Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
4-2 , 1-0
Texas A&M
3-2 , 0-1
Red Raiders Ride Arm Of Kingsbury To Comeback Victory
October 05, 2002 | Football
Oct 5, 2002
Final Stats?|? Notes?|? Photo Gallery
By MICHAEL A. LUTZ
AP Sports Writer
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - One kicker went home happy, the other will have a long week trying to forget.
One quarterback got a record and the other got a victory.
It was a seesaw game between Texas Tech and No. 23 Texas A&M that the Red Raiders eventually won in overtime 48-47 when Kliff Kingsbury threw his fifth touchdown pass and Robert Treece followed with the extra point.
Texas Tech (4-2) rallied from an 18-point deficit for the win. The Aggies' loss spoiled a stellar performance by quarterback Dustin Long, who threw a Big 12 record seven touchdown passes.
"This was the best game I've seen in college football," Treece said. "I'm especially glad for him (Kingsbury). He sets me up like this a couple of times a season and fortunately, I came through."
Long's final score was a 3-yard strike to Terrence Thomas in overtime that put Texas A&M (3-2) ahead 47-41.
But John Pierce missed the extra point - his second one of the game - to leave the door open for the Red Raiders. Pierce also missed an extra point when A&M took a 41-38 lead with 1:40 to play.
Treece kicked a 42-yard field goal, his second of the game, to tie the game as time expired in regulation.
"The snaps and holds were great," Pierce said. "It was my fault. I guarantee you it'll never happen again. All week long I had great work in practice."
The Big 12 opener for both teams turned into a quarterback duel as Kingsbury completed 49 of 59 passes for 474 yards. He hit Nehemiah Glover for a 10-yard touchdown on Tech's overtime possession, and Treece made his crucial extra point.
"In my head, I like to think extra points are guaranteed," Treece said. "High school kids and junior high kids make them all the time. I knew it was good. There's no greater feeling than helping your team, especially over the Aggies."
Long completed 21 of 37 passes for 367 yards to lead the Aggies. His seven TD passes broke the conference mark of six, which Kingsbury set last week in a 49-0 victory over New Mexico.
"It was really exciting to make the go-ahead touchdown," Long said. "But the bottom line is that we didn't get it done and didn't score as much as we needed to."
The Red Raiders trailed 35-17 with 6:57 left in the third quarter after Long threw his fifth touchdown pass, an 82-yarder to Jamaar Taylor.
Kingsbury then rallied the Red Raiders with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker and a 15-yarder to Taurean Henderson to pull Tech to 35-30 with 6:38 left to play.
"I think this was my best game ever," Kingsbury said. "I wanted to come here out of high school and I've been thinking about this for four years. To win in one of the toughest atmospheres boosts our confidence even more."
Welker then gave Texas Tech its first lead of the game with an 88-yard punt return for a touchdown with 2:48 left to play, and Kingsbury completed a 2-point conversion pass to Anton Paige for a 38-35 lead.
Long got the lead back for the Aggies with a 9-yard TD pass to Greg Porter with 1:40 to play. Pierce missed the extra point, giving the Aggies a 41-38 lead, which allowed the Raiders to come back and force overtime.
"At some point, we have to stop being in the position to have to make amazing comebacks," Tech coach Mike Leach said. "It was unfortunate that anyone had to lose. I can't pick one specific hero in this game. We had a lot of heroes."
The Aggies jumped ahead quickly with Long's 78-yard touchdown pass to Bethel Johnson on A&M's first offensive play of the game.
Long also had first-half TD passes of 4 yards to Greg Porter, 9 yards to Terrence Murphy and 15 yards to Johnson for a 28-17 halftime lead.
Kingsbury completed 26 of 29 passes in the first half and had touchdown passes of 4 yards to Anton Paige and 2 yards to Carlos Francis.
Derek Farmer got his second straight 100-yard performance with 113 yards on 24 carries for the Aggies.
Texas Tech has won six of the last eight games between the two schools.
Team Stats
TT 0, TA 7
TA - Johnson, Bethel 78 yd pass from Long, Dustin (Pierson, John kick) 1 plays, 78 yards, TOP 0:12
TT 0, TA 14
TA - Porter, Greg 4 yd pass from Long, Dustin (Pierson, John kick) 8 plays, 36 yards, TOP 3:08
TT 7, TA 14
TT - Paige, Anton 4 yd pass from Kingsbury, K. (Treece, Robert kick) 10 plays, 68 yards, TOP 3:17
TT 7, TA 21
TA - Murphy, Ter. 9 yd pass from Long, Dustin (Pierson, John kick) 11 plays, 68 yards, TOP 5:16
TT 14, TA 21
TT - Francis, Carlos 2 yd pass from Kingsbury, K. (Treece, Robert kick) 10 plays, 82 yards, TOP 3:38
TT 14, TA 28
TA - Johnson, Bethel 15 yd pass from Long, Dustin (Pierson, John kick) 10 plays, 71 yards, TOP 3:13
TT 17, TA 28
TT - Treece, Robert 42 yd field goal 7 plays, 40 yards, TOP 1:25
TT 17, TA 35
TA - Taylor, Jamaar 82 yd pass from Long, Dustin (Pierson, John kick) 2 plays, 84 yards, TOP 0:52
TT 23, TA 35
TT - Welker, Wes 21 yd pass from Kingsbury, K. (Kingsbury, K. passfailed) 12 plays, 90 yards, TOP 5:46
TT 30, TA 35
TT - Henderson, T. 15 yd pass from Kingsbury, K. (Treece, Robert kick) 7 plays, 67 yards, TOP 2:45
TT 38, TA 35
TT - Welker, Wes 88 yd punt return (Paige, Anton pass)
TT 38, TA 41
TA - Jones, Stacy 1 yd pass from Long, Dustin (Pierson, John kickfailed) 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:08
TT 41, TA 41
TT - Treece, Robert 42 yd field goal 7 plays, 56 yards, TOP 1:38
TT 41, TA 47
TA - Thomas, Ter. 3 yd pass from Long, Dustin (Pierson, John kickfailed) 4 plays, 25 yards, TOP 0:00
TT 48, TA 47
TT - Glover, N. 10 yd pass from Kingsbury, K. (Treece, Robert kick) 4 plays, 25 yards, TOP 0:00
