ARLINGTON — The preseason outlook for many teams often doesn’t play out as expected.
Look what happened to preseason No. 1 Texas. Many thought the Longhorns would have a Heisman candidate quarterback and be a frontrunner to win the national championship, but on Sunday, they could find themselves on the outside looking in on the 12-team field.
There were few teams with more preseason hype than Texas Tech entering 2025. Some felt it was undeserved at the time, as the Red Raiders hadn’t ever made the Big 12 championship in their three decades in the conference.
But what the Red Raiders did last offseason to boost their roster was different — so different that in a matter of months, it allowed them to snap a 70-year conference title drought.
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“If we are gonna buy a team, why not be the best?” linebacker Jacob Rodriguez said.
No. 4 Texas Tech (12-1) beat No. 11 BYU (11-2) 34-7 in the Big 12 championship at AT&T Stadium Saturday afternoon in front of a record crowd of more than 85,000 dominated by Tech fans. The Red Raiders earned their first Big 12 title and first outright conference title since 1955 after proving they’ve been in a league of their own in the conference this season. With the win, the Red Raiders effectively secured a first-round bye in what will soon be their first College Football Playoff appearance. The bracket will be announced at 11 a.m. Sunday.
In this era of college football, big spending can lead to immediate expectations. That’s what happened for Texas Tech when boosters, led by billionaire Cody Campbell, said their checkbooks were wide open. With the looming changes around revenue sharing in a post-House settlement world, Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire and GM James Blanchard took advantage while they could.
Tech spent more than $25 million total and $12 million on 21 transfers alone, surpassing the $20 million Ohio State spent en route to the 2024 national title.
“I think if you look at Texas Tech or BYU, when you invest, you want a good return,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said Saturday. “Both have seen a great return.”
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But Tech knew there was little room for error. With the House settlement rules taking effect July 1, meaning programs could only spend $20.5 million in revenue sharing on all athletic programs in future seasons, teams frontloaded for the 2025 season. That’s what Tech did, spending more than that total on football alone. But if the team didn’t have success in 2025, it couldn’t spend the same in years beyond.
The plans paid off in early weeks of the season, as Tech steamrolled its early opponents. But multiple injuries to quarterback Behren Morton led to the Red Raiders’ first and only loss of the season to Arizona State on Oct. 18 when he wasn’t in the lineup.
Nevertheless, Morton and the entire team bounced back. Tech has won its six games since, including beating a ranked BYU team twice in decisive fashion both times.
The Red Raiders rank third in the nation in both scoring offense (43.2 points per game) and defense (11.25), climbing from a 121st-place finish in scoring defense last season.
The Tech defense had one of its best performances of the season Saturday, forcing four turnovers in the second half to decisively take down BYU. Linebacker Ben Roberts had two interceptions, and the Red Raiders forced two fumbles. The turnovers led to 14 Tech points.
While Tech’s big focus was on the transfer portal in the offseason, its homegrown players were the ones who shined most at AT&T on Saturday. Roberts is in his third year with the program. Wide receiver Coy Eakin, who had two touchdowns Saturday, is in his third as well. Rodriguez led the team with 13 tackles and is in his fourth season. Running backs Cameron Dickey and J’Koby Williams, who combined for 152 yards rushing and a score, are both in their second year. Morton, who passed for 215 yards and two touchdowns, is in his fifth.
But Saturday’s game told the story of the season. Tech was already trending in the right direction with many of the pieces in house. It just needed some extra support through the portal and got that from players like Reggie Virgil, a Miami (Ohio) transfer, who led the team with eight catches for 86 yards. Transfers Romello Height (Georgia Tech) and AJ Holmes Jr. (Houston) on the defensive side of the ball combined for one of Tech’s forced turnovers.
“I just can’t say enough about Cody Campbell and the Matador Club and the forward thinking he had to create this team,” McGuire said. “They changed my life.”
Tech achieved the mission its university leadership set out on last offseason.
But this Tech team has shown it’s capable of achieving far more than a Big 12 title. The Red Raiders can’t be counted out when the race to the national title begins in two weeks.
“They’re the best team in the country,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “I wish more people would be saying that.”
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