Big 12 Championship Notebook: Texas Tech wins conference title, moving on to CFP
Published 1:22 pm Tuesday, December 9, 2025
ARLINGTON — As the confetti poured down, Texas Tech head football coach Joey McGuire stood on the dais and yelled “Raider” as the thousands of Texas Tech fans in attendance at AT&T Stadium followed with “Power.”
That was the scene following the Red Raiders’ 34-7 win over BYU in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. The victory marked Texas Tech’s first outright conference championship since 1955.
Next up for Texas Tech is the College Football Playoff, where it has received the No. 4 seed and a bye. The Red Raiders will face either Oregon or James Madison in the CFP Quarterfinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl at 11 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
EAST TEXAS CONNECTIONS
Texas Tech’s roster features one East Texan on the field — sophomore running back J’Koby Williams, who is a former standout at Beckville High School.
Williams had 15 carries for a team-high 80 rushing yards in Saturday’s game.
“We’re all there for each other,” Texas Tech receiver Coy Eakin said. “C.D. and Reggie, if they go have a game, I’m hyped for them, you know what I’m saying? If it’s J’Koby’s game, I’m hyped for him. It’s never been jealousy or envy of anybody else. We have one goal, and at the end of the day, it’s to go win football games. If we can do that, we’re all happy.”
On the sidelines for Texas Tech is run game coordinator and tight ends coach Josh Cochran, a former standout player at Hallsville High School and the brother of Lindale High School head football coach Chris Cochran and Lindale offensive coordinator Matt Cochran.
“This team is one of the biggest families I’ve ever been around in my life,” Josh Cochran said. “I’m working for the best human ever, and we have the best kids. We’re not done, yet.”
On BYU’s side, former Tyler Junior College standout Mory Bamba was playing cornerback for BYU. He finished with three tackles and a pass breakup.
DEFENSIVE RED RAIDERS
Texas Tech has long been known for its offensive firepower, but this year’s version of the Red Raiders boasts an elite defense.
The Red Raiders are No. 5 in the nation in defense, holding opponents to 254.4 points per game.
Texas Tech is No. 1 in rushing defense, holding opponents to 68.5 rushing yards per game and six rushing touchdowns.
BYU on its first drive of the game on Saturday rushed for 30 yards, capped by a 10-yard LJ Martin touchdown run. The Cougars had just 33 rushing yards the remainder of the game (finishing with 200 total yards) and no more scoring as Texas Tech outscored BYU 34-0 in the final three quarters.
BYU is averaging 397.5 yards per game, 184.4 rushing yards per game and 31.9 points per game but was unable to get anything going after the opening drive against a Red Raider defense that forced four turnovers.
Texas Tech is No. 3 in the nation in scoring defense, holding opponents to 10.9 points per game.
BIG 12 DISRESPECT?
When the College Football Playoff bracket came out on Sunday, Texas Tech was the only Big 12 team included.
On Saturday, McGuire made his case for the Big 12 to be a two-bid lead and BYU to also be in the playoff bracket.
“When the Selection Committee starts looking at teams, I truly believe the Big 12 deserves two teams in the playoffs,” McGuire said. “When you look at BYU, they’re 11-2, and their two losses are to the No. 4 team in the nation. I have so much respect for Kalani (Sitake). That’s a really good football team. I hope the committee looks at it because there’s going to be two-loss teams out there, but there’s not going to be an 11-2 loss team. They did a great job throughout the season getting here.”
BYU was the second team left out of the bracket just behind Notre Dame but ahead of Texas and Vanderbilt.
CHANGING THE CALENDAR
It’s hard to turn on a show centered around college football and not hear the phrase, “college football is broken.”
UCF head football coach Scott Frost was one of the more recent people to make that claim.
McGuire said the first place he would start would be fixing the college football calendar.
“I think where it’s broken is the calendar needs to be fixed,” McGuire said. “We should be playing on zero week. Everybody should be on zero week. It should be week one. Last week should have been the conference championship. Man, this really cool thing that’s going on in Texas right now. It’s called the high school playoffs. They actually play every seven days. I would fix that stuff before I look at some of the other stuff. Because we’re putting these guys in such a tough situation. College football, if you want to talk about being broken, college football is not supposed to be played in the second semester. College football is not supposed to be played on Jan. 19. All the stuff that you can’t fix that away makes the portal window easier on coaches and everything like that. If we want to get behind something and fix something, let’s fix the calendar before we do anything else.”
The calendar became a talking point when Lane Kiffin recently announced that he would be leaving playoff-bound Ole Miss before the Rebels’ postseason run is complete to begin his new job at LSU.