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Back at AT&T Stadium, Coy Eakin snaps slump in Texas Tech's Big 12 title win
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- Back at AT&T Stadium, Coy Eakin snaps slump in Texas Tech's Big 12 title win
ARLINGTON — Before Saturday, Dec. 6, Coy Eakin hadn't played a game back in AT&T Stadium since his last game in high school.
That one four years ago went well: Eakin caught three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth TD to lead Stephenville to a state championship, capping a perfect 2021 season.
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There must be something about the home of the Dallas Cowboys that brings out the best in him. On Saturday, in front of a record crowd of 85,519 in the Big 12 championship game , Eakin caught two more touchdown passes to help the Texas Tech football team roll past Brigham Young 34-7.
"It's just kind of you step in somewhere and you feel comfortable, and that's kind of how it was tonight," said Eakin, who was named the game's most outstanding offensive player. "I thought we all felt comfortable tonight. We played like it.
"It was just my time to make a play that came to me. It could have been anybody."
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The fourth-year junior, the guy known as Cowboy Coy for his and his family's rodeo pedigree, caught TD passes of 33 and 28 yards. The first came in the second quarter, putting Tech ahead 10-7 after an uncommonly slow start by the Red Raiders . Eakin ran a deep route down the right sideline and pulled in Behren Morton 's pass over cornerback Evan Johnson.
The second stretched the Red Raiders' lead to 31-7. Eakin went in motion before the fourth-down snap and caught the pass along the line of scrimmage. He pivoted at the right sideline and dashed down the boundary, cut in at the 10-yard line, and beat three defenders to the goal line.
His performance Saturday raised Eakin's season totals to 47 receptions for 626 yards and six touchdowns. In his previous five games, though, Eakin hadn't scored a touchdown or had more than 52 receiving yards.
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"I've been in kind of a slump, and I prayed for deliverance," he said, "and this is what we get out here. I feel this goes for the whole team, that God is great, God is good for all of us."
Morton finished 20 of 33 for 215 yards and no interceptions. Reggie Virgil led all receivers with eight catches for 86 yards, and Eakin caught three passes for 66 yards.
Texas Tech's Coy Eakin (3) and Behren Morton celebrate their second touchdown connection against BYU during the Big 12 Conference championship game, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Four years ago, Eakin led the nation's high-school receivers with 93 receptions for 2,140 yards and 31 touchdowns during Stephenville's 16-0 season. Major-college programs reacted with a collective yawn.
Tech hired McGuire in November 2021, and Eakin committed to the new staff in late January 2022 before McGuire had a scholarship to offer him. The new coach promised him one at the earliest opportunity.
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"I didn't get a single offer other than a small D-I 'til after my senior season," Eakin said. "It was kind of delayed. I've just kind of got to trust God in those situations. I look back on it, and God works in mysterious ways.
"Let's say that I'd had offers my senior year. At the time, I don't know if I would have picked Tech, and (now) this is a place I love. As soon as I stepped on campus, I was like, 'Mom, this is exactly where I need to be.' Everything worked out exactly how it needed to go."
The Big 12 title was Tech's first, and the program's first of any kind since 1994, when five teams who had finished 2 1/2 games behind probation-strapped Texas A&M shared the Southwest Conference championship.
The Red Raiders, No. 4 in this week's College Football Playoff rankings, presumably clinched a first-round bye. The final ranking and bracket reveal is on Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Coy Eakin snaps slump in Texas Tech football Big 12 title triumph
