Recapping Tech’s last 2016 home game

Texas Tech and UT came into Saturday’s contest off of big momentum building upsets. Texas had just earned their second top 10 win of the season and Tech just played their best defensive game of the season.

The Red Raiders opened the game with a nine play touchdown drive culminating in three yard Patrick Mahomes pass to Cameron Batson ending in the end zone. Texas would need only four plays to bring the score back to even at 7 apiece.

Mahomes led the offense down the field on another nine play drive ending with a 42 yard field goal made by Clayton Hatfield. Freshman Longhorn QB Shane Buechele marched the burnt orange team down and threw his first touchdown of the day to give his team a 14-10 lead.

Kingsbury would get the offense dialed right back in on the ensuing drive. Tech drove down the field and retook the lead on a Mahomes touchdown to Jonathan Giles with 1:23 left in the first quarter.

Both teams traded punts on their next drives, Texas Tech’s punt pinning the Longhorns at their own one yardline. Texas would drive 99 yards and right before D’onta Foreman punched it into the endzone Douglas Coleman ripped it out of his hands and took it 100 yards the other way for a Texas Tech touchdown extending their lead to 23-14.

Each defense would force a punt on their next drive. UT would score 10 unanswered points going into halftime with a 24-23 lead over the Red Raiders.

Scoring would pick back up in the second half and with 6:15 left in the third quarter Texas led Texas Tech 38-30. On their next three drives Tech was forced to punt, lost a fumble when Derrick Willies hurdled a defender deep in Longhorn territory, and turned the ball over on downs.

A UT touchdown in the middle of those drives put what felt like an insurmountable lead on the board. After Tech turned the ball over on downs David Gibbs’ crew forced and recovered a fumble on the third play of the drive to give Tech the ball 37 yards away from the end zone.

Kliff’s kids needed only three plays, and 49 seconds, to put the ball in the end zone with Da’Leon Ward running 9 yards into the end zone. Unfortunately that’s how the score would end 45-37 with Texas in front.

David Gibbs’ defense held the Longhorns scoreless after they scored on the first play of the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough to come away with the victory.

On the next to last drive of the game the offense couldn’t convert a second consecutive fourth and one on a QB sneak at the 35. Tech’s defense after that got the ball back after four snaps down 8 points with a tick under 3 minutes to go.

Mahomes and company would march down the length of the field to the red zone with under a minute left. First down Mahomes throws for Dylan Cantrell and it falls incomplete. Second down Patrick tries for the same target and P.J. Locke III breaks up the pass, dropping what could have been a game-winning interception.

Third down Mahomes scans, scans, scrambles, rolls out to the left, sees Cameron Batson in the end zone and chunks it hoping to be a hero. Instead Kris Boyd halls in the game winning pick. Patrick didn’t see Tony Brown open at the 10 yard line. The game was over. Longhorns win.