When Texas Tech come to visit Oklahoma State, it’s quite certain two things will happen: A lot of points will be put on the board, and the Cowboys will come away with the win (45-35) as the two teams opened their Big 12 conference schedule with a wild throwing night for both Daxx Garman and Davis Webb, who didn’t finish the game and left in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury.
Texas Tech had momentum on their side when Webb went for a run and landed awkwardly on his shoulder, leading to him being taken off and giving freshman Patrick Mahomes a chance to show his worth. Well, with Oklahoma State leading 38-28, Mahomes made a foolish decision to try and keep a play alive by throwing it badly, leading to an interception. On the next drive, Oklahoma State’s Garman ran for a touchdown and pretty much put the game to bed.
A total of 1040 yards in this game, as Oklahoma State got 370 yards and four touchdown passes from Garman but also two interceptions. Mike Gundy knows he has a risk taker for a quarterback and is trying to curb a bit of those decisions Garman makes, like running off without any warning. He did finish with 27 yards on seven carries with a touchdown, but just watching Gundy on the sidelines makes it quite clear that not everything is through his approval.
Davis Webb is also putting himself in a position to make mistakes. That’s the system Texas Tech run, always have. He was also on four touchdown passes and two interceptions before injuring his shoulder, throwing for 374 yards. DeAndre Washington ran for 86 yards on 13 carries and maybe the Red Raiders didn’t try enough of running plays – Justin Stockton had just two carries for one yard. But just like Oklahoma State, Texas Tech are about making big plays, all the time.
All of Garman’s touchdown passes were through passes thrown for over 15 yards downfield. All of his touchdown passes this season have come on such throws with a total of 8, also intercepted twice. In the first half he completed 6-of-8 passes for 197 yards and a couple of touchdown passes on such throws. Maybe Gundy would like to see a bit more ‘West Coast’ type plays, but he wouldn’t have put the ball in Garman’s hands if he wasn’t lured to the potential of a huge play on every throw.
Texas Tech had one of those games in which they pretty much kept shooting themselves in the foot. The receivers dropped five passes, one more than they did in the previous games combined. This seems like just another one of those seasons for Texas Tech, especially if Webb is OK: A lot of fun games with plenty of points, yards and big plays, but when it comes down to challenging for the conference title, they’ll be left behind.
Oklahoma State are of a similar mold, only a little bit better in pretty much every possible way. The defense showed some worrying signs but it’s going to be hard slowing down Texas Tech either way this season. The important thing for the Cowboys, who might get another rankings bump from #24 after this win, is reaching the final two weeks undefeated in conference play, because it’s hard seeing them coming out of Waco and Norman with two wins.