LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – No. 6 Texas Tech (10-1, 7-1) took care of business in its final regular season home game of the year, beating UCF, 48-9.
Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez has become Lubbock’s favorite Heisman Trophy contender. On Saturday, he upgraded his resume with his third interception and even his first offensive touchdown of the season- one that gave the Red Raiders a 14-0 lead with 12:46 still left in the first quarter.
“Man, I was just trying to get the cadence right. On offense, I thought it was supposed to be quiet and then the crowd erupts!” he said. “And so, I’m making trying to make sure I’m loud enough to get the snap off right. Skyler Gill-Howard could’ve brought his scooter through that hole. It was awesome! The O-line cleared it for us, it was great.”
Since the Heisman normally favors quarterback, head football coach Joey McGuire even joked that his brief role as QB could help send him to New York City as a finalist.
“So, if you’re looking at the best college football player. I kind’ve made a joke we let him play quarterback today, so maybe that helps him out since they want to bring quarterbacks, he’s got a snap at quarterback” he said. “One good thing is you got some Heisman trophy winners that are talking about it. RG3 (Robert Griffin III) has been really vocal about it. I know some other guy are behind it, we’ll just let it play out.”
The Knights scored once on offense and was awarded a safety after a holding call on Texas Tech in its own end zone.
QB Behren Morton led the Red Raiders up until one minute left in the first half. Mitch Griffis replaced him after the Red Raiders were out big in front of the Knights.
Morton threw for 149 yards with one touchdown. Griffis threw for 145 yards on the day.
Cameron Dickey had two touchdowns on 77 yards rushing. Caleb Douglas led in receiving yards with 90. Reggie Virgil was behind him with 72 yards but tallied three total touchdowns- one of which came from a reverse handoff.
“It felt good! We’ve been repping that play for weeks! We finally get to call it, so I’m very excited,” Virgil said. “I was like, ‘finally’! I knew it was going to be a touchdown. My teammates did a really good job blocking.”
The Red Raider defense held the Knights to just 230 total yards, allowing just 52 yards on the ground.
Up next, the Red Raiders finish the year out with a road trip to West Virginia in two weeks. After that, Texas Tech is looking poised to be in the Big 12 Conference championship game with hopes of hosting a playoff game.
Texas Tech finds out if it moves up in the next College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday.
Copyright 2025 KCBD. All rights reserved.