LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech student Jeffrey Dixon was officially the first camper at Raiderville.

The finance and accounting senior texted his friends soon after the No. 8 Red Raiders pulled away from Kansas State, setting up a monumental battle against No. 7 BYU. A few had camped out for a basketball game against Houston last season, but this was different.

Texas Tech is in the midst of its greatest college football season in decades. Really, this is setting up to be the best team in program history. The Red Raiders have never posted an AP top 10 finish, and haven’t won an outright conference championship since 1955. Both of those marks could come off the board. A win against the Cougars – who entered 19-2 over the past two seasons – would go a long way to changing that.

“We’ve talked about this idea for like a month straight,” Dixon said. “We’ve been like, if we’re undefeated, we’re going to camp out for this game.”

Dixon pulled up to the gleaming Womble Football Center, nicknamed the “Football Resort,” around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2. The game was more than 130 hours away. A combination of business and engineering majors created a spreadsheet so everyone would know exactly what shifts they needed to hit.

For a few hours, it was eerily quiet. Soon, the masses came. Tents went up across the landscape, pushing from the entrance to the football facility to the other end of the stadium. A sign displaying “Raiderville” popped up, provided by local business Red Raider Outfitters. Soon, the population boasted more than 2,000 students camping out. Thousands more fans, alums, locals – and even intrepid reporters – passed through.

Texas Tech pulled off an emphatic 29-7 victory against BYU to move to 9-1 and 6-1 in Big 12 play. The triumph puts them on track to reach the Big 12 Championship Game and gets them into the conversation for a bye in the College Football Playoff.

This is the story of a transformative weekend for Texas Tech.

Passing the torch

Officially, Kevin Pierson was the founder of Raiderville in 2003. Then a student, Pierson was a fanatic of Texas Tech football and began camp outs for big games. But like so many threads within this program, the real story started in 2008. That was the moment Raiderville became a phenomenon.

Colt McCoy’s No. 1 Texas was coming to town in a game that featured one of the most famous endings in college football history: Michael Crabtree breaking free with seconds remaining for a game-winning touchdown for the ages, a moment still mentioned in West Texas on a daily basis.

More than 2,000 Texas Tech students camped out in tents for nearly a full week to get priority student tickets. Imagn Images

Before the legendary game, though, there was a legendary lead-up. Thousands of students descended on Jones AT&T Stadium to camp out for ticket placement. They even held a mock funeral for Texas, descending on the campsite wearing black and putting up a grave marker. Pierson personally knows two couples who met in the 2008 campout; seventeen years later, they’re married with kids who would have never existed otherwise.

“It makes my heart so happy because I didn’t really know whether Raiderville would carry on,” Pierson said.

For most of the last two decades, Texas Tech has been trying to get back to that moment. Crabtree and quarterback Graham Harrell remain beloved figures in the community, but nothing on the football field has come close to matching Mike Leach’s 11-2 season in 2008. A few basketball games have risen to the occasion, including the return of reviled coach Chris Beard. In West Texas, though, football is different.

For many longtime fans, Lubbock is starting to feel like 2008 again. It’s taken a lifetime to return, and the cost was not cheap.

Creating the moment

Texas Tech invested handsomely into the program over the offseason, reeling in the No. 2 transfer class in the nation. Seeing the final moments of an unregulated moment in college football, a collection of boosters – led by billionaire Cody Campbell – came together and decided now was the time.

On paper, the Red Raiders looked like one of the best teams in the nation. In practice, the program has been even better. According to the opponent adjusted SP+ analytic system, Texas Tech rates as the No. 4 team in the nation, higher than any team in the SEC. The FEI ratings are slightly lower on the Red Raiders, but credit them with the No. 1 defense in the nation.

“If you go back to January we were first all got together, if you go back to camp, if you would have said that BYU and Texas Tech were playing for first place in the conference tomorrow, we would take that right now at any point,” McGuire told CBS Sports before the game. “I mean do we want to be undefeated? 100%. But we’re exactly where we want to be.”

McGuire’s honesty is almost bizarre bizarre for a major college football coach. He doesn’t shy away from expectations, even when talking to players.

Stanford transfer David Bailey (31), a projected first round NFL Draft pick, was the final piece of a historic transfer class that has the Red Raiders leading the Big 12. Getty Images

Going 1-0 against BYU was the goal. A longtime acquaintance said that McGuire has been gaming out playoff scenarios and sharing them with his teams since he was at Cedar Hill. College Football Playoff Bracketology is his magnum opus.

“It’s kind of funny to hear him say, like, if we lose, we’re not gonna be in the playoff,” wide receiver Reggie Virgil said. “It’s just really cool, him telling us if we don’t get this down pat or watch film or have routines, we’ll lose. Hearing them say stuff like that, it’s like, yeah coach. That’s the type of coach we want to play for, the coach that keeps it honest with us.”

