Clock management very poor there.
What a game this has been.
Yessssss
HOLYMOTHEROFFUCKINGJESUS
Fucking hell what a finish
Foooootballll
Delighted for the Clemson.
As good as it gets
Watson is a warrior
That looked magnificent. Furious I didnāt stay up to watch it now.
A rollercoaster of emotions on this thread.
1 Like
One of the refs created a stir on the INTERNET last night with these enormous biceps. Useful for throwing linemen aside to get to the bottom of pileup.
Just watched the game there. An unbelievable ending to an unbelievable season. Fair play to Clemson, they wouldnāt have been there if the NC State kicker missed that chip shot, but theyāve been superb in the play offs.
Looking at the betting next year and Alabama are 5/2 favs. Very skinny for a team that will have itās D filleted, expect to see plenty of these guys called on day 1 of the NFL draft. Clemson are a 33/1 shot and could be looking at a year in transition without Watson but look to have recruited the top QBs in the 2017 and 2018 cycle so they should be challenging for years to come.
But amidst all the five star recruits in the Alabama D it was an unheralded walk on that caught the winning TD pass. The beauty of college football.
Jerry Sanduskyās adopted son arrested for kidding fiddling as well.
Joe knew.
Dreadful. Itās likely the son was abused by Sandusky snr, how do you break the chain of abuse? Itās sickening.
Mayfield vs. Mahomes: The inside story of the most offensive night in college football history
By Bruce Feldman
100 
Oklahoma visitsā Texasā Tech onā Nov.ā 3, a matchupā pitting the Soonersā explosive offense against theā Red Raiders, who allow theā lowestā completionāā percentage in the Big 12 and are tied for second in the league in takeaways.
Itās quite a transformation from the last time the Sooners visited Lubbock, on Oct. 22, 2016. That escalated into a shootout between two of college footballās top quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield.
Mahomes and Mayfield set NCAA records for most yards passing and most total yards by opposing players, as did their teams. Mahomes matched the NCAA individual record for passing yards and set the individual record for total yards and plays.
The second half featured 10 consecutive drives for touchdowns. Texas Tech was 20 of 25 on third down.
But the numbers tell only a portion of the story of what was truly a wild night in Lubbock.
āIām happy weāre playing better ācause I really couldnāt figure out why we were struggling,ā said David Gibbs, Texas Techās defensive coordinator since 2015. āIt was driving me crazy. We got everybody back (from last yearās defense). Iām just glad they responded the right way. And now you wanna bring up that frigginā 66-59 game?!ā
āThat frigginā gameā resonates today for a number of reasons. The seven national records it set still stand. The two quarterbacks in it are now the faces of two NFL franchises. And one day after their alma maters meet this weekend, Mahomes and Mayfield will share the field for the first time since āthat frigginā gameā when Mahomesā Chiefs visit Mayfieldās Browns.
I was the sideline reporter that October night for FOX Sports. Oklahoma was 4-2 and ranked No. 16. Tech was 3-3. It was Baker Mayfieldās first game back in Lubbock since transferring out of Tech after his freshman season as a walk-on quarterback. He had played in eight games for the Red Raiders before being sidelined with a knee injury, but he still won Big 12 freshman offensive player of the year honors.
Though Mayfieldās transfer had turned into a messy exit, he had actually been back to Lubbock a few times before returning there with the Sooners. He told me before the game that he didnāt have any hard feelings toward Red Raiders coach Kliff Kingsbury or any of his old Texas Tech teammates, and that he respected that they supported him when the Big 12 schools voted on whether heād get an additional year of eligibility. He said, āI know the fans hate me,ā and that part he liked. āThatās the kind of rivalry stuff that makes college football special.ā
It was a special night in Lubbock. This is how it came about.
Zach Austin, Texas Tech, WR (Baker Mayfieldās high school teammate and best friend): He was staying at my house that weekend (in 2014, the year after heād left Tech). He got kicked out of a Chimyās (a restaurant). He was just sitting there eating. He wasnāt doing anything. It was ridiculous. It was a salty fan, I guess. Someone was mad he was just there. He knew that people just didnāt like him. So, it was hard to go places and not get heckled. People shouting things at him, but heās used to it.
Eric Morris, Texas Tech offensive coordinator 2013-2017 (now head coach at FCS Incarnate Word): Weād recruited him when we got up to Washington State (as Mike Leachās inside receivers coach in 2012). I watched Baker in the spring, and I called Leach about him. The most impressive thing about Baker was how everyone responded to him. He had total control over everything that was going on. They practice early in the morning at 6. Four or five other college coaches were also out there. Some kids get nervous. He didnāt care that we were out there. He had crazy amounts of energy. Everybody wanted to talk about how short he was. I said, āMike, his arm is stronger than the guys weāve offered so far. This guy can rip it. He might only be 6 feet.ā Mike was a little leery of it, but Iād just been around Case Keenum and heās 6-0 at best. Thatās why I was so sold, and we offered him.
