Back to the Texas Tech Red Raiders Newsfeed

Texas Tech and Arizona State Share Similar Desert Roots, History

Can you revive something that never was?

Once upon a time, there were two rural, desert schools who played college football in the same conference – the Border Conference (the first conference Texas Tech ever joined) – for 25 years between 1932 and 1956. When examining where the two schools are today, it’s impossible to properly do so without considering how they got here.

The first was a school in Tempe, Arizona. Founded in 1885, 27 years before Arizona would even become a state, Arizona State University was first established as the Territorial Normal School. Its purpose was to prepare its students to become teachers in Arizona.