Texas Tech’s Valiant Effort Comes Up Short Against Sooners [VIDEOS & PHOTOS]
Texas Tech vs Oklahoma -- 2018
For 57 minutes and three seconds, the Texas Tech Red Raiders went toe-to-toe with the #7 Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday.
Texas Tech jumped out to a 14-0 lead after two interceptions led to touchdown scoring drives in the first quarter. But an inefficient offense, an injured Alan Bowman, and Oklahoma's high-octane offense led to the Sooners prevailing, 51-46.
Sooners quarterback Kyler Murray was a threat all-game through the air and on the ground with his legs. Murray rushed for 100 yards on 11 carries and scored a rushing touchdown. He also went 20/35 passing for 360 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Texas Tech defense also didn't force anymore turnovers after the initial two interceptions in the first quarter.
One of the biggest turning points in the game was a late second quarter play that ended up having repercussions on the rest of the game. True Freshman quarterback Alan Bowman attempted to rush for a touchdown on the far sideline. Bowman was near the two-yard line when he was hit out of bounds. After the hit, Bowman appeared to be in pain.
During his postgame press conference, Kingsbury said the only thing he knew about Bowman's injury was that it "wasn't his head." (Update on Alan Bowman's status.)
Then, about 20 minutes later, when it was time to start the third quarter, Bowman was not on the Texas Tech sideline. He ended up not playing the rest of the game.
At halftime, Texas Tech led 31-28. However, the lead was short-lived in the second half, as Oklahoma scored a touchdown to go up 35-31 with 12:05 left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Texas Tech pulled within one, and then two points, of the Sooners. Texas Tech was behind 42-40 with 6:54 left in the game. Kliff Kingsbury elected to go for two, but a trick play in which Seth Collins threw a pass was intercepted. Robert Barnes intercepted Collins' pass and took it coast-to-coast for the defensive two-point conversion. At that point, Oklahoma led 44-40.
After the game, Kingsbury said that Collins executed the play as designed, but it didn't work. He also said he should have selected a different play for the two-point conversion attempt.
The Sooners then extended their lead to 51-40 to seal the game with less than three minutes left.
Alan Bowman went 21/26 passing for 227 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Jett Duffey went 9/17 passing for 139 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Duffey also rushed 13 times for 47 yards and a touchdown.
Texas Tech's other leading rusher was Da'Leon Ward. He had 8 carries for 53 yards and one touchdown. The Red Raiders leading receiver on Saturday was Antoine Wesley. He had 12 receptions for 199 yards and no touchdowns.
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