When we got to Lubbock when Kliff got hired at Tech, we had Davis Webb committed. We didnāt have a spot. Iād gotten to know Bakerās family pretty well. I think he went on a late visit to TCU, but they didnāt offer him. He wanted to go Power 5. āListen, I know what you can do. Would you be willing to walk on and earn a spot?ā
Zach Austin: Weād visited SMU, North Texas, Texas State, and then we went on a visit to Tech. āLetās do it? Why not? I think we can figure it out.ā They seemed to really like us. They treated us like we werenāt just bodies.
Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech head coach: Our interaction with Baker has never been anything negative ever. Iāve seen him numerous times since he left. Iāve apologized. Weāve talked through things on my end. It was never some hatred. His father had some things to say, and thatās his prerogative. But as far as he and Iās relationship, there was never any falling out or negativity towards each other. Iād say it was a bit misunderstood.
One of my regrets in my time here was how that played out. Just the communication. Just talking through where I viewed him and what I thought of him, why this was going on. Obviously, heās the player, Iām the coach. If there was an issue there, thatās on me. I wish I wouldāve communicated better with him on where we stood. And when I did, it was too little, too late. The scholarship deal (whether the walk-on would be put on scholarship) ā thereās been different views on it. I donāt want to go down that path. I just think letting him know before he made up his mind to transfer, āHey, thereās a reason you were named the starter. This is what I see in your future. This is how I view you as a player.ā Just more open dialogue. By the time we had that conversation, his mind was made up.
Baker Mayfield heard it from Texas Tech fans well before kickoff. (John Weast / Getty Images)
Eric Morris: I was out recruiting when he left. I was in OKC on a home visit with Cameron Batson when he called me. Left the home visit and went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night on the phone with Bakerās dad and Baker. I never saw him again. He left that night. That part of it bothered me. Iām not really surprised that he left. He had thought heād won the job and it shouldāve been back to him. I was as involved in it as anyone, and I just donāt think anyone was at fault. I donāt blame Kliff for the way he handled it, and I donāt blame Baker for the way he handled it. Itās just one of those weird situations.
Zach Austin: He was pretty distraught. Iād like to think it was a tough decision for him because he was leaving us. His options were pretty limited. I donāt think at the time he was 100 percent confident on what he was gonna do. He took a big risk.
Obo Okoronkwo, Oklahoma defensive end/linebacker, 2013-2017: He transferred to OU my redshirt year. We linked up on Twitter. Nobody else on the team paid attention (to Mayfieldās decision to come to Oklahoma). I was like, āYāall know Baker Mayfield just transferred here?ā Nobody really knew what he was about. I knew. Iād watched him play. The swagger just drips off of him.
Kevin Patrick, Texas Tech defensive line coach, 2016 (now N.C. Stateās DL coach): We were driving to the game from the team hotel. We kept seeing Mayfield pictures, saying āF him.ā His jersey was on a dummy which was hung from a building. That atmosphere of that game was pretty unbelievable. It reminded me of my old Miami days when the team was pulling up to the stadium. It was like FSU coming into Miami. It was angry. Those fans were ready to go.
I usually go out on the field two to three hours before kickoff. I think as soon as I got on the field, I could hear the chants from the Red Raiders fans. Usually when there are chants from a crowd it can be pretty tough to figure out what they are yelling. Not that night.
FUCK YOU, BA-KER!
FUCK YOU, BA-KER!
Jim Ross, die-hard Sooners fan and pro wrestling legend: One thing you can say about Texas Tech and their fan base, especially the student section, they can make it uncomfortable for anybody thatās not a Tech fan. I wasnāt surprised with the tension and the angst. It was like Baker was a pro wrestling villain coming back that had been on their side and left them or a great tag team where one of them decided to turn on the other. Their whole attitude was, āHey, Baker. You deserted us, and our new guy is better than you ever were.ā
Kliff Kingsbury: It was pretty audible. The chant was something you couldnāt not hear.
Jim Ross: This was downright rude and coarse. There were women and children and grandmas and grandpas there. Are they really saying what I think theyāre saying? Youād think they had have been morals and class without using the F-bomb. It was incessant pretty much the whole game.
Mike Stoops, Oklahoma defensive coordinator, 1999-2003, 2012-2018: That was playing right into Bakerās hands.
Dimitri Flowers, OU fullback, 2014-2017: In warm-ups, he was just laughing about it. You knew he was going to shut them up. Baker thrives on the negative energy.
Kingsbury: Heās always looking for a reason to be fired up and to try and shove it up somebodyās rear. Iām sure he was juiced up, and that probably had him even more fired up than he normally is.
Okoronkwo: We were just laughing (about those chants). Weāre gonna beat on āem a little extra harder because of that. He was laser-focused. Heās usually a guy who has fun. He took that one personal. Weāre pretty close friends. I knew he was gonna try to kill them. Show them that they messed up and he should still be their quarterback.
Tyler Tettleton, Oklahoma offensive graduate assistant, 2014-2017 (now in the New York Jets personnel department): That chip Baker always has on his shoulder was even bigger that week. You could tell he was pretty fired up to face Kliff and those guys. You could see something in his eyes that night.
Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma offensive coordinator, 2015-2016 (now Oklahoma head coach): I think it helped that we had played them the year before, so it certainly had a different feel in Lubbock. I honestly thought he was just OK with how heād handled it the year before. I thought he was a little riled up his sophomore year for the game in Norman. And I thought he tried to do too much. I didnāt say much to him on game day. It was more through the week. Have fun. Enjoy the moment and all of that, but weāve also gotta be poised and act like a junior and a guy that has done this before, not a sophomore.
Give him credit. He found the perfect balance in that game. Part of what makes him great is environments like that. He wants the crowds to chant that. He fed off of it in the right way. He stayed focused and stayed locked in.
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma head coach, 1999-2016: My talk with him was well ahead of the game, on Thursday or Friday. āDonāt make too much of the game being back there. Donāt make this about you and them. Donāt make it a personal deal. You gotta trust our offensive system. Take what is there. Donāt try and do too much. Youāve been too good. Everything has been too positive to change anything just for this game.ā I just trusted that he would know how to balance it. I just wanted to remind him of it, donāt let too much of your emotions change the way heād been playing.
Unlike Mayfield, I donāt think most college football fans outside of the state of Texas knew much about Mahomes going into that night other than perhaps that his father, Pat Sr., had spent about a decade in the major leagues as a pitcher.
B.J. Anderson, Texas A&M offensive line coach, 2012-2014: I brought Patās film to Kliff in 2012, in what I think was his junior year at Whitehouse (High School in Whitehouse, Texas). āI need you to evaluate this guy. How hard do I need to chase him?ā
Kingsbury: B.J., who recruited East Texas, had brought me the tape. He talked about Patās dad and watched his dad play basketball and baseball and was this East Texas legend. āHey, this kid is starting to light it up,ā so I watched him. You could see he was really raw but was athletic and had this huge arm. This was after his junior year. I took this job, and we were looking at QBs, and I fell in love with him and his ability to extend the play. Heās just got the It factor written all over him, and thatās when we went hard after him.
Patrick Mahomes may not have anticipated setting national records when he stepped off the bus at his home stadium, but he had the confidence to know it was possible. (Michael C. Johnson / USA TODAY Sports)
Jake Spavital, Texas A&M offensive coordinator, 2013-2015 (now West Virginiaās offensive coordinator): When I got to Texas A&M, I got there late. There was Kyle Allen and Pat Mahomes (on the QB recruiting board). Mahomes was a freak. So much fun to watch. He was scrawny at the time. Cool family. Great kid. You could tell that there was a growth spurt about to happen. Phenomenal player. You watched him and thought, āWas he a developmental guy?ā We had that national brand with Johnny (Manziel). Where do we go with this? Kyle was really good. He could make all of the throws. Very smart kid. Great work ethic. Just a solid kid. Thereās so many factors that go into it. He was the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country. He could bring in some guys. We got Christian Kirk because of Kyle. It helped with a bunch of other guys.
Kingsbury: At Tech, we were the only ones to offer him. When you watched him in high school, he dominated. Mechanics-wise and footwork-wise, he was all over the place, but with him playing all those sports, I thought if you could have him focus just on football with that skill set, that arm strength and size, the sky was the limit. Those different arm angles roaming to his right and to his left, and to still be accurate and have zip on the ball, Iāve never seen anything quite like that.
Patrick Mahomes: (Kingsbury) only had one quarterback (Davis Webb), and he knew I couldāve been drafted high in baseball, but that just showed me how much trust and loyalty he had in me, and that he had bought into me.
Kevin Patrick: When I first got hired at Tech (going into Mahomesā junior season), I heard he was good, but when you see it live, thatās when itās āGood God, heās special.ā My first scrimmage in spring, Mahomes rolled out of the pocket on his own. Iām standinā with Gibby, and Mahomes is running at me to his right towards the sideline. He winked at me right as he threw a (no-look) 40-yard missile across the field into the tightest window. I said to Gibby, āDid that (dude) just wink at me?ā Gibby just smirked.
Mahomes: We started doing (those no-look throws) as a joke, but then we saw how it started working and now itās on its own level. I think a lot of it is from baseball and how I could sling the ball across the diamond. I played shortstop my whole life. I never had my feet under me. I was always making throws across my body. I always have played a lot of basketball and thrown a lot of āno-lookā passes, and this is me using all the stuff Iāve grown up doing.
Kingsbury: Thereās always that fine line with him where you didnāt want to pull the reins too much because you wanted him to have that mindset because he was so good at it, and it was such a big part of his game. You just wanted him to have that pre-snap plan: āOK, whatās it look like, pre-snap? Do I have my first read? Let me get to my second read, my third read and then letās get to that mode.ā Initially, it was 1-2-3, heād pause for a second and then he was gonna get out and do his deal. His understanding of our system, getting reps and going through his reads and having a pre-snap plan ā¦ he worked hard at it and got better and better at it. We were walking that line a little better.
Back in Lubbock, it wasnāt just the profane chants that were greeting Mayfield and the Sooners. All through the crowd, fans wore āTraitorā T-shirts with the outline of the state of Oklahoma.
