MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton, with tears streaming from red eyes and down his cheeks, provided the lasting visual for the feeling within the Red Raiders locker room.

His coach Joey McGuire began his Orange Bowl postgame news conference by thanking Red Raiders fans for coming along on his team’s ride to a Big 12 championship and 12-win season. Then, he apologized for how it ended: an ugly 23-0 loss to Oregon at Hard Rock Stadium.

“I’m sorry that we let you down,” said McGuire, whose team became the third in the College Football Playoff era to be shut out. “But I hope you’ve enjoyed every second of this year. Man, this is such a special team and I’m so proud of them.”

Texas Tech’s rise from eight wins in 2024 to a dozen and a CFP first-round bye in 2025 was the perfect example of what aggressive spending in the transfer portal can buy you in modern-day college football. Done right, a mid-level program can climb to top of its conference standings and get to the big stage in a short amount of time. The Red Raiders recognized that and poured upwards of $25 million into this year’s roster, making headlines all year as their CFP-or-bust mission paid off.

But getting to the big stage and winning here are two entirely different things.

It was obvious Oregon’s defense presented a step up in class for Texas Tech’s offense, which faced only two other top-40 scoring defenses all season (Utah and BYU, the Cougars twice). In the end, it didn’t matter that the Red Raiders had one of the country’s most explosive offenses, entering the weekend with the second-most plays of 20-plus yards (90) and the largest average margin of victory (31.5 points) in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The free-agent acquisitions general manager James Blanchard put on the field for defensive coordinator Shiel Wood put Texas Tech on an even playing field with Oregon’s offense. There just wasn’t enough talent put into the Red Raiders offense to give them a fighting chance in this matchup.

“I know stats are a little bit different, but they were rushing for over 200 yards against Big Ten teams and they rushed for 64 yards today,” McGuire said. “I know some of that was in sacks and snaps and stuff like that, but we still did that.

“I do think, and Behren will probably say the same thing, I think defensively that was probably the best defense we’ve faced this year. I do think they did a really good job schematically. Their defensive coordinator, defensive staff did a really good job of giving us some issues. We didn’t play good enough. It really wasn’t the patch on anybody’s arm. That’s a really good football team, though. If the quarterback (Dante Moore) decides to go in the draft, he’s probably going to be the first or second guy taken.”

Morton, meanwhile, isn’t that. He was a good, tough quarterback for the Red Raiders. He played through a hairline fracture in his right leg this season and still ranked ninth in quarterback efficiency through the Big 12 championship, and he has won 26 starts over the last four seasons; only Miami’s Carson Beck (36) and Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia (31) have more wins in that span.

But Morton looked confused and flustered Thursday. Texas Tech only crossed the 50-yard line three times. Morton finished 18 of 32 passing for 137 yards and two interceptions and was sacked four times. He also had the ball stripped out of his hands deep on his own side of the field.

“I thought we saw a really good defense today, but I thought offensively it’s just not the standard of football that Texas Tech plays,” Morton said. “Like Coach said, a lot to be proud of this year. But today was tough.”

The Red Raiders will be in the market for a starting quarterback when the transfer portal opens on Friday because Morton is out of eligibility and redshirt freshman Will Hammond is out with an ACL injury he suffered in October. They’re the favorite to land Cincinnati transfer Brendan Sorsby, The Athletic’s top available quarterback who has announced his intention to hit the portal. It’s not necessarily a slam dunk, though. LSU and Miami are also making a push.

Also, quarterback isn’t the only hole on the roster Blanchard needs to fill.

David Bailey, Lee Hunter and Romello Height, the sack masters and pressure creators who transferred in last offseason to elevate the Red Raiders’ defense, all need to be replaced. Jacob Rodriguez, the All-American linebacker who hauled in an armful of postseason individual awards, is off to the pros. So is safety Cole Wisniewski. On offense, left guard Will Jados, right guard Davion Carter and receivers Reggie Virgil and Caleb Douglas are out of eligibility.

But great programs like the one Texas Tech has spent like and aspired to be find ways to reload these days. Indiana went from being just happy to be here last year to the No. 1 seed in the 2025 Playoff. They upgraded at quarterback and are two wins away from a national championship.

Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt walked out of the press room Thursday confident Blanchard and McGuire are going to keep the Red Raiders on the rise. If anything, the taste of this has only added to the hunger to win bigger in Lubbock.

“This was a great season,” Hocutt said. “But I’m pretty sure our guys are going to be really, really busy on the phone when the portal opens trying to make us even better.”

“We’ve got to do better,” McGuire said. “If this is going to be what the College Football Playoff is, then we’ve got to find a way to be better to win that game.”

Building an offense that can score against the nation’s best would be a good start.