The Texas Tech Red Raiders put an end to Oklahoma’s home win streak of 39 games Saturday night by upsetting the No. 3 Sooners, 41-38.
The Red Raiders were a huge underdog on paper but outplayed Oklahoma in just about every aspect of the game. The OU offense was able to put up 536 total yards, but that production came too late in the game for the Sooners to close a comeback win. At halftime, the Sooners had a lackluster 205 total yards compared to Texas Tech’s 329.
Texas Tech wasted no time jumping out on top. After taking the opening kickoff, the Red Raiders used a 44-yard reception by junior receiver Alex Torres to jump out to a 7-0 lead just more than a minute into the game. Oklahoma fired right back with a couple big plays of its own. Sophomore Roy Finch darted 55 yards on the Sooners’ first offensive play. Two plays later, junior quarterback Landry Jones found sophomore receiver Kenny Stills for a 15-yard touchdown to tie things up. Unfortunately for OU, that was its one and only offensive highlight of the half.
Tech opened the second quarter by capping off a 10-play, 78 yard drive to regain a one-touchdown lead. On OU’s first play of the ensuing possession, senior receiver Ryan Broyles fumbled to give Tech the ball back. That resulted in another long drive, as the Red Raiders drove 69 yards to go up, 21-7. Texas Tech also was able to add a field goal to go into halftime with a comfortable 24-7 lead.
The glimmer of hope for Oklahoma fans was that the Sooners would be receiving the ball to start the second half. However, OU opened the half with a quick three-and-out — it’s sixth of the game at that point. Tech, on the other hand, picked up right where it left off. Junior quarterback Seth Doege found receiver Marcus Kennard for a 40-yard completion on Tech’s first offensive play of the half. Three plays later, the Sooners were facing a 31-7 deficit, their largest of the year.
The Sooners showed they still had some fight in them. On the ensuing drive, Jones completed a 58-yard pass to Stills to keep OU in the game. The defense stepped up in the third quarter and held Tech scoreless after the first long touchdown. OU freshman Mike Hunnicutt added a 22-yard field goal late in the quarter to make the score 31-17 entering the fourth.
Oklahoma fought back from the deficit and came within a touchdown of Tech early in the final quarter. However, just when it seemed that OU had finally taken control of the momentum, Texas Tech put together two more long scoring drives to once again take a three-possession lead. With OU down, 41-24, with only seven minutes remaining in the game, the team saw its winning streak in serious jeopardy. After some big stops by the defense, Jones hit another long play, this time a 55-yard touchdown to sophomore Jaz Reynolds to make it a 10-point game.
The Sooner defense then gave Oklahoma a chance. After a big stop, the Sooners drove into field-goal range. However, after Hunnicutt missed his second field goal of the game, OU was left with little hope. The Sooners added a late touchdown reception by junior tight end James Hanna to make it a field-goal game, but it was too little too late, though.
After OU failed to recover an onside kick, Texas Tech ran out the clock and gave Oklahoma its first loss of the year.
The Oklahoma defense gave up 572 yards, the most this year. On top of that, OU failed to score in the red zone on several occasions and missed two field goals. As strong as OU looked during the late comeback, the team simply made too many mistakes to overcome.
Oklahoma does not have any time to reflect on this loss. The Sooners face another ranked team next week when they head to Manhattan, Kan., to take on the undefeated No. 11 Kansas State Wildcats.