This week, long-time Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops announced his retirement. A look back at his career reveals that Texas Tech had almost as much success against him as any team in the Big 12.
When Oklahoma Sooners’ head coach Bob Stoops announced his retirement this week, media across the nation took time to look back on his remarkable 18-year career in Norman. With a national title and ten Big 12 championships to his name, Stoops is the most successful football coach in the history of the conference. While he had plenty of success against Texas Tech, the Red Raiders had more success against Stoops than all but one Big 12 team.
Stoops had a winning record against every current and former Big 12 team posting an unbelievable 121-29 overall mark in league play. He went a perfect 12-0 against both perennial conference door mats Kansas and Iowa State.
Missouri had just one win versus Stoops in nine meetings and West Virginia beat him once in six games. Colorado, TCU and Nebraska were each only able to top Stoops twice.
Baylor, Texas A&M, and Kansas State faired only slightly better by knocking off OU three times each during the Bob Stoops era. In-state rival Oklahoma State had four wins against Stoops despite the fact that the Cowboys have had the best run in program history over the past decade.
That brings us to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were able to beat Stoops’ Sooners five times in his 18 seasons. Only Texas’, with seven wins, had more success against the future hall of fame coach. Let’s take a look at each of the five wins the Tech tallied against the winningest head coach in the illustrious history of Sooner football.
1999: Texas Tech 38 – Oklahoma 28
Bob Stoops first visit to Lubbock will forever be remembered as the last game in the career of former Texas Tech head coach Spike Dykes. Oklahoma entered the game as heavy favorites against the reeling and beaten-up Red Raiders.
The Sooners were 6-3 and featured junior quarterback Josh Heupel (the eventual Heisman Trophy runner-up). Meanwhile, the 4-4 Red Raiders were smarting after an embarrassing 58-7 loss to Texas.
Even more troubling for Tech was the fact that redshirt freshman quarterback Kliff Kingsbury was making his first career start in place of the injured Rob Peters. Everything seemed set up for an easy OU victory and at halftime, it looked as if that was exactly what would happen.
After Texas Tech jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead, Oklahoma tallied 21-straight points en-route to a 21-13 lead at the break. But like something out of a Hollywood movie, Spike Dykes gave an emotional halftime speech to his team during which he told them that the game would be his swan song.
Kingsbury led the Red Raiders to 18-consecutive points in the third quarter to build a 10-point lead. The Red Raiders held on to that lead and carried Dykes off the field in his last game.
While this was the end for one Texas Tech legend, it was the beginning for another. Kingsbury finished the game just 9-17 passing for 259 yards and two touchdown passes, stats that are pedestrian in comparison to the gaudy passing numbers of today’s college game.
However, in his first start he displayed the poise and moxie that the future Texas Tech all-time passing leader would come to be known for throughout his career. And late in the third quarter, those intangibles were on display in the game’s signature play.
With Texas Tech leading 24-21, Kinsgbury escaped the grasp of an unblocked defender, rolled to his right and hit Sammy Morris for a 67-yard touchdown to break the game open.
Morris was the other hero on the afternoon. He ran 20 times for 51 yards and caught three passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns.
That victory would be the last loss for Oklahoma until 2001 as Stoops led his team to the National Title in 2000. And as if the game did not have enough historical significance, the Oklahoma offensive coordinator that day, Mike Leach, would be hired to succeed Dykes. Leach would end his career at Tech with one more win than Dykes to finish as the all-time leader in program history.