Texas Tech’s football team's rise continued to gather steam this week. The Red Raiders debuted at No. 8 in the CFP for the first time in program history after a relentless 8-1 start and a statement at Kansas State, sliding into the top eight as November chaos rattled the rest of the board. It’s the platform Joey McGuire’s team wanted heading into a high-profile BYU clash in Lubbock.
During tonight’s game, ESPN’s Max Olson reported the precise nature of Behren Morton’s lingering issue: the right-leg injury the Texas Tech quarterback has been managing is a hairline fracture of the fibula, per SportsIren.
He showed flashes of discomfort in the first half after taking three BYU sacks, yet the Texas Tech football team kept pouring it on. End of the third quarter: BYU Cougars 0, Texas Tech 134 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock. The scoreboard tells the rest, tempo, field position, and short fields off takeaways have let Tech play on script while protecting their QB as much as possible.
Even with the injury reveal, the plan has looked disciplined: get the ball out fast, lean on the run game to keep the pass rush honest, and let a swarming defense create extra possessions.
The CFP bump meets a performance bump, and the sideline management around Morton, quicker decisions, defined launch points, and heavy play-action have reduced exposure while maintaining explosive plays.
One subplot carried emotion on the visitors’ sideline. BYU coach Kalani Sitake lamented the end of Tech’s tortilla-throwing tradition after Big 12 penalties, calling it “sad” given his ties to the late Mike Leach and the program’s history. The sentiment underscored how charged this matchup felt long before kickoff.
If Tech closes this out, the Red Raiders leave with more than a gaudy scoreline, they leave with confirmation that their CFP case travels, even as their QB guts through a painful, specific diagnosis.
