OU-Tech: Classic Game Overshadowed by Controversy

By Big12-Fans Writer Josh Cline

The game on Saturday between Texas Tech and Oklahoma was one for the ages. The contest went back and forth, stayed close the whole time, and featured two rousing comebacks. It featured defenses who were determined to stop the opposing team’s strengths, then failed when they needed to stop them the most. Basically, everything about it had ESPN Classic written all over it…then, of course the controversy.

No matter how you view the calls towards the end, your opinion at this point is unlikely to be swayed. Personally, I think Oklahoma got the short end of the stick, especially on 4th down and three on the last drive. But, no matter how I feel, nothing is going to change; Texas Tech still gets a win in the standings and, crazy upsets aside in the past two weeks of the season, a Cotton Bowl birth. Oklahoma gets the loss and will be shipped out west for the Holiday Bowl or down south to the Alamo Bowl.

There are two things that come out of the game that I think are a shame. First, that people will forget just how great of a game it was. And second, that the replay system does have some negative side-effects. I’ve already touched on the first issue, but its hard to talk about the greatness of the game enough. Oklahoma came back from a 10 point deficit in the fourth quarter, against the wind, with seemingly no running game or a receiver who could catch a pass.

I had written them off, not thinking they could score enough points. Then the wheels started turning. Bomar started getting his wideouts to catch his passes, Peterson turned on his jets, and multiple first downs in a row were all of the sudden possible. The Sooners scored once, and then did not allow Texas Tech to dink and dunk down the field to run out clock, instead recording a three and out which gave OU time to score again. Peterson brushed aside the lone defender left to tackle en route to give Oklahoma what appeared to be a game-winning touchdown in a run that rivals one of Reggie Bush’s electrifying runs he had later in the evening.

The score wasn’t game-winning, of course, because Texas Tech got the ball back with 1:33 to go. What Cody Hodges did was remarkable, getting 12 plays in the 93 seconds—under eight seconds per play. Hodges was able to navigate his way the 65 yards with intermediate routes, needling in passes through a previously stingy OU secondary. The defining play of the drive, and perhaps the most controversial, involved some luck as the 4th and 3 pass from the 26 was batted at the line of scrimmage, and Danny Amendola won the fight for the ball with Darrien Williams, and the ball was spotted just an inch past the end of the chain…a spot that will haunt the Sooners until next year’s game in Norman. After a 2nd down pass to Amendola was completed to the five, a fade route was called with nine seconds remaining for an apparent touchdown, but was called back on replay after the obvious bobble. A pass interference call and an incompletion later, four seconds were left, and Taurean Henderson got the handoff and reached across the goalline. The few seconds it took for the line judge to run to the spot of the play seemed like it took minutes…then he raised his arms for a touchdown. The replay was inconclusive and the Red Raiders won the game on a last-minute drive for the ages…one that won’t be forgotten in Lubbock or Norman for a long time.

The second shame of the game is that referees seem to have gotten lazier making calls because they can fall back on replay. This was apparent when the bobbling never-catch was called for a touchdown. The referee never even looks at the upper half of Joel Filani’s body, where the ball hit his hands, his helmet, his hands again, then finally the turf. He instead looks at his feet, which is important, but a player has to actually catch the ball to be a touchdown. There was no consultation, he just called it a TD. The play was reviewed and overturned, but the fact that he obviously could not tell if it was a TD or not, then the fact that he didn’t even ask anyone shows that he was just banking on replay to overturn it if he were wrong. The final TD also had no consultation, even though the line judge ran up to the play just to look where the ball was at the end, before calling it a TD. Pictures show he was blocked by Jarrett Hicks on the play. I just think that referees should stop using replay as a crutch and try to get the call right…their call still matters, inconclusive evidence is sometimes hard with the grainy cameras of FSN and the limited camera views they provide. Replay is a good system…imagine if OU had lost on the Filani “catch” as they would have last year, but it still has some flaws.

Bottom line: A great game, which leaves Baylor as the only South team to not defeat Oklahoma in the 2000s. The atmosphere was changed with hostility between Oklahoma and Texas Tech fans and students, and I think if Texas Tech can get better year by year with Leach, and maybe nab a couple of more wins from the Sooners, this could become a good secondary rivalry for the Sooners...filling a void that the Sooners have had ever since their yearly contest with Nebraska was taken away.

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