Texas Tech Crushes BYU 34-7 To Claim Historic Big 12 Title and Playoff Bye
If you were holding your breath waiting for Texas Tech to win an outright conference title, you would have passed out sometime during the Eisenhower administration. Seriously, 1955. That was the last time the Red Raiders stood alone atop a mountain. Gas was 23 cents a gallon, and nobody had heard of Elvis yet.
But on Saturday afternoon in Arlington, the ghosts of “almost” and “maybe next year” were finally exorcised. Texas Tech didn’t just beat BYU to win the Big 12 Championship; they dismantled them, 34-7, in a game that turned from a nail-biter into a coronation faster than you can say “tortilla toss.”
Texas Tech’s win does two massive things: it hands Joey McGuire a trophy that proves his “brand” is more than just talk, and it locks the Red Raiders into the College Football Playoff with a first-round bye. They aren’t just attending the dance; they’re skipping the line and heading straight to the VIP section.
A Nightmare Start for the Red Raiders
Let’s rewind to the first quarter, because for about 15 minutes, it looked like Texas Tech was in for a long, sad afternoon. BYU came out swinging. Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick called a drive so perfect it belonged in a museum. The Cougars marched 90 yards in 14 plays, chewing up nearly seven minutes of the clock. They were painting the corners, using trick plays, and eventually, LJ Martin walked into the end zone on a 10-yard run.
At that moment, AT&T Stadium felt a little tense. The Tech defense, which has been a brick wall all season, looked soft. BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, playing on an ankle that looked about as stable as a Jenga tower in an earthquake, was dealing. But here’s the thing about college football: momentum is a fickle beast.
The Defense Flips the Script
After that opening drive, Texas Tech defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter apparently told his guys to wake up. And did they ever. The Red Raiders’ defense proceeded to put BYU in a stranglehold for the next three quarters. The turning point wasn’t a touchdown.
It was a disastrous special-teams play by BYU. In the second quarter, Cougars coach Kalani Sitake rolled the dice with a fake punt inside his own territory. It… did not go well. The pass fell harmlessly to the turf, and you could practically feel the air leave the BYU sideline. That set the table. Then, the Texas Tech offense started eating.
Behren Morton Finds His Range
Quarterback Behren Morton has taken plenty of heat this year, but when the lights were brightest, the senior delivered. He wasn’t perfect, but he made the throw of the game—a 33-yard back-shoulder fade to Coy Eakin that defied physics. Eakin caught it, tapped the toes, and suddenly Tech had the lead.
From there, the floodgates opened. Morton finished with 180 yards through the air, but he didn’t need to be Patrick Mahomes. He just needed not to lose the game, because his defense decided they were going to win it for him.
The Second Half Meltdown
If the first half was a boxing match, the second half was a mauling. BYU imploded. It was tough to watch if you were wearing blue, but absolute poetry if you were wearing Texas Tech red and black.The stats are ugly. BYU turned the ball over four times in the second half. Four. You can’t win a Pop Warner game doing that, let alone a conference championship.
The dagger came courtesy of linebacker Ben Roberts. He read Bachmeier’s eyes like a large-print book, snagging an interception inside the 20. One play later, Cameron Dickey rumbled 11 yards to paydirt. 21-7. Ballgame.
But Texas Tech wasn’t done. They added a strip-sack fumble recovery by Romello Height and another Roberts interception just for kicks. It was a masterclass in havoc. Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the Butkus Award winner, was everywhere, tallying 13 stops. The guy played like he had a rocket strapped to his back.
What This Means for the Playoff Picture
So, where does this leave us? Texas Tech is your Big 12 Champion. At 12-1, they are virtually guaranteed a top-four seed and a bye to the quarterfinals. They are dangerous, physical, and have a defense that can wreck your game plan. Nobody is going to want to see those Double Ts in their bracket. For BYU, it’s Heartbreak Hotel.
At 11-2, they are now squarely on the bubble, and that bubble is looking ready to pop. With Notre Dame and other at-large teams lurking, the Cougars might find themselves booking a trip to the Pop-Tarts Bowl instead of the playoff. It’s a cruel sport, but when you turn the ball over four times in a title game, you don’t leave your destiny in the hands of the committee. For now, Lubbock celebrates. The drought is over. The Red Raiders are kings of the Big 12.
