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Texas Tech football: Recent plays that were gut-punches to Red Raider fans

By Matthew Conner

AMES, IA - NOVEMBER 19: Head coach Kliff Kingsbury of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks down during a timeout in play against the Iowa State Cyclones in the first half of play at Jack Trice Stadium on November 19, 2016 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)
AMES, IA - NOVEMBER 19: Head coach Kliff Kingsbury of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks down during a timeout in play against the Iowa State Cyclones in the first half of play at Jack Trice Stadium on November 19, 2016 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /
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Clayton Hatfield’s missed extra point against OK State in 2016

I don’t mean to pile on Clayton Hatfield.  After all, he is Tech’s all-time leader in field goal percentage at 84%.

But the nature of the place kicker position is that every season, a game or two is gong to rest on your foot.  And we often remember a kicker’s misses far more than his makes.

That’s the case with Hatfield’s missed extra point in Stillwater in 2016 leading to Tech’s 45-44 loss to Oklahoma State.

Entering the fourth quarter down by 10 points, Tech got to within seven on Hatfield’s 27-yard field goal.  But after a Quinten White touchdown run pulled the Red Raiders to within one point, Hatfield could not connect on the extra point leaving Tech trailing with just 1:44 to play.

In his career, Hatfield made 130-131 extra point attempts outside of the 2016 season.  But as a sophomore, he inexplicably struggled in that area missing five of his 70 tries.

This is a play that did not necessarily cost the Red Raiders a win, after all OSU could have scored in the final 104 seconds.  And there’s no guarantee that Tech would have pulled off the overtime upset had the game gone that far.

But the miss certainly did cost the team a chance at a tremendous upset.  Entering the game at 4-5, Tech could have desperately used a win over the No. 13 Cowboys to boost its fading bowl hopes.

The head coach also could have used a win over a ranked opponent to help him stabilize his standing as a legitimate head coach.  In his career, he went just 3-22 against ranked teams and the loss to OSU in 2016 was his 12th loss in-a-row to a top-25 opponent dating back to the 2013 Holiday Bowl win over Arizona State.

Most of Kingsbury’s losses to ranked teams were blowouts.  That’s why this missed extra point was especially damning.  It cost the Red Raiders an opportunity to come away with a signature win over a team that they had not beaten since 2008.  But because of a routine play that went awry, the program’s miserable fortunes against quality teams took another turn for the worse.

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