Texas Tech football: The strangest endings in Red Raider history

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(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

Tech scores controversial TD on the last play of the game against OU in 2005

As if the Nebraska heart-stopper were not enough for the 2005 season, the Red Raiders took even more time off the end of our lives in the regular-season finale against Oklahoma in Lubbock. With a trip to the Cotton Bowl on the line, the Red Raiders drove 65 yards in the final 1:33 of the game to score the game-winning TD on their final snap.

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While no singular play in this game was remarkable or odd, the game-winning drive was one of the most gut-wrenching and controversial in Big 12 football history as three times the game was stopped for official reviews. It is tough enough to sit through that many reviews in a single game but to have to do so in the final minutes of a game with so much on the line was almost more than most could bear, especially those of us in the stadium that day because back then, they did not show replays of the plays in question on the stadium video board.

The first time the game was stopped came in on a 4th-and-3 at the OU 26. Hodges’ pass was tipped at the line and with the ball looking like it was headed to a Sooner, Danny Amendola (seems like he was always in the middle of things at the most intense of moments) swooped in from out of nowhere to wrestle the ball out of the hands of the defender.

Officials went to replay to determine who had possession and whether Amendola had reached the line to gain and with no clear visual evidence to overturn the play, the drive was allowed to continue. Three plays later, replay correctly overturned a Joel Filani catch that was ruled a TD on the field.

Then, after a penalty against OU and an incomplete pass, Tech handed the ball to Taurean Henderson with just four seconds to play. He somehow wormed his way through a pile of defenders at the goal line to sneak the ball across the line by the smallest of distances.

What made this play so controversial is that the two side judges saw it differently. Because one was shielded by a defensive player, he did not think Henderson scored but the official on the OU side of the field ruled the play a TD. Think about how critical that was because, upon replay, there was simply not enough evidence to overturn the call. There has never been a more certain instance of the ruling on the field taking precedence.

Three reviews in the final minute of the game. A last-second TD with the Cotton Bowl on the line. We’ve seen games end on stranger plays but hardly have we ever seen them decided under more unusual circumstances.

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