Texas Tech legitimizes program with win over top-ranked Texas

Michael Crabtree (left) and Graham Harrell connected for the 204th time as No. 6 Texas Tech knocked off the top-ranked Longhorns. AP

LUBBOCK, Texas -- With some quarterbacks -- the really good ones -- you just know.

When Colt McCoy trotted onto the field at Jones AT&T Stadium for the final time Saturday night, with 5:45 left and his team down six points, you just knew Texas' Heisman contender would lead his team the 80 yards necessary for a possible game-winning touchdown -- which he did.

Unfortunately for McCoy and the top-ranked Longhorns, they left 1:29 on the clock. And their opponent had a Heisman tandem of its own.

In the most dramatic finish to date of this 2008 college football season, Texas Tech stars Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree connected on a 28-yard touchdown with one second remaining Saturday night to lift the undefeated Red Raiders over undefeated Texas, 39-33.

The black-clad Texas Tech students who had camped out since Monday night to see the biggest game in their school's history couldn't race on to the field fast enough. They committed three "false starts" and cost their team 22.5 yards in penalties before finally being allowed to mob their beloved victors.

From amidst the frenzy, tussle-haired Red Raiders coach Mike Leach eventually emerged to run up the tunnel, flashing a "gun's up" salute to the fans before disappearing under an awning. Later, the famously kooky coach began his postgame press conference by warning the assembled reporters: "I don't do big picture questions."

Let's answer them for him.

Texas Tech just beat a No. 1 team for the first time in school history and is now 9-0 for the first time since 1938.

In addition to shaking up the national title race and setting off the wildest party in the history of Lubbock (police sirens could still be heard reverberating hours afterward), the Red Raiders accomplished something their coach would never admit to: They legitimized his program.

After eight years of pirate jokes and "system quarterback" stigmas, of 4-4 conference records and second-tier bowls, Texas Tech will likely find itself in the top three of the BCS standings come Sunday. Whether Saturday's victory was the first milestone of a possible championship run or just another step toward cannibalizing its conference's national title hopes, we'll find out soon enough. Either way, the Red Raiders validated the message that a group of students in the front row had painted on their chests in black-and-white lettering: "We Are No Joke."

Tech has now won in each of its most recent games against Texas and Oklahoma, the two Big 12 titans to which it's long played second fiddle. Harrell put up typical Tech video-game numbers against the 'Horns (36-of-53 for 474 yards and two touchdowns) -- prompting his ever-sardonic coach to note "some of you guys might want to add him to your Heisman lists if you're into that kind of thing" -- but this time he did it against an upper-echelon foe.

With the game on the line, he calmly completed four straight passes for 34 yards, then, after averting a near-disaster (Texas safety Blake Gideon dropped a potential game-sealing interception with eight seconds left), connected with the ever-electrifying Crabtree (10 catches, 127 yards) on the kind of play even some pros can't make. Just as they've practiced nearly every day for two years, Harrell lofted a fade pass just over Texas cornerback Curtis Brown's head that Crabtree hauled in near the sideline five yards shy of the end zone. He promptly shook off Brown's tackle and dashes for the touchdown.

"On the sideline [before the winning drive], I dreamed I'd catch and pass and go into the end zone for a game-winning touchdown -- but I do that every game," said Crabtree. "This time it actually happened."

Long before the winning play, however, the Red Raiders planted the seeds for victory with an element that's only recently made its way into Leach's program: Defense.

From Texas' first offensive play -- an handoff to Chris Ogbonnaya, whom Tech defensive tackle Colby Whitlock took down in the end zone for a Red Raiders safety -- the 'Horns faced a level of adversity they hadn't seen all season.

The previously torrid McCoy, who came into the game with an absurd 81.8 completion percentage, connected on just seven of 15 attempts in the first half, four of them coming on drops by his receivers. (It didn't help that McCoy lost the services of Quan Cosby, Texas' No. 2 receiver, to a first-quarter back injury.) By the time his night was over, McCoy would endure four sacks and telegraph a pick-six to Tech safety Daniel Charbonnet. Prior to the final play of the third quarter, he'd thrown for just 129 yards, and his team trailed 29-13.

Over the past two years, Tech has welcomed a series of imports to its defensive line -- sophomore tackle Whitlock (lifted out of Oklahoma's backyard), juco defensive end Brandon Sesay (a former Georgia signee), sophomore linebacker Brian Duncan (a Baton Rouge, La., native) -- that have provided the boost of speed and athleticism necessary to pressure a veteran quarterback like McCoy. And they did it primarily with three- and four-man rushes.