Texas Tech ran a brilliant, old-fashioned fumblerooski to beat Texas
There are not many ways that being small can be an advantage on the football field, but Texas Tech found one and used it beat Texas in Austin for the first time since 1997.
In a wild contest that saw the two teams combine for six fourth-quarter touchdowns, the Red Raiders were nursing a 3-point lead when they got tricky. Texas Tech lined up in what looked like a "victory formation," the formation used by teams to run out the clock.
But Texas Tech had no intention of taking a knee.
Behind the line of scrimmage was Jakeem Grant (No. 11), a senior wide receiver for Texas Tech. He is listed at 5-foot-7, 168 pounds, which probably made him difficult for the defense to see. Also notice how he is squatting down, and the much bigger offensive linemen on that side are standing upright.
After the ball is snapped, it was quickly handed to Grant, who then pauses just long enough to let everybody focus on the quarterback.
Grant then ran around one unsuspecting defensive end who had no idea what was going on. At that point, it was just a race to the end zone with a couple of nifty moves and some blazing speed.
The play was reminiscent of the old-fashioned fumblerooski in which the quarterback would set the ball on the ground and one of the offensive linemen would pick it up and run. That play has now been banned by the NCAA.
Tech found a way to run it without intentionally "fumbling" the ball.
The play was huge as it gave Tech a 10-point lead over their in-state rival, and they would go on to win 48-45.
Needless to say, Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury was pretty excited.