LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Tahj Brooks ran for 172 yards while scoring the tying and go-ahead touchdowns, Behren Morton threw two TDs to Coy Eakin and Texas Tech held on to beat Cincinnati 44-41 on Saturday night when the Bearcats missed a 51-yard field goal attempt on the game's final play.
"There were so many highs and lows in this game, and they just kept fighting,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said of his team.
Nathan Hawks’ game-ending kick was wide right after Cincinnati (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) had gone 58 yards from their own 10 after the Red Raiders’ only punt came right after the two-minute timeout.
“Had a hard time slowing them down, but we did what we needed to at the very end,” Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield said. “I feel like we ran out of time. ... Some unfortunate things happened in that last drive.”
Brendan Sorsby, who finished with 426 yards and four TDs passing, had completions of 28 and 19 yards but the Bearcats lost 20 seconds because of two clock runoffs. The first came after an injury, and the other when a potential targeting penalty was reviewed but not enforced after their quarterback took a shot when he slid to give himself up at the end of a short run.
“You can’t make that stuff up,” Satterfield said. “Still, the bottom line is we didn’t make enough plays tonight to win it.”
Morton completed 19 of 29 passes for 251 yards and the Red Raiders (4-1) moved to 2-0 in the Big 12 for the first time since 2013. They have won their last six games at home, where they are 14-3 in McGuire's three seasons.
"The guys we’ve got in the locker room, they want to fight, they want to win,” Brooks said.
Brooks tied the game at 24 on a 1-yard TD run that came with 1:39 left in the first half. Tech went ahead to stay after linebacker Jacob Rodriguez recovered a fumble only 2 1/2 minutes after halftime to set up a 2-yard score by Brooks.
A.J. McCarty returned an interception 51 yards for a Tech touchdown early in the fourth quarter for a 41-27 lead. That was Sorsby's first pick this season, on his 149th attempt.
Cincinnati lost running backs Corey Kiner and Evan Pryor with unspecified injuries. Kiner only had three carries on Cincinnati’s opening drive. Pryor, who had a 1-yard TD, never returned after a 36-yard carry in the third quarter.
Freshman running back Manny Covey, the third-teamer, turned a screen pass in to a 71-yard score two plays after Sorsby's interception. Gino Garcia kicked a 27-yard field goal for the Red Raiders before Covey added a 3-yard TD catch with 3:32 left.
Hawks made field goals of 37 and 26 yards, but also missed a 42-yard attempt on the final play of the first half.
Cincinnati: The Bearcats finished with 555 total yards, but with Kiner and Pryor both hurt and them falling behind after halftime, their offense became pretty one-dimensional. Cincinnati had trailed for only 17 seconds through their first four games, when Pittsburgh kicked a game-winning field goal Sept. 7.
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders are 9-1 in one-possession games at home under McGuire, and their last five Big 12 wins overall are by one score.
“It says a lot about this team that they’re so resilient,” McGuire said. "They’re the brand, man. If you’re tough and you work your tails off throughout the game, throughout the week, you’ve got stats like that.”
Brooks had his 16th career 100-yard rushing game, his fourth in a row and 12th in his last 15 games — he had at least 95 yards in each of those three games in that span without breaking the century mark.
Cincinnati: Has an open date before playing at UCF on Oct. 12.
Texas Tech: Plays at Big 12 newcomer Arizona next Saturday night.
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