Zach Austin: He asked me to get him one. I think he wore one the next week. He loves that mentality. He loves trash talking and, obviously, he likes backing it up. Not a lot of people can do that.
Randi Mahomes, Patrickās mother: You know how at Tech during certain times of the game everyone throws tortillas? Well, they put the family on the opposite side, so we were sitting right behind the OU bench. Patrickās brother, (16-year-old) Jackson, threw a tortilla and it hit Baker Mayfield ā and he didnāt know it was Patrick Mahomesā brother. His brother wasnāt throwing it to be mean. He was doing it to be funny. Iāve always said heās my class clown. Baker picked it up and took a bite out of it. Then Patrickās brother got thrown out of the game.
Teddy Lehman, Oklahoma linebacker turned radio sideline analyst: At home, he has 85,000 fans in the palm of his hands. And on the road, he has 85,000 in the palm of his hands. Everyone is watching his every move. Iāve never seen anyone like it. Baker has this showman quality. Everyone follows his every move, and itās gonna be the same in the NFL. I knew he was gonna light āem up that night. What I didnāt know was that Pat Mahomes was gonna go for 800 yards himself. As a defensive guy, I point at that game as the most miserable 4Ā½ hours of my life.
Eric Morris: Iāll never forget this, Patrick made a check and threw a slant to Jonathan Giles. He fumbled it. We already had three or four first downs. I think the very next play, they hit (Joe) Mixon on a seam route. (It was actually three plays later, and it was Dede Westbrook on a 49-yard post pattern.) They got a leg up on us in the scoring battle. That fumble still haunts me.
Actually, the Mixon touchdown pass on the seam route, where he juked Techās safety into oblivion, was the first touchdown of the night and it came only 90 seconds into the first quarter. The Westbrook touchdown pass, OUās second score, came 3Ā½ minutes into the game.
JahāShawn Johnson, Texas Tech safety, 2015-present: On that Mixon touchdown, it was actually the linebacker who was supposed to take him. I tried to collusion him (to slow Mixon down.) Heās an elusive back. He made his move. I didnāt know he was that good out of the backfield.
Morris: They had more weapons than Iād ever seen. The tight end (Mark Andrews) they had, Dede Westbrook and those two running backs. It was pick your poison. Lincoln did a really good job of finding one-on-one matchups. Heās more of an NFL mind in that aspect in how he tries to isolate certain guys.
Jason Reed, Texas Tech recruiting coordinator: They score again and make it 13-0, and itās like, āOh, shit.ā
Jonathan Giles, Texas Tech wideout, 2015-2016 (now at LSU): I was very hyped. It took me a while to get in a groove and settle down because we knew how big of a game that was. They did a few things that were different on film ā they were more of a man coverage team. Besides Oklahoma State, they were one of the only teams in the Big 12 that play man a lot. But in that game, they were playing a lot of Cover 2, Cover 4 and some bend-but-donāt-break stuff, and that kinda threw us off a little bit.
Dennis Simmons, Oklahoma outside receivers coach, 2015-present: On that touchdown pass to Dede, weād told him in practice, āWeāre probably not gonna throw this to you.ā But they left him one-on-one, and he just took off. It was like a man among boys. Dede was stupid fast. He understood when to turn on that speed. Heād just gotten healthy from a hamstring problem that had slowed him down early in the season.
Eric Morris: Giles came back and made some big plays for us that night. How many yards receiving did Giles have?
Giles had 167, Keke Coutee, 173, Cameron Batson had 99. Westbrook nine catches for 202. Mixon had 114 receiving and 263 rushing. Pat threw for 734 and ran for 85.
Morris: It was like a video game on an easy setting.
Giles: In the second quarter, I relaxed a bit. Pat came over to me, said, āKeep your head up. Iām gonna come back to you.ā He believes in me. It really helped me cool down.
Mason Reed, Texas Tech fullback, 2014-present: All through practice that whole week, the coaches taught us, when they get up on us, we knew not to get down on ourselves. We were confident in Pat and in the offense.
Eric Morris: We had a third-and-long on that next series, Patrick threw a corner route to Cameron Batson that wasnāt part of his reads. That was maybe the best throw Iād seen him make at Texas Tech, and I know that says a lot. He dropped it in the bucket to a 5-7 receiver from the far hash across the field into pretty good coverage. That play is designed to beat zone, not man. But they went man coverage. Usually, weāll check out of it. (The receiver) is supposed to get the safety out of there. Very few quarterbacks would even attempt that throw in college. Weāre on the verge of them jumping on us. After he rips that throw, itās āOK, here we go.ā
Giles: It was like the momentum turned. At home, down 13-0, the fans werenāt really into it. They had the momentum. Once he got that corner route and we moved into their territory, the momentum changed. It helped us realize that we can play with these boys.
Kingsbury: Pat was actually playing with an AC sprain (in his throwing shoulder) the entire season. More limited in practice than we wouldāve liked him to be. He had that, and then he broke his left wrist early in that game, too. He had to have surgery before the draft, but we didnāt know heād broken it in the game. He just said, āTape it up, and letās go!ā Heās one of the tougher players Iāve ever been around. In his sophomore year in 2015, he had a second-degree MCL sprain against TCU. We put a brace on it, and he stayed in that game. He played in the next game. He could power through some things that not many people can.
