On the Gridiron

Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (11-1, 8-1)
Bad Guys: BYU Cougars (11-1, 8-1)
Where: AT&T Stadium | Arlington, Texas
When: Saturday, December 6th @ 11:00 am
TV & Streaming: ABC
Radio: The Varsity Network
The Line: Texas Tech -12.5
Game Notes: Texas Tech | BYU
Weather Report: Mostly Sunny, High 58, Low 41

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese: Will Texas Tech football or BYU win the Big 12 Championship? Our prediction

Texas Tech 35, BYU 14: The Cougars may feel like they didn’t put up their best effort against the Red Raiders in the first meeting, but neither did Texas Tech. When each team is a bit off, it usually goes to the squad with more talent. That was the Red Raiders in Round 1, and will be the Red Raiders in Round 2.

Big 12: Big 12 Conference Announces 2025 Football Awards

• Offensive Player of the Year: LJ Martin, RB, BYU
• Defensive Player of the Year: Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech
• Offensive Newcomer of the Year: Devon Dampier, QB, Utah
• Defensive Newcomer of the Year: David Bailey, DE, Texas Tech
• Offensive Freshman of the Year: Bear Bachmeier, QB, BYU
• Defensive Freshman of the Year: Wendell Gregory, LB, Oklahoma State
• Special Teams Player of the Year: Palmer Williams, P, Baylor
• Offensive Lineman of the Year: Spencer Fano, OT, Utah
• Defensive Lineman of the Year: David Bailey, DE, Texas Tech
• Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Sawyer Robertson, QB, Baylor
• Chuck Neinas Big 12 Coach of the Year: Kalani Sitake, BYU

ESPN’s Max Olson: Jacob Rodriguez’s college football journey: From QB to LB to Heisman?

After leaving Virginia, Rodriguez had asked a few people to reach out to McGuire on his behalf in the hopes he could join the Red Raiders. Two Rider teammates, Castles and E’Maurion “Dooda” Banks, played for Texas Tech. One of his former youth coaches, Dudley McAfee, is a Tech grad and knew McGuire well. All three vouched for Rodriguez to the new head coach.

“Dooda was like, ‘Coach, if we can get this guy on our team, we need to get him,'” McGuire said.

McGuire vowed he would put Rodriguez on scholarship as soon as one became available. These were the early days of NIL before collectives helped take care of walk-ons. Tech could provide him two meals a day, but he would need to take out a student loan to cover his classes and books.

“It was kind of one of those deals where, well, I got to go somewhere,” Rodriguez said.

More importantly, Rodriguez had to accept his future was on defense. Texas Tech already had three starter-caliber quarterbacks in future second-round pick Tyler Shough, Behren Morton and Donovan Smith.

Bindel has no doubt Rodriguez could’ve made it as a tough dual-threat QB such as Georgia Tech’s Haynes King had he found the right opportunity. Rodriguez doesn’t fault other coaches for missing on him during his month in the portal, especially given his role with the Cavaliers.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly: College football conference championship previews, CFP chaos scenarios

What if BYU beats Texas Tech (23% chance, per SP+)? Last year, Clemson became the first official bid thief of the 12-team playoff era with its win over SMU in the ACC championship game. This year, BYU appears to be the designated thief. The Cougars have lost only to No. 4 Texas Tech and, at 11th, could claim to have been slighted by the committee. They clearly need to win to get in, and if they do, they will likely steal Notre Dame’s (or Miami’s?) ticket. The Fighting Irish, who have won 10 straight games by an average of 43-14, were ranked ninth for three straight weeks before mysteriously slipping to 10th on Tuesday. That puts them in line to get snubbed with a Big 12 upset.

ESPN’s Pam Maldonado: One bet to make on every 2025 college football conference championship game

Nothing about the Cougars’ offense travels into a game like this. They’re slow-paced, run-dependent and completely allergic to passing downs. That profile gets buried by Texas Tech’s defense, which grades first in pass rush, first in coverage and second in tackling. In the first matchup against Tech, BYU stopped being competitive and stopped scoring once the game became unstable, fast and pass-dependent. They don’t have the answers when the game moves outside of a controlled environment.

Tech’s defense has only gotten stronger with a front that can win without sending pressure. BYU doesn’t have the vertical threat, no explosive element and no way to manufacture short fields unless Tech hands them gifts. Its red zone efficiency drops against good defenses and Tech almost never allows multiple trips. For the Cougars to hit 18, they would need outlier events that don’t match their identity.

CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli: The Six Pack: Picks for Alabama vs. Georgia, Texas Tech vs. BYU and Tom Fornelli’s lock of the week

No. 4 Texas Tech vs. No. 11 BYU: Another rematch, and one I’m not expecting to look all that different from the original. The first meeting, which took place in Lubbock, finished with a total of 50, and the game came in comfortably under, with Texas Tech winning 29-7. BYU’s offense couldn’t do anything in the game because the offense is built around its run game, and Texas Tech has one of the best rush defenses in the country. It also has a defensive line that overpowered BYU’s offensive line in every way imaginable, and BYU is bringing the same offensive line to this matchup. I don’t know how it will improve because it wasn’t anything schematic that Tech did. It simply beat the Cougars up.

At the same time, it’s not as if BYU’s defense struggled. The Cougars’ offense turned the ball over three times to put the defense in bad spots, but it did an excellent job of holding Texas Tech to field goals instead of touchdowns. That’s been a sore spot for the Red Raiders all season. I don’t know if this one will feel like it’s as big a blowout as the first meeting did, but I expect it’ll feature roughly the same number of points. The Pick: Under 49.5 (-112) at Draftkings

Texas Tech Football: Rodriguez named 2025 winner of the Butkus Award

The moment J-Rod found out he was the Butkus Award Winner pic.twitter.com/MCeCYFHbiM

— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) December 5, 2025

On the Hardwood

Lady Raider Basketball: Tech, ACU play neutral game in Odessa

On the Pitch

Texas Tech Soccer: Macy Blackburn tabbed Second Team All-American