LUBBOCK, Texas — A common theme has permeated the statements made by the No. 7 BYU Cougars and their coaches the past two weeks as they have prepared for what many outsiders are saying is the biggest regular-season football game in program history, Saturday’s Big 12 showdown with No. 8 Texas Tech.
The people representing BYU (8-0, 5-0) are calling it a privilege and an honor to not only face the Red Raiders (8-1, 5-1) in the Cougars’ first-ever involvement in a game pitting two top-10 teams, but to have the national spotlight upon them.
ESPN’s “College GameDay” program will emanate from just outside Jones AT&T Stadium Saturday morning, with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and Texas Tech alum Patrick Mahomes serving as the guest picker. The game itself will kick off at 10 a.m. MST and be televised nationally by ABC, with top broadcasting duo Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler on the call.
For a program such as BYU that three years ago was wandering in the wasteland of independence, this is about as big as it gets. It won’t top the 1984 Holiday Bowl — that matchup with Michigan was essentially for the national championship for BYU, after all — but it comes awfully close.
BYU still has some dangerous opponents on its November schedule, namely at Cincinnati and against always-tough TCU in Provo, but a win Saturday would put it in prime position to play in the Big 12 championship game and perhaps make the College Football Playoff.
“Coaches have taught us that you earn the right to play in games this big,” said BYU cornerback Tre Alexander. “It is a privilege, and we have earned it, and we are grateful for it. But you can’t let the moment cloud your work. We’ve put in the work. Now we have to go out there, stay focused, play our brand of football, and perform.”
It won’t be easy, by any stretch.
Because it is sitting on one loss, a 26-22 setback at Arizona State on Oct. 18 when star quarterback Behren Morton didn’t play, Texas Tech is the more desperate team.
Students have camped out for days for the “College GameDay” experience and best seats in the stadium, and the rematch of BYU’s 27-14 win in Provo in 2023 has been sold out for months.
How will BYU handle the raucous and rowdy atmosphere on the South Plains?
“We will find out. I mean, that remains to be seen,” said offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick, the man tasked with figuring out Texas Tech’s phenomenal defense. “I think we’ve already shown some maturity this year (from) a few lessons we learned a year ago. The challenge each week is just staying locked in on this game and the process that leads up to earning the right to play well on Saturday.”
As they almost always do before big road games, the Cougars have spent the week practicing with pumped-in crowd noise in an attempt to simulate the environment in Lubbock Saturday. Obviously, it will be the most hostile and fired-up crowd BYU freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier will have faced in his life.
The rest of the Cougars got a taste of it last year when they faced, and defeated, rival Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
“Everybody is always talking about the noise factor. We’ve been in some noisy (stadiums) before, but that’s always going to be a challenge,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake. “I think we can work through that. … This isn’t Game 1 for a lot of these guys, and they’ve been in a situation where it’s been loud. It adds to the excitement, the fun of the game.”
Coaches have urged the Cougars to embrace the challenge, even relish it, win or lose.
“It comes down to what coach Kalani preaches and helps us remember, and that is to continue to do the small and simple things right,” said senior safety Tanner Wall. “Don’t get distracted by the outside noise, by the national media, by us being 10-point underdogs.
“There are so many factors that if we give too much attention to them can be really distracting and ultimately become detrimental to the way that we prepare and play,” Wall continued. “We will continue to focus on us, our preparation, our team, our teammates, our coaches, and when we are united in that and our brotherhood is strong, when we go out there and play the way that we know we’re capable of playing, we should always love the outcome.”
One of the few advantages BYU has is more preparation time for the epic encounter, having had a bye last weekend while Texas Tech was walloping Kansas State 43-20 in Manhattan.
Almost everything else favors the home team, which welcomes BYU to Lubbock for the first time since 1940.
Around these parts, they are saying it is the biggest Texas Tech game since the Red Raiders hosted “GameDay” and Texas in 2008.
Texas Tech is a 10.5-point favorite because it ranks No. 3 in scoring offense (43.6 points per game) and No. 5 in scoring defense (13.2 points per game).
A former BYU receiver, Roderick said it is “crazy” that this will be the first time ever that a top-10 BYU team will face another team ranked in the top 10 at the same time.
“We’ve talked about that. It’s an honor, you know,” Roderick said. “I think everybody is humbled to be a part of a game this big and on a big stage like this, and we want to go down there and represent our university well.”
Although they didn’t face a top-10 team last year in November, the Cougars have been here before, and it didn’t go well. After improving to 9-0 with that hard-fought win at Utah, they were upset by Kansas and then fell at Arizona State, losses that kept them out of the CFP, essentially.
“Yeah, I would say (the lesson learned) is just not getting complacent,” said receiver Parker Kingston. “When we got to that 9-0 spot, we were like, ‘Oh, we’ve made it. All we got to do is win a couple more games for the Big 12 championship.’ … It is November football, and how you handle it is going to be what your record reflects. We just got to keep being humble and hungry and keep attacking every week.”
Especially now that this is the program’s biggest weekend since 1984.