Giles: He broke his wrist in that game? I had no idea.
Okoronkwo: He made this one play on a third-and-(12 with 12:35 left in the second from the Tech 23.) He shouldāve been sacked by Neville Gallimore, who had chased him to our sideline and had him wrapped up. Neville slid off him like he was on pole and then just launched it like 40 yards downfield to get the first down. Like, come on!
We definitely were getting there, but heās so good at buying an extra half second and throwing across his body. I still canāt fathom how he was doing it. Heās not like a Kyler Murray, who is quick and small. Mahomes is a legit 6-4, 230, and heās so slippery. I got a sack on him, but I got there at least three times. Those swipes at his legs ā they arenāt doing anything to him. Iāve watched that game 14 times. It was one of my darker moments.
Even when players like Neville Gallimore (90) got Mahomes off balance, it didnāt matter. It might have played to his strengths. (John Weast / Getty Images)
Davis Webb, Texas Tech QB, 2013-2015 (now New York Giants quarterback): We had our game the night before (a 52-49 Cal win against over Oregon), so I got to watch this one with my teammates. Iām a big Pat fan. Iād heard from a few birdies in that facility that Pat was not fully healthy, but on game day he was pretty special. My jaw dropped watching that. (Then-Cal offensive coordinator) Jake (Spavital) and I would watch film of all of Techās games on Sundays. It was always fun to see what Coach Kliff had in for each week. I knew Pat was really special from that last game of his freshman year against Baylor. Iād been hurt. He threw for 598 yards that day (in a 48-46 loss), and heād gotten better from there. You knew he had a big arm and he saw the game different.
Eric Morris: Jarrett Stidham (the nationās No. 2 QB prospect as a high school senior) was at that Baylor game on a visit and saw Mahomes throw for like 600 yards. He had been committed for a year to Tech, and he decommitted the next day. The sad part is Stidham would be at Tech right now ripping it up.
Late in the second quarter, Tech stopped Oklahoma on downs and took over at its own 20. Mahomes led an eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that took just 86 seconds and culminated on what might have been the best catch of the night. Giles dived into the right corner of the end zone and snagged a pass with his fingernails. It gave Tech its first and only lead of the night at 24-23.
Jonathan Giles: Iām running a corner route. I knew he was gonna throw it because that was one of the times they played man, which we expected. The DB was playing inside leverage, so I knew I had him beat going to the corner. When I broke to the corner and saw the ball coming, to be honest, I didnāt think I was gonna be able to get it because of how low and outside it was. I just closed my eyes, dove and stretched my hands out and felt the tip of the ball on my fingertips and squeezed it as hard as I could. The funny thing is, the week of the game, Iād jammed my finger. It was harder to make that catch, but I think, at the same time, maybe you focus more on the ball. One of the trainers had said that week itād be funny if I made a finger-tip catch, and it ended up happening. So right after that, the trainer came up to me and said, āSee, just like we said it was gonna happen.ā
There was only (37 seconds) left. We expected them to take a knee and go into the half but, of course, they had Baker Mayfield.
Breiden Fehoko, Texas Tech defensive tackle, 2015-2016 (now at LSU): We thought they werenāt gonna be that aggressive. But they just came out ā boom-boom. Baker had launched a 50- or 60-yard pass to Westbrook that took them deep into our territory. Nobody was expecting that. They literally scored in four or five plays.
Actually, it was only two plays later.
Fehoko: See. Yeah. Thatās how fast it was. I probably gave myself credit and thought the drive was longer. It was such a momentum killer. For us to take the lead like that and then lose the lead in two plays, it was demoralizing. āThey just did that? That easy? In our house?ā
Fehoko: See. Yeah. Thatās how fast it was. I probably gave myself credit and thought the drive was longer. It was such a momentum killer. For us to take the lead like that and then lose the lead in two plays, it was demoralizing. āThey just did that? That easy? In our house?ā
Gibbs: At halftime, I told āem, āJust keep fighting. Just keep fighting.ā Back then, I never tried to challenge āem: āWe gotta do this. We gotta do that.ā I couldāve done whatever I wanted. It didnāt matter. We were just overmatched. I knew that. My two safeties ā neither one of āem weighed 175 pounds. Theyāre trying to tackle a frigginā running back who weighed 240. We couldnāt do it.
JahāShawn Johnson: Gibbs told us, āThereās no magic calls. We just have to line up and execute the calls,ā which we didnāt do that night.
Okoronkwo: Mike (Stoops) was livid at halftime. It was like we were playing super horrible. We switched our fronts twice, changed up coverages, put guys into different positions.
Jonathan Giles: Patrick told us, āHey, weāre right where we want to be. Just keep making plays.ā
Baker Mayfield to the Associated Press that night: I told some of the guys at halftime, āIf youāre scared and you donāt want every drive, then stay in here.ā
I thought it was kind of ironic that, before the game, Tech honored Zach Thomas, who was probably the greatest defensive player in school history, for going into the College Football Hall of Fame. I imagined Thomas vomiting somewhere in Jones Stadium if he was still watching this. With a 30-24 halftime score and some bloated stat lines, word about the wild game started to spread on social media.
