By Cael Sleezer
Here I am, writing this article 3+ hours after it happened. And I still can’t fathom or stomach the utter shellshock forced upon me by the leg of Jonathan Garibay.
In case any of our readers are living under a rock, the college football landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. With Texas and Oklahoma abandoning the Big 12 for the SEC, a cataclysmic conference shake-up has ensued, triggering a movement of change forcing some conferences to scramble for new schools to keep them alive.
While these changes won’t go into effect for quite some time, the sentiment
towards Oklahoma and Texas in the Big 12 is, to put it nicely, more unpleasant than usual. The hunger to knock off the proverbial “top dogs” in this year’s race for the Big 12 Championship is of a larger magnitude than seasons’ past.
With Iowa State’s hopes for a second consecutive championship berth already in jeopardy going into Saturday, winning in Lubbock was a crucial first step in keeping the door open for a chance at going back to Dallas. Losing any of the three games left on the schedule was not a viable option.
Texas Tech underwent a seismic shift of its own over the last week with the hiring of new football head coach Joey McGuire. While McGuire won’t take over head coaching duties until after the season is over, there was a buzz around Lubbock, as McGuire quickly won over the big wigs and the student body with his passionate love for the Red Raiders already in his soul. Sonny Cumbie, the interim head coach, worked his team extra hard in practice last week in McGuire’s presence in hopes to upset the Cyclones when they came to town.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Texas Tech came out of the gate strong behind freshman quarterback Donovan Smith, who made his first career start on Saturday. The Red Raiders converted on two 3rd-down plays and scored on a 14-yard run by Tahj Brooks, with an assist from a 36-yard reception from Myles Price.
Brock Purdy and the Cyclone offense stalled out on their first drive but got an assist from the defense as Aric Horne snagged an interception on a juggled Red Raider catch, which set up a Breece Hall touchdown run tying the game 7-7. Hall now has rushing touchdowns in 22 straight games, tying Lee Suggs for the second-best streak in FBS history.
Texas Tech strung together big plays on their next drive, including a 32-yard run for wide receiver Erik Ezunkanma out of the wildcat, and a Donovan Smith 39-yard touchdown pass to Myles Price on a fourth down.
Iowa State’s next drive started off well with third and fourth-down conversions but came to an abrupt halt with an interception by Colin Schooler. The Red Raiders responded with a methodical nine-minute march down the field capped off by an Erik Ezunkanma touchdown grab. The Cyclones then had an uneventful three-and-out followed by a three-play scoring drive by the Red Raiders with Ezunkanma’s second receiving touchdown in as many drives, making it a 28-7 Tech advantage.
Iowa State managed to score on their final drive of the half with the assistance of a controversial pass interference call on the Red Raider defense on a third and long play. Breece Hall scored the touchdown on one of his longer runs of the day for 17 yards, cutting the Cyclone deficit to 14.
With 71 seconds left in the half, Donovan Smith led Texas Tech down the field in a hurry to get Jonathan Garibay within striking distance. Garibay split the uprights on a 45-yard field goal to end the first half, making the halftime score 31-14 Red Raiders.
The first half for the Cyclones was a dismal one on the stat sheet and the sideline. Donovan Smith had 260 yards of total offense by himself for Texas Tech, nearly double the output of the entire Cyclone offense (131). Myles Price had a 5-130-1 line for the half, nearly outpacing the Cyclone offense himself. The lone bright for the Cyclone offense were Breece Hall’s two touchdown runs and Xavier Hutchinson’s four catches for 58 yards.
From the view of ESPN sideline reporter Dawn Davenport, the Cyclones looked morally defeated. The usual energy and communication on the sideline were nonexistent. Coach Matt Campbell expressed his disappointment in the veterans on the squad due to their lack of spirit displayed in the first half.
The second half started off sour for the Cyclones as a deep ball from Brock Purdy was picked off by Dadrion Taylor-Demerson. It looked like it was going to be a runaway game for Texas Tech, as they started to cruise down the field with a three-possession lead.
But the Iowa State defense came alive when it mattered most.
The Red Raider offense came out strong with a 51-yard run from Tahj Brooks and an acrobatic play by Donovan Smith to get out of a sack. When the Red Raider offense faced a 4th and 1 inside the ISU 15-yard line, coach Cumbie gave Smith the green light. However, the Cyclone defense came up with a big stop on an attempted quarterback run. When Purdy and the Iowa State offense punted after three plays on their next drive, the defense held the line once again on another attempted quarterback run by Donovan Smith inside field goal range. The defensive spark soon spread to the Cyclone offense.
