Texas Tech football: Hidden moments from 37-34 win over Texas

Fans are still buzzing about the Texas Tech football team’s 37-34 victory over Texas on Saturday.  In fact, social media is still having fun at the Longhorns’ expense.

For instance, Mark Dalton, the Senior Vice President of Media Relations for the Arizona Cardinals shared a priceless image of Cardinals quarterback Colt McCoy, a Texas alum, wearing Texas Tech gear and looking dejected in the Arizona locker room.

Of course, McCoy’s head coach is Kliff Kingsbury and former Texas Tech wide receiver Antoine Wesley is also on the Arizona roster so there was obviously some type of bet that McCoy had to pay off as a result of his alma mater’s loss on Saturday.

Interestingly, McCoy was the UT quarterback back in 2008 when then No. 1 Texas fell to the No. 7 Red Raiders 39-33 so he’s already had to deal with his share of misery at the hands of the Red Raiders.  In fact, prior to Saturday, McCoy was the last Texas quarterback to lose in Lubbock.

Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated took a swipe at the Horns by tweeting out the final play of the game and a caption that read Texas = Not Back.  That has been a long-running joke at the Longhorns’ expense since ESPN announcer Joe Tessitore vigorously proclaimed that “Texas is back, folks” after the Horns beat Notre Dame in a wild game back in 2016.

What makes that moment a punchline is that Texas would go just 5-7 that year.  What’s more, their supposedly signature win over Notre Dame would also prove to be hollow being as the Irish would go just 4-8.  Since then, the internet has mocked Tessitore’s call and the Longhorns by proclaiming that Texas is not back following every Longhorn loss.

So let’s continue to revel in this win just a bit longer before we turn our attention to the Kansas State game on Saturday.  And let’s do so by taking a look at five hidden moments that changed the course of this contest.

Xavier Worthy drops a potential TD pass

Our first hidden moment occurred in the first quarter with the game knotted at seven.  Texas had the ball at the Tech 45 with a fresh set of downs to work with.

On the play, Texas QB Hudson Card would deliver a perfect pass to his team’s best receiver, Xavier Worthy, who had worked himself open on a curl route on the outside.  Making matters worse for Tech was that Worthy had several steps on his defender, Tech corner Rayshad Williams, who had lost his footing.

However, Worthy dropped the pass, one that hit him right in the hands.  That would prove to be a big moment because Worthy could have scored on that play.

Worthy is an explosive athlete when he has the ball in his hands and he would have had to make just one man (Tech safety Dadrion Taylor) miss to reach the endzone.  Instead, he did not make the play, dropping his ninth pass since the start of the 2021 season.

Though we didn’t know it at the time, this play would prove to be a big break for Tech.  That UT drive would stall out at the Red Raider 22 resulting in a field goal to make the game 10-7.

Up to that point in the game, Texas had been gashing the Red Raider defense.  Scoring in only three plays on their first drive and moving easily into Tech territory on their second drive, Texas was in position for another huge play had Worthy held on to the ball.

Fortunately, one of the best receivers in the Big 12 would fail to make what could have been a huge play.  That break gave the Tech defense a chance to catch its breath and might have taken four points off the board for UT, something that would prove to be huge in a game that was decided in overtime.