Why Didn’t Texas Tech Go For Two On Saturday?

We all knew it was coming. Mr. Fortune Favors The Bold was going to go for two, beat Oklahoma State 46-45 in Stillwater for the first time since he was playing QB back in 2001 and then juggle his man parts at midfield in front of Mike Gundy. It was meant to be.

But then the same coach who had faked a punt inside his own 40 and tried an onside kick after a field goal decided to lay up from 200 yards out. What happened, Kliff?

“We didn’t even talk about it,” said wide receiver Dylan Cantrell. “We didn’t feel confident. I feel confident with our offense in overtime situations. So, we were trying to even it up and get the for sure play, hopefully go into overtime and see what happened from there.”

“I felt the same vibe,” Kingsbury told the Tulsa World on Saturday as he did in the TCU game a few weeks ago when they were presented with the same opportunity and kicked the extra point. “We had the momentum. I liked what we were doing offensively. I liked what we were doing defensively. I felt great about going to overtime.”

They might have been the only ones who didn’t talk about it. I actually first realized this a few plays before Tech scored to pull within one. Kingsbury though Mahomes had dove and touched the pylon for six, but he had narrowly missed. Kingsbury was shown on the sideline holding up a “1.” I was surprised.

“I was telling the guys I thought they were gonna go for two and try to put us away,” Vincent Taylor told the Tulsa World. His head coach agreed with him.

When I told Gundy I thought Tech might go for 2 late, given way Kingsbury called game to that point, he replied: "I did too." #OKState

— Guerin Emig (@GuerinEmig) November 13, 2016

“I thought they would go for two,” Gundy told the Tulsa World. “If you look at it from (Kingsbury’s) point of view, two-point conversions are 33 percent effective. If you’re in Vegas, and 33 percent says to take the hit, you’re not gonna take the hit, right? I’m guessing that crossed his mind.”

[Gundy drops a random percentage into a press conference — BINGO]

I think this is what was going through everyone’s heads, but Kingsbury wasn’t necessarily wrong in his decision based on where the game was at at the moment. Tech had scored nine unanswered, and Oklahoma State had not scored the entire fourth quarter. If he was able to tie it up and get it into overtime, Pat Mahomes is a good dude to have on your side when you need to score from 25 yards out repeatedly.

But then Texas Tech’s holder inexplicably let the ball fall off at the end and the kicker dialed up a cold, hard shank.

The ball moved at the very end. Watch it. pic.twitter.com/S4nyCRUjz6

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) November 13, 2016

This is all of us. pic.twitter.com/G0ze78fp3M

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) November 13, 2016

Mike Gundy felt horrendous for the kid. So did I. That’s not how you want a game to end. But it adds to an ever-growing list of ways OSU has won single-digit games. And to be fair to OSU on Saturday, it didn’t exactly get lucky. The Pokes never trailed and led for about 50 of 60 minutes of actual game time.

They completely controlled the game on offense and still had nearly two minutes to go down and kick a field goal for the win. There was a lot of time left, and Tech isn’t exactly a defense built to stop a two-minute drill from Mason Rudolph and Justice Hill. But still, it was a turning point in a season full of the for the Pokes. They have been on the wrong end of that equation before. This time, the fortune favored the team that didn’t miss the extra point.