{"id":107965,"date":"2026-01-02T00:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/107965\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T00:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:09:08","slug":"texas-techs-historic-season-ends-in-ugly-cfp-loss-putting-big-12s-quality-in-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/107965\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech\u2019s historic season ends in ugly CFP loss, putting Big 12\u2019s quality in question"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. \u2014 Given a soapbox this week at the Orange Bowl, Joey McGuire<\/a> took a moment to campaign for a playoff system that more closely resembles the one he plundered back at Cedar Hill. Basically, you\u2019d start at Thanksgiving with league title games and roll right through Christmas, thus avoiding long layoffs and putting it all to bed on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

Not sure if it was the layoff or the moment or the disparity between the Big 12 and Big Ten, but Texas Tech<\/a>\u2019s historic season didn\u2019t outlast your hangover.<\/p>\n

Oregon posted the first College Football Playoff shutout since 2016 and first in the Orange Bowl in 34 years with a 23-0 wipeout in Hard Rock Stadium<\/a> before 65,021, at least half of whom deserved better.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m sorry we let you down,\u201d McGuire said to the faithful, which was nice, because someone needed to apologize to the state\u2019s football fans for the Lone Star State\u2019s pathetic playoff showing.<\/p>\n

And you thought Texas A&M\u2019s 10-3 loss to Miami<\/a> was bad.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, apologies to anyone who took my advice to bet the house and kids on Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl<\/a>. Either I underestimated Miami, which lost to SMU and looked awful beating A&M, or I was thinking about the Ohio State that routed Texas in the Cotton Bowl last year.<\/p>\n

Also, while I\u2019m at it, I\u2019d like to apologize for suggesting before the game that, if Behren Morton<\/a> could move, Tech \u201cstands a good chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morton moved just fine Thursday, which was good, because he was mostly running for his life. Took four sacks. He was stripped of the ball in mid-throw at one point and threw two interceptions, one in the back of the end zone to ruin the Red Raiders\u2019 only real scoring opportunity.<\/p>\n

Tech\u2019s four turnovers led to 13 Oregon points, but that was hardly the point. The second-highest scoring offense in the nation couldn\u2019t get out of its own way<\/a>. Six of its first eight drives ended in three plays or fewer.<\/p>\n

How futile was just about anything Tech tried on offense? When Oregon lined up for a 36-yard field goal with a 16-0 lead and nearly seven minutes left, it felt like Dan Lanning was rubbing it in.<\/p>\n

Not that he would. He could identify.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of respect for Coach McGuire and the team that he\u2019s had,\u201d the Oregon coach said. \u201cThis shouldn\u2019t discredit them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember this feeling last year, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ducks\u2019 41-21 loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl ruined what had been a perfect season, opening speculation as to how good they really were.<\/p>\n

Those same questions will be asked now of Tech, and rightfully so. The Red Raiders dominated the Big 12, beating a good BYU team twice. They\u2019ve got big-time talent on defense. McGuire said Thursday that, if he was an NFL coach and needed a defensive player in the draft, the first guy he\u2019d take would be David Bailey. The defensive end collected nine tackles, a sack, two pass breakups and a couple of the Red Raiders\u2019 10 tackles for losses.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake: Tech\u2019s defense was national-title caliber<\/a>. The Red Raiders held an explosive Oregon offense to 309 yards. But any defense is worn down by poor field position and the burden of 81 snaps.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Oregon<\/p>\n

The Ducks expected downfield throws and bubble screens, and they effectively eliminated both. On Brandon Finney Jr.\u2019s second interception of the game, he fooled Morton by playing low, then dropped into the end zone for the easiest pick of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just as impressed that he took a knee afterward,\u201d Lanning said, then turned to Finney on the podium at the post-game presser.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow bad did you want to run it back?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery bad,\u201d Finney said.<\/p>\n

The Ducks also fooled Tech on special teams, executing a fake punt from their own 43 on fourth and 3. Tech\u2019s defense subsequently held on a fourth-and-goal at its own 2, only to watch the offense fumble away the ball and any momentum three plays later.<\/p>\n

Listen, Oregon\u2019s defense is good, but it also gave up 34 points to James Madison<\/a>. JMU\u2019s offense isn\u2019t five touchdowns better than Tech\u2019s, but the Red Raiders\u2019 offense is nowhere close to the nation\u2019s second-best, no matter what the numbers say.<\/p>\n

The nature of Tech\u2019s loss only supports the supposition that, without Texas<\/a> and Oklahoma<\/a>, the Big 12 is sorely lacking in top-tier talent. Cody Campbell needs to spend a little of the $30 million he\u2019s projecting for next year\u2019s roster on a few offensive linemen, a dynamic receiver or two and maybe a back big enough to make a hole of his own.<\/p>\n

Tech may need another quarterback, too, now that Morton\u2019s done. He came to the presser red-eyed and sniffling<\/a>, and he left the same. McGuire hugged his neck before it started and patted him on the leg and did his best to put Tech\u2019s season in perspective, which proved as difficult as Oregon\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you do something that nobody\u2019s ever done,\u201d he said, \u201cnobody\u2019s ever done what these guys did, wearing this uniform, ever. The standard is set, and that\u2019s where you start building something really special. So I can\u2019t thank them enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to hurt for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

If it helps any, the Aggies can empathize. A CFP that began with such promise for Texas teams isn\u2019t just over. It was ugly.<\/p>\n

Twitter\/X: @KSherringtonDMN<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"Oregon<\/a>Even in loss to Oregon, Texas Tech\u2019s defense proved it was championship worthy<\/a><\/p>\n

While the defense showed it was among the best in the nation, the offense resembled a group that didn\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>Behren Morton emotional as Texas Tech tenure comes to an end: \u2018I love this university\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The fifth-year QB led Texas Tech to its first College Football Playoff and helped put the Red Raiders back on the map.<\/p>\n

Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. \u2014 Given a soapbox this week at the Orange Bowl, Joey McGuire took a moment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7092,3688,2353,154,27,29,28,415],"class_list":{"0":"post-107965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-behren-morton","9":"tag-colleges","10":"tag-commentary","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-texas-headlines","14":"tag-texas-news","15":"tag-texas-tech-red-raiders"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}