Miss-match: Rebels dominate Texas Tech, 47-34
1/3/2009
Texas Tech's dream season ended with a thud Friday in the last Cotton Bowl Classic played at its namesake stadium.
Mississippi chalked one up for the SEC in delivering a convincing 47-34 victory over the Big 12's Red Raiders before a crowd of 88,175, the largest in the Cotton Bowl's 73-game history.
Tech (11-2) failed to reach 12 wins in a season, which would have been a first in program history, and dropped to 0-4 in Cotton Bowl appearances.
Ole Miss (9-4) outscored Tech, 24-0, from midway through the second quarter until early in the fourth quarter to pull away. The scoring spurt helped end record-setting Tech quarterback Graham Harrell's career in a disappointing homecoming game.
"You never like to lose your last game, but it's been a fun run here," said Harrell, an Ennis graduate. "It wasn't the way we wanted to end the season."
Harrell set a Cotton Bowl game record with 364 passing yards. He finished the season with 5,111 passing yards, making him the first player in NCAA history to record multiple 5,000-yard passing seasons. Harrell's four touchdown passes gave him 134 in his career, breaking Colt Brennan's NCAA record of 131 at Hawaii.
But in the highest-scoring game in Cotton Bowl history, it was Ole Miss' offense that had more bullets. Quarterback Jevan Snead, the Texas transfer and former Stephenville standout, finished with 292 passing yards and three touchdowns.
"It's just extremely special to be able to come back home and get a win," Snead said.
Added Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt: "It's just a wonderful day."
Mississippi players were participating in their first bowl against a Tech team that had won five of its last six bowls. But after the Red Raiders jumped in front, 14-0, in the first quarter, it was Ole Miss that looked like it had been here before. Tech was done in by numerous injuries and poor tackling.
The Rebels closed the first half with 10 consecutive points to take their first lead of the game, 24-21.
The first half ended with a 44-yard run by Harrell that ended with him being tripped up along the left sideline 3 yards short of the end zone.
The second half didn't start any better for the Red Raiders. Just past midfield, Harrell tried to hit receiver Michael Crabtree. The Carter-ex who struggled in his homecoming game with just four catches for 30 yards and a touchdown, slipped just before ball arrived. That gave Ole Miss cornerback Marshay Green an easy interception. Green raced 65 yards for a touchdown to put Ole Miss ahead, 31-21.
"If he doesn't slip, he catches it," Leach said. "The ball is going to hit him in the face, he slips, it hits the DB in the face, and he runs for a touchdown. There's not a lot of schematic stuff I got for that one. Keep your shoulders over your feet is the biggest thing."
Two series later, Tech faced a fourth-and-4 from its 37-yard line. Leach said he wanted Harrell to use a hard count to try to draw Ole Miss offside. But Harrell said he saw an opening over center and decided to keep the ball on a quarterback sneak up the middle. He was stopped 1 yard short of the first down.
Ole Miss took over at the Tech 40-yard line, and Brandon Bolden scored three plays later on a 17-yard run to give the Rebels a 38-21 lead.
Harrell found Edward Britton for a 12-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to pull Tech to within 38-28. But the Rebels responded with a safety and Dexter McCluster's 4-yard touchdown run with 4:34 left to play to push their lead to 47-28.
The Red Raiders, who had rallied to win their last two bowl appearances, didn't have it in them again.
"We feel really disappointed," Tech linebacker Brian Duncan said, "but I'm not going to let this put a damper on our season. All we have to do is build on this year, and we're coming back strong."
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