And the reality is, Texas Tech had to beat BYU. A loss could have knocked them out of the College Football Playoff race, and cost them a Big 12 title game invite. All offseason, the staff has been clear: The goal is to get to Arlington. Anything after that is gravy, but Arlington is the goal.

“I think he’s a realist,” athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. “I think Joey recognizes that we could try to live in a bubble here, but as soon as you leave here and go out there, you’re going to see what’s being talked about. So let’s talk about it. Let’s be real in this room.”

Coming to practice

The Football Resort has windows facing the sidewalk next to Jones AT&T Stadium. From there, players and staff could see the burgeoning tents start to turn into a vibrant community.

Soon, local businesses started showing up with mountains of food and gifts for the campers. Texas Tech’s basketball and softball teams made multiple appearances, bringing pizza, chicken, burritos, everything under the sun.

“It was such a great experience,” linebacker Jacob Rodriguez said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I’d say, to be able to have so much of the student body out there to support us. We loved having them.”

After practices, football players started stopping through to sign autographs and take pictures with fellow students. Running back Cameron Dickey returned several times on Thursday night and had a line of nearly 50 fans waiting for him.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever had something like that happen,” Dickey said with a laugh.

Rodriguez, a rising celebrity at Texas Tech for his impressive playmaking and signature mustache, also stopped by after practice. Sophomore Michael Ray Harlan was part of a mega-setup with more than a dozen of his friends, and had a copy of NCAA 25 playing on a TV.

When Rodriguez came through, Harlan challenged him to a game, or at least a few plays. Rodriguez jumped in as South Carolina, playing against Harlan’s Ohio.

“It was super surreal, I was pretty starstruck playing him,” Harlan said. “I was just trying to hold it together.”

Rodriguez asked Harlan if he was sure about the matchup. The Bobcats and Gamecocks are worlds apart in the video game ratings. Harlan insisted he could hang. On his second play, Rodriguez – the nation’s leader in forced fumbles – picked off Harlan and scored a touchdown.

“He threw a vert to my half player against Cover 2,” Rodriguez said. “It was pretty easy to pick it off.”

On Thursday evening, wide receiver Haydon Wiginton came through and brought the house down. Wiginton is an aspiring country music artist from Midlothian, outside of Fort Worth. Fans clamored on social media for him to play at the campout, and he spent nearly an hour taking requests and playing originals.

From there, the scene got raucous. Drinks were flowing and footballs were flying. An older man did a keg stand, held up by fraternity members. A barber set up a chair outside and was giving out haircuts. Men’s basketball coach Grant McCasland took a picture with a donkey brought to the stadium. It was a surreal scene.

The calm becomes the storm

Texas Tech doesn’t formally count attendance above the listed maximum of 60,229, but every inch of Jones AT&T Stadium was packed. Lines for student tickets (the ones not handed out during priority camping) went nearly a mile down the road. A tent city was replaced by beer cans underfoot as the crowd tried to get at least a little buzz going before the early start.

But when the game kicked off, the crowd was underwhelming.

Lubbock is known best for its raucous night games and chances to play spoiler. For the first time, all expectations were with Texas Tech. Nerves combined with an 11 a.m. local start led to a sleepy, anxious crowd. And while the scoreboard was never a concern, the Red Raiders never seemed to pull away either.

The first two drives for Texas Tech went for minus-24 yards as hobbled quarterback Behren Morton ran into sacks. A muffed punt by BYU led to early points, but the offense struggled to find its rhythm. And with it, the crowd grew nervous. Red zone drives petered out into field goals instead of touchdowns.

But in the game’s biggest moments, Rodriguez has been the player to step up. And again, he did.

A former quarterback at Virginia, Rodriguez transferred back closer to his hometown of Wichita Falls, Texas. The coaching staff envisioned him as a linebacker, and he bought in. With the brain of a quarterback and body of a linebacker, magic has happened.

Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (10) came to Lubbock as a walk-on quarterback, but has developed into one of the nation’s best defenders. Getty Images

McGuire has already pounded the table for Rodriguez to receive Heisman Trophy votes, and his numbers compare favorably to other linebackers that earned a trip to New York. But like Manti Te’o or Jabrill Peppers before, Rodriguez is defined by his playmaking. Late in the third quarter, fans were desperate for a spark, a moment to validate they could celebrate. The Captain came through.

Leading 16-0, Texas Tech got rare pressure on BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier. The true freshman shed a tackler with ease and rolled out to try and create on third-and-6. Instead, Rodriguez jumped his passing lane, tipped the ball and returned it to the edge of the red zone.

“I was just playing to my hook and doing my job,” Rodriguez said. “Luckily the ball came my way.”

