Flashback 2 – Texas Tech

Texas Tech – November 20, 1999; Lubbock, Texas

Texas Tech 38 – Oklahoma 28

A long road trip to Lubbock (over 5 hours from Norman) is something that is very boring to do alone. Luckily, this was a road trip that I was able to do with about 15 of my friends. The year was 1999, my Junior year of college, and a large group of my guy friends from the Wesley Foundation all decided it would be fun to go to this game together. We drove down on a Friday night and all squeezed into two hotel rooms at a La Quinta Inn.

The other great idea we had for this game was for us all to sit in the Texas Tech student section. At first this seemed like a great idea, especially because after going down 10-0, OU went on to score 21 straight points and took a 21-13 lead into halftime. Of course, we all loved that and made sure everyone else around us knew that we loved it as well.

That turned out not to be a very smart move. There were a couple things going against OU at this game. The first was this was the final game for Tech coach Spike Dykes, who was a beloved coach in Lubbock. Rumor has it he told his team at halftime that he was going to retire after the game as a way to rile up his team.

Also, this was Bob Stoops’ first season as coach and although great strides had been made in his first year the one area OU was very weak at was holding a lead away from home. In games at Notre Dame and in Dallas against Texas, OU went out to a very large lead only to see the opponent come back and win. The same thing would happen against Tech in Lubbock. The joy we expressed in the first half would turn to embarrassment as the Tech fan base around us let us have it. Texas Tech went on to win 38-28.

Although the game was a disappointment, it was fun to be able to hang out with a great group of guys at dinner afterwards (Minus the two that were so mad at losing they drove straight back to Norman that night!).