Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire noticed something different this week as he prepared for his team’s high-stakes game against BYU in Lubbock, Texas.
A group of students were camped out near Texas Tech’s stadium. They were waiting for ESPN’s “College Football GameDay” broadcast to begin and for the gates to open — not in a matter of minutes or hours, but more than five days later.
The excitement is buzzing as No. 8 Texas Tech (8-1, 5-1 Big 12 Conference) prepares to take on No. 7 BYU (8-0, 5-0) on Saturday afternoon. The teams sit side by side in the College Football Playoff rankings, and this weekend’s matchup could go a long way toward determining the Big 12 standings at the end of the year.
McGuire is well aware of the high stakes. He’s more impressed with the fan response.
“It is really cool to walk out of the office last night and see students camping out,” the 54-year-old McGuire said. “Because whenever they’re my age, that’s what they’re going to remember — the experience.
“You have heard me say it, the pageantry of college football and the experience of ‘GameDay’ being on campus and all of that, it’s so cool. We haven’t had this opportunity in a long time.”
BYU will try to spoil the party as it heads south to take on the Red Raiders.
The Cougars remained undefeated last week by earning a 41-27 win over Iowa State on a blustery afternoon. That followed a three-point win over then-No. 23 Utah and an overtime win against Arizona.
BYU coach Kalani Sitake does not want his players to feel overconfident because of the team’s undefeated record.
“I think we did enough to be 8-0 right now, but I still feel like there’s a lot that we can improve at,” Sitake said. “My job is to make sure that we play at our best and can play a full 60 minutes on Saturday.”
BYU will try to slow down Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton, who is coming off a strong performance in a 43-20 road win against Kansas State. Morton completed 21 of 32 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns and has thrown for 15 TDs compared with four interceptions this season.
Cameron Dickey is Texas Tech’s top threat on the ground; he has rushed for 746 yards and 10 touchdowns. Caleb Douglas leads the team with 41 catches for 594 yards and four scores.
BYU will counter with Bear Bachmeier, who has passed for 1,693 yards, 11 touchdowns and three interceptions. LJ Martin has rushed for 789 yards and five scores.
Martin left last week’s game against Iowa State because of an unspecified injury, but Sitake indicated he might be able to return this week. He offered a similar hopeful prognosis for linebacker Jack Kelly.
“They’re doing great,” Sitake said. “We’ll see how they progress during practice this week.”
Meanwhile, Texas Tech is focused on winning the battles at the line of scrimmage.
“They’re big humans that take up a lot of space,” McGuire said of BYU. “We’re going to have to do a great job up front on our double teams. You know we’re going to have to win our one-on-ones. I think that’s huge.”
