If a team can learn from its mistakes, Texas had all the knowledge it needed late in the game against Texas Tech Saturday.
And finally, it paid off.
Texas Tech, once down 28-3, had fought back to within three points, and appeared on the brink of handing Texas another heart-wrenching defeat. With the momentum and the crowd on their side, the Raiders were in position to turn a once-sure Longhorn victory into a Texas Tech run for the Big 12 South Division title.
But this time, the Longhorns didn't flinch.
It was Texas who made the big plays and the Raiders who missed opportunities. And as a result, it is the Longhorns -- not the one-time frontrunning Raiders -- who sit in the driver's seat for the Big 12 South Division title.
"We learned from our mistakes," Texas fullback Ricky Williams said. "We were sick of people saying we were underachievers and didn't have heart. We knew that wasn't true. And we knew what we could do."
The game was set for heroics by one of the teams. With just over five minutes remaining and Texas up 35-32, the Longhorn took the ball at their own 20-yard line.
But then Texas quarterback James Brown coolly put together a methodic four-minute drive against a fired-up Tech defense. Twice he found Mike Adams on third down and both times the receiver made a spectacular catch to keep the drive going.
With just 57 seconds remaining, Texas coach John Mackovic decided to let place-kicker Phil Dawson attempt a 53-yard field goal, which the junior cleared by a foot.
"[The Red Raiders] were ready to play but we dug down deep," Brown said. "The Lord was with us in the fourth quarter."
Then it was the much-maligned Texas defense's time to stiffen up and it did. Despite racking up 608 yards on the day, Tech could only get to the 42-yard line before a Hail Mary desperation pass was swatted away in the end zone.
"It's a 60-minute game, so no matter how you start, you still have to stick it out," Allen said. "Everybody on the defense figured we weren't going to let them catch it in the end zone."
Perhaps for the first time this season, Texas caught some breaks late in the game when Tech cornerback Robert Johnson let an interception bounce off his hands. That drop led to the heroics of Brown, Adams and Mitchell.
Brown had several passes almost intercepted but only one actually ever was. Somehow, the junior quarterback hit clutch pass after clutch pass, many times on the run. He hit all five of his third-down passes in the second half.
"James Brown showed tonight what he is able to do, what he's done so many years," Texas head coach John Mackovic said. "He hung in there and remained gritty."
Two of those third-down pass completions went to Adams on the final drive. The first one came on third and 12 with the Longhorns back at their own 18-yard line. Adams stretched out for it near the left sideline, catching it for 15 yards. The second one came on third and 8 from their own 35-yard line, when Brown squeezed the pass between two defenders.
Those heroics left the coaching staff to decide whether to punt the ball or give Dawson a chance to try the field goal. Their decision turned out to be a good one.
"That made me feel great, that they trusted me to try it," Dawson said. "It was a great place to be -- fourth quarter, on the road in a hostile environment. That's showtime, what you dream about."
And, after coming so close so many times, Texas wasn't victimized by another team's late-game heroics.
"Texas had precision and kept us off balance. We had our chances but couldn't get the job done," Tech head coach Spike Dykes said. "Texas made the plays when they had to."
LUBBOCK -- Like two prizefighters, Texas and Texas Tech battled minute-by-minute and round for round to the very end Saturday before 50,607 fans at Jones Stadium.
Each took the other's best punch, and each countered with equal or greater force. But just when the Red Raiders had the Longhorns cornered and hanging on the ropes, they lacked a knockout capability.
Despite the fact that Texas has lost three games in the fourth quarter, it fought its way off the ropes for a second consecutive week. Texas Tech had neither a miracle nor an ample amount of tortillas to keep the living-on-the-edge Longhorns from hanging on for a 38-32 win.
Texas is now in sole possession of the top spot in the Big 12's Southern Division with a 5-4 overall record and a 4-2 mark in conference play. The Red Raiders are now 5-4 themselves with a 4-3 Big 12 record. Both have two games to play as the Southern Division is still anyone's for the taking.
"Really, it was just another indication of what they've endured during the year," Texas head coach John Mackovic said. "I don't think there are many programs that get the criticism that our players and our program get when things do go exactly the way that people would like them.
"These players have endured that, and they've stayed in there. I'm really happy for them, and I told them that. I thought they played a terrific football game."
The Red Raiders dug themselves a hole early just like they did last season when the Longhorns cruised to a 48-7 win. Texas running backs Shon Mitchell and Ricky Williams scored on 65- and 75-yard draw plays, respectively, in the first half.
Texas racked up 353 yards of total offense in the first two quarters along with 28 points. Tech meanwhile had just as much firepower -- 321 yards -- but had nothing to show on the scoreboard.
