Raiders rally late to shock Longhorns
AUSTIN — Texas’ future found its past, then the former watched the latter shed four defenders on his way into the end zone. It took all of 91 seconds. True freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s 27-yard scoring strike to senior receiver Armanti Foreman felt like a hopeful omen for Texas, though the next 59 minutes, 29 seconds demonstrated how dangerous fortune-telling can be.
The rest of the game was ugly and protracted and, for Texas, brutally disappointing. The Longhorns (6-6, 5-4 Big 12) fell to Texas Tech (6-6, 3-6) on senior day, 27-23, after the Red Raiders scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter in front of an announced crowd of 100,629 at
Royal-Memorial Stadium.
The rally made the Red Raiders bowl eligible after missing the postseason last year.
“At times it slips into (your mind) because you think about missing your players. That’s the hardest part. You try to focus on what you can control and that’s get your team ready,” said Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury, whose future with the school has been the subject of speculation.
After the game, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said Kingsbury will return for a sixth season in 2018.
Foreman and his classmates endured the worst of times at Texas. Twentyone losses in three seasons entering this year. Three straight losing campaigns. A two-year bowl drought. The last few months had not been easy, either.
But Friday’s game represented an opportunity this program had not had since Mack Brown last roamed the sidelines. By beating the Red Raiders, Texas could have clinched its first winning record and first six-win Big 12 campaign since 2013. It could have the regular season with three straight victories for the first time since 2009.
“They don’t want to be remembered as the senior class that be went through the worst three-year stretch in the history of Texas football,” coach Tom Herman said. “They wanted to be remembered as the senior class that helped to usher in a new way of doing things and, you know, a return to prominence, where they all believe Texas should be.”
Instead, it collapsed, and all those old issues bubbled back up to the surface.
Texas’ offense followed that opening-drive touchdown with four consecutive three-and-outs, while Tech’s newly named starting quarterback McClane Carter carved apart the defense. A 1-yard McClane touchdown scamper and 32-yard field goal had Tech up 10-7 early in the second quarter.
Texas then reeled off 13 unanswered points, with Kris Boyd’s interception and ensuing return setting up Daniel Young’s 9-yard touchdown dash. That score was sandwiched inbetween two short Josh Rowland field goals after UT’s offense stalled inside the 5-yard line.
The second half could have been a class on how not to operate an offense. Carter was replaced by Nic Shimonek in the fourth.
Shimonek came in with the Red Raiders trailing 2313. His first drive included a 51-yard completion and his short touchdown pass to T.J. Vasher cut it to 23-20. The game winner, a 16-yard pass to Cameron Batson, came with 2:07 to play. It was set up by a 52yard interception return to the Texas 14 by Justus Parker.
“I told him he was about to run out of time,” Shimonek said. “And then he put me in.”
A last gasp deep ball from Ehlinger was picked off by Douglas Coleman.