ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas Tech's all-in bet just paid off.
After an offseason of big dreams and bigger spending, the No. 4 Red Raiders secured their first Big 12 championship in program history Saturday with a 34-7 rout of No. 11 BYU.
It was another dominant display from a 12-1 squad, unlike any seen in Lubbock, one that fuels even more confidence about a deep College Football Playoff run.
After the confetti fell inside AT&T Stadium and coach Joey McGuire hoisted a trophy he had been chasing for four years, he fought back tears as he embraced billionaire board chair Cody Campbell, general manager James Blanchard, athletic director Kirby Hocutt and the many stakeholders who helped set up this program for a historic season.
Together, they ended decades of frustration for a Texas Tech football program that hadn't won an outright conference title since 1955. When the Red Raiders built their trophy room as part of their $242 million new training facility, they reserved a space for a Big 12 trophy.
In place of hardware, a small block rested on the trophy stand with one word printed on it: "BELIEVE."
For McGuire, the tears started in the final minutes against BYU, but he said they'll be flowing again when he returns to Texas Tech's football building Saturday night and walks past that block.
"That's when it's really going to hit me," McGuire said. "And then, we'll move it to another space so we can go get another trophy."
Texas Tech assembled what can now be called one of the greatest transfer portal classes of this evolving era of NIL and transfers in college football, a group of 22 incoming transfers that yielded 11 players who started in the Big 12 title game, four first-team All-Big 12 performers and a projected first-round draft pick in pass rusher David Bailey.
Blanchard believed from the beginning that the Big 12 was not equipped to compete with what the Red Raiders had assembled. The results of that ambitious roster-building experiment: Every Texas Tech victory has been by more than 21 points.
"Mission accomplished," Blanchard told ESPN. "It's proof of concept. We've got an opportunity to go win a national championship, and I like our chances."
Texas Tech's more than $25 million investment for its 2025 roster, blending proven returning starters with high-profile newcomers, created boom-or-bust stakes and a seasonlong narrative -- that the Red Raiders were desperately trying to buy their way to the top.
Even after defeating BYU on Saturday, Texas Tech players were asked to respond to the perception that they had built "the best team money could buy." Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, a returning senior and the Big 12's Defensive Player of the Year, was happy to answer that one.
"If we are going to buy a team," Rodriguez replied, "why not be the best?"
Campbell offered no apologies as he watched Red Raiders coaches and players celebrate Saturday.
"I'm just so proud," Campbell told ESPN. "The credit goes to the guys who are actually in the arena. These men love each other. They played so hard, so tough. I'm just so proud of this staff, I'm so proud of the university and the alignment we have, all the support we've gotten from so many people. It's been a team effort, the whole effort, the whole way.
"We all came together and had a singular mission, a singular focus, and we got it done. This is something we've been waiting on a long time at Texas Tech."
They got it done with a Red Raiders defense that, as it has this season, made BYU's offense fight for every yard.
The Cougars opened the game with a well-scripted, 14-play, 90-yard touchdown drive that took nearly seven minutes. They mustered just 110 yards on 45 plays the rest of the day and turned it over four times in the second half, including two interceptions by Tech linebacker Ben Roberts.
"I think we can play with anybody in the country," Campbell said.
The championship victory should guarantee a top-four seed for Texas Tech and a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. McGuire said the three-week break ahead will be much needed for his team to recover and prepare for its first playoff run.
"We're football banged-up," McGuire said. "If you let us get healthy, I really believe we've got another gear."
Quarterback Behren Morton has been playing with a hairline fracture in his fibula that forced him to miss two games, including the Red Raiders' lone loss to Arizona State. Morton told ESPN he's feeling "about 70 percent" healthy and is looking forward to more recovery time.
The quarterback and his coach privately agreed in June that they would win a Big 12 championship this year. And when they did, they planned to walk off the field at AT&T Stadium together.
Before Morton grabbed the game ball, threw his arm around his coach and headed to a locker room filled with celebration and cigar smoke, the senior offered a prideful grin.
"There were a lot of people saying preseason that Texas Tech better do it," Morton said. "Well, guess what? We did it."