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Texas Tech football: 3 times Red Raiders opened Big 12 play with an upset

ByMatthew Conner|
LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 12: Davis Webb #7 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders is defended by James McFarland #40 of the TCU Horned Frogs during game action on September 12, 2013 at AT&T Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech won the game 20-10. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 12: Davis Webb #7 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders is defended by James McFarland #40 of the TCU Horned Frogs during game action on September 12, 2013 at AT&T Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech won the game 20-10. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
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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)

1999 vs. No. 5 A&M

If there is one game in the history of Texas Tech football that should give us hope for an upset on Saturday, it would have to be the 1999 Big 12 opener.  That year, the Red Raiders took down No. 5 Texas A&M in Lubbock, 21-19 in one of the most improbable wins in program history.

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Just as this year’s team is being counted out after almost losing at home to Houston Baptist in week one, the 1999 team was written off after losing to North Texas in its previous game.  And facing a top-10 team, the Red Raiders entered the year’s first Big 12 contest as multiple-touchdown underdogs.

What made that upset all the more hard to fathom was the fact that in the year’s first game, the Red Raiders had lost Heisman Trophy hopeful Ricky Williams to a blown-out knee.  But against the Aggies, his replacement at RB filled in ably.

Running for 170 yards, Sammy Morris, who has missed the previous season because of academic woes, put the Red Raiders on his back and carried them to one of the best wins in program history.

After the Aggies jumped out to a 10-0 lead, Tech scored 21 unanswered points.  Among that scoring barrage was a 29-yard TD run and a 2-yard TD run by Morris.

In the second half, a stingy Texas Tech defense had to fend off an A&M rally.  And on the final Aggie drive of the game, an interception by Antwan Alexander with 1:28 to play sealed the upset.

After that win, fans stormed the field and took down the goalposts before carrying them out of the stadium and depositing them into the fountains at the university’s entrance.  Unfortunately, that won’t happen this year if another top-10 upset takes place to kick off Big 12 play given the sparse crowd and the new collapsable goal posts.  But regardless, if Tech takes down the Horns on Saturday, the euphoria felt all across West Texas will be just as palpable.

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