Behren Morton reflects on taking down #7 BYU, keeping CFP hopes alive
Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton threw for 219 yards and a touchdown in a rout of #7 BYU in Lubbock Saturday morning. The senior completed 17 of his 32 attempts for a 53.1% completion percentage. The #8 Red Raiders took down the #7 Cougars 29-7, following the conclusion of the game Morton spoke to the media for a little bit.
Adjusting
The BYU defense is certainly not an easy one to go against, not allowing more than 27 points in any game this season coming into Lubbock where the Red Raiders exceeded that mark.
“Yeah, I mean, they’re good defense they did a lot of different things that we haven’t seen on film. But, you know, that’s an 8-0 team, and it’s a good football team, so I know we’ll probably see them again possibly, but they did a good job coming out.”
“We adjusted after we saw where we needed to attack space, you know, what kind of gap scheme runs we want to get to. But, you know, I thought we did a good job adjusting after that.”
Behren also got hit and sacked multiple times vs the Cougars, the quarterback spoke on if some of those sacks were caused by pocket drifting or holding the ball too long.
“Yeah, I think you know, there’s a lot moving up front, but I have to step up. I just got to step up in the pocket. I can’t move backwards. That’s 100% on me, not on the o-line at all.”
“That’s part of the game. We’re late in the season, but you’re still finding things you need to fix. But I’ll be better moving forward.”
Next up
From campouts starting Sunday last week to College Gameday’s trip to the 806 there was no lack of national coverage on Texas Tech. Behren spoke on what he feels he can take away from this win vs BYU.
“Yeah, it’s been an awesome week. From the students camping out Sunday to the game today. I didn’t think we played great at all. I mean, there’s so much more room to improve.”
“Disappointed in the way I played, I didn’t play great, left a lot on the table. But that’s a good thing about it. We’re moving on to the next game, and we’ve got another one in the win column”
Injury news
New info was provided by Holly Rowe on the ABC broadcast regarding Behren’s season-long injury. The long-time ESPN sideline reporter stated that Morton is suffering a hairline fracture to his fibula. Coach Joey McGuire couldn’t confirm or deny the claim, but either way the Texas Tech training staff have kept Behren ready to go.
“Yeah, all props to our training staff. It’s been nice since I graduated college already. So, I’m not really in person classes anymore. My mornings, I get up in the morning, my first thing I do is I’ll be in the training room all day.”
“They get my body ready to go. You know, there’s some weeks where I feel like there’s no way I get to play this week. And then it kind of comes down to like, hey I feel good.”
“Let’s go, you know, but we’re at the point of the season where everyone’s banged up. So, I mean, today was one that just had to grit your teeth and fight to finish the game.”
“Yeah, like I said, like, I’m in the training room 24/7 with Mike and his crew. They do a phenomenal job. Starting in the training room tomorrow, I’m going to be up there all day, you know, getting treatment and rehab. Just trying to feel as good as I can for UCF”
The upgraded Texas Tech medical machines are certainly an aspect of his recovery week-to-week as well.
“I mean, everything you can think of, from all the machines that we have from hot to cold, flush, to really, anything you can kind of think of.”
West Texas
Morton was asked how it is to be the starting quarterback in the biggest game for the Red Raiders since 2008. Growing up a Texas Tech fan during the Leach era this one hit the senior a little harder.
“Yeah, this is what I dreamed of. Being a Lubbock kid, I didn’t really get to experience the ‘08 experience. So now I got to experience it (College Gameday) being back in Lubbock. It was awesome. The week was packed full of things to do. But this is for sure something I can check off the bucket list.”
“Man, I want to win. At the end of the day, I just want to win and do whatever I can do to help the team.”
“If the best thing for me is not to play that week, then that’s the best thing for the team. But today it was a great game. Didn’t feel great, but at the end of the day we got it done.”
Morton also gave some insight into if he felt any pressure prior to kickoff due to the impact this game will have on the season.
