Behren Morton led Texas Tech on a 71-yard drive for the winning touchdown with just 19 seconds left, helping the Red Raiders pull off a 23-22 upset against No. 11 Iowa State on Saturday. This victory prevented Iowa State from achieving its best start ever in the program’s history.
Tahj Brooks scored a 5-yard touchdown run right after the Cyclones took their first lead with Rocco Becht’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Carson Brown with 2:11 remaining.
“I’m so proud of this football team,” Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “It’s a huge win for us because we get bowl eligible and it keeps us in the mix.”
Brooks ran the ball 25 times for 122 yards, surpassing 4,000 career rushing yards. He has rushed for over 100 yards in every game this season.
“(Tahj Brooks) is one of the players I have the utmost respect for,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “I think he’s one of the great players in this conference, so a lot of praise to him for sure.”
The Red Raiders (6-3, 4-2 Big 12) bounced back after losing two games in a row to Baylor and TCU. Iowa State (7-1, 4-1) was aiming for its first 8-0 start and had several chances to achieve that but came up short.
Becht threw for 315 yards and two touchdowns, while Jayden Higgins caught 10 passes for 140 yards.
“We deserve this loss because we didn’t play to our standards,” Becht said.
Morton, who was injured in last week’s game against TCU and hurt his left (non-throwing) shoulder, completed 21 of 40 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns, but he was intercepted twice.
The Red Raiders managed to overcome three false starts during their winning drive, and Morton converted a crucial fourth-and-7 with an 8-yard pass to Josh Kelly. Brooks scored the winning touchdown after taking a direct snap.
This victory marked Tech’s first win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 5 West Virginia in 2012.
