Texas Tech beats BYU: How Big 12 Championship result impacts College Football Playoff

Texas Tech defeated BYU 34-7 to win its first-ever Big 12 Conference Championship on Saturday. The Red Raiders are now 12-1 and have solidified their spot in the College Football Playoff.

BYU struck first, but Texas Tech scored the next 34 points and entered the fourth quarter with a two-score lead. The Red Raiders’ separated themselves further, led by a strong defensive effort helped to hold the Cougars’ to 200 yards from scrimmage offensively. LB Ben Roberts tallied two pivotal interceptions in the second half.

Now that Texas Tech has punched its ticket, the College Football playoff picture is even more clear. Coming into the matchup, the Red Raiders and Cougars finished the regular season with an 11-1 record. BYU’s lone blemish was a loss to Texas Tech, while the Red Raiders were upset by Arizona State on the road in October.

The scenario we were faced with heading into Saturday saw BYU needing to earn a victory over Texas Tech to earn its spot in the College Football Playoff. For Texas Tech, they were ranked fourth in the latest CFP rankings, indicating they’d receive a first-round bye in the playoffs coming into the day.

For now, it remains to be seen if they’ll be given a top-four seed in Sunday’s rankings. At the very least, they’ll host a first-round matchup.

With Texas Tech’s victory, they’re now Big 12 Conference champions and are guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff. The loss for BYU is the team’s second of the season and is likely to eliminate them from playoff contention.

The outcome of Saturday’s Big 12 title game bodes well for teams like Notre Dame and Miami, who are on the cut line and couldn’t afford to have BYU steal a bid. Miami isn’t playing for an ACC title, and Notre Dame is unaffiliated with any conference. Their current body of work is all they can argue to the playoff committee. Texas Tech’s victory allows for the Miami-Notre Dame drama to continue as Selection Sunday draws closer.

In all, conference championship weekend will have a major impact on the College Football Playoff with bids still up for grabs. The five highest-ranked conference champions receive spots in the field, along with seven at-large teams.

Tulane is in line to be one of those bids with its victory on Friday. Now, Texas Tech joins the fray as we look to the rest of conference championship weekend to get a feel of who’s in, and who’s out of the College Football Playoff.

Once the SEC, Big Ten and ACC championship games are decided, the full playoff picture will be clear. The final field will be set in less than 24 hours, set to be revealed at Noon ET live on ESPN.