The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Oregon Ducks are set to do battle inside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami at the Capital One Orange Bowl, a College Football Playoff setting that gets the new under way with both teams' biggest games of the season.

For the Ducks, this is familiar territory, but last year's upsetting loss in this round has them dialed into revenge. They look to get it at the hands of a Red Raiders squad on the doorstep of adding even more history to what's already been an unforgettable year in Lubbock.

Joey McGuire's team - fitted in custom black-out cowboy hats - has gotten boots on the ground in South Beach and gone through preliminary walkthroughs on the field and media sessions with the press.

The nerves might be understandable. There have been a lot of "firsts" for the Red Raiders this season, but the magnitude of the CFP environment can be palpable. And we haven't even hit kickoff.

This has caused many players to take a backseat to X's and O's talk, instead focusing on their unique journeys that have led them to this moment and fueled the motivation that they hope to transfer onto the field on Thursday.

In our Red Raider notebook we take a walk through Texas Tech's media day to hear what players have on their mind leading up to the big game.

ESPN sat down with McGuire to revisit his hiring at Texas Tech, his first head coaching gig after being an assistant at Baylor and previously building a legendary reputation at Dallas powerhouse Cedar Hill.

As writer Max Olson lays out, the Red Raiders were a bottom feeder in the Big 12 for much of the past decade, which set up athletic director Kirby Hocutt and billionaire donor Cody Campbell with a pressure-packed decision to hire the right guy for their team's top vacancy back in 2021.

In Year 1, McGuire leads Texas Tech to 8-4 and greatly improves the Red Raiders' home record before completing a notable double-digit bowl win over Ole Miss. A step back to 7-6 still ends in a blowout bowl win in 2023, but another steady season in 2024 set up an unthinkable transfer portal commitment and leap into national prominence this season that the nation wasn't ready for.

Now, the Red Raiders are for real.

"From Day 1, it was all about we can win because we've got good players, but that's not why we're going to win," assistant coach Kenny Perry said. "We're going to win because the culture's right and that locker room is right."

"Love is our competitive advantage," said star linebacker Jacob Rodriguez. "How much we love each other, that's how much harder we're willing to play. We want it to show up every Saturday. These guys are flying around together. What's in the water over there? It's really just how much we care about each other."

Added Hocutt: "I think it doesn't happen without Joey."

"It's absolutely crazy," McGuire said about his time thus far in Lubbock. "We knew this was a good job, but who would imagine this?"

The Red Raiders' veteran quarterback Behren Morton shared the story of how former Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury was impressed with his abilities at a private workout in Morton's hometown of Lubbock.

"Kliff came up to me after practice and said we might as well get the ball rolling ... because he's going to be one of the best quarterbacks to come out of Texas," West Texas-area recruiter Clay McGuire said to Dave Campbell's Texas Football this week.

"He offered him that day and the rest is history."

Morton is now in his fifth year with the Red Raiders and is the orchestrator of this memorable season, where he most fondly remembers walking off the field arm-and-arm with Joey McGuire at AT&T Stadium after Tech's Big 12 title win over BYU on Dec. 6.

Entering this season Morton was already a Tech great as he ranked sixth in program record book for career completions (574), seventh for career touchdown passes (49), ninth for career pass attempts (931) and 10th for career passing yards (6,209). He moved up many of those lists after totaling 2,643 yards and 22 touchdowns passing.

He leads the Big 12 with a 162.5 passer rating and could be the first Red Raider to lead the league at the end of the season since Kingsbury did so in 2002.

Says Morton: "... It's been a lifelong dream to get here and it's been a lot of fun."

Rodriguez - the fifth-place finisher in Heisman Trophy voting and consensus best defender in the country - led the nation in takeaway contributions, including seven forced fumbles with his go-to punch that jars the football out of opposing players' grasp.

"I've never been around a guy who has that instinct, that ability, that knack for doing it," defensive coordinator Shiel Wood told Chris Hummer of CBS Sports.

"It's like euphoria ... It's such a cool feeling," Rodriguez said, even when he has to second guess whether he forced a fumble or cracked a knuckle with an arrant swing.

"That's just the risk and reward," Rodriguez says, and it's paid off more often than not.

Oregon playmakers better have brought their mitts.

Next to Rodriguez and his iconic mustache in the center of the Texas Tech defense is two other linebackers who don similar facial hair, John Curry and Ben Roberts, to form a trio that they refer to as the "Mustache Mafia".

Curry, the Lubbock native, told Mike Craven of DCTF of how he would frequently wonder whether or not the Red Raiders would be any good in the many years he grew up rooting tirelessly for them. They often weren't.

Now the sophomore linebacker is a contributor on the best team in program history, a culmination of lifelong dreams coming to fruition ever since a phone call from head coach McGuire got him the offer he accepted almost immediately.

"To be part of the team that got us to a Big 12 championship and to the playoffs is amazing," Curry said.

In that conference title showing, Roberts walked away with Most Oustanding Player honors after becoming the first player to record multiple interceptions in the game's storied history.

Alongside his linebacker running mates and a cast of elite prospects in Scarlet and Black, Roberts believes the sky is the limit for Texas Tech.

"I think we're the start of a dynasty," he said. "I think we can go far with Coach McGuire at the helm. Being part of a team that's accomplished this much is cool, especially knowing the history behind Tech and the history we're building here.

"It means everything to this city and I only see us going up from here."

The CFP Quarterfinals on Thursday are the next step in that direction.