No. 7 Oklahoma State turns back Texas Tech upset bid

STILLWATER, Okla. — Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton showed promise when pressed into service for his first college start, throwing a scare into a top-10 opponent on the road.

Just when the Red Raiders and their redshirt freshman were rolling, however, the wheels came off the offense.

No. 7 Oklahoma State rallied to beat Tech 41-31 with quarterback Spencer Sanders running for two touchdowns and throwing for one on Saturday afternoon at Boone Pickens Stadium.

Down 31-23 in the third quarter, Oklahoma State (5-0, 2-0 in the Big 12) rallied with Sanders' second touchdown run, his two-point conversion pass and the last of four Tanner Brown field goals. Running back Dominic Richardson carried 19 times for 67 yards, his 7-yard touchdown with 2:27 left providing the final margin.

Tech coach Joey McGuire said Morton started because regular quarterback Donovan Smith had a sore throwing shoulder from an accumulation of hits in recent games, including one the week before at Kansas State.

"He's kind of played through it," McGuire said. "He's a tough kid, but he got tackled last week, and it really flared up. He's had a couple of things, but that was when his throwing shoulder was really sore."

The two quarterbacks split snaps during the week. McGuire said. Smith wasn't accurate on Tuesday because of his shoulder soreness, so the staff backed him off on Wednesday. The soreness didn't subside enough by Friday, when they made the final call.

"We gave it all week to where, if we felt like (Smith) could go, then we were going to go with him," McGuire said. "(Coming) into Friday, they'd split reps, kind of like what they have done at different times. Behren knew early that if Donovan couldn't throw the ball the way we needed to that we'd go with Behren, so he knew Friday that he was going to go."

Smith played three snaps, two as a decoy in the slot and one when his pass on third-and-goal was batted down. Smith has been the Red Raiders' quarterback since original starter Tyler Shough suffered a collarbone injury in the first quarter of the season opener.

At some point soon, perhaps after the upcoming open date, the Tech staff might choose among all three again. Morton took a hit to the lower leg late in the first half and was limping after the game, but said he was OK.

"The good thing is we've got a bye week," said McGuire, whose team fell to 3-3 and 1-2 in the Big 12. "There's some guys that are going to get some time to get well, and then we'll go out there and whoever goes into that West Virginia week having the best week is going to be the starting quarterback."

Morton completed 39 of 62 passes for 379 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He hit Jerand Bradley for a 27-yard TD on the first series of the game. The Red Raiders really got rolling from the late first quarter into the third, scoring three TDs and a field goal in four series. They extended a lead to 31-23 when SaRodorick Thompson ran 2 yards for a touchdown at the 8:42 mark of the third quarter.

The Cowboys shut out the Red Raiders from then on, paving the way for a rally.

Tech played without injured receivers Myles Price (ankle) and J.J. Sparkman (thumb), but Trey Cleveland caught nine passes for 100 yards and Bradley caught eight for 119 — career high numbers for both.

Morton said they went into the game looking to attack man-to-man coverage on the outside.

"I told them this whole week, 'I'm going to give y'all a chance to go get the ball,' " Morton said. "This whole week, we worked on that and harped on that, that those 50-50 balls are ours. We did a great job with that and couldn't be more pleased with their performance today."

After the stretch in which Tech put up 24 points in four series, the Red Raiders' last six series ended with two punts, three turnovers on downs and Morton's lone interception. The first three of those series were three-play possessions that netted a total of 5 yards.

"I think they did a really good job of adjusting," McGuire said. "They started dropping eight. I've been a part of that defense. Whenever you're good enough up front to drop eight and still pressure, you've got a good defense."

Linebacker Mason Cobb had the interception on Morton and ran it back to the Tech 19-yard line, setting up a Brown field goal that gave the Cowboys the lead for good at 34-31. Brown made three field goals last year during the Cowboys' 23-0 win in Lubbock. The last of his four Saturday was a 24-yarder that broke a 31-31 tie just before the third quarter ended.

OSU narrowed the gap to 24-23 when Brown was good from 34 yards on the first series of the third quarter.

After Thompson's touchdown, the two teams traded punts, and then Oklahoma State drew even when Sanders ran 2 yards for a touchdown and flipped a two-point conversion pass to Jaden Bray at the 3:18 mark in the third quarter.

Sanders completed 22 of 45 for 297 yards and ran for 56 yards on 17 attempts.

"I thought when they needed yards, the quarterback did a good job running the football," McGuire said. "We got them in some situations where it was third down and he converted with his feet. I thought he did a good job throwing the ball, but a guy like that, we just didn't get him down enough."

Tech was up 24-20 at halftime after erasing a 17-7 deficit with three lengthy drives. Morton's 9-yard touchdown on a zone-read keeper capped a 10-play, 81-yard drive.

The Red Raiders took the lead on a 4-yard pass from Morton to Xavier White at the end of an eight-play, 64-yard march. Cleveland got Tech deep into OSU territory, going up over cornerback D.J. McKinney and catching a 36-yard pass down to the 4.

On the next play, Tech inserted three tight ends and deployed them in a four-receiver pod to the left with White. Morton then flipped a hitch screen to White, who ran behind the tight ends into the end zone, making it 21-17 at 12:27 before halftime.

The two teams traded chip-shot field goals before the half, Brown converting from 22 yards at the 7:18 mark and Tech's Trey Wolff from 23 yards at 35 seconds before the break. The Wolff field goal capped an 18-play, 70-yard series with some key conversions: Thompson with an 11-yard run on third-and-8 from the Tech 27; Nehemiah Martinez with a 16-yard catch from Morton on 3rd-and-5 from the Tech 43; and Thompson with a 4-yard run on fourth-and-3 from OSU 22.

Both teams scored touchdowns on their first possession. Morton capped his first drive as a starter the TD to Bradley, who ran a fly pattern and hauled in the throw at the back of the end zone.

The Red Raiders tried to catch the Cowboys napping with an onside kickoff. Kobee Minor caught it on the fly, but the Cowboys had called for a fair catch, so Tech was flagged for kick-catch interference.

OSU took over at Tech 34-yard line and scored on its second play with wide receiver Bryson Green turning Sanders' mid-range pass into a 32-yard touchdown.

The Cowboys increased the lead to 17-7 later in the first quarter when Sanders kept for a 14-yard TD and Brown kicked a 42-yard field goal.

Quick hits

Tech LB Krishon Merriweather was credited with 17 tackles, his most in his three seasons with the Red Raiders. ... Tech CB Rayshad Williams was credited with five pass breakups, the most by a Tech player since DB Justis Nelson had five in a 2014 game against TCU. ... Cleveland's 36-yard catch marked the third week in a row he's made a big play on a deep ball. He caught a 35-yard pass against Texas and a 58-yarder at Kansas State. ... Tyler Owens made his first career start for Tech and rotated with usual starter Reggie Pearson at boundary safety.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: No. 7 Oklahoma State turns back Texas Tech upset bid