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Texas Tech football: Why Red Raiders were able to down the Cowboys

By Matthew Conner

STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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As we continue to bask in the glow of Saturday’s 45-35 win over Oklahoma State, let’s look at some important areas of the game that helped the Texas Tech football team pull off the upset.
As we continue to bask in the glow of Saturday’s 45-35 win over Oklahoma State, let’s look at some important areas of the game that helped the Texas Tech football team pull off the upset. /

It’s been all blue skies and rainbows and sunbeams from Heaven for Texas Tech football fans following Saturday’s 10-point win over No. 21 Oklahoma State.  Of course, that’s a 180-degree turn from where most fans were a week ago following the 55-16 loss in Norman.

Such reversals of fortune and optimism have been rare for Red Raider fans.  That’s because when the program has suffered an embarrassing loss, rebounding with a solid win in the next game is not what Tech has become known for.

Of course, there have been times when the Red Raiders scored impressive wins a week after having their nose shoved in the dirt.

In 1999, the Red Raiders inexplicably lost to North Texas for the second-straight time in Lubbock.  The 21-14 stunner remains one of the largest upsets in NCAA history and came just two years after 1997’s 30-27 UNT stunner at Jones Stadium.

With a week off to chew on their defeat, Tech made some significant changes.  Most notably, Spike Dykes and Co. moved fullback Sammy Morris to tailback where the Red Raiders were trying to find a replacement for star RB Ricky Williams, who blew out his knee in the season opener at Arizona.

In his first start at tailback, Morris carried the ball 33 times for 170 yards to lead his team to a huge upset of No. 5 Texas A&M in Lubbock.  In that game, all 21 of the home team’s points came in the second quarter as the Red Raiders held on for a two-point win.  Afterward, the south endzone goalposts were torn down and eventually carried out of the stadium and carried down to the fountains at the entrance to campus, where they went for a bit of a swim.

Back in 2004, Sonnie Cumbie and the Red Raiders were stunned by New Mexico in a 27-24 loss in Albuquerque.  A week later, the Red Raiders returned to the Jones to hand TCU a 70-35 spanking.

In that game, the Horned Frogs were actually up 21-0 in the middle of the second quarter.  But as we saw so often from a Mike Leach offense when the “Air Raid” found its rhythm, it was unstoppable and that afternoon, Tech ran off 56 unanswered points.

2012 saw Tech pull off a similar trick.  One week after being dominated by Oklahoma 40-21 in Lubbock, the Red Raiders upended No. 4 West Virginia 49-14.  In this game, Seth Doege threw for 499 yards and six touchdowns, with Jace Amaro on the receiving end of 156 of those yards and a TD.

Still, it had been a long time since we’ve seen this program respond to a mortifying loss by reversing its fortunes in just one week.  And as we look deeper into the stats from Saturday’s game, we can see just how the Red Raiders upset the Cowboys.

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