Texas Tech LB Ben Roberts Named Most Outstanding Player

Texas Tech walked out of AT&T Stadium with the Big 12 trophy, and it wasn’t even close. A 34-7 beatdown of BYU put the Red Raiders on top, but the guy who stole the show was linebacker Ben Roberts, who came up with not one, but two interceptions in the title game. That’s never happened before in Big 12 Championship history, and now the trophy case is going to have to make room for him too.

Roberts got banged up early in the game and could’ve packed it in, but instead he turned into a one-man turnover machine. The first pick came right when BYU was trying to climb back in it. He read the play like he’d seen it in practice a hundred times, jumped the route, and gave Texas Tech a short field. One play later, touchdown. That was the moment the air left BYU’s sideline.

But he wasn’t done. In the fourth quarter, with the game already sliding out of reach, Roberts made another play, this one with one hand. He ripped the ball out of the air like it was a rebound, and it felt like the kind of pick you see on highlight reels for years. That was the knockout blow.

For that performance, Roberts was named the Most Outstanding Player of the game, and there’s zero argument to be made otherwise. He was everywhere, flying around, filling gaps, talking trash, and backing it up with every snap. Texas Tech’s defense has been legit all year, but this felt like the coming-out party for a unit that doesn’t just talk tough, they play mean.

Roberts isn’t a five-star or some headline recruit. He’s one of those dudes who just kept grinding until his name got called. And when it did, he put on a show in the biggest game of the season. That’s the kind of player Texas Tech has built this program on. Blue-collar, no fluff, all fight.

Now the Red Raiders are Big 12 champs, and Ben Roberts has a game ball, a title ring, and a new spot in the record books. Not bad for a guy who most people outside of Lubbock hadn’t heard of before Saturday.