“No pressure at all. I mean, this is what I wanted my whole entire life. I mean, this is a dream of mine, to play with college gameday, against a undefeated 8-0 team coming to the Jones.”
“I didn’t play great offense. But we did enough to put up 29 points. And so, you know, I think this week has been an awesome opportunity for all of us. I mean, from Lee (Hunter), Romello (Height), and David (Bailey) them never seeing, how Jones can really rock to you got kids sleeping out on Sunday.”
“So, I mean, those guys are going to be Red Raiders for the rest of their lives. And, you know, we just created so many more Red Raiders.”
“…I just think the job’s not done yet. We still have two really, really important games in front of us. And you know, if we don’t prepare like we need to that’s something that can bite us.”
“Let’s keep moving forward. Great team win, awesome for Lubbock. You know, I’m so happy for this community. It’s awesome. To have a football team like this, it’s been a long time since we’ve had a team like this in Lubbock. It feels good to be leading this team, but we got much more to do.”
The defensive presence
Point blank, Texas Tech has the best defense in the country. The Red Raiders defense held BYU to just seven points on the day, and to their season low in rushing yards. Morton had a lot of praise for his defense’s performance.
“Yeah, I think at the end of the day my job is just to manage the game. To manage you know don’t get too high, don’t get too low. All the guys are accountable when they need to be held accountable.”
“But yea, having a defense like that makes your life a lot easier. I mean, if we can’t score more than seven points today, we got a lot of fixing to do. But to have that in your back pocket, a great defense I can’t say enough.”
Redzone performance
Red Raider fans are well aware of the redzone struggles Saturday vs BYU. Behren spoke on how he thinks the Red Raiders can improve in that spot of the field.
“Yeah, I think it starts with first down going forward. We’ve gotten better with our pre-snap penalties, still not great.”
“Moving that ball on first down and not staying at 2nd and 10 or 2nd and long. Once you move the ball forward in the red zone, it opens so much of the run game, the pass game, and the RPO game. But when you move backwards, it’s tough to get the ball rolling again. I think we’ve got to be more efficient on first down.”
Championship aspirations
Texas Tech prior to today already controlled their own destiny to reach the Big 12 Championship and the College Football Playoff. But Saturday’s statement win over BYU, who was previously #1 in the Big 12 standings solidified their spot as a contender. If Texas Tech can win their last two regular season games vs UCF and West Virginia they will be in Arlington looking to punch an auto-bid to the CFP.
“I know for the offense we’re not happy with our performance at all. So as soon as the 24 hours is up, we’re going to be focused on UCF.”
“I’m not really worried about the rankings, the big 12 standings and all that, because we still have games to play. I’m gonna get my body as healthy as I can for this next week, and we’ll be ready for UCF.”
Explosive play impact + J-Rod Heisman discussion
Cameron Dickey, J’Koby Williams, Terrance Carter, Coy Eakin, and others have made a huge impact for the Red Raiders offensively due to their explosiveness. Behren gave praise to his offense, and how they soften the workload for him.
“For sure. My part is just to manage the game. We have very talented play makers around me, so the faster I can get the ball of them in space, the better off we’ll be.”
The senior quarterback was also asked to sell Jacob Rodriguez as a Heisman candidate, and both of them trusting in Coach McGuire from the start.
“Yeah, that that dude is my guy. Like that’s one of my best friends for life and the things that he does for this program.”
“I remember sitting down in coach McGuire’s office without the new facility being built, and he just told us, “Hey, trust me”. From that day on me and Jacob were like “Hey, we’re rocking with this dude. He is going to be our guide. Let’s build this culture.”, and we’ve done that.”
“This is a talented football team, and it’s led by Jacob. I mean, every time you look up, he’s at the ball. And that way that he can cause and flip momentum in the game. There’s not another player in the country that can do that.”
“High praises for Jacob, super happy for his success, and he deserves a Heisman for sure.”
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