Brock Purdy and Charlie Kolar led the Cyclone offense down the field and capped off a scoring drive by connecting on a nine-yard touchdown. After the defense forced a three-and-out, the offense came out again and spread the ball around well. With Xavier Hutchinson racking up 31 yards receiving on the drive and Chase Allen getting a 21-yard reception aided by a hurdle of a Red Raider defender that sent the Iowa State sideline into a frenzy, Purdy and Kolar connected again on a 12-yard touchdown, cutting the Texas Tech lead to 31-28.
Donovan Smith and the Red Raiders got their rhythm back on the next series, putting together four plays of 13 yards or more. SaRodorick Thompson found daylight on the left sideline and punched in a 13-yard scoring run to get Texas Tech back up by 10.
And this is where things get interesting.
On a Cyclone drive where Brock Purdy connected with Chase Allen on three
consecutive plays and Jailyn Noel had a big catch-and-run of 43 yards, Purdy appeared to throw a red-zone interception to Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, which would have been his second pick of the day. Following an excessive celebration penalty on numerous Texas Tech players, the call was overturned to an incomplete pass. Following that development, disgruntled Texas Tech fans (likely from the student section) threw objects onto the field, prompting stadium security to completely vacate two entire sections of seats near the players. Once play resumed, Breece Hall showed why he’s a top running back in the nation by turning on the spin cycle and scoring a 14-yard receiving touchdown. Despite Hall only having 76 total yards on the day, his red-zone performance was spectacular, as the screen pass was his third touchdown of the game from that area of the field, making the score 38-35 in favor of Texas Tech.
The Cyclone defense continued their strong second half by forcing another
three-and-out, giving the Cyclones a chance to complete the 17-point comeback. On a fifteen-play drive that took over three and a half minutes off the clock, Andrew Mevis came up clutch for the Cyclones (as he so often has this season) and nailed a 29-yard field goal to tie the game at 38. With only one minute left on the clock and no timeouts on the clock, this journalist made the assumption that the Red Raiders would play it safe in the closing seconds of regulation and the game would go into overtime.
I have never been more wrong about anything in my entire life.
Texas Tech strung together the perfect two-minute offense. Donovan Smith found receivers on the sidelines for small gains that stopped the clock each time. Texas Tech didn’t have a double-digit play during the drive, but in the blink of an eye, the field goal unit was trotting onto the field to attempt a SIXTY-TWO-YARD field goal. The longest field goal in all of college football this season was a 60-yarder made by Oregon State’s Everett Hayes.
Jonathan Garibay hit it so hard he would have made it from 70.
Chaos ensued. Students and fans stormed the field. Texas Tech officially clinched their first bowl berth in four years under an interim head coach and a freshman quarterback making his first career start in college.
And Iowa State now lies in shambles, wondering if they’ll even break the .500 mark in their conference record.
Donovan Smith finished with 372 total yards and 3 passing touchdowns, while Myles Price put up an even 100 yards better than his previous season-best, racking up 175 yards and a touchdown on 9 catches. Texas Tech finished with 207 total rushing yards, with all four players in that category getting 32 or more on the day. Erik Ezunkanma had a solid day as well, putting up 86 yards and 2 touchdowns on 6 touches.
Brock Purdy completed 76% of his passes and threw for 356 yards, but had two interceptions. Breece Hall also struggled on the ground, averaging under three yards per rush and only compiled 51 yards. Xavier Hutchinson has a solid game with 8 catches for 112 yards, as did Charlie Kolar, who had an 8-76-2 stat line.
This was a demoralizing loss for the Cyclones. The feasibility of contending for a spot in the college football playoff disappeared long ago, and now the season is looking to point toward a mid-level bowl game. Veterans on this team surpassed their peak of a 9-3 record and a Fiesta Bowl win last season, and at this point, all that they can feasibly play for is pride and possible draft position.
But if I was wrong about the ending of this game, perhaps I will be wrong about the ending of this Cyclone season. The 2021 college football season has been one for the ages, as upsets have been a common occurrence week after week. The Cyclones haven’t been mathematically eliminated yet, and the Oklahoma Sooners are coming off an embarrassing loss of their own (and Kansas won a conference game, which never happens). Something has to give next week in Norman, and perhaps it could re-open the door to a glimmer of hope for a Big 12 championship berth for Matt Campbell’s Cyclones.