Justin Dunning, Texas A&M linebacker (high school teammate of Patrick Mahomes): We played Alabama that day, but Iād tore my ACL in fall camp and was back home with my family in Whitehouse. The poise Patrick showed that night in moments of adversity. A lot of Whitehouse guys on Twitter were saying it was just like his (final high school game in the Texas 4A Division II playoffs) against Mesquite Poteet. Dude threw for 600 yards (605 actually). It was almost the exact same score ā 65-60. They had (five-star Texas recruit) Malik Jefferson. The most impressive thing is he was pretty much playing the same way in high school. A lot of people in his hometown didnāt think it was gonna translate to college. Same way people didnāt think it would translate to the NFL.
Brett Veach, Kansas City Chiefs general manager: I was watching. I donāt remember where I was, whether I was home or on the road. The one thing that was consistent when you watched Pat was ā everyone talks about the arm strength, and that was unquestionable that he had rare arm strength and creativity and instincts. But the one thing you took away from the game is that he had the innate ability to make people around him better. That is a special quality.
Teddy Lehman: The perception over the last decade has been this running joke, that they donāt play defense in the Big 12. That was the narrative. Iām thinking, āOh, my God! People on ESPN and FOX and all over talk radio are gonna have a field day with this.ā It was wide-open touchdown after wide-open touchdown, and at the time who thought we were looking at two future NFL starting QBs?
Tom McConnaughey, Chargers scout (one of four NFL scouts in attendance that night): There were guys I was looking at, especially some defensive backs, and they had a fairly good front. It was like āWow, this is like flag football out here.ā So many missed tackles. Iām an old high school coach and had a couple of years in college, and I wonder why people donāt press good receivers and good passing teams more. When thereās a good thrower and good receivers, you gotta do something to knock off their timing and disrupt whatever rhythm they have. It was frustrating to watch. Itās not what Iād call good football. I donāt think itās good for college football to see score after score. I can go to an Arena League game and see that.
Billy Johnson, Rams scout (turns out it was actually only three NFL scouts in attendance that night): I was scheduled to attend that game and made it to the parking lot but never went in because of food poisoning. The thing I remember most from that night is never eat oysters in Amarillo, Texas. Wish I could be more of a help because of how magical that night was, but unfortunately for me, it was the complete opposite. It was a valuable lesson as a young scout.
Brady Quinn, FOX Sports analyst (former NFL quarterback): Joe (Davis) and I kinda looked at each other thinking, āThereās no way this game is gonna get more hectic than it was in the first half,ā and it did.
Mixon had a 68-yard touchdown run on Oklahomaās first play of the second half, breaking or evading eight tackles along the way.
Lincoln Riley: It was called back. But to this day, it might be the best run that Iāve ever seen. We ran an outside zone play, and it was dead. He just wiggled his way and then reversed field. He ended up breaking several tackles. You ended up feeling it was just that kind of night where the bad plays and bad calls were working.
Kenny Bell, Texas Tech, director of football operations, 2013-present: We had a three-and-out to start the second half, and that was actually the game. After that, they couldnāt stop us. It was how many straight touchdown drives?
Ten.
Bell (scanning the stat sheet): Look at that. Unbelievable.
Mike Stoops: I thought they were tuned into our press box or something. That was the best display by two quarterbacks Iād ever seen.
Zac Spavital, Texas Tech linebackers coach, 2015-present: I would hear āPunt team up!ā over the headset (before a Tech third-down play), and then Pat would complete a 20-yard pass. I think that happened like eight times in a row. This was ridiculous.
Mike Stoops: You could see all these different arm angles with Mahomes. Heās throwing on the run, a lot like Baker. He could read defenses. He knew where your weaknesses were. Heād hit it in windows between the ābackers. Weād rush five or six ā youād play a lot of zones; youād drop eight on him, and heād create space and scramble for the first down. He was a tough guy to fool. Youād blitz and two guys would have him, and then heād throw a dart to somebody ā āOh, come on! You gotta be kidding me!ā Guys are just shaking their heads. He picked us apart. There was nothing we could do. We were pretty defenseless.
Tyler Tettleton: Itās like you almost had to be perfect on every single play, on every single drive. He was hitting on all of these phenomenal plays. We were up almost the whole game, and he was putting so much heat on us. It was pretty remarkable.
David Gibbs: I have a deal where we do not watch our offense. We coach our guys. It started when I first got to Tech, when we were even worse. I said, āIf we play this bad on defense, why are we not coaching our guys every second of every game? Why canāt we coach āem?ā The only series I watch is if we get the ball first at the half. The rest of it my guys donāt watch.
I had no idea what they were doing. I know they kept making great plays because I kept hearing the crowd. Iām like, āHoly shit.ā After the game, I had to go watch it because I aināt stupid; Iām like, āHow in the world did they keep us in it?ā Iām just glad Iām out of those years and those quarterbacks are gone.
