John Shinn
LUBBOCK, Texas — Did Texas Tech’s Taurean Henderson score or didn’t he? Oklahoma defensive lineman Dusty Dvoracek and referee Randy Christal were having that very discussion at Jones SBC Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Neither one knew for sure.
“Asked the ref and he said, ‘What did you see?’” Dvoracek said. “I go, ‘I don’t know.’”
But side judge Scott Koch thought Henderson scored, and the replay official didn’t see enough to say he was wrong. Because of it the Red Raiders ran off the field celebrating a 23-21 victory over the Sooners.
OU coach Bob Stoops refused to get involved in the debate.
“I didn’t see it and I’m not going to sit here and criticize,” he said. “We have a system in place and you hope that it works and it makes the calls that are correct. You have to assume that was done and for me to sit here without seeing anything, and even if I have, we will not use that as an excuse.”
It was a strange end to a strange game. Three plays in the final minute were reviewed and OU appeared to have the game in hand only a minute earlier.
Adrian Peterson, who rushed for 108 yards, scored on a 13-yard run to give the Sooners a 21-17 lead with 93 seconds remaining.
“We needed it,” Peterson said. “We told ourselves to go out there and relax and play OU football and move the ball down the field. We did that, but things didn’t work out for us in the end.”
No, they didn’t.
Texas Tech, which improved to 9-2 and 6-2 in the Big 12 Conference, marched right back down the field, picking up a pair of questionable calls along the way.
OU appeared to halt the Red Raiders with 30 seconds to play when Danny Amendola and Sooner safety Darien Williams simultaneously brought down a fourth-and-3 pass that had tipped at the line of scrimmage. The catch was awarded to Amendola at the Sooner 26 after a generous spot that gave Tech its game-saving first down.
Five plays later Henderson capped a 109-yard rushing performance with the final 2 yards as time ran out.
The Sooners, who fell to 6-4 and 5-2, had their four-game winning streak snapped and their chances of going to the Cotton Bowl likely dashed.
“It was tough,” OU quarterback Rhett Bomar said. “Nobody knows who is right and who is wrong, so it was tough. But our defense played their hearts out, But it was just not enough.”
Texas Tech held the upper hand most of the game.
Alex Trlica booted a 33-yard field goal early in the first quarter and Jarrett Hicks caught a 7-yard pass from Cody Hodges to give the Red Raiders a 10-7 lead at halftime.
Peterson capped a 16-play drive on the second play of the second quarter to put OU on the board, but its offense did little else in the first half.
Hodges hit Bristol Olomua for a 3-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to put the Red Raiders up 17-7.
The Sooners only had 169 yards offense in the first three quarters. OU’s defense kept Hodges in check as he only threw for 232 yards. But he and Henderson were able to slash their way through the Sooners on the ground.
“They hurt us with the running game, especially early,” Stoops said. That was a big factor, I thought the biggest factor, in the first half. But we knew coming in that Taurean Henderson was an excellent player. He made some awfully good plays and we missed some tackles.”
But OU found a remedy in the fourth quarter and stirred the drama by rallying for two touchdowns in the final 6 minutes.
Bomar, who threw for 118 yards, connected with Malcolm Kelly for a 14-yard touchdown with 5:57 to play.
Four minutes later the Sooners had the lead and, seemingly, command of the game.
“I guess we left too much time on the clock,” OU fullback J.D. Runnels said. “We knew what their offense is about. They are about scoring and they are about scoring real fast. With about 50 seconds left, I kind of thought to myself when it was fourth and 3, I didn’t know if it was meant for them to win or if it was meant for us to win.
“This a tough loss, we knew it was going to be a tough loss down here. But we did not expect that outcome.”
OU’s bowl hopes appear resigned to either the Holiday, Alamo or Independence Bowl.
Where the Sooners end up won’t be decided until after next Saturday’s Bedlam contest. Oklahoma State and OU kick off at 2:30 p.m. at Owen Field.
“It’s a tough loss, but we have Oklahoma State next week and it’s a big rivalry,” defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek said. “We’re playing for a win that gets us in a better bowl game. We’re going to fight our butts to get a win.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
