Texas Tech’s undefeated season was put to rest Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma handed Texas Tech their first loss of the season by way of a 38-30 final score.
Oklahoma quarterback Blake Bell shrugged aside a foggy start following an extended weather delay to have a solid game by the end of the day. Bell led the Sooners to a win with 249 passing yards, two touchdowns and was third on the team in rushing with 44 yards.
The loss silences Texas Tech from any mild BCS championship conversations that may have been going on in Lubbock, but a shot to represent the Big 12 in a BCS bowl game is still on the table. Baylor and Texas, pending the results on Saturday night, remain on top of the Big 12 standings and now Texas Tech will lose any head-to-head tiebreaker with Oklahoma, but the Red Raiders still have games to play against Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas so they will get a chance to remain a part of the Big 12 race and have a significant impact on race to a conference championship one way or the other.
The thing is, even in defeat, Texas Tech showed many good things that are going on with this program under first-year head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Three different wide receivers (Jace Amaro, Eric Ward, and Jakeem Grant) had 100-yard games and the Red Raiders showed some creativity on offense that will continue to give opposing defensive coordinators something to think about moving forward. Texas Tech is going to live and die by the pass, and they are OK with that. But this team does have to avoid making costly errors. Texas Tech had three turnovers in the game, including two interceptions thrown by Davis Webb. Those mistakes can kill any team’s chances to win a football game, especially when playing on the road. And of course, Texas Tech needs to play tighter football on defense, but this has traditionally been a weak spot for the program so this is nothing new (although they have put up some solid defensive numbers this season).
Texas Tech gets their next two games at home, so they are not going to fade away after just one loss. Next week Texas Tech hosts Oklahoma State, followed by defending Big 12 champion Kansas State and then a huge showdown with Baylor in Cowboys Stadium. The Big 12 no longer has a conference championship game, but the conference’s automatic BCS bid could be decided in one of Texas Tech’s final two games. After playing Baylor, Texas Tech travels to Austin to take on Texas on Thanksgiving night.
But what about the Sooners? Oklahoma has just as much chance to win the Big 12 as Texas Tech, although they lost a head-to-head match-up with Texas. Oklahoma plays three of their final four game son the road, including the season finale at Oklahoma State. Oklahoma gets a week off next week before traveling to Waco, Texas for a big game at Baylor on Thursday, November 7. The way Baylor has been putting up points, Oklahoma’s defense could have their work cut out for them. But if Oklahoma can get out of there with a win, their path to a Big 12 title could become a bit easier to travel.