Ole Miss football will face Texas Tech in Houston to open 2018 season

Ole Miss and Texas Tech have reached an agreement to face off in Houston for the 2018 season's opening weekend, according to ESPN's Brett McMurphy. The proceedings will be hosted in Houston's NRG Stadium, where Ole Miss is also slated to open its 2020 season against Baylor.

Barring the Rebs and Red Raiders meeting in a bowl game between now and then, the 2018 matchup will be the sixth such meeting between these programs. Ole Miss leads the, um, series, 3-2, which includes a 47-34 win in the 2009 Cotton Bowl (Houston Dale!).

"We're working towards a final agreement but nothing has been completed yet," Ross Bjork told Daniel Paulling of the Clarion-Ledger. Texas Tech is currently the only announced non-conference team on Ole Miss' 2018 schedule.

This move away from opening seasons against, say, FSU keeps more in line with Ole Miss' ethos and style. It just feels like an SEC West team should be picking fights with Big 12 schools in Texas rather than ham-fisting strength of schedule landmines in frigging Orlando, Fla., which is objectively awful.

And further, Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury is a ridiculous and outsized personality who enjoys fashion consultations and whips out the classic "scoreboard, bro" on Bret Bielema. Hugh Freeze and super swag bro Kliff on Sept. 1, 2018? Yes, please.