For maybe the first time, Rodriguez gave the crowd permission to breathe easily. The offense stalled in the red zone again, but a field goal put Texas Tech up by three scores, 19-0, with only one quarter remaining. The party could finally start.

Field rush

Las Vegas Raiders offensive tackle Caleb Rogers was one of several active NFL players on the sidelines, including Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Bengals running back Tahj Brooks and free agent tackle Le’Raven Clark.

Rogers, a 2025 NFL Draft pick, had a game Thursday before making the trek to Lubbock. But with his limited free time during the season, he had to be here. And as the fourth quarter winded down and Texas Tech put the finishing touches on its win, nearly every seat was still filled.

“Piece by piece, everybody has put their all into what they’re doing here,” Rogers said. “This is a moment that we get to enjoy together. Fans would have left if they weren’t going to storm the field. So be ready. Watch out.”

Texas Tech’s field rush was a little unusual. The Red Raiders were double-digit favorites and the game was never all that competitive. By the letter of college football law, a field storm was not warranted, and it wasn’t exactly a storming either.

As the game ended, the front of the student section seemed unsure of themselves. Security told fans to wait until BYU’s players and coaches got off the field, but fans looked at each other, wondering if anyone would take the first step. But after the Cougars cleared, security stepped back and welcomed the crowd onto the field. A Texas Tech official confirmed after the game that the plan was always to allow students onto the field for the Matador Song.

A few brave souls exploded over the railing and ran onto the field. Most ambled down the stairs in a daze.

Texas Tech running back Cameron Dickey had a career-defining performance with 121 yards and a touchdown to help put away No. 7 BYU. Getty Images

Many students spent most of the last week camping in a tent waiting for this moment. More woke up early to tailgate or join the crowds around the stadium. The 11 a.m. local start meant no one was working on much sleep. Many in the crowd heard stories of the Crabtree game from family and friends. They wanted their own moment.

“It just means a lot, especially with all the buildup and comparisons from 2008,” junior Whit Kolman said. “It’s just a big buildup of how great this team is this year. We haven’t seen this level of play for years upon years here.”

The irony of Texas Tech’s brash reputation is that the fans actually fell in line. After the Big 12 tweaked a rule, McGuire implored fans to stop throwing their traditional tortillas to avoid a penalty. The athletics department, anticipating a headache, created a list of protocols for Saturday, including the time it wanted tents to be taken down and stowed away. When it was time to field rush, fans did so in an orderly fashion.

There were zero major incidents or issues. Texas Tech fans just wanted to be together and share their moment, one 17 years in the making.

End of the day

Darkness fell on the site where Raiderville stood only hours earlier as fans cleared Jones AT&T Stadium. What was once a rowdy encampment quickly transformed into a spotless clearing.

When I texted Jeffrey Dixon on Saturday after the game, he was asleep. A few of his friends went to grab food after storming the field together, but the reigning Mayor of Raiderville was out for the count.

“I just went straight back home and right to my bed,” Dixon said. “It was amazing to not have to sleep in that tent anymore. But I’m kind of reminiscing on it already because of how fun it was to be out there with everyone.”

After Crabtree’s catch, the streets were filled with fans celebrating. The immediate aftermath Saturday in Lubbock was much more muted, but no less satisfying.

“It’s exhausting, but man, it’s great to feel this way,” McGuire said postgame. “You feel like you’re in a 15-round fight against a great opponent.”

There wasn’t mayhem or chaos after Texas Tech’s win over BYU. After a week of anticipation, relief washed over the fans. Getty Images

Texas Tech’s win was anticlimactic after the leadup of the week, but the result was no less important. With the win, the Red Raiders have all but clinched a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game. Short of disaster, Texas Tech could even coast into the College Football Playoff with a tight loss in Arlington.

“It has been unreal, but it has been exactly where we had planned to be,” Hocutt said. “When you talk conceptually about the state of college athletics and how you can capitalize on a chaotic situation within the industry… there’s no promise of results. It has all come together in the way that we had planned out.”

But for a program hungry for trophies, winning a Big 12 title is everything. A staffer even revealed to Snapback Sports that there’s an open spot on the wall … ready for an elusive Big 12 title trophy. A little presumptuous, perhaps, but Texas Tech never runs from expectations. And for the first time in generations, everything is within reach.

For 17 years, Texas Tech fans have waited for a moment of release, to believe. It was an unusual game, certainly not one that will be replayed endlessly like Crabtree’s fateful catch. But the game was secondary. It was about this moment in time. And in the land of booms, you must seize it.

“I think everybody in West Texas deserved this weekend,” Rodriguez said. “They love Texas Tech football. I believe they deserved this and I’m so thankful and happy to be able to give it to them.”