Texas Tech football: The defining victories of the 2010s

NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 22: Texas Tech players celebrate after the game against the Oklahoma Sooners October 22, 2011 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Texas Tech upset Oklahoma 41-38. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 22: Texas Tech players celebrate after the game against the Oklahoma Sooners October 22, 2011 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Texas Tech upset Oklahoma 41-38. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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2018: Texas Tech 41, Oklahoma State 17

It wasn’t that the 2018 win in Stillwater was a program-altering win so much as it finally got a huge monkey off the Red Raiders’ back.  In taking down Oklahoma State 41-17, Tech put a stop to a frustrating 9-game losing streak against the Cowboys that dated back to 2009.

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It was the first road start and first Big 12 game for freshman QB Alan Bowman and he was fantastic.  Throwing for 397 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, he was poised and confident in leading his team to the win.

After leading 24-17 at the break, the Red Raiders took over in the third quarter thanks to a dominant ground game.  RB Demarcus Felton took a handoff 27 yards for a TD run and Clayton Hatfield nailed a 31-yard field goal as Tech separated from the No. 15 Cowboys.

In the 4th quarter, Felton scored again from 17 yards out and Tech finally exorcised its demons against the Pokes.  On the night, Tech ran for 224 yards as part of a 698-yard outburst.

Unfortunately, this win proved to be fools gold.  The 2018 Cowboys turned out to be nothing but a mediocre team and their lofty ranking to start the season was a nod to head coach Mike Gundy’s long-running string of seasons in which his team was a factor in the Big 12.  But this version of his program managed to go just 6-6 in the regular season and 3-6 in conference play.

Tech looked poised for a nice season after this win and many thought it would assure Kingsbury of another year at the helm in Lubbock.  In fact, Tech began 5-2 with road wins over OSU and TCU.

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But a 5-game losing streak would put an end to Kingsbury’s tenure with the Red Raiders meaning that both his first and his last seasons as coach at Tech ended with 5-game regular-season losing skids.  One of the final times we saw Kingsbury with a smile on his face at Tech came in September of 2018 when he finally broke the curse that Oklahoma State held over the Texas Tech football program.