Graham Harrell and Texas Tech knocked No. 3-ranked Oklahoma out of the national title chase Saturday night with a 34-27 victory.
Harrell threw for 420 yards and two touchdowns for the Red Raiders (8-4, 4-4 Big 12 Conference). For the 11th time this season a top-five team lost to an unranked team.
Tech fans stormed the field after the win, the second straight in Lubbock for coach Mike Leach over Sooners coach Bob Stoops, his former boss at OU.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Harrell, who completed 47 of his career-high 72 passes. “We came out and executed. Coach Leach told us if we executed we could move the ball. That’s exactly what we did.”
After Oklahoma went up 7-0 on Lendy Holmes’ 63-yard interception return, Texas Tech scored 27 straight points. Harrell ran in from the 1 to give Tech a 13-7, then passed to Michael Crabtree from 15 yards out and Eric Morris from 13 to make it 27-7 with 9:18 left in the second quarter.
When Aaron Crawford scored from 3 yards out with 12:25 remaining in the third quarter, Tech led 34-10.
With Oregon losing on Thursday, the Sooners (9-2, 5-2 Big 12), who were fourth in the latest BCS standings, appeared to be in good shape to play for a national title if they could win out.
Who benefits from the Sooners’ slip, combined with the Ducks’ fall? Ohio State can start thinking national title again as it watches other contenders play out the rest of the season. The Buckeyes are in the clubhouse at 11-1 after beating Michigan 14-3. West Virginia also has fewer teams to jump over, too.
The Sooners failed to get on track after quarterback Sam Bradford left the game in the first quarter with an apparent concussion, and Oklahoma’s offense left with him.
Backup Joey Halzle, who had attempted just nine passes coming into the game, struggled to lead the Sooners. He went 21-for-41 for 291 yards. He threw for two touchdowns and had one interception.
“You can’t play these guys one-handed,” Stoops said. “Your backup never has the number of snaps the other guy has. But Joey (Halzle) did a good job in that regard of hanging in there and continuing to play.”
Oklahoma offense came up feeble on all fronts, falling short of its season averages in rushing and scoring.
The loss put OU in a tie with No. 12 Texas for the Big 12 South title, but the Sooners have the head-to-head edge, having beaten the Longhorns in October, and can clinch a spot in the conference championship game with a victory against Oklahoma State.
If the Sooners can get back to the title game, they’ll face the Kansas-Missouri winner. Who would’ve guessed the unbeaten Jayhawks and Tigers (10-1) would be the last two Big 12 teams in the national title race?
The Red Raiders had never beaten a team as highly ranked. In 2002, Tech beat No. 4 Texas 42-38 in Lubbock.
OU came into the game averaging 191 rushing yards and 45 points, but scored only two offensive TDs, the defense got another, and ran for 106 yards.
By the time the Sooners scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to make it 34-27, it was too late.
“The difference in the first half and the second is the offense is moving the ball some,” Stoops said. “We didn’t play well in the first half as a team. The second half we did better.”
Texas Tech recovered an onside kick with less than half a minute left and the upset was complete.
On the play before Harrell rushed for a score, he completed a 60-yard pass to Crabtree. That pass allowed him to join five other quarterbacks - two from Tech - who’ve thrown for at least 5,000 yards in a season.
Crabtree finished with 12 catches for 154 yards. It was the redshirt freshman’s 10th game of 100 yards or more
On the Sooners first play from scrimmage, OU running back Allen Patrick fumbled and Tech linebacker Marlon Williams picked it up and took it to the OU 34. Tech couldn’t move the ball, though, and settled for a 51-yard field goal to pull within 7-3.
Bradford came out with the Sooners up 7-3 after their second possession of the game. It appeared from television replays that he took a hard hit as he tried to make a tackle after Patrick fumbled on OU’s first play from scrimmage. Bradford got up slowly.
Bradford, the nation’s leading passer, sat alone on the bench until about 10 minutes remained in the first half when he walked with trainers up a ramp leading out of the stadium and stood near the top for a few minutes.
He then got on the back of a golf cart and was taken away from the stadium area.
