With just seconds remaining in the biggest football game in Texas Tech history, receiver Michael Crabtree and quarterback Graham Harrell connected for a play that no award or record of theirs will ever match.
Trailing Texas by a point, Crabtree turned what looked like a set up for a game-winning field goal into a dizzying display of college football madness.
Double-covered on a fade route, Crabtree snagged a pass from Harrell five yards short of the goal line. Any other receiver in the nation would have run out of bounds, sat down on the sideline and watch his kicker erase a one-point deficit with 22-yard chip shot.
But Crabtree had a dream.
Instead, he danced on the sideline and shed cornerback Curtis Brown's tackle before darting into the end zone with one second remaining, sealing a 39-33 victory against then-No. 1 Texas on Saturday in front of a record crowd of 56,333 at Jones AT&T Stadium.
"To tell you the truth, after the celebration, I fell on the ground and I couldn't breathe," Crabtree said. "The whole time I was telling everybody to 'get off me, get off me.' It was great, though."
Crabtree admitted he was guilty of daydreaming on the sideline once Vondrell McGee's four-yard touchdown capped a 19-point comeback for the Longhorns, giving them a 33-32 lead with 1:29 remaining in the fourth quarter.
"I kind of dreamed it out - catch a pass and go in the end zone for a game-winning touchdown," said Crabtree, who finished with 10 catches for 127 yards in Tech's first win against Texas since 2002. "I (dream of) that every game, but it happened, so it kind of shocked me."
On the play immediately before Crabtree's touchdown, Harrell lucked out when UT freshman safety Blake Gideon dropped a potential game-ending interception on a ball that receiver Edward Britton tipped.
After dropping a touchdown pass in the first quarter, Britton redeemed himself with clutch receptions all day, including catches of 47 and 34 yards en route to 139 yards receiving. None of it would have mattered if Gideon held on to the interception, which fell through his arms and bounced on the turf.
Harrell's stomach was in knots when the ball hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity.
"I was thinking, 'Surely we're not gonna lose like this, come on,'" said Harrell, who finished 36-for-53 with 474 yards and two touchdowns. "(Britton) was looking to block. He thought I was about to run it and try to get out of bounds."
A throng of Tech fans rushed the field on two separate occasions after Crabtree's touchdown, resulting in two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties forcing Tech to kick off from the seven-yard line. Considering Texas' Jordan Shipley returned a punt 45 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter, a last-second miracle was a possibility.
However, with a thick pad of Tech fans circling the field, Texas (8-1, 4-1 in Big 12 Conference play) was unable to lateral its way to pay dirt, giving the Red Raiders (9-0, 5-0) sole possession of first place in the Big 12 South division and a legitimate shot at a national championship.
The win makes Tech 9-0 for the first time since 1938 and 5-0 in conference play for the first time since 1953, when it was a member of the Border Conference.
After beating a No. 1 team for the first time, Tech now has its highest ranking in school history, jumping four spots in Sunday's AP poll to No. 2, surprisingly earning enough votes to hurdle Penn State, who fell to third. Alabama took over No. 1, while Texas dropped to fifth. The poll sets up another pivotal Big 12 game between No. 2 Tech and No. 8 Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium.
"I thought we had a really good week of preparation and the excitement of the students, campus, and all the coverage with a team as good as Texas," Tech coach Mike Leach said. "I thought our players did a really good job avoiding distractions, and I can't say enough about our fans. If I've said Jones Stadium is the best place to play before, after tonight, even more so."
With wins against then-No. 1 Oklahoma, then-No. 11 Missouri and then-No. 6 Oklahoma State in three straight weeks, Texas could not post its fourth consecutive victory against a top-ranked opponent.
But UT did come dangerously close to escaping West Texas with a sloppy victory.
The Longhorns' 11-play, 80-yard drive gave them a one-point lead after Tech's Donnie Carona hit a 42-yard field goal to put Tech up six. But 89 seconds was too much time for Tech's offense, which received good field position after Jamar Wall returned UT's kickoff to the Tech 38-yard line.
Harrell out-performed Heisman competitor Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, who was the frontrunner entering the game.
McCoy had a sub-par performance compared to other games this year, going 20-for-34 passing with 294 yards and two touchdowns. Tech safety Daniel Charbonnet took McCoy's only interception 18 yards for a third quarter touchdown and 29-13 lead.
However, McCoy showed his poise and leadership when it counted, passing for two touchdowns within five minutes - both to receiver Malcom Williams, who led Texas with 182 yards on four receptions. A 37-yard scamper at the end of the third quarter cut Tech's lead to 29-19, and a 91-yard bomb early in the fourth quarter whittled Tech's margin to three points, 29-16.
Texas had costly mistakes throughout the game, mostly dropped passes on both sides of the ball, which Texas coach Mack Brown said was a disappointment.
On UT's second drive of the game, McCoy saw three straight drops from his receivers, including a would-be touchdown to receiver Jordan Shipley down field.
"We had a lot of problems," Texas coach Mack Brown said, "and to their credit they kept fighting back and all we did was score too quick at the end. We should have took more time off the clock. Two great players made a great play at the end of the game to win it."
Tech's defense set the tone in the first half, getting a safety and forcing three straight punts before a Crabtree fumble gave Texas some momentum. In the first quarter, Tech's offense had the ball for 12:28, running 27 plays to UT's eight. After Tech downed a punt inside Texas' five-yard line, defensive tackle Colby Whitlock nailed Chris Ogbonnaya in the end zone for a safety.
Running back Baron Batch, who had 51 yards behind Shannon Woods' 71, scored in the first quarter shortly after Williams made his first collegiate field goal with a 29-yard attempt, giving Tech a 12-0 lead. Harrell found Eric Morris for a touchdown a few minutes later, putting the struggling Longhorns in a 19-0 hole.
"Give Tech credit because we have won a bunch of these against them, and tonight was their night, and we need to be classy in defeat," Brown said. "The loss didn't come down to that last play. We have got a lot of things we need to fix to get ready and play better next week against Baylor."
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