Oklahoma State beats Texas Tech 45-35 as Davis Webb leaves with shoulder injury (GIF)
Against Arkansas in week three, Texas Tech’s rushing defense was carved up for 438 rushing yards. A bye week and another defensive coordinator later, the Red Raiders were sliced open again against Oklahoma State.
This time it was through the air.
Oklahoma State QB Daxx Garman threw for 370 yards as Oklahoma State defeated Tech 45-35 Thursday night. And if the defensive problems weren’t bad enough for Texas Tech, QB Davis Webb left the game in the fourth quarter with an injury to his left shoulder.
Webb was scrambling up the middle when he landed awkwardly on his forearm which appeared to jam his upper arm into his shoulder.
After he was taken out of the game in significant pain, Webb went to the locker room where officials tended to him. He jogged out a short time later with the look of pain on his face replaced by determination. However, Texas Tech trainers told ESPN that Davis wouldn’t re-enter the game because of concern about the stability of his (non-throwing) shoulder.
Webb was replaced by Patrick Mahomes, a true freshman, who fumbled and threw an interception on the same play on his first full drive.
Mahomes was in the game because Texas Tech’s two possible backup quarterbacks are now at different programs. Michael Brewer is the starting QB at Virginia Tech while Baker Mayfield, the QB who started the season as Tech’s QB as a freshman walk-on, transferred to Oklahoma.
When Webb left, Texas Tech was down 10. His injury wasn’t the reason for Tech’s loss, nor was there any reason to think he could have led a fourth-quarter comeback. Texas Tech’s defense was simply too porous to hold the Oklahoma State offense down. (Thursday was also the 12th straight game Tech has committed more turnovers than it’s forced.)
Last week, Texas Tech defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt resigned after he reportedly went to work under the influence of an unknown substance. In former co-defensive coordinator Mike Smith’s first game as Tech’s sole coordinator, his defense got burned deep.
The Cowboys clearly saw something it liked against Texas Tech’s cornerbacks as Garman capitalized on his love of throwing deep often, mostly on just simple go routes. Of Garman’s four touchdown tosses, the shortest was a 33-yard strike to freshman James Washington. The others were 50, 47 and 39 yards. On the 39-yarder, another toss to Washington, Texas Tech’s two defenders took each other out of the play.
It was Garman’s second-straight start after replacing J.W. Walsh, who is out – possibly for the season – with a broken foot. If the early returns are accurate, the Cowboys are the favorites to finish third in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma and Baylor even if Garman is the starter for the rest of the season. OSU has a very backloaded Big 12 schedule; it’s last four games are against Kansas State, Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma. It’s not going to be a shock in the slightest if OSU is 5-0 in the conference when it heads to Manhattan on November 1.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
