The History between Texas Tech and Texas

Nov 3, 2012; Lubbock, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns wide receiver Marquise Goodwin (84) is chased by Texas Tech Red Raiders linebacker Terrance Bullitt (1) in the second half at Jones AT

It’s that time of year again. Tech vs Texas. Longhorns vs Red Raiders. Brother vs Sister. Neighbor vs Neighbor. In what has historically been a lopsided series, Texas Tech has always seemed to have exciting finishes vs top-10 ranked Texas teams. We all know people who have gone to Texas and are great people. My uncle is a UT graduate and a Texas Tech law school alumnus, and my best friend is married to a UT grad. But Tech vs Texas always seems to pull people out of West Texas who you know have never set foot in Austin but find it easy to root for UT because they are a traditional team. That’s what makes this week so fun. Beating UT isn’t so much about winning a football game over friends and family who are even keeled and mild mannered. Beating UT is about all of these obnoxious t-shirt fans who can’t point out Austin on a map (much less sing the Texas fight song) but who will spend the next year drowning their sorrows with a UT loss.

On one side Thursday you’ll see that you’ve got a 7-4 Texas Tech team who started out setting the world on fire before dropping 4 in a row under the direction of first year HC Kliff Kingsbury. You’ve got two true freshman quarterbacks commanding the nations number 1 passing attack and the nations leading TE in Jace Amaro. On there other side, you’ll see the balanced offensive attack of Texas. You’ll see a HC in Mack Brown and a defensive coordinator in Greg Brown who if you put their ages together might equal the age of the entire Texas Tech staff. You’ll see a HC in Mack Brown who has arguably done more for Texas football than any coach in the past 40 years and yet still finds himself on the hot seat with a 6-1 conference record. All of this shapes up to make this one of the most memorable Tech vs Texas games that the lonestar state has seen in years (aside from the 2008 game of course).

• Texas Tech trails the all time series 15-47. Texas Tech has never won more than 2 in a row in the series but for the most part has never let Texas win more than 5 in a row before pulling out a victory.
• The largest margin of victory in a Texas Tech win was 24 in a 33-9 victory in 1994, while the Longhorns largest margin of victory came in a 58-7 win in 1999.
• Texas Tech has lost 7 in a row in Austin, Texas, and is only 5-29 in Austin overall. The last Red Raider victory in Austin came the last time Texas Tech met an unranked Texas football team on the road.
• This will be the first time that Texas Tech has met Texas in a regular-season finale.
• This will be the first time in school history that Texas Tech has played on Thanksgiving, while Texas is playing for the 86th time.
• Texas Tech boasts the nations top-ranked passing attack (and # 9 overall offense) while the Longhorns rank 56th in total defense.
• Texas averages 439 yards a game (45th in the country) while Tech gives up an average of 415 yards per game on defense.
• Let’s look at some memorable highlights between these two teams, starting with current HC Kliff Kingsburys senior year against the Longhorns.
• A 9-1 Texas squad came into Lubbock, Texas and left out of BCS contention, but not before Kliff Kingsbury torched the Longhorns defense for 473 yards and 6 touchdowns in a 42-38 Red Raider victory.
• In 1976, 3-1-1 Texas took a 14-10 lead into halftime against 6-0 and # 6 ranked Texas Tech. The Longhorns appeared to be pulling away in the 2nd half as they led 21-10 before a 22 yard scramble by Rodney Allison on 3rd and 7 set up a dramatic Billy Taylor dive into the endzone for a game winning touchdown.
• In 1989, the 6-2 Red Raiders entered Austin, Texas having not won a game there in 22 years. Trailing 17-14 with a little over 4 minutes left, Red Raider quarterback Jamie Gill fired a 3rd-and-26 pass to Anthony Mayweather who took the ball 65 yards for a touchdown and a 21-17 lead. The Red Raiders would seal the game with a Tracy Saul interception that led to a FG for Tech with 1:30 left and a 24-17 win.
• And last, but definitely not least, # 1 Texas entered Jones Stadium in 2008 to face off against the # 5 Red Raiders knowing a win would set them up perfectly for a BCS National Title run. College Gameday was in town and watching Lee Corso put on Raider Reds head after hearing Bob Knight say he “dearly hoped we beat their asses” sent the hometown crowd into a frenzy. The game couldn’t have started out any better for the Red Raiders as they built a 22-6 halftime lead behind a Colby Whitlock safety, 2 field goals by Matt Williams (really, who besides Mike Leach would let a kid on the team because he kicked a halftime field goal for free rent?), a Baron Batch touchdown run and a 19 yard touchdown reception by Eric Morris. The 2nd half saw Texas cut into that lead, taking a 33-32 lead with 1:29 on the clock. From here, Red Raider fans will remember the drive, as Graham Harrell would go 5-6 (with his lone incompletion being a near INT by Texas) taking the Red Raiders 62 yards, capped by an improbable 28 yard back shoulder throw from Graham Harrell to Michael Crabtree standing at the 5 yard line who broke free from 2 defenders and danced into the end zone with :01 left on the clock, causing the Texas sideline to watch in stunned silence and Red Raider fans to rush the field not once, but twice before the game ended.

And just in case you’ve forgotten what it felt like that night, here is a video:

And if watching that video doesn’t get you pumped up for Thursday night, there might not be anything on this earth that will.