October 05, 2002
Kliff Kingsbury threw his fifth touchdown pass in overtime and Robert Treece followed with the extra point as Texas Tech rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat 23rd-ranked Texas A&M 48-47 Saturday.
The Aggies' loss spoiled a stellar performance by quarterback Dustin Long, who threw seven touchdown passes to set a Big 12 record. His last score was a 3-yard strike to Terrence Thomas in the extra period that put Texas A&M ahead 47-41.
But John Pierson missed the extra point--his second one of the game--to leave the door open for the Red Raiders (4-2).
The Big 12 opener for both teams turned into a quarterback duel as Kingsbury completed 48 of 58 passes for 468 yards. He hit Nehemiah Glover for a 10-yard touchdown on Tech's overtime possession.
In addition to his critical extra point, Treece kicked two 42-yard field goals, the second of which forced overtime.
Long completed 21 of 37 passes for 367 yards to lead the Aggies (3-2). His seven TD passes broke the conference mark of six, which Kingsbury set last week in a 49-0 victory over New Mexico.
The Red Raiders were trailing 35-17 with 6:57 left in the third quarter after Long threw his fifth touchdown pass, an 82-yarder to Jamaar Taylor.
Kingsbury then rallied the Red Raiders with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker and a 15-yarder to Taurean Henderson to pull Tech to 35-30 with 6:38 left to play.
Welker then gave Texas Tech its first lead of the game with an 88-yard punt return for a touchdown with 2:48 left to play, and Kingsbury completed a 2-point conversion pass to Anton Paige for a 38-35 lead.
Long got the lead back for the Aggies with a 9-yard TD pass to Greg Porter with 1:40 to play. Pierson missed the extra point, leaving the Aggies with a 41-38 lead, allowing the Raiders to come back and force the overtime on Treece's second field goal.
The Aggies jumped ahead quickly with Long's 78-yard touchdown pass to Bethel Johnson on A&M's first offensive play of the game.
Long also had first-half TD passes of 4 yards to Greg Porter, 9 yards to Terrence Murphy and 15 yards to Johnson for a 28-17 halftime lead.
Kingsbury completed 26 of 29 passes in the first half and had touchdown passes of 4 yards to Anton Paige and 2 yards to Carlos Francis.
Derek Farmer got his second straight 100-yard performance with 113 yards on 24 carries for the Aggies.
Texas Tech has won six of the last eight games between the two schools.