JahāShawn Johnson: Iām probably the worst at listening to adjustments on the sideline. Iām trying to watch Pat.
Jason Reed: The play I remember the most from that night: We had them in like a third-and-5 early in the third quarter. The crowdās going crazy. OU called a timeout. We felt like we had the perfect blitz call. Gary Moore, this long, really athletic kid, was a stand-up (end) to the boundary and was supposed to peel (back) if the back free releases. But he saw that he was unblocked and kept going. Baker throws it over to Mixon out of the backfield. He sticks one hand out, catches without breaking stride for like 50 and a touchdown.
Gibbs: We had told the kid in the huddle to peel it, and he didnāt take it. At least if he peels it, Bakerās gotta make the right throw. But he didnāt even peel it, and there was nobody covering him. We played man-free. Weāre blitzing linebackers inside to make Baker throw it quicker. He did throw it quick. He probably couldnāt have covered him, but Gary Moore was a legit 4.5 guy. Our best athlete. Usually, if you peel it, the QB panics and throws it over their head or scrambles. To Bakerās credit, he made the play. Was it a bad call? Probably. At the end of the day, they were all bad calls that night.
Kevin Patrick: (Moore) stood there like a deer in headlights. āOh (crap). Thatās mine.ā That proved to be the difference in the game. Gary is fast enough. He just had to have his eyes on keys. If he goes with Mixon, make the ball bounce off the back of his helmet. But thatās on me. When guys donāt do what theyāre supposed to do, thatās on the coach. That was the most haunting play of the game.
Kingsbury: I remember looking at Baker after that. Heās just smiling because he knew he hadnāt put a great ball on him. He was just kinda laughing.
Dimitri Flowers: It was an insane play how easy it was for (Mixon). He made it look effortless. And thatās not an easy play to make. Holy (crap)! He really just did that?
Mixon: I just went on a wheel, Baker threw it out, and I caught the ball with one hand and scored a touchdown.
The combination of Mayfield and Joe Mixon (25), who rushed for 265 yards and two touchdowns, was too much for the Red Raiders to stop. (Michael C. Johnson / USA TODAY Sports)
Gibbs: Iām good friends with Cale Gundy. I GAāed at OU when Cale was the quarterback. Before that game, Cale told me Mixonās special, and I believed him. Physically, we couldnāt tackle him. Couldnāt cover him. He made all the plays. Well, him and Baker. And Dede Westbrook.
Kevin Patrick: We had a free safety who was a walk-on. Great kid. Iām watching him come running to our sideline to make the tackle. Heās got the angle on Mixon, but Mixon is a big dude. The play happened 2 yards away from me. It was like a bug on a windshield. I was ready to call the trainers over.
Patrick Mahomes: The play I remember the most is one where I scrambled out to the left. It was second-and-long (it was actually a third-and-16 from the OU 41 with 4:20 remaining in the third quarter and the Red Raiders trailing 44-31), and I threw it into the end zone. It probably should have gotten picked, and my receiver (Jonathan Giles) made a great play and caught a touchdown. I remember coming to the sideline, and Coach Kingsbury, who was actually mad at me, saying, āYou canāt just throw it up like that.ā I always remember that because youāve got to know when to take those chances and when not to. Iāll always remember that play.
Jonathan Giles: It was a middle read for me. So if it was two-high (deep safety coverage), take the middle. If it was one-high, I run a dig or an in route. It was two-high, and Iām just running and I look back and see two safeties converging on me. I see one of them stepping to the left, so I roll around to the end zone to get across his face. I thought Pat was gonna throw it away. I knew he was fixing to let it go because he turned his shoulders right at me. He launched. I just fought my way because I knew I had to make that play, and somehow I caught it. I didnāt even know (Kingsbury was mad at Mahomes). I couldnāt hear anything at that point. That stadium was too loud, and my teammates were celebrating with me.
Joe Mixon: Really, (weāre) just scoring a lot of points and expecting the defense to get the ball. It wasnāt happening, so there was some frustration. Sometimes it be like that.
The Mixon catch-and-run gave Oklahoma a 44-31 lead. The defenses couldnāt get a stop on the final seven drives. Tech went 9-of-10 on third downs. The Red Raidersā defense only got Oklahoma into a third down once more, on a third-and-2, which Mixon, running out of the Wildcat formation, picked up to end the game.
David Gibbs: In my mind, Baker had a better team. I donāt want to speak for the offense because that wouldnāt be fair. Defensively, we donāt have one kid on our roster that couldāve gone to Oklahoma. We still donāt. For our kids to be fighting āem and doing those things, thatās what college football is all about. They kept fighting. To our offenseās credit ā we had some NFL guys over there, they kept battling back and battling back. Never got down. Never got frustrated.
Teddy Lehman: I thought Mahomes was unreal. Iām standing there on the sideline, watching him scramble and fight off sacks, but I was always watching him throw guys open which doesnāt happen in college. Heās not a Texas Tech system QB. Most of those guys are in the pocket, throwing bubble screens and tunnel screens. Heās pushing the ball down the field, using his athleticism in the run game; heās improvising. Heād roll out to his right, and the guy would stop his route, and Mahomes was throwing it to open areas. Thatās high-level stuff. Baker has a great arm and can rip it when heās on platform. Pat Mahomes can send it on a laser when heās got guys hanging off of him.
