What Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said after beating BYU

Jacob Rodriguez for Heisman?

His head coach certainly thinks so.

Texas Tech’s star linebacker was outstanding Saturday against BYU, racking up 14 tackles with an interception and fumble recovery in a 29-7 win over the Cougars.

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Unsurprisingly, Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire wasted no time in lobbying for Rodriguez’s Heisman candidacy after the game.

“I’m 54 years old, I’ve grown up a football fanatic, I’ve probably watched every Heisman that I can remember,” McGuire told reporters. “But guys, the Heisman is given to the best football player. It’s not given to the best quarterback, they’ve got awards for that. And you can’t say that Jacob Rodriguez, at his position, is not playing at that level, at an elite level, as good as any guy in the country.

“… I know our Lubbock media will keep pushing it, but anyone that’s national (media) in here, you should push it, because that kid deserves to be part of (the Heisman conversation), and he is great for college football.”

Rodriguez led an excellent defensive charge for Texas Tech, who held BYU under 10 points for the first time in two years, allowed 2.5 yards per carry and just 157 total yards through the first three quarters.

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“Our defense has played at a really high level all year long,” McGuire said. “One thing I talked to them (about) is dominating up front, we wanted to stop the run. That’s the number one running back in the Big 12 yardage-wise, LJ (Martin), and I love LJ. That quarterback (Bear Bachmeier) has been electric with his feet, and they have a really good offensive line. So we stopped the run, and when you do that you’ve got a chance to rush the passer.

“I told the defense, ‘If we take three turnovers and we stop the run, we’ll win the game.’ And they came in and did that at a high level.”

The hype for Saturday’s matchup was immense, with Texas Tech students camped out in front of the stadium for nearly a week beforehand and ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ even coming to town. McGuire said the energy and excitement from Red Raider fans proved to be a major boost for his team against BYU.

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“I’ve got to give credit to our student body,” McGuire said. ”… Our students were absolutely incredible this week, the stadium was absolutely electric … let’s turn it up a notch, we’ve got another home game next week, and it’s like I told my guys, we have another gear, we can play even better, and I think we can be even better as a crowd in the Jones.”

With the win, Texas Tech is 9-1 and 6-1 in Big 12 play as the current heavy conference favorite.

But even though Saturday was one of the biggest wins in program history, McGuire doesn’t want his Red Raiders to be satisfied with the outcome.

“This was a big game, but man, there’s bigger games in front of us if we stay on track. There’s so much more in front of this team if we stay focused and keep coming to work.”