Connect with us

Football

Throwback Thursday: OSU Beats Texas Tech Despite Historic Passing Game

Published

on

With all the talk of Mike Gundy turning 50 and the 10th anniversary of “The Rant”, it occurred to me that there was a football game played that day. In fact, it was one of the best and wildest games of Coach Gundy’s early career in charge of the Cowboys.

Everyone remembers the infamous post game speech, but the game, in which Oklahoma State beat Texas Tech 49-45, deserves some recognition of it’s own.

It was 2007 and the Cowboys were opening Big 12 play just a week after that infamous loss to Troy on the road. The Red Raiders came into Stillwater 3-0 and were favored to win.

Looking back, this was a textbook Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma State game. Tech got 646 yards and five touchdowns from quarterback Graham Harrell. At the time, those 646 yards were the fourth-best passing total in college football history. Alas, Tech couldn’t stop Oklahoma State when it needed to.

On their final possession Zac Robinson made a 10-yard pass to tight end Brandon Pettigrew, who took the ball 54 yards in for the score, jumping the pylon for dramatic effect.

Tech had a chance, marching all the way down to the Oklahoma State 15-yard line. But on fourth down, when Harrell tossed a pass to Crabtree in the end zone, the ball went right through his hands giving Oklahoma State the victory.

It was a crazy back-and-forth game that saw six ties, eight lead changes, and plenty of offense. Tech gained 718 total yards, 610 for Oklahoma State. While most of Tech’s offense came through the air, this was back when Gundy liked to keep things balanced for Oklahoma State — 244 passing, 366 rushing.

Zac Robinson had himself a day, throwing for 211 yards and two touchdowns and gaining 116 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

It was a huge victory for an Oklahoma State team reeling after the loss to Troy.

“Unbelievable,” Robinson said. “Going from the highest high to the lowest low back to the highest high. It was a lot of ups and downs, but we just kept playing and kept fighting.”

If you’d like to watch the whole game, you can do so HERE.

Some game notes from that one:

• This was a Tech team that had both Michael Crabtree and Danny Amendola catching passes.

• Add to that Dez Bryant, Kendall Hunter, Brandon Pettigrew, and Perrish Cox and there were a lot of eventual NFL guys on the field that day.

• This was only the second time in nine years Oklahoma State had won their conference opener. Since then, OSU is 6-3 in Big 12 openers.

• Oklahoma State had three guys gain 100 yards on the ground for the first time in school history: Kendall Hunter, Zac Robinson, and Dantrell Savage.

• Tech’s 718 yards of total offense were the most ever allowed by Oklahoma State at the time.

• People forget, then Tech head coach Mike Leach had a rant of his own post game about his team reading their press clippings and lacking composure.

 

#throwbackthursday

Most Read

Copyright © 2011- 2023 White Maple Media