This 4th quarter was not for the faint of heart
During the Leach era, Texas Tech fans lost years of their lives because of all the wild and heart-stopping 4th-quarter drama. And this game provided one of the tensest final periods of all.
Trailing 35-17 to open the final 15 minutes, Tech converted a 4th-and-1 from its own 30 when Taurean Henderson took a pitch to the outside all the way to the A&M 41. A few plays later, Kingsbury hit Welker down the seam for a 21-yard TD. After an unsuccessful two-point try, Tech trailed 35-23.
On Tech’s next possession, Taurean Henderson took a shovel pass 15 yards to the endzone and Tech was within five points. The ensuing Aggie possession actually crossed the 50 but back-to-back Red Raider sacks forced the punt that Welker took to the house to give Tech an eventual 3-point lead.
But though there were only three minutes to play, this 4th quarter was far from over. On the next A&M drive, the Aggies retook the lead on a bizarre play in which tight end Greg Porter was stripped at the goal line only to see his teammates pounce on the loose ball in the endzone. However, A&M missed the critical extra point meaning Tech was down just 3 points.
On Tech’s final drive, it actually looked for a moment like the Red Raiders had won the game with a touchdown pass from Kingsbury to Anton Paige with ten seconds remaining. But just prior to the snap, Tech was flagged for a delay of game thus wiping out the play.
That forced Robert Treece to have to make a 42-yard field goal on the final snap of regulation to force overtime. Fortunately, he was able to come up big in the clutch and extend the game. It was a wild final period that left fans breathless as was so often the case in the 2000s when no Mike Leach team was ever out of a game.