Many of Texas Tech's top contributors this season will not return for the next. They were in tears after the Red Raiders' 23-0 defeat in the Capital One Orange Bowl.
Texas Tech shoved all the chips into the center on a defense that they hoped could take a once mediocre program to the promise land and compete with the best competitors in the sport.
The defense did it's job throughout much of the 2025 season to get to that point, but the Red Raiders needed the offense to show up in the Capital One Orange Bowl on New Year's Day in order to truly compete.
It did not.
The No. 5 Oregon Ducks knocked off No. 4 Texas Tech 23-0 to advance to the College Football Playoff Semifinals, where a matchup with No. 1-seed Indiana now awaits.
For the Red Raiders, it's a crushing loss that ends their season at 12-2, which still makes for one of the best seasons a Texas Tech sport has ever had, especially on the gridiron.
A season starred by elite defense and the team's first conference championship in five decades received a first-ever trip to Miami for the Orange Bowl and berth into the CFP, but a horrendous showing on offense left Tech boarding the trip home with their heads down.
Before heading back to Lubbock, many of Tech's top contributors spoke about what this season meant to themselves, the program and the city of Lubbock.
“I thought we saw a really good defense today, but I thought offensively, this is not the standard of football that Texas Tech plays," said quarterback Behren Morton, who accounted for three of the Red Raiders' four turnovers.
"But like coach said, you know, a lot to be proud of this year. But you know, today is tough. I think we had a great game plan … we just didn’t execute base plays."
While Morton's offense struggled throughout, it was the defensive duo of linebacker Jacob Rodriguez and David Bailey that kept the Red Raiders within striking distance, more than proving to the rest of the nation tuning in that Tech's statistically-elite defense is as advertised.
“I think we did a good job of, you know, matching up and and kind of knowing exactly what they wanted to do. A lot of the errors were on our part, you know, self inflicted. Just us, not communicating or being in the right position,” Rodriguez said in the postgame press conference. “I was super proud of our guys flying around, you know, hitting and going at the ball…a few drives started on our side of the 50, and, you know, it’s hard to play defense like that.”
Morton joined arm-in-arm with head coach Joey McGuire as the two walked off the field at AT&T Stadium as Big 12 champions on Dec. 6 - nearly a month before their next game on Thursday. Four quarters of brutal football later, the two sat shoulder to shoulder in tears after the loss. Morton's emotions about his five years in Lubbock were overwhelming.
“It’s tough. I love this university, everything that it stands for. You know, I’ve been a Red Raider since I was a little kid. So, you know, to get to do this this year has been awesome," he said.
"A great group of guys, man, it’s just been so fun, just to, you know, put Texas Tech back on the map, and, you know, Lubbock deserves every bit of everything that happened this year. Not the outcome that we wanted, but you know, really proud of this team the way that, you know, we fought through adversity this year. And you know, I’m proud to be a Red Raider.”
Morton is set to graduate and Rodriguez - the fifth-place finisher for the Heisman Trophy as the best overall defender in the country during 2025 - will likely end his senior year by declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft where he's sure to be joined by Bailey and other members of his defense.
Many of those teammates, however, were transfers lured to Lubbock through an enormous financial commitment to the portal last year that built this history-making roster. Rodriguez and Morton were home-grown, and "J-Rod" shares similar feelings of remorse as his quarterback.
“It means everything to me. This changed my life," Rodriguez said about his time as a Red Raider.
"And it’s not just me, it’s everybody in that locker room. This double T has touched everybody in a way. This year was so special for us. Today didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but I’ll always be able to look back on this year and be proud of, you know, the people that were around me. I told them just a couple of minutes ago that they got me for the rest of their life. I’m not going anywhere and I’m here for them always. They got me forever. The way this place and this university and this program has changed my life, I’m hoping to be able to do that for every single one of them.”