The Texas Tech football program has repeatedly been dominated by Oklahoma running backs and Saturday, the Sooners’ Trey Sermon added his name to the list of OU running backs to have their way with the Red Raiders.
Over the years, no entity in the Big 12 has done more damage to the Texas Tech football program than Oklahoma running backs. Almost every year, the Sooners have a running back go wild against the Red Raiders and 2018 was no different thanks to Trey Sermon.
The 6-foot, 225-pound sophomore from Georgia carried the ball 26 times for 206 yards and three touchdowns averaging 7.9 yards per rush in Saturday’s 51-46 OU victory in Lubbock. His 30-yard 4th quarter touchdown run sealed the win putting OU up 51-40 with just under three minutes left to play.
It was by far Sermon’s best day as a collegiate with his previous career-high being a 148-yard effort against Baylor in 2017. But that is probably only because he didn’t play against Texas Tech last year as an injury kept him out.
Sermon’s outburst Saturday night was 126 yards above his season average of 80 yards per game and nearly double his previous season-high of 119 yards against Army. But it really was no surprise for Texas Tech fans to see a Sooner running back dominate yet another version of the Texas Tech defense.
It seems like since the two teams have been in the Big 12, Tech has put up little resistance against the OU ground game. Dating back to the start of the “Air Raid” era in 2000, OU has rushed for an average of 197.4 yards per game against Texas Tech. In that nearly two-decade string of dominance, eleven times a Sooner running back has put up at least 100 yards on the Red Raiders.
In 2003, Quentin Griffin darted and dashed his way to 207 yards and three touchdowns in a 60-15 route in Norman. That was the third-most yards the 5-foot-7, 195-pound Houston native would amass in a single game as a Sooner.
Five years later, on one of the worst days in Texas Tech sports history, the Sooners ran for 299 yards and 5 touchdowns in a 65-21 beating of the previously undefeated 2008 Red Raiders. On that day, two Sooners, DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown each surpassed the 100-yard mark.
More recently, OU had another pair of 100-yard runners in 2014’s 42-30 win in Lubbock. In that game, 230-pound Samaje Perine battered an undersized Red Raider defense for 213 yards and three scores and when he needed a break, quarterback Cody Thomas took matters into his own hands running for 103 yards and a TD on just eight carries.
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But as if that wasn’t enough, in 2015, Perine was back for more as OU ran wild for 405 yards in a 63-25 laugher in Norman. Perine led the way with 205 yards and four touchdowns while Joe Mixon chipped in 154 yards and two scores.
In 2016’s famous 66-59 shootout in Lubbock, Mixon had another day to remember running for 263 yards and two touchdowns as OU amassed 309 yards on the ground. What’s more, he added another 114 yards and three touchdowns as a receiver.
Not to be left out, last year, Rodney Anderson gashed the Red Raiders for 181 yards and a touchdown in an easy 49-27 OU win in Norman. Again OU dominated on the ground as a team rushing for 336 yards and three touchdowns.
That leads us back to Saturday night when OU took over the game on the ground, especially in the fourth quarter. Running right at sophomore linebacker Riko Jeffers, who was in the game for the injured Dakota Allen, OU racked up 323 yards as both Sermon and QB Kyler Murray got to the century mark.
Texas Tech has not beaten OU since 2011 and the biggest difference between the two teams is almost always at the line of scrimmage. It has not seemed to matter who the Red Raider head coach or defensive coordinator has been or who OU has in the backfield, the Sooners have usually done whatever they want on the ground.
Even this year, when the Texas Tech defense has been decent against the run ranking 7th in the Big 12, OU had its way on the ground. Until Texas Tech finds a way to be more physical at the point of attack and withstand the Sooner ground game, it will be nearly impossible for the Red Raiders to finally turn the corner in what has become an agonizingly one-sided Big 12 series.