Big 12 Media Days for Texas Tech were yesterday, sponsored by Totino’s, yes, the pizza roll and held in Las Vegas, Nevada, a departure from Irving, Texas. Head coach Joey McGuire spoke for about 15 minutes on the main floor in addition to other appearances on ESPN and FOX and others.

If you are not at a place where you can watch the video, McGuire’s full transcript is here and here are my two favorite parts, in that the offensive line is going to be hugely important:

Q. How will new offensive line Coach Clay McGuire do in developing this offensive line that has quite a few new pieces to it?

JOEY MCGUIRE: That was a huge hire, number one, to get Clay back to Lubbock. He’s got a lot of experience and very similar offense. But what I was excited about and what he’s shown exactly who he is, he’s an absolutely incredible teacher. And that’s the one thing that I think we were needing, somebody that could really develop our offensive line, not just young guys, but whenever you’re adding guys from the portal and they’re learning a new offense, you’ve got to have somebody that’s a great teacher, and that’s the one thing Clay has done. He’s done a great job.

Really excited. He was a guy that we were looking at whenever I first got hired. It didn’t work out. But it’s good to have him home.

Q. What do you want Texas Tech football to be most known for, and how close are you all to that?

JOEY MCGUIRE: I think the biggest thing, you know, being the toughest, hardest working, most competitive team, but it starts with being tough. If you’re going to win games on the road, you’ve got to be a tough football team. If you’re going to win games late November and December, you’ve got to be a tough football team.

We’re growing — we’re trending in that direction. We have not been tough enough to win games on the road. That’s been one of our biggest Achilles heels, consistently being able to win on the road. It’s tough to do that in this conference, but if we’re going to be in the mix, if we’re going to be talked about at the end of the year, playing in the Big 12 Championship, we’ve got to go to Iowa State. We’ve got to go to TCU, and we’ve got to go to Oklahoma State.

So we’ve got to find ways to win games on the road. I’m fired up. We’re going to get tested right off the bat against Washington State. It’s going to be a huge game. Mike Leach is getting inducted into their Hall of Fame. So it’s going to be a big game for Texas Tech and Washington State.

But it’s tough. I want to be known as a tough football team that’s very physical, that’s going to play you every single snap.

If you are interested in reading any of the coaches yesterday including Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark, go here.

Here’ is Joey McGuire’s appearance on ESPN and also on with David Smoak and 365 Sports, which is always a good listen as Smoak knows McGuire pretty well. Also included is Behren Morton’s appearance on ESPN.

A couple of quick notes.

* Behren Morton said that he’s fully healthy. 100%.
* Mcguire said that Micah Hudson will be a week 1 player and he’s a generational player.
* McGuire said that the offensive skill is the biggest difference in the offense, the tight ends, and adding Kelly, Caleb Douglas, and Micah Hudson is a big deal.
* Tahj Brooks had poker chips that he was handing out with a QR code that would link to his season stats. Nice touch.
* McGuire knows that he has to win on the road to be as successful as he wants Texas Tech to be.

LINKS!
+ Dallas Morning News: Takeaways from Day 1 of Big 12 media days: Gundy clarifies DUI comment, new era of parity
+ Dallas Morning News: Commissioner Brett Yormark says Big 12 has solidified itself as one of nation’s top 3 conferences
+ ESPN: Brett Yormark praises Big 12 as ‘deepest’ college football conference
+ Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Can Texas Tech football win new Big 12? Not unless Red Raiders change their road ways
“We have not been tough enough to win games on the road,” McGuire said. “That’s been one of our biggest Achilles heels, consistently being able to win on the road. It’s tough to do that in this conference, but if we’re going to be in the mix, if we’re going to be talked about at the end of the year playing in the Big 12 championship game … we’ve got to find ways to win games on the road.”
+ Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams: Texas Tech football’s Behren Morton says injured shoulder back to ‘100 percent’
“I’m fully confident, 100 percent,” Morton said Tuesday. “I’m throwing four times a week now, 75 balls a day. I can go throw whenever. If I wanted to go throw right now on the 50-yard line, I could go throw right now. It’s just all props to the guys that got me to this point.”
+ CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah: Big 12 Media Days: Brett Yormark touts unique approach to revenue amid ‘necessary reset’ for college sports
+ CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah: Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy clarifies controversial defense of RB Ollie Gordon II’s DUI arrest
+ The Athletic: Brett Yormark and the Big 12, standing in the ruins of the Pac-12, have only gotten bolder (NO PAYWALL)
+ Sports Business Journal: Big 12 launching 24/7 audio station with TuneIn
+ The Wichita Eagle’s Kellis Robinett: Brett Yormark wants Las Vegas to become a ‘critically important’ city for the Big 12