Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech: Five Scintillating Story Lines
By Chip Rouse
Even though the gridiron series matching Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech is a short one, the connection between the two schools goes much deeper than most fans realize.
Former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mike Leach (1999), brought what today is known as the Air Raid offense to Oklahoma from Kentucky, where he served in a similar role under the head coach who popularized that pass-heavy offensive scheme, Hal Mumme. Leach was at Oklahoma only one season, but the offense he installed at OU when Bob Stoops became the head coach, brought the Sooners a national championship the very next season.
Leach went to Texas Tech as head coach, beginning in 2000, and, as they say, the rest is history. Over the last two decades, the Red Raider offense has consistently been one of the most prolific, high scoring machines in college football, putting up video-game-like passing and scoring numbers virtually every season.
Current Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury was a starting quarterback under Leach at Tech in the early 2000s.
While Klingsbury will be on one sideline on Saturday, the Oklahoma sideline will feature a surprising number of personnel with Texas Tech in their background.
Back to What Once Was Home for OU’s Baker Mayfield and Lincoln Riley
As most Sooner fans know, quarterback Baker Mayfield began his college career as a walk-on at Texas Tech. He started seven games at quarterback for the Red Raiders his freshman season in 2013 and reportedly was the first freshman in Texas Tech history to start at quarterback in the season-opening game.
He missed several games that season as a result of an injury, which cost him his starting job, but still managed to throw for more than 2,000 yards and 12 touchdowns and was named Big 12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year.
A misunderstanding with the coaching staff led to Mayfield transferring at the end of his freshman season, and Oklahoma, which also happened to be the school he followed the most as a youth despite growing up near Austin, Texas, became the welcome beneficiary of that action.
Although the Sooners sought a transfer waiver from the NCAA, contending that because Mayfield was not under a scholarship while at Texas Tech he should be allowed to play immediately and not have to sit out a year before he becoming eligible to play again, the waiver was denied. (The year of eligibility that Mayfield originally was denied was subsequently returned in an NCAA ruling just prior to the start of the 2016 season. So he will have one more year at Oklahoma after this one if he chooses to return.)
Mayfield did not play in 2014, but he was at quarterback for the Sooners against his former team last season, leading Oklahoma to a 63-27 victory, including passing for 212 yards and two touchdowns. He went on to lead OU to an 11-2 season, including a spot in the College Football Playoff, and was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, this time sans the “freshman” designation.
Saturday will mark Mayfield’s first return to Lubbock since his transfer to Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma quarterback isn’t the only Sooner, though, with Red Raider roots. Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley is a Texas Tech graduate. Like Mayfield, Riley walked on at Tech in 2002 under Leach. He did not make the team, but was offered and accepted a job as a student assistant.
Riley became a Red Raider graduate assistant in football and eventually worked his way up to interim offensive coordinator. He left Texas Tech in 2010 to become OC at East Carolina and Stoops hired him in 2015. When he arrived in Norman, Riley brought with him the Air Raid offense and a full-circle return to Stoops’ early years in Norman.
Oklahoma offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh spent seven seasons in Lubbock on Leach’s staff, and Dennis Simmons, the Sooners outside receivers’ coach, also served on Leach’s staff at Texas Tech before joining Riley at East Carolina.
Saturday will be more than just another road game for this Sooner foursome.
Which Poor Pass Defense Will Survive the Air Raid?
As prolific as these two Air Raid-style offenses are throwing the football, they are two of the worst in the country in defending the passing game. You would think practicing against it, they would become more proficient in pass defense, but that apparently is an invalid theory.
Oklahoma is 107th nationally, allowing 277.3 passing yards per game. Texas Tech is only slightly better, giving up 274.3 yards through the air, which ranks 104th nationally.
The big difference may end up being that Oklahoma is much better running the football than Texas Tech, and if you aren’t able to run effectively, it becomes harder to protect the quarterback and spread the defense for passing opportunities.
Compounding the situation further, Texas Tech is last in the Big 12 in rushing offense (93.8 yards per game), while the Sooners are second-best in the conference in rushing defense (135.5 yards per game).
Four of Sooners Six Losses All-Time to Texas Tech Have Come in Lubbock
Oklahoma owns a 17-6 record all-time against Texas Tech. Four of those six losses, however, have come in games played in Lubbock, where the Sooners are this weekend.
The Sooners prevailed in their last trip to Lubbock, in 2014, winning 42-30. But that was Oklahoma’s only win on the road at Texas Tech in the last four games there.
One of the six Sooner losses in the all-time series between OU and Texas Tech, and the only time the Red Raiders have beaten Bob Stoops in Norman, came in 2011, when Tech snapped Oklahoma’s 39-game home winning streak with a 41-38 upset victory.
Big 12’s Top Two Receivers Go Head-to-Head
Two of the country’s top receivers will be on the field on Saturday.
Oklahoma’s Dede Westbrook has been on a terror like no other the past three games. The speedy, sure-handed Sooner receiver has totaled 574 receiving yards, including eight touchdown catches, in consecutive Oklahoma wins over TCU, Texas and Kansas State. He set a single-game school record for receiving yards with 232 in the Red River Showdown rivalry with Texas. Westbrook’s 232 yards receiving against Texas is the sixth best this season among FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams.
Westbrook and Texas Tech’s Jonathan Giles rank two and one, respectively, in the Big 12 in receptions per game. Both are also at the top of the conference in receiving yards, along with James Washington of Oklahoma State. Giles’ nine touchdown catches is tied for first in the nation.
Giles’ best performance this season came a couple of weeks ago against Kansas. He caught 12 passes in that game for 212 yards, averaging 18.3 yards per catch. He also had 186 receiving yards earlier in the season against Louisiana Tech.
Texas Tech Has Not Beaten a Ranked Opponent Since 2013
Oklahoma goes to Texas Tech this weekend with a No. 16 ranking nationally. The Red Raiders have not beaten a ranked opponent since they defeated another 16th-ranked team, Arizona State, 37-23 in the 2013 Holiday Bowl in San Diego.
The last time Tech defeated a team ranked in the top 25 at home was that same season when the Red Raiders beat then-No. 24 TCU.
The last time the Red Raiders beat a ranked Oklahoma team in Lubbock was in 2007. The Sooners, with Sam Bradford at quarterback, were No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 when they played at Texas Tech that season. Bradford suffered a concussion early in the game trying to make a tackle on an intercepted pass, and the Sooners came up short in a 34-29 Red Raider win.