#2 TEXAS AVENGES ’08 UPSET TO TEXAS TECH

Texas Tech spoiled Texas’ National Championship hopes last season and the Longhorns were primed for revenge.  What they got instead was a surprisingly tough game, though they ultimately prevailed by a final score of 34-24.  The game was in doubt until early in the 4th quarter when Longhorns’ QB Colt McCoy hit Dan Buckner with a three yard touchdown pass.  McCoy threw for 205 yards and a touchdown, though he did give up two interceptions.  The Longhorns were able to beat the Red Raiders at home for the fifth consecutive time.

College football betting enthusiasts, meanwhile, were more interested in the fact that the underdog Red Raiders were never really in danger of not taking the money.  Texas Tech entered the game as +18’ road underdogs.  The ATS cover evened the recent series at 9-9, with Texas holding a narrow 5-4 advantage against the number at home.  The 58 combined points scored dipped UNDER the posted total of 66.  The head to head matchup has trended to the OVER in recent years—this game was only the 5th UNDER in the past 15 meetings.  Four of the last seven meetings in Austin have also gone OVER the total.

McCoy hadn’t had an easy week, fighting off what were described as ‘flu like symptoms’ that kept him out of at least one practice.  After the game, he talked about his team’s resilience:

"We had to keep fighting as a team. Not everything is going to go our way.”

Longhorns’ coach Mack Brown sounded a similar theme in his postgame comments:

"Survival. I'm proud of the way our guys grew up, the way they worked, and fought and hit."

Texas Tech QB Tyler Potts had a stellar game, putting up 420 passing yards with 3 TDs against one interception.  Still, he admitted after the game that his team ‘beat themselves’:

"We'd get on a roll offensively and then get a penalty and go right back where we started. We tried to beat Texas and ourselves in the first half. In the second half, we just tried to beat Texas."

Texas safety Earl Thomas said that the tenacity shown by the Red Raiders didn’t come as a surprise:

"Texas Tech is always going to have a good quarterback and receivers that catch everything. It's not surprising they gave us a good game."

The Longhorns play their next three games at home, starting with in-state rival UTEP next weekend.  They’ll host the University of Colorado after a bye week and welcome the University of Nebraska to Austin the following Saturday.  Texas Tech will have another tough road game next weekend, traveling to Houston to play the #21 ranked Cougars.  They’ll return home for the next two games facing New Mexico and Kansas State.