Down 28-11 at the start of the third quarter, the Red Raiders opened the period with an 80-yard touchdown drive that ended in quarterback Zebbie Lethridge's 5-yard touchdown keeper around the right end.
Texas had ramrod the football down Tech's throat all night, and the ensuing possession was one that may have jump-started the team for the rest of the game and for the rest of the season.
It began with a holding penalty on the kickoff that pinned the Longhorns on their own 5. After being stymied at the 11, quarterback James Brown hit tight end Pat Fitzgerald for a 10-yard catch that kept the drive alive just when Tech could feel the momentum shifting into its favor.
Williams, who finished with 148 yards on 21 carries, caught a screen pass for six yards and rushed to the right for four. Mitchell caught a 14-yard screen pass, and Brown himself picked up 14 yards on a quarterback keeper to break into Tech territory.
On second-and-2 from the Red Raider 34, Mitchell broke through the line, used a downfield block by flanker Mike Adams, and scampered for 26 yards. Two incomplete passes and a holding penalty later, Texas was pushed out of the red zone, facing a second-and-26.
That's when the one player who has been coming up big in recent weeks struck again. Backup flanker Wane McGarity caught a 26-yard pass from Brown with 4:21 to play in the third to cap the drive in dramatic, crowd-silencing fashion.
"If we didn't score on that drive, they probably would have scored again," Williams said. "It probably would have been hard for us to score again and get back in the groove of things."
The key to this drive, as well as to Texas' entire night of 575 yards of total offense, was the play of the offensive line. While it has been spotty at times, Saturday's game was one that saw every trap, sweep and line stunt work almost to perfection.
"Whenever you can move the ball like that, it means that your offensive line is playing hard," Texas guard Dan Neil said. "We wanted to send a statement that we're a good team and a good line, and I think that we took a step in that direction."
Tech was able to answer with a quick-strike blitz of its own. Starting at the 35-yard line, Tech running back Byron Hanspard, who was limited by the Texas defense all night, slipped out to the left side of the field for a gain of 26.
On the next play, Lethridge kept the ball himself and scampered 39 yards for a touchdown drive that only lasted 24 seconds. That cut Tech's 17-point deficit to 10, and Texas took a 35-25 lead into the fourth quarter.
"We just lost to a good Texas team and Texas offense," Hanspard, who was held to a paltry 137 yards and no touchdowns, said. "Today was a very off day."
Just like Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Colorado, things began to look shaky as the fourth quarter wore on. Tech strung together an 11-play, 43-yard drive that stalled around Texas' 25. Red Raider kicker Jaret Greaser's 42-yard field goal was blocked by defensive tackle Gray Mosier, and it seemed that Texas had dodged a bullet.
Unfortunately, the Longhorns weren't able to dodge Tech's Donnie Hart. With 5:02 to play, Lethridge hit Hart on a post route that he took the distance for a 32-yard touchdown. Hart ripped the defensive secondary for 241 yards and two touchdowns.
In a Texas drive that needed to be sustained just to eat up the clock, Brown converted crucial third-and-long passes to Derrick Lewis for 15 yards and to Adams for 16 yards, setting Texas up on Tech's 48.
After trudging ahead down to the Red Raider 37, Mackovic sent out kicker Phil Dawson to try a 53-yard attempt that would essentially swing the momentum into Texas' corner for the rest of the night.
"I tried not to think about the final kick. It's just my job," Dawson said of his true-to-the-mark boot. "I hate being a kicker, because I wish I was out there more."
With 51 seconds to play, Tech still had life. Lethridge hit Stacy Mitchell on a 16-yard slant to set Tech's shop up on Texas' 44. With only six seconds to play, Lethridge's Hail Mary into a mob of red and white jerseys fell incomplete, and Texas embraced in a way it hadn't in several weeks.
"Another squeaker," Texas linebacker Tyson King said. "Tech's a good team, and it came down to the end again. But we've been in that situation before, and we came up with the big plays when we had to.
"We've pulled together as a team, and defensively, I think that we've grown over the last few weeks. We're making the big plays that we didn't make earlier in the season, and I think that it's maturity from the younger guys and the older guys are stepping up."
LUBBOCK -- In a conference full of star running backs, Texas Tech's Byron Hanspard stood out as one of the best. His 201.4 yards per contest led the nation and made him a legitimate candidate for the Heisman Trophy.
But that was before Saturday, when Hanspard became only the third best running back on the field.
Texas tailback Shon Mitchell led the Horns' rushing attack with 150 yards on 15 carries, and fullback Ricky Williams accounted for 143 yards as the Texas ground game stole Hanspard's Heisman spotlight in UT's 38-32 victory over Tech. The Red Raiders' star ran the ball only 22 times for 137 yards, 69 yards below his season average.
