3 Oklahoma Upset by Texas Tech

[Tridentdawgpound 1,043]

NORMAN, Okla. -- Seemingly invincible for so long at Owen Field, No. 3 Oklahoma finally proved fallible at home.

 

Seth Doege threw for 441 yards and connected with Alex Torres on three of his four touchdown passes, and Texas Tech snapped the Sooners' 39-game home winning streak with 41-38 victory Saturday night.

 

About 2 hours after Wisconsin (No. 6 BCS, No. 4 AP) lost, a second top-five team went down on the first day of the college football season that really shook the rankings.

 

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"I don't know that it has to be all that surprising," coach Bob Stoops said after his third loss in 78 home games at Oklahoma. "The teams we play can come in here and beat us. And sometimes maybe too much is said about it like it can't happen.

 

"I told the players that anyone who we'll play the rest of the year will whoop us if we don't play better than we did today. They just flat out beat us."

 

Without some significant dominoes falling in their favor, the Sooners' dreams at winning a national title -- the primary reason All-American receiver Ryan Broyles and linebacker Travis Lewis came back for their senior seasons -- are likely shot.

 

Taken down by the Red Raiders, who were four-touchdown underdogs after back-to-back losses to ranked opponents by a total of 12 points the last two weeks.

 

"It's one game, but it's a huge game for recruiting, for national stature. Obviously, you don't read too much about Texas Tech," Tommy Tuberville said after the first landmark win of his brief tenure as Tech's coach.

 

"For some reason, I haven't seen much on TV. I bet you see it the next few days. We're going to be proud of that. When you go on the road and beat a No. 1 team (in the coaches' poll), it's really special. That's almost impossible to do."

 

Doege carved up an Oklahoma defense missing three starters, helping the Red Raiders (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) become the first opponent since TCU in the 2005 season opener to win in Norman. Oklahoma State pulled off the only other win against Stoops in Norman, in the 2001 regular-season finale.

 

The Sooners gave up 572 yards of total offense.

 

"It's shocking," defensive end Frank Alexander said. "We never want to give up that many yards on defense. We pride ourselves on being a great defense. Tonight, we didn't display that attitude."

 

Landry Jones ended up with 412 yards passing and five touchdowns with one interception, but it wasn't enough to rally Oklahoma (6-1, 3-1) back from a sluggish start and save its unbeaten season.

 

"Not one person lost this game," Jones said. "It was offense, defense, everybody. ... You can't point the finger at one guy and say, `You lost the game for us,' because football's the ultimate team sport and it's all of us."

 

Doege, the nation's fourth-leading passer, had little trouble leading the Red Raiders up and down the field against the banged-up Sooners. Oklahoma was without cornerback Jamell Fleming (knee), defensive tackle Casey Walker (left thumb) and middle linebacker Tom Wort (concussion).

 

"It hurt us, and some of them couldn't help it," Lewis said. "I know I played with a broken toe and the coaches would have had to drag me off the field for me not to play. So, (I'm) disappointed in some of the guys."

 

This one was different even before it got started. A storm packing heavy winds, strong rain and lightning arrived just before kickoff, and fans were asked to leave the stands and take shelter on the concourses. The game got started after a delay of 1 hour and 35 minutes, and Texas Tech struck almost immediately.

 

Doege threw touchdown passes of 44, 30 and 11 yards to Torres to build up a 31-7 lead just over 2 minutes into the second half and the Red Raiders hung on from there.

 

After Jones' 22-yard TD pass to James Hanna cut the deficit to three, Aaron Crawford recovered an onside kick with 69 seconds left to seal the victory. The Red Raiders came bouncing off the sidelines to celebrate.

 

"It's special for the entire team. I'm excited about it," Doege said. "The best part of it is seeing how happy and excited my teammates are. We all got together, and we pulled it off. Everybody didn't think we could."

 

The win prevented Tech from losing three straight games for the first time since 1998 -- and in stunning fashion. The Red Raiders came in as huge underdogs playing on a field where, until last month's game against Missouri, no one but the Sooners had had even led for 20 straight games spanning back to 2007.

 

There hadn't been in many squeakers, either. Oklahoma's average margin of victory had been 30 points.

 

The Sooners were out of sync in this one, though, failing to get their high-powered offense into the fast-paced tempo that gives so many opponents trouble. They failed to get a first down throughout the second quarter, when Tech capitalized to score 17 straight points, and didn't click until it was too late.

 

Oklahoma didn't get any help from its kicker, either. Michael Hunnicutt missed a 39-yard-field goal in the first half and a 28-yarder off the right upright with 2:52 left that proved critical.

 

With the lead starting to dwindle, Tuberville got into a gambling mood. Having already cashed in one fourth-and-1 for a touchdown, he went for it again from the 6-yard line and Crawford got stuffed.

 

Then he took another chance by calling for a fake punt on fourth-and-4 on Tech's side of midfield, and upback Jackson Richards got stuffed close enough to the first down that officials took a second look at the replay.

 

Oklahoma capitalized on the short field that time, needing seven plays to cover the 44 yards and get within 31-24 on Trey Millard's 3-yard TD catch to start the fourth quarter.

 

Doege had an answer, though. He led Texas Tech down for a 39-yard Donnie Carona field goal to bump the lead back to 10 and, after yet another Oklahoma three-and-out, Tramain Swindall got his left foot in for a 14-yard touchdown grab to make the lead 41-24 with 7:38 to play.

 

Oklahoma made it interesting after Jaz Reynolds' 55-yard touchdown grab but couldn't become only the ninth team in Bowl Subdivision history to win 40 straight home games.

 

 

Good to finally see a good upset this season.

[housemd 338]

What an unfortunate loss for Sooners...lolz

Edited October 23, 2011 by housemd

[Bay 2,003]

Damn good game.

[BwareDWare94 723]

lol what the hell happened in this game? Is Tech better than we thought or is Oklahoma that bad? I mean, I'd understand if this was Texas or even Mizzou, but Texas Tech? LOLSooners.