The last time a linebacker at Texas Tech was such a household name was when an undersized Hall of Famer from Pampa named Zach Thomas was making the calls. And during a historic win for the Red Raiders, Rodriguez's defense played one of the best games of the season.

Texas Tech jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and short of a late scoring drive by BYU almost pitched a shutout. Cameron Dickey’s 121 yards on the ground (5.3 yards per carry) helped the Red Raiders put this one way long before the clock read double zeroes.

A 9-1 start with wins against teams that were ranked seventh and 13th heading into Week 11 is a strong résumé, especially by a combined margin of 63-17. However

The Texas Tech machine keeps rolling with a dominant defeat of Brigham Young, showing how money and good coaching can bring college football success.

It feels weird to celebrate the Texas Tech defense as much as we're able to this year. Weird in a good way. It's refreshing in so many ways. Texas Tech's defense is among the best in the country, which is just not something we've ever been able to say in ...