"I could have made some cuts or some better plays," Hanspard said. "I have to work on some things this week. Texas was prepared to stop me, and when they key on one person, I am bound to have an off day."
The Longhorn running backs, however, ran through, around, and even over the Tech defense, which came into the game ranked in the top 30 in the four main defensive categories. And for the second year in a row, Williams and Mitchell each gained over 100 yards against the Red Raiders, the only team to do so against Tech in the last two years. The Texas duo also topped 100 yards each against Oklahoma State earlier this season.
The strong running game helped Texas hang on in the fourth quarter, a period that has been drastic for the Horns for much of the season.
"It was a little overwhelming on the field [after the game]," Williams said. "It felt great. We get to go home with our heads up and see the tower lit orange finally."
Mitchell's 65-yard run just 1:16 into the game sparked the Horns to an early lead, and Williams' 75-yard dash in the second quarter put Texas on top, 28-3. It was UT's largest lead of the game, as Tech came storming back in the second half.
But for Texas players, the rushing performance of their two main running backs confirmed what many on the team already believed to be true -- with more carries, Mitchell and Williams could be just as effective as Hanspard.
"I think our running backs feel in their own minds that they're pretty good backs and they wanted to come out and show everybody," Texas offensive guard Dan Neil said. "We were able to get them some holes, and they made some great runs, and it worked out for the best. I'm not going to take anything away from Hanspard. I think he's a great back and he's consistently put up some great numbers, but I wouldn't trade our backs for anybody."
* It took almost five years of waiting, but Texas cornerback Taje Allen finally grabbed his first career interception on Saturday. And to make the night even better, Allen did it in his home town of Lubbock against the college team he watched in high school.
The interception came with 11:13 remaining in the second quarter when Allen leaped in from the sideline and made the catch. Texas Tech quarterback Zebbie Lethridge, who missed a wide-open Field Scovell, was Allen's high school quarterback at Lubbock Estacado.
"It's kind of funny to get my first interception off of him," Allen said. "It was great. I have a lot of family support."
Allen wasn't the only Lubbock native who made his presence known for the Longhorns. UT freshman Aaron Humphrey returned to his home town for the first time this season. The 6-4, 236-pound linebacker led the Longhorns with nine tackles and recorded Texas' only sack of the game in the second quarter.
* For the first time in the history of the annual matchup between Texas Tech and Texas, silver and gold spurs were awarded to the winner. The Tech student association started the tradition to spice up the rivalry between the two schools.
Texas students, however, did not seem to view the game as a bitter rivalry.
As the teams left the field after the game, the Texas band and other Longhorn fans chanted, "We're not rivals."
Texas 14 14 7 3 -- 38
Texas Tech 3 8 14 7 -- 32
Texas Mitchell 65 run (Dawson kick), 1:16
Tech FG Greaser 55, 5:22
Texas Holmes 1 run (Dawson kick), 12:52
Texas Mitchell 7 run (Dawson kick), 5:39
Texas Williams 75 run (Dawson kick), 13:17
Tech Hart 87 pass from Lethridge (Lethridge run), 13:44
Tech Lethridge 5 run (Rogers kick), 3:57
Texas McGarity 26 pass from J.Brown (Dawson kick), 10:39
Tech Lethridge 39 run (Rogers kick), 11:03
Tech Hart 32 pass from Lethridge (Rogers kick), 9:58
Texas FG Dawson 53, 14:09
A--50,607.
Texas Texas Tech
First Downs 30 23
Rushes-Yards 49-336 38-216
Passing 239 392
Comp-Att-Int 19-32-1 15-26-1
Return Yards 27 12
Punts-Avg 5-40.8 3-43.0
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 16-146 13-131
Time of Possession 33:59 26:01
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Texas - Mitchell 15-150, Williams 21-143, J.Brown 8-25, Holmes 5-18.
Texas Tech - Hanspard 22-132, Lethridge 12-72, Ervin 2-10, Jones 2-2.
PASSING
Texas - J.Brown 19-32-1-239.
Texas Tech - Lethridge 14-25-1-364, D.Johnson 1-1-0-28.
RECEIVING
Texas - Adams 5-65, Fitzgerald 4-43, McGarity 3-46, Williams 2-27,
Lewis 2-25, Holmes 1-14, Mitchell 1-14, Davis 1-5.
Texas Tech - Hart 5-241, DuBuc 3-41, McKenzie 3-32, Cartwright 1-28,
Mitchell 2-27, Hanspard 1-23.