Mahomes was as dangerous with his feet as his arm, rushing for 85 yards and two touchdowns. (Michael C. Johnson / USA TODAY Sports)
Gibbs: I see it every day in practice. My first year here, I had a false perception of him and us because we were always around him: āThis play is over.ā I didnāt realize until we started playing games and heās live just how good he was because, yeah, somebody was right there but they still gotta tackle him. Even now in pro football, weāre all witnessing: How many guys actually get him on the ground? Not many. I coached up at that level for nine years. I know the kind of guys that are chasing him and trying to get him on the ground, and he does not panic. He makes plays. Itās just who he is.
Morris: I once talked to his dad about (Patrick) never backing down to pressure and not getting rattled. His dad goes, āYou gotta remember heās literally been on the field playing catch with Alex Rodriguez at Yankee Stadium when he was a little. He thought that was normal. He didnāt know any better.ā Him just being around all of that baseball stuff at such a young age. He was good at every sport. Iāve seen him being dominant in basketball. Dunking on people. Throwing 95 on the mound. He just loves to compete.
Randi Mahomes: When me and his dad got married, it was after we had him. He was in the wedding and on stage with the little pillow (as the ring bearer). He yells at my niece who was in the wedding, āBreyden! Catch!ā and he threw the little pillow across the stage. That was him just wanting to play at all times. He was about 3. Thatās been him from Day 1.
Patrick Mahomes: I think the baseball had me prepared from being the pitcher. I didnāt know I had thrown that many times. I remember one of my buddies who was my roommate my freshman year of college, he came up to me the last drive and was like, āYou have 77 pass attempts right now.ā I was like, āMan thatās a lot of passes.ā
Bob Stoops: I had a conversation with Lincoln part way into the fourth quarter. Lincoln came up to me asked how we should play it. āDo you want me to milk some clock?ā I said, āMan, no. Whatever you gotta do, score, because I just donāt trust it. The clock stops on first downs in college ball. That clock doesnāt move very fast. Donāt worry about eating up clock. Just score. Thatās how this game is going.ā
Mayfield did not stick around the field very long after the 66-59 game went final. (Michael C. Johnson / USA TODAY Sports)
The game ended with Oklahoma running out the final 98 seconds. Itās been the only time in four years Iāve done a post-game interview of a player off the field. OU didnāt want Mayfield out there where people could throw stuff at him, so we went about as far up the ramp as we could and still get an audio signal. It didnāt stop someone from throwing a half-full bottle of water at us, though.
Baker Mayfield, on the ramp: (Mahomes) is a heck of player. Heās a heck of an athlete. There were a lot of times when you thought he was getting sacked. He was making something out of nothing. All of the credit to him. He should be very happy with what he did. Itās always fun to go up against a guy like that.
Teddy Lehman: The looks on the OU defensive playersā faces after the game was like they had just watched their dog get run over by a truck.
Kevin Patrick: We passed Mike Stoops, and some of the OU guys walking by the end zone to the locker rooms. You couldnāt tell who won or lost by looking at their faces.
Zac Spavital: I looked at Mike, and we just both shook our heads. I said, āLife in the Big 12. Good luck next week.ā
Mike Stoops: It was pretty miserable.
Tom McConnaughey, Chargers scout: The only regret I have is that I didnāt yell louder in our war room to get Mahomes on our team. Some of our scouts who hadnāt seen him when they got to watch him, their jaws dropped when they saw his arm strength and the tools. The one thing I did say in my report at the end is, āHey, weāve gotta have this guy. And if we canāt get him, we donāt want him in our division.ā And sure enough, thatās what happened.
Texas Tech finished the 2016 season last in the nation in defense. The Sooners ranked No. 82. It didnāt help the Big 12ās reputation that the conference didnāt have a single defense ranked in the nationās top 50 and that had nine of its 10 teamsā defenses ranked No. 73 or worse.
Yet, the Big 12 did have the stingiest defenses of any Power 5 league when it came to fewest points allowed in the bowl season. The following spring the Kansas City Chiefs moved up to No. 10 to pick Mahomes in the first round. He is now the NFLās leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns.
In 2017, Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy, and this past spring was drafted No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Browns. Eleven of the skill-position players on Oklahoma and Texas Tech have been on NFL rosters, with some still competing in college football.
Lincoln Riley: I really believe that game got an incredibly unfair rap. I think a lot of people that saw the numbers and the score after the game and didnāt watch it missed out. I think a lot of people that commented about it in the media after the game are people that didnāt sit there and watch it or werenāt at the game. It was a great college football game.
I donāt know it all, but Iāve certainly seen a lot of good offensive performances over the years, and the way those two quarterbacks and those two offenses played that night, theyād have scored on anybody and everybody. It was a great college football game. The people there saw it that night. They oughta consider themselves lucky because, chances are, theyāll never see anything like it again.
Contributing: Jay Morrison, Nate Taylor
(Top photos by USA TODAY Sports)