LUBBOCK — There was a village of fans staked outside the stadium for a week, a fan-kicked field goal worth a quarter-million dollars, a wedding conflict for a fan and a Patrick Mahomes cameo.
There was a statement made, too, after ESPN’s College GameDay hoopla wrapped.
The Red Raiders (8-1, 6-1 Big 12) are the class of the conference and a real-deal College Football Playoff contender.
No. 8 Texas Tech beat previously undefeated No. 7 BYU 26-7 Saturday afternoon at Jones AT&T Stadium in front of 60,229 fans that arrived early for what may have been the program’s most important home game in 17 years.
Sports Roundup
Here are five thoughts from the game.
The stakes
The Red Raiders control their own destiny for a Big 12 championship game bid and, because of that, a College Football Playoff berth. They’re tied atop the conference with BYU and Cincinnati at one league loss apiece.
Saturday’s win gives Texas Tech a head-to-head tiebreaker over BYU if necessary. The Cougars and Bearcats play Nov. 22 with entrance to the conference championship game likely on the line. The Red Raiders play West Virginia and UCF — each of whom need to win out for bowl eligibility — in their final two games.
The turning point
Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton threw the game’s lone touchdown pass with 21 seconds left in the first quarter. That — paired with an elite defense — was all that the Red Raiders needed.
Morton threw a perfect ball to wide receiver Caleb Douglas in the corner of the endzone for a one-footed touchdown catch that gave the Red Raiders a 10-0 lead. He completed a 37-yard pass to wide receiver Coy Eakin on third down five plays prior to sustain the 92-yard drive.
The possession broke what had been an early offensive funk. The Red Raiders had totaled negative-24 yards of offense on their first two drives and were bailed out by a BYU specials teams unit that shanked a punt, muffed a punt and missed a field goal in the first quarter.
The Red Raiders kicked four field goals (each of which were converted by kicker Stone Harrington) in between their first and second touchdowns. Running back Cameron Dickey scored on a 1-yard run to give Texas Tech a definitive 26-0 lead with 10:46 left in the game.
A day for the defense
Texas Tech has the highest-graded overall defense, run defensive and pass coverage defense in the country, per Pro Football Focus. Saturday, against a team that’d averaged 35.8 points per game in its first eight, the unit met the marks.
The Red Raiders didn’t allow a touchdown until the 7:35 mark of the fourth quarter when freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier found wide receiver Chase Roberts for a 6-yard score. That ended the only drive of 50-plus yards that the Cougars orchestrated all day.
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The Red Raiders held Bachmeier to one single passing yard in the first quarter. He completed 5 of his 7 attempts for 43 yards in the second quarter, though, but the Cougars finished just 1 for 5 on third down and averaged just 3.5 yards per play that period.
Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez finished with 14 tackles, a third-quarter interception and a fourth-quarter fumble recovery that led to a Texas Tech field goal six plays later. The duo of defensive end Romello Height (tackle for loss, pass breakup and quarterback hit) and linebacker David Bailey (also a tackle for loss, pass breakup and quarterback hit) anchored a front seven that held the Cougars to their fewest points in a game in over two years.
Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton (2) prepares to throw a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against BYU, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas.
Annie Rice / AP
Nobody’s perfect
The largest blemish on Tech’s first half — possibly aside from its decision to go for it go for it on 4th and 2 from the 2-yard line instead of a layup field goal with three seconds left in the second quarter — was that Morton held on to the ball for too long at times. He was sacked four times for negative-46 yards in the first half and attempted to run backwards and scramble from two of them.
It stalled Texas Tech’s offense early, but, he made enough plays and completed enough passes (17 of 32 for 219 yards) to continuously move the Red Raiders into field goal range.
The unsung MVP
Junior kicker Stone Harrington made all five of his field goal attempts in the win and accounted for more than half of Texas Tech’s points. The Colleyville native made kicks of 47, 39, 29, 27 and 34 yards and converted each of his extra point attempts in the win. His four field goals were a career-high.
Just ask the Cougars if this was important. Their kicker — Will Ferrin — missed a 51-yard attempt in the second quarter. It was his only opportunity and it contributed to a Texas Tech shutout bid that lasted into the fourth quarter.
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