Harrell rallies Texas Tech to avoid Baylor's upset bid

 

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• Texas Tech loses top receiver Crabtree to injury

Top 25 Overview

It was over when... McKinner Dixon sacked Baylor QB Robert Griffin on fourth down with 3:32 left. Gameball goes to... Graham Harrell, who rallied the Red Raiders with 309 yards passing and two TDs. Stat of the game... 21. The Red Raiders scored the final 21 points to stay alive in the Big 12 race. Complete Top 25 Overview

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	19	24
Total Yards	320	365
Passing	91	309
Rushing	229	56
Penalties	6-40	2-25
3rd Down Conversions	7-12	9-13
4th Down Conversions	2-3	2-2
Turnovers	1	2
Possession	28:19	31:41

Air/Ground Leaders
Baylor Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Griffin 12/15 91 1 1 Wright 0/1 0 0 0	Texas Tech Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Harrell 41/50 309 2 1
Baylor Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Finley 15 105 0 47 Griffin 18 99 2 25	Texas Tech Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Woods 11 43 1 10 Batch 10 28 2 12
Baylor Receiving   REC YDS TD LG White 4 39 0 19 Gettis 2 22 0 13	Texas Tech Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Lewis 9 68 1 17 Crabtree 9 63 0 18

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				BAY	TTU
	TD	10:29	Eric Morris 6 Yd Pass From Graham Harrell (Matt Williams Kick)	0	7
	TD	03:13	Robert Griffin 1 Yd Run (Ben Parks Kick)	7	7
	TD	00:07	Robert Griffin 13 Yd Run (Pat Failed)	13	7
SECOND QUARTER				BAY	TTU
	TD	07:18	Baron Batch 1 Yd Run (Matt Williams Kick)	13	14
	TD	00:01	Ernest Smith 1 Yd Pass From Robert Griffin (Robert Griffin Pass To Kendall Wright For Two-Point Conversion)	21	14
THIRD QUARTER				BAY	TTU
	TD	11:04	Jacoby Jones 1 Yd Run (Ben Parks Kick)	28	14
	TD	05:52	Shannon Woods 1 Yd Run (Matt Williams Kick)	28	21
FOURTH QUARTER				BAY	TTU
	TD	12:20	Baron Batch 3 Yd Run (Matt Williams Kick)	28	28
	TD	06:14	Detron Lewis 4 Yd Pass From Graham Harrell (Matt Williams Kick)	28	35

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Mike Leach had a novel idea about how to break a possible three-way tie in the Big 12 South following No. 7 Texas Tech's 35-28 win against Baylor.

Forget the BCS and head-to-head matchups. Go to the report cards, Leach suggested.

Fast Facts

• Texas Tech improved to 11-1, just the third 11-win season in school history (1953, 1973).

• Graham Harrell tossed two touchdowns passes, giving him 130 for his career, one shy of tying Colt Brennan for the most touchdown passes on FBS history.

• Texas Tech was held to under 400 yards of total offense for the first time this season.

-- ESPN research

They are STUDENT-athletes.

"I think they should break that three-way tie based on a graduation rate. I think the Big 12 conference should have an executive session tonight," the Texas Tech coach said Saturday. "And I think when they do that they will find that no one's more deserving than the Red Raiders to win Big 12 South."

Tech last month announced that an NCAA report showed its football team had a graduation rate of 79 percent to lead the Big 12. The NCAA report showed the football rate for Texas at 50 percent and Oklahoma at 46 percent -- at the bottom of the Big 12.

The Red Raiders are really good on the field, too.

Graham Harrell capped a 21-point rally for Texas Tech with a touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter and the Red Raiders kept their hopes for a Big 12 South title alive with the victory. Harrell injured two fingers on his left hand in the second quarter and is scheduled for surgery Sunday. The injury will not keep him from playing next week, if the Red Raiders have a game.

A win by the Sooners creates a three-way tie for the Big 12 South with Texas and Texas Tech, leaving it to Sunday's BCS standings to determine which team will play the Tigers in Kansas City, Mo. The Red Raiders have little hope of coming out on top in that scenario.

Texas Tech (11-1, 7-1) won 11 games in a season for the third time in the program's 84 years. But if things don't fall right, the Red Raiders' reward could be nothing more than a Cotton Bowl bid, left out of the BCS in favor of the Longhorns and Sooners.

Texas needed a Baylor victory to clinch the division title, and for a while the Bears must have had the Longhorns pumped up.

Tech looked flat a week after the Sooners beat them 65-21, ending the Red Raiders' perfect season.

"That first half was one to not be proud of and the second half was one to be incredibly proud of," Leach said. "I think key leaders, like Graham Harrell, were instrumental to playing the way we did in the second half."

The Bears led 21-14 at halftime, and scored on their opening possession of the second half with Jacoby Jones capping a 78-yard drive on a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 28-14.

Texas Tech took control from there -- without All-American Michael Crabtree, who left with a right foot injury midway through the second quarter and did not return.

The Red Raiders got a 1-yard TD run by Shannon Woods, a 3-yard touchdown run by Baron Batch and a Harrell's 4-yard touchdown pass to Detron Lewis to go up 35-28.

Lewis' touchdown came after Tech linebacker Brian Duncan intercepted a pass by Robert Griffin on Baylor's 40.

"You can't continually stop them," first-year Baylor coach Art Briles said. "Name me someone that has in the last 55 ball games, maybe one or two games."

Harrell was 41-of-50 for two touchdowns and 309 yards. He was intercepted once and fumbled once.

"We came out flat and I think they came out excited, and when that happens, you'll get beat," he said. "Luckily we were able to come into the locker room, get excited at halftime, go back out there and play really well in the second half."

Griffin completed 12 of 15 for 91 yards and one touchdown. He ran for 105 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns.

Baylor (4-8, 2-6) started strong and took the lead into halftime after a fumble by Harrell deep in his own territory. Bears defensive end Leon Freeman stripped the ball as the senior quarterback pulled his arm back to pass.

Vincent Rhodes recovered it at the Tech 16 but the Bears nearly lost their scoring opportunity chance five plays later when officials ruled Griffin fumbled into the end zone as he tried to reach the ball over the goal line for a score.

Several players scrambled for the ball which eventually went out of bounds, apparently for a touchback. A review showed Griffin's knee was down before he lost the ball and the Bears retained possession.

On the next play, Griffin lobbed a pass over defenders into the arms of Earnest Smith to go up 21-14 at the break.

Baylor now has lost 32 consecutive games against AP Top 10 teams since a 20-13 win at Southern California on Sept. 21, 1985.

Since the Big 12 began in 1996, Baylor is 0-23 against Top 10 teams with those losses coming by an average margin of 37 points.

The streaks continue, but Baylor showed promise this season, thanks in large part to the freshman Griffin.

Crabtree was hurt midway through the second quarter, when he jumped and pulled in a 6-yard pass between two Baylor defenders at the Bears 1.

He twisted his right ankle as he landed and hobbled to the bench. A few minutes later was taken to the locker room on a motorized cart.

He came out after halftime with a boot on his right foot and limped along the sideline, talking with teammates.

Crabtree has 93 catches for 1,135 yards and 18 touchdowns this season.

Baron Batch scored a touchdown on the play after Crabtree got hurt to put the Red Raiders up 14-13.