not far from where other students were catching footballs and loading up on free snacks from an H-E-B catering van.
Texas Tech senior Zeke Ramos studies for his financial statement analysis class while camped out at the Raiderville student camp next to the Jones AT&T Stadium on Nov. 5, 2025 in Lubbock, Texas.
"I've got a financial statement analysis exam on Friday morning," he said.
Ramos wanted to spend Wednesday studying and preparing for the exam in anticipation of a more entertaining Thursday at Raiderville, he said.
"I probably won't be studying on Thursday," he said with a smile.
Tech Athletics announces policy for camping, student seating
In an announcement late Wednesday, Tech Athletics announced it will have 12,000 seats available to its student body Saturday. Of that total, only 2,000 of those seats have been reserved for students already camping outside Jones AT&T Stadium as part of Raiderville or for those who are among the first in line to attend College Gameday.
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Texas Tech cut off admission into the Raiderville camping area earlier Wednesday afternoon with nearly 1,600 students registered for early access. Texas Tech will not issue any other early-access privileges to students past this point. Campers are instructed to have their area packed up and cleaned by 7 a.m. Friday. At that point, early access wristbands for students already registered will be distributed.
Texas Tech will reserve student seating for the first 400 students in line to attend College Gameday on Saturday morning. Students who attend the ESPN pregame show will receive a specific wristband for access through Gate 4 in the northeast corner of Jones AT&T Stadium. Access will begin at 10 a.m. when College Gameday transitions inside Jones AT&T Stadium and will end at 10:20 a.m. as Texas Tech will reserve student seating in the turf lawn behind the north end zone as well as in section 13.
Texas Tech will still have roughly 10,000 seats available for students not already in Raiderville or among the first in line at College Gameday. Students currently camping in Raiderville will have access to enter the stadium at the normal Gate 6 location from 7:45-8:15 a.m. Saturday morning. After that time, Texas Tech will open its Gate 6 entry for all students. All lines at Gate 6 will be available beginning at 5 a.m. Saturday morning.
About Raiderville at Texas Tech football and basketball games
The Raiderville phenomenon had been around for a few years, but took off in 2008 ahead of what would be Texas Tech's upset of No. 1 Texas in Lubbock. That, coincidentally, was the last time Tech hosted ESPN's College GameDay.
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The encampment continued that season, including for the following week's matchup against No. 8 Oklahoma State in Lubbock.
It also lingered into the 2009 season, which initially carried some of the buzz and anticipation of the previous season, but ended with a 9-4 record for the Red Raiders and the departure of head football coach Mike Leach.
Some form of Raiderville would periodically pop up for the occasional high-ranking football or basketball matchup - but not to the scale seen this week.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Red Raider students pack Raiderville ahead of Texas Tech, BYU football
