Worst Oklahoma football loss ever? If not, it’s very close
By Chip Rouse
Oct. 22, 2011 — Texas Tech 41, Oklahoma 38 in Norman
Third-ranked Oklahoma was 6-0 to start the 2011 season and a 30-point favorite to make it 7-0 with an expected home victory over visiting Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were in their second season under head coach Tommy Tuberville and came into the OU game unranked but with a respectable 4-2 overall record.
An electrical storm delayed the start of the game, which in retrospect should have been taken by the Sooners as a sign of the shock and awe that was to follow.
The first quarter ended with the score tied at seven, but the Texas Tech offense exploded for 17 unanswered points in the second quarter to head to the locker room with a 24-7 halftime lead that had the OU players as well as 80,000-plus Sooner fans in attendance in a state of shock and disbelief. The Red Raiders outgained Oklahoma 194-40 in the second quarter alone.
To add insult to injury, Texas Tech added another touchdown early in the third quarter to extend the advantage to 31-7. Oklahoma mounted a comeback, scoring the next 17 points to cut the Red Raider margin to just seven points, only to have Tech respond with 10 of their own to widen the advantage back to 17 points and a 41-24 lead with just over seven minutes left in the game.
The Sooners were not finished yet. They would add two more touchdowns to draw within three points of the Red Raiders, at 41-38 with 1:14 remaining on the game clock. Texas Tech recovered an OU onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, however, to extinguish the Sooner comeback hopes
Oklahoma City Oklahoman sports columnist Berry Tramel wrote after the game:
"“Armagedden’s advent would have been no less shocking than what we saw Saturday night on Owen Field…The Sooners were outclassed and outcoached in the first half, then played desperate in the second half. Sometimes desperate works. Mostly not. And this didn’t… “The second quarter was as bad of football as the Sooners have ever played under (Bob) Stoops. You’d have thought this was Southern Cal down in Miami (in reference to OU’s 55-19 loss to USC in 2005 in the BCS National Championship).”"
The Texas Tech loss was made even more excruciating by the fact that it ended a 39-game home winning streak by the Sooners. It was only the third home loss Oklahoma had suffered in 12 previous seasons under Bob Stoops.
Ironically, Texas Tech would not win another game the remainder of the season. losing five in a row and all but one by double digits.