Oklahoma State Downs Texas Tech
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STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are known for their shootouts.
The teams didn’t disappoint in their latest showdown Thursday night at Boone Pickens Stadium.
In the end, the 24th-ranked Cowboys had the bigger gun.
Quarterback Daxx Garman threw for a career-high 370 yards and four touchdowns in his second start, leading Oklahoma State to a 45-35 win before a crowd of 55,958.
The previous five games in the series — all Cowboys wins — featured a combined 4,958 yards of total offense and 330 points.
This time, the teams combined for 1,034 yards on 164 plays.
Oklahoma State won its third straight, improving to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12. The Red Raiders dropped to 2-2, 0-1.
Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb passed for 374 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions before leaving the game with a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter. However, he needed 54 throws and 35 completions to get to his total.
Garman’s yardage and touchdowns came on a 17-for-31 passing night, meaning he averaged 21.8 yards per completion. He was intercepted twice. His scoring passes covered 33, 39, 47 and 50 yards. Six of his throws
went to wide receiver Marcell Ateman, who totaled a career-high 130 yards.
Garman added a fourth-quarter touchdown run to go with two second-half touchdown passes that pushed Oklahoma State’s lead to 45-28 with less than eight minutes remaining.
“I thought he handled himself really well,” Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said. “It was his first Big 12 game and only his third game at this level. For the most part, he understood exactly what we wanted to do.
“He competed. And to be a quarterback, you have to be the toughest guy on the field.”
Texas Tech rallied, getting a 4-yard scoring pass from backup quarterback Patrick Mahomes to make it a two-score game with 5:52 to play.
Just another shootout.
“I just thought that we were trying to take away the run,” Red Raiders coach Kliff Kingsbury, said “so we left the corners out there one-on-one, and they took advantage of it. They took a bunch of shots, kept making plays.
“The QB put some good balls up there and they did what they had to do.”
Garman, who replaced injured J.W. Walsh in the season’s second game, hadn’t played in a live game in five years, since his junior year of high school in 2009.
Garman’s path to Stillwater was circuitous, as he ran into eligibility issues while changing high schools in Oklahoma and later Texas.
Now a junior, he originally signed to play at Arizona but left there when Mike Stoops was fired and he didn’t fit into the run-pass system of Rich Rodriguez.
Garman clearly is pass-pass.
Against Texas Tech, he fired deep often, connecting twice with true freshman James Washington for touchdowns, and once each with tight end Blake Jarwin and running back Tyreek Hill. He had another touchdown pass of 70 yards to Washington called back due to a penalty.
“Daxx really throws a good ball, a good deep ball,” Ateman said. “He’s getting better and better all the time.”
The Red Raiders were getting gouged by the run in their previous games. This time, Oklahoma State came at them with an air assault.
“We definitely played better against the run,” Texas Tech defensive back J.J. Gaines said. “We’ve got to play good on the running and the passing plays to be a complete team.”
In the first half, Texas Tech outgained Oklahoma State 340-279, owned an almost nine-minute edge in time of possession and gained 21 first downs to the Cowboys’ 12.
Even so, Oklahoma State led 21-14 at the break.
The Cowboys used their quick-strike offense to make up for the stat deficiencies. Their scoring drives all lasted less than a minute.
The Red Raiders marched to a touchdown on the game’s opening drive, going 83 yards on 10 plays with Webb hitting wide receiver Reginald Davis for the final 21 yards.
Oklahoma State tied it late in the first quarter, needing only four plays and 59 seconds to cover 80 yards. Garman struck for two big plays: a 40-yard throw to Ateman and a 33-yard pass to Washington for the score.
Webb connected with wide receiver Brad Marquez on an 18-yard scoring pass to send Texas Tech back in front 14-7 before the Cowboys flipped the script late in the second quarter.
Roland finished a 48-second drive that covered 61 yards, running in from 1 yard after Garman hit running back Jeremy Seaton for 28 yards. After cornerback Kevin Peterson intercepted a Webb pass to set up the Cowboys at the Red Raiders’ 39, Garman went right to Washington on the first play for another deep score.
Webb completed 27 of 44 passes for 274 yards in the first half.
Garman went none of 16 before the break but averaged 23 yards per completion for 207 yards.
