Does routing OSU merit all A's? | Texas Tech football report card
· Yahoo Sports
STILLWATER, Okla. — Malcolm Simmons returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and caught one of Thomas Castellanos' four scoring passes as the 10th-ranked Texas Tech football team beat Oklahoma State 52-27 on Saturday night, Nov. 14, at Boone Pickens Stadium.
Tech (9-1, 6-1 in the Big 12) scored the game's first three touchdowns and, after Oklahoma State narrowed it to 21-17, Castellanos threw TD passes of 80 yards to Micah Hudson and 45 yards to Simmons, opening it back up to 35-20. Kenny Johnson made a diving catch for a 30-yard TD on the first play of the fourth quarter, making it 42-20, and Cameron Dickey's late TD made it 52-20.
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Two-time Paul Hornung Award finalist J'Koby Williams bolted 34 yards for a touchdown on Tech's second play from scrimmage and went over 100 yards rushing for the fourth time in five games. He finished with 124.
Castellanos was shaken up and left the game with a little more than 10 minutes. He dashed 28 yards and ran into a defensive player and a teammate trying to crash into the end zone. After being accompanied to the locker room by staff, he returned to the sideline a few minutes later, smiling and in good spirits.
Oklahoma State (6-4, 4-3) got 277 passing yards from Drew Mestemaker and 91 rushing from Caleb Hawkins.
After Simmons' and Williams' big plays gave Tech a 14-0 lead less than three minutes in, Castellanos flipped an 8-yard scoring pass to Terrance Carter Jr.
Oklahoma State counterpunched in the second quarter. After a Sam Keltner field goal, Drew Mestemaker ran 13 yards for a TD and threw an 18-yard scoring pass to tight end Morgan McPhaul, who ran through a tackle attempt by safety Malik Esquerra.
The Cowboys' blackout-game crowd was no sooner into it than Hudson caught a mid-range pass over the middle, spun away from two defenders and had clear sailing to the end zone, making it 28-17.
Both teams scored a touchdown off a turnover in the first half. John Curry intercepted Mestemaker and returned it to the OSU 16-yard line, setting up the touchdown that made it 21-0. Castellanos lost a fumble at the Tech 13, setting up the OSU TD that narrowed it to 21-10.
Here's the rapid-reaction report card.
Offense: A
Thomas Castellanos 4-TD, no-interceptions game gives him 11 of the former and none of the latter in his past three starts. Five offensive players accounted for seven plays longer than 25 yards.
Defense: A
Impressive game by front-seven defenders, who put the heat on Drew Mestemaker and came up with multiple timely stops on third and fourth downs.
Special Teams: A
Malcolm Simmons' kickoff-return TD got Tech off on the right foot. Will Karoll's average won't show it, but he pinned the Cowboys at their 11- , 8- and 3-yard lines. Stone Harrington's 54-yard field goal was a season long.
Coaching: A
The Red Raiders dominated the first quarter and the second half, an indication they were well-prepared. Shiel Wood, Rob Greene and Darcel McBath also had a good night as Tech snapped Mestemaker's eight-game streak with 300 yards passing.
Overall: A
Tech was an underdog, in a hostile environment and the matchup of OSU's No. 3 passing offense to Tech's No. 136 pass defense had many expecting a long night for the Red Raiders. Instead, they delivered a lopsided victory and a good argument to the CFP committee.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Does routing OSU merit all A's? | Texas Tech football report card