Oklahoma football: Four intriguing story lines for OU-Texas Tech
By Chip Rouse
Before the Big 12 Conference was formed in 1996, the number of Oklahoma football games with Texas Tech as the opponent numbered just three.
And prior to 1992, the two schools had never met in football. Oklahoma won all three of the nonconference games with Texas Tech and seven of the first 10 games played as members of the Big 12. Overall, the Sooners are 18-6 against the Red Raiders, including an active five-game winning streak.
Texas Tech has won twice in 11 trips to Norman, the most notable of which came in 2011, when the Red Raiders pulled off a 41-38 upset, handing the Sooners their first loss that season after six games and ending Oklahoma’s 39-game home winning streak, the longest in the nation at the time. That was only the third loss at home for Bob Stoops, who was in his 13th season as OU head coach.
Another game between Oklahoma and Texas Tech that may live on in infamy was the matchup just one year ago in Lubbock. That high-scoring contest, won 66-59 by the Sooners, may go down as one of the worst defensive college football games ever played.
Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw 88 passes in the game, completing 52 of them for 734 yards and five touchdowns. OU’s Baker Mayfield completed 27 of 36 passes for 545 yards and seven touchdowns. The two teams combined for over 1,700 yards of total offense in the game. Some teams don’t produce that many yards of offense in half a season.
That is the 30,000-foot overview the game this Saturday in Norman between the Sooners and Red Raiders.
Bringing things back down to field level, here are four interesting story lines surrounding the game this weekend: