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max olson
Arlington, Texas — texas techEveryone’s bets just paid off.
After an offseason of big dreams and big spending, the No. 4 Red Raiders captured their first Big 12 championship in program history on Saturday. Defeat 34-7 of number 11 BYU,
It was another impressive performance from a 12-1 team, a stark contrast to the performance seen in Lubbock, which instills even more confidence about a deep College Football Playoff run.
After confetti fell inside AT&T Stadium and coach Joey McGuire hoisted a trophy he’d been chasing for four years, he shed tears as he embraced billionaire board chairman Cody Campbell, general manager James Blanchard, athletic director Kirby Hocutt and the many stakeholders who helped set the program up for a historic season.
Together, they ended decades of disappointment for the Texas Tech football program, which had not won a conference title since 1955. When the Red Raiders built their trophy room as part of their new $242 million training facility, they reserved a spot for the Big 12 trophy.
In place of the hardware, a small block was placed on the trophy stand with one word printed on it: “Faith.”
For McGuire, the tears started in the final minutes against BYU, but he said they’ll flow again when he returns to Texas Tech’s football building Saturday night and walks across that block.
“That’s when it really hit me,” McGuire said. “And then, we’ll take it to another location so we can get another trophy.”
Texas Tech has one of the greatest transfer portal classes of this evolving era of NIL and transfers in college football, a group of 22 incoming transfers that includes 11 players who started in the Big 12 title game, four first-team All-Big 12 performers and a projected first-round draft pick at pass rusher. David Bailey,
Blanchard believed from the beginning that the Big 12 was not equipped to compete with what the Red Raiders had assembled. The results of that ambitious roster-building experiment: Each of Texas Tech’s wins has been by more than 21 points.
“Mission accomplished,” Blanchard told ESPN. “It’s a proof of concept. We’ve got a chance to win a national championship, and I like our chances.”
Texas Tech committed more than $25 million to its 2025 roster, mixing proven returning starters with high-profile newcomers, making boom-or-bust bets and a season-long story — that the Red Raiders were desperate to buy their way to the top.
Even after defeating BYU on Saturday, Texas Tech players were asked to respond to the perception that they had “built the best team that money can buy.” linebacker jacob rodriguezA returning senior and the Big 12’s Defensive Player of the Year, he was happy to answer.
“If we’re going to buy a team,” Rodriguez replied, “why not the best one?”
Campbell made no apologies after watching Red Raiders coaches and players celebrate Saturday.
“I’m very proud,” Campbell told ESPN. “It’s a credit to the guys who really are on the field. These guys love each other. They played very hard, tough. I’m very proud of this staff, I’m very proud of the university and our alignment, the support we’ve had from so many people. It’s a team effort, total effort, all the way.
“We all came together and had a singular mission, a singular focus, and we accomplished it. This is something we’ve been waiting for at Texas Tech for a long time.”
He accomplished this with the Red Raiders defense, as it has this season, making BYU’s offense fight for every yard.
The Cougars started the game with a well-written, 14-play, 90-yard touchdown drive that took nearly seven minutes. He passed for only 110 yards on 45 plays the rest of the day and turned it over four times in the second half, including two interceptions by Tech linebackers. ben roberts,
“I think we can play with anybody in the country,” Campbell said.
A championship win should guarantee Texas Tech a top-four seed and a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. McGuire said his team would need much of the three-week break to recover and prepare for its first playoff round.
“We’re football fanatics,” McGuire said. “If you let us get healthy, I really believe we’ve got another gear.”
quarterback behren morton He is playing with a hairline fracture in his fibula that caused him to miss two games, including the Red Raiders’ only loss to Arizona State. Morton told ESPN that he feels “about 70 percent” healthy and is expecting a longer recovery.
The quarterback and his coach privately agreed in June that they would win a Big 12 championship this year. And when they did, they planned to walk off the field together at AT&T Stadium.
Before Morton grabbed the game ball, threw his arm around his coach and headed toward the locker room filled with celebration and cigar smoke, the senior flashed a proud smile.
“A lot of people in the preseason were saying Texas Tech would do a better job,” Morton said. “Well, guess what? We did it.”
