ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Tech fans were still on the field at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock celebrating the Red Raiders' surprisingly easy 29-7 victory over BYU last month when Cougars receiver Chase Roberts fired a shot across the bow , as it were.
Roberts, a fifth-year senior who has never shied away from making bold statements, predictions and promises — he called BYU's last two wins over Utah, for instance — famously predicted the Cougars would win their next three games and meet Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game.
"So we are gonna meet them again, promise you that, and we're gonna go beat them," Roberts said.
The No. 11 Cougars made good on the first half of their captain's promise, beating TCU, Cincinnati and UCF to earn a trip to Arlington, Texas, for Saturday's Big 12 championship game (10 a.m. MST, ABC) to face the No. 4 Red Raiders about five hours from their home in Lubbock.
Now comes the hard part, the monumental task of taking down what head coach Kalani Sitake called "the best team in the country" in what is BYU's biggest game since it downed Michigan in 1984 to win the national championship. Sitake was named Big 12 Coach of the Year on Thursday.
Not surprisingly, Roberts is doubling down on what he said in Lubbock.
"We are going to go win this game," the 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior said Tuesday night at a news conference after the school extended Sitake's contract and gave him a big raise to ward off overtures from Penn State.
Nursing a tweaked hamstring, Roberts didn't play in last week's 41-21 win over UCF, but after the contest Sitake said his top receiver for most of the season would be good to go against TT, and Roberts confirmed that Tuesday night.
Thursday, Roberts earned third-team All-Big 12 honors, while running mate Parker Kingston earned second-team honors at both receiver and punt returner. Kingston was phenomenal against the Knights, prompting comparisons to former BYU great Golden Richards , who played for the Dallas Cowboys after standing out in Provo.
When he was asked Tuesday night about his bold statement in November, Roberts didn't back down an inch.
"I knew we were gonna do it. I promised you guys, so I fulfilled it. I promised Cougar Nation that we were going to meet them again in the Big 12 championship. I had full confidence. I know our head coach did, too," Roberts said.
"I can always count on if he says it, then I can say it, too, because I trust him and I love him," Roberts continued. "So yeah, I'm gonna say things that I truly believe, and then we're gonna go out and follow it up. And we're here, and it's exciting to be able to have this opportunity."
Roberts has caught 44 passes for 713 yards and five touchdowns this season, including four catches for 161 yards against West Virginia in early October. He ranks 10th on BYU's career receiving yards list, with 2,495. He's also 10th in catches, with 159, and can pass Eric Drage (162 catches) with four in the next two games.
If BYU loses Saturday, it almost certainly will not make the College Football Playoff and will be relegated to a bowl game, either the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando or the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, for the second-straight year.
"I know the impact that this can have on BYU, and the fans, and the people having an opportunity to go to the playoffs," Roberts said of the Cougars' first conference championship game since 1998. "We all understand that, and we're gonna go leave our hearts out on the field for all of you guys."
It will take an extraordinary effort, Roberts acknowledged, after Texas Tech dominated many facets of the Nov. 8 matchup. If not for a strong performance by BYU's defense in the red zone, the margin of victory would have been much greater.
"The mistakes that we made, they are so fixable," Roberts said. "We were able to fix those this week. We're very confident as an offense, at least. I know the defense is the same way. They are in the film room every day.
"We've seen a lot of things that brought a lot of confidence. Obviously, we need to execute, but there was a lot of dumb things and mistakes that we made as an offense," Roberts continued. "Guys were banged up … coming back from injury. I feel like right now we have confidence in all of our guys, and the scheme to go execute, and to go score a lot of points."
One of those banged-up guys who played was running back LJ Martin, who on Thursday was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Martin is currently No. 7 on BYU's single-season rushing yards list, with 1,271.
"We are expecting to go in there and play our best ball, and I just think from our perspective, we want it a lot more," said safety Tanner Wall, a first-team All-Big 12 defensive selection along with BYU LB Jack Kelly. "This means so much to us and to our coaches and to our program and to our fans. So we're going to go out there and execute. We got a lot of belief and trust in all of our guys and we know that we're going to play our best."
And possibly have Chase Roberts' back.
BYU Cougars wide receiver Chase Roberts (2) is brought down by Texas Tech Red Raiders safety Cole Wisniewski (5) as they play at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock Texas on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
