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Ben Roberts writes his Texas Tech football legend in Big 12 title win
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- Ben Roberts writes his Texas Tech football legend in Big 12 title win
ARLINGTON — The most outstanding player award winner of the Big 12 championship game wasn't feeling so great midway through the first quarter.
Ben Roberts suffered a lower-abdominal injury on the Texas Tech football team's first defensive series. For the rest of the first half, he was out of the game, back in, back out again — an inauspicious beginning, as it turned out, to an unforgettable performance.
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In the second half, Roberts made a Big 12 championship game record two interceptions and broke up a fourth-down pass, helping Texas Tech put away Brigham Young 34-7 on Saturday, Dec. 6, at AT&T Stadium. One of the picks and the turnover on downs set up touchdowns that helped Tech win its first Big 12 title in the 30-year history of the conference.
"His ab, his hip was really bothering him," Tech coach Joey McGuire said. "Man, (head athletic trainer) Mike (Ramirez) and his staff got it loosened up, and then all of a sudden you got two picks in the second half by this guy. So just hats off to our training staff for getting him back in the game."
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Roberts' first interception came with the game still hanging in the balance. Tech led 13-7 when Roberts dropped into coverage, read Bear Bachmeier 's eyes, and picked off a throw for Chase Roberts . He ran it back to the BYU 11-yard line, and Cameron Dickey scored on the next play.
It was 24-7 early in the fourth quarter when Ben Roberts cut in front of a throw for Jojo Phillips. The Red Raiders failed to cash after that interception — Stone Harrington missed a 49-yard field goal — but Roberts had the hot hands again on the next defensive series.
BYU, its back to the wall, went for a fourth-and-4 from its own 37, and Roberts broke up another Bachmeier throw over the middle. Four plays later, facing a fourth down of their own, Coy Eakin turned a short pass from Behren Morton into a 28-yard touchdown for a 31-7 lead.
Roberts said he was hurt on the first series, tweaking his lower abdomen on a play where Bachmeier scrambled.
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"I kept trying to play," he said. "I just couldn't run full speed, so I didn't want to hurt the team, so I was like, 'Put Brock (Golwas) in.' I'm proud of him for what he did.
"I just did everything I could to stretch it out and fix it up. The trainers really helped me at halftime. They got it all heated up and relaxed, and I was ready to go in the second half."
Texas Tech's Ben Roberts returns the first of his two interceptions against BYU during the Big 12 Conference championship game, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Jacob Rodriguez , who on Friday was named the winner of the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker, was credited with 13 tackles, and the third starter in the linebacker group, John Curry , had 10.
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Roberts was a high-school safety at Haslet Eaton, a north Fort Worth suburb less than 30 miles from AT&T Stadium. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound junior had five tackles, but something that, for posterity, was just as important — at least two signature moments in one of the most important victories in the 101-season history of the program.
Two plays before Roberts' first interception, Tech had turned over the ball on downs at the BYU 14.
"Big, big, big, big play," Morton said of Roberts' first pick. "That really started off the momentum that we needed for offense. We were moving the ball, but we weren't finishing drives. Our defense is chaos. They're a great group of guys. I can't say enough about the defense for what they've done for the offense. Makes our job a lot easier.
"But Ben played a phenomenal game. Very proud of him."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Ben Roberts writes his Texas Tech football legend in Big 12 title win
