Story by
The Texas Tech football fan's most memorable games against Texas
- Story by
- The Texas Tech football fan's most memorable games against Texas
The Texas Tech football program's rivalry with Texas comes to a close on Friday, at least for the foreseeable future. UT is off to the Southeastern Conference next July and hasn't reciprocated Tech's desire to keep playing annually as non-conference opponents.
Bearing that in mind, we selected the most memorable games in the series from a Tech fans' standpoint.
Advertisement
1955: Texas Tech 20, Texas 14
The Longhorns were playing their first game under lights at Memorial Stadium, but Texas Tech spoiled the occasion. Don Schmidt ran for two touchdowns, one from 78 yards, and Ronnie Herr scored the other. It was Tech's first conquest of Texas and the Longhorns' first loss in a home opener.
1967: Texas Tech 19, Texas 13
Texas Tech quarterback John Scovell rushed for 175 yards and a touchdown and threw to Larry Gilbert for another as the Red Raiders beat Texas for only the second time, both in Austin. Kenny Vinyard supplied the last points with a 54-yard field goal. Tech fans were so joyous an estimated 7,500 broke onto the runway at Lubbock Municipal Airport, forcing the team plane to divert to Amarillo.
Advertisement
1968: Texas Tech 31, Texas 22
Larry Alford scored on an 84-yard punt return and set up another touchdown with a 49-yarder as Tech built a 28-6 lead and trimmed the 'Horns for the second year in a row. Roger Freeman scored three touchdowns, and Tech handed Texas its last loss before the Longhorns embarked on a 30-game win streak.
Grateful at Thanksgiving: Texas Tech football letterman Ben Kirkpatrick conquering cancer in life's hardest battle
Column: Is UT scared to keep alive its Texas Tech football rivalry? | Williams
1974: Texas Tech 26, Texas 3
This was the first Texas Tech-Texas game on television, and the Red Raiders showed out. Lawrence Williams tied a Southwest Conference single-game record with three touchdown catches. The first of Tommy Duniven's three scoring strikes was a 77-yarder down Jones Stadium's home sideline that had Williams' beckoning a beaten Longhorns defensive back to chase him.
Advertisement
1976: Texas Tech 31, Texas 28
Texas Tech started 8-0 and reached No. 5 in the polls in 1976. The Red Raiders rallied from a 14-3 deficit in game six on a sunny, chilly afternoon at Jones Stadium. Running back Billy Taylor, his scarlet-and-black stenciled B.T. Express towel hanging from his waistband, scored two touchdowns, including the go-ahead game-winner with 7:20 left.
1988: Texas Tech 33, Texas 32
The Longhorns had victory in sight with a 32-15 lead going to the fourth quarter. No Tech team had ever come from that far back in the fourth quarter to win, but Billy Joe Tolliver rallied the Raiders with three scoring drives. The last of four Scott Segrist field goals narrowed the gap to 32-25 with 6:17 to go. Then Tolliver connected with Eddy Anderson on a 46-yard touchdown with 2:46 remaining and hit Travis Price for a two-point conversion.
Advertisement
1989: Texas Tech 24, Texas 17
Jamie Gill threw a go-ahead, 65-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Manyweather with 4:26 left and Lin Elliott added a 51-yard field goal as the Red Raiders left Austin victorious for the first time since 1967. Manyweather fooled his man on an out-and-up down the left sideline, hauled in a perfect throw from Gill and celebrated his TD by alternately punching the air with both fists. Tech intercepted Peter Gardere four times in the second half, two by Sammy Walker.
2002: Texas Tech 42, Texas Tech 38
Kliff Kingsbury carved up Texas, throwing for 473 yards and six touchdowns, including the game winner to Taurean Henderson with 5:41 remaining. After the Longhorns returned the kickoff to the Tech 34-yard line, Ryan Aycock intercepted Chris Simms on the next play and the Red Raiders ran out the clock on the last 5:21. Wes Welker caught 14 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns, and Nehemiah Glover caught four passes for 105 yards and two TDs. "We tried everything," UT coach Mack Brown said, "and they whipped everything we tried."
Advertisement
2008: Texas Tech 39, Texas 33
Michael Crabtree caught a Graham Harrell pass and spun away from two defenders along the sideline, completing a 28-yard touchdown with one second left as Tech vanquished the top-ranked Longhorns. Texas trailed the entire way, by 22-6 and 29-13 at junctures, but went ahead 33-32 on a Vondrell McGee touchdown with 1:29 left. On the play before the Harrell-to-Crabtree TD, Texas safety Blake Gideon dropped a would-be interception on a pass that went through the hands of wideout Edward Britton.
2015: Texas Tech 48, Texas 45
Jakeem Grant ran 40 yards for a touchdown on a trick play with 2:41 remaining, icing Texas Tech's first triumph in Austin since 1997. With Tech leading 41-38, the 5-foot-7 Grant crouched behind the right side of the offensive line. The flow of the play went right, and Grant popped out of the scrum going left, dodging four Longhorns on the way to the end zone.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: The Texas Tech football fan's most memorable games against Texas
