Well, who saw that coming? And not just the outcome in Texas Tech’s 41-38 victory over the Sooners, but just the way it went down. Texas Tech with a 31-7 lead early in the third quarter? Wow.
Sure, look at the final score and the box score only, and you'd assume the game was fairly even But for one night at least, and especially for one half, Texas Tech looked like the best team on the field.
If you’re trying to figure out exactly how this happened, take a look at the 2nd quarter drive chart and you'll begin to undestand. The Red Raiders had four drives (not counting the two plays right before half), scored 17 points on three of those drives that covered 26 total plays. And for the Sooners? They started the quarter with a Ryan Broyles fumble on their first drive, and then followed that up with three more drives, all which went three and out and covered 11 total yards. Chalk one up for a Texas Tech defense that had more than its share of problems over the past two seasons.
“I told the players that anyone who we’ll play the rest of the year will whoop us if we don’t play better than we did today. They just flat out beat us.”
So Oklahoma goes into half down 24-7, stunned and wondering what just happened in the first two quarters. How does OU respond? By coming out and putting together its fourth straight series of three and out which covered exactly zero yards.
Oh, and Sooner defense does it part, as well. Tech hits for a 40 yard gain on its first play of the second half and then scores three plays later. It’s now 31-7. And that’s your ballgame although Texas Tech would hang on for dear life after the Sooners woke up from their apparent slumber they were in following the hour and 45 minute weather delay to start the game.
Now what for Oklahoma? Well, with a shot of a national title possibly down the drain, the Sooners must find a way to focus solely on winning the Big 12. They won’t have much time to feel sorry for themselves with a trip to undefeated Kansas State straight ahead followed by a visit from Texas A&M.
Of course if they win out, the season ending showdown with Oklahoma State still looms large. The possibility of an 11-1 season still remains, but the shot of a national title is now out of their hands. They’ll need help to get there a probably a lot of it. Of course, like Stoops said, if they don’t play better than they did Saturday night, none of that will matter.
As for Texas Tech, give them a ton of credit. That is a gigantic win for a team and fan base that wasn’t all that happy after last week’s loss to Kansas State. "It's one game, but it's a huge game for recruiting, for national stature. Obviously, you don't read too much about Texas Tech," Tommy Tuberville said afterwards. "For some reason, I haven't seen much on TV. I bet you see it the next few days. We're going to be proud of that
What a difference a week makes. Seth Doege threw for 441 yards and four touchdowns without an interception and freshman DeAndre Washington looked really, really good running the ball. But it was the Texas Tech defense that deserves some credit for keeping OU in check for two and a half quarters even if the final stat line doesn’t look all the impressive. But who really cares about that when really all that matters is the final score.
Texas Tech now finds themselves at 5-2 after their first Big 12 win of the years. The season now has entirely different feel to it with Iowa State and Texas next up on the schedule before Oklahoma State comes to Lubbock. Apparently that’s what winning on the road against the number one team in the country will do for you. As for Oklahoma State coming up in three weeks? Heck, they now all look winable after Saturday night.
