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ARLINGTON, Texas — Just over 300 miles away from the West Texas town of Lubbock, BYU and Texas Tech played a sequel that looked nearly identical to the original.
Behren Morton threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns to Coy Eakin, and Texas Tech locked down the 11th-ranked Cougars to emphatically punch its ticket to the College Football Playoff with a 34-7 win Saturday afternoon at AT&T Stadium.
Morton's second touchdown, a 28-yard catch-and-run from Eakin with 7:03 left in the fourth quarter, sent two-thirds of the fourth-ranked Red Raiders' crowd into a frenzy more than 30 years in the making.
Texas Tech (12-1) constricted BYU's offense to just 200 yards and forced four turnovers in winning its first conference championship since winning the Southwest Conference title in 1994.
Stone Harrington kicked four field goals, missed another, and the Red Raiders punted just twice while outgaining BYU with 159 yards to 63 on the ground.
Bear Bachmeier completed just 16-of-27 passes for 115 yards and two interceptions for BYU, which is his first multi-interception game since he had two in a 33-27 win Oct. 11 against Arizona.
Both came from Texas Tech linebacker Ben Roberts, whose two interceptions set a Big 12 football championship game record.
Playing hosts on the Dallas Cowboys' sideline, Texas Tech held Chase Roberts, the Cougars' leading receiver to three catches for 32 yards.
Add in a pair of turnovers — Roberts' interception off Bachmeier that Cameron Dickey cashed in for an 11-yard touchdown, and Romello Height's fourth-quarter fumble that Texas Tech converted into Harrington's third field goal — and the day proved to be as long as BYU's flight home to Provo.
No, Texas Tech made BYU look — well, a lot like the Cougars looked in a 29-7 loss to the Red Raiders on Nov. 8.
LJ Martin ran for 76 yards and caught a team-high seven passes for 31 yards for the Cougars (11-2), who were playing in their first conference championship game since 1998.
This story will be updated.
