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The No. 7 Texas Longhorns are back at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, where they will honor 23 seniors on Friday before playing their last Big 12 regular-season game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. 

The options for the Big 12 Championship game are straightforward in Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian's eyes: if the Longhorns win, they advance. A loss casts a large shadow over the situation and eliminates any chance of rising high enough in the College Football Playoff standings to secure the program's first-ever final four trip.

If there is any rivalry in a series where the Horns lead 54–18, the Red Raiders' overtime victory in Lubbock last year, head coach Joey McGuire's post-game remarks, and the new Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark's preseason remarks encouraging Texas Tech to defeat Texas in front of him undoubtedly added fuel to the fire for the Longhorns and Red Raiders' final interconference game.

There are plenty of plotlines at DKR on Friday night, especially with the arrival of Kevin Mar, the Public Enemy No. 1 of Longhorn Nation.

Warm-ups before the game

Junior wide receiver Xavier Worthy and sophomore right guard DJ Campbell were both clothed and taking part in pregame warmups, as Sarkisian had predicted earlier in the week. Both players had left last week's victory over Iowa State in Ames due to injuries. 

Both standout defensive tackle Jaylon Hutchings and wide receiver Myles Price will be absent for Texas Tech, while safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson—who exited the team's victory over UCF last year due to a groin injury—participated in warmups after head coach Mike McGuire declared him a game-time decision earlier in the week. 

First Quarter 

Texas won the toss in the opening quarter and elected to start the game on defense in the second half. Austin Jordan, a sophomore nickel back, had to make a crucial stop to prevent a big gain after the Longhorns missed a tackle in the crowd with an opportunity to stuff the kickoff return.

Running back That Brook was stopped for a one-yard gain after throwing a screen ball to a triple stack along the sideline. Ryan Watts, the senior cornerback, was left down on the opposite sideline for many minutes before making his way to the locker room. Behren Morton, the quarterback for Texas Tech, completed an incomplete pass to put the Red Raiders in third and nine. Another failed throw prompted the visitors to punt quickly. 

That punt, which resulted in a meager nine-yard return by Worthy and the Texas Tech long snapper on the field, was nearly blocked by senior linebacker Jett Bush.

A look route run-pass option to Worthy for an 11-yard gain and a run by rookie running back CJ Baxter, who was stuffed at the line of scrimmage after the pulling left guard botched his block, set up Texas' opening offensive drive. The Horns then turned back to Worthy, who found a large opening in the Red Raiders zone defense for an additional 11 yards. Quinn Ewers, a redshirt freshman quarterback, then connected with junior tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders on an 18-yard gain after fitting a lovely touch throw over a defender. 

Second Quarter

On a third and 2 completion, a dubious play gave Texas Tech a first down, and then Morton rushed for 14 yards against man coverage. The Red Raiders were placed in the chain reaction after an illegal snap and a one-yard completion. On a third and fourteen, senior defensive lineman T'Vondre Sweat swatted down the ball. Hill then broke free on a blitz to sack Morton. Special teams coordinator Jeff Banks applied pressure to the punt-block unit, and sophomore safety Michael Taaffe successfully removed the blocked kick from the punter's foot, recovering it at the Texas Tech 20-yard line.  

Worthy was wide open by the pylon as the Red Raiders signaled for a timeout. He stepped out and then found the end zone, where he made a spectacular incompletion and fake start. Sanders was hurt on the field after being shoved into a collision during Ewers' sack, which resulted in a two-yard loss. The subsequent play also went badly. On third down, Texas opted for a screen pass, which led to Worthy limping off the field after being clipped from behind while attempting to block. to establish a 20-7 lead by making a 37-yard field goal, setting the school record for the most consecutive made field goals.

Surprisingly, Sweat and senior linebacker Jaylan Ford collaborated to hold defensive tackle Alfred Collins, who actually got a flag. Under duress, Morton threw the ball away on second down, and Texas Tech had to settle for a punt after a cautious third-down run. Worthy made a fair catch after backing out to collect the kick.

Texas, needing to demonstrate some offensive killer instinct, got out to a strong start as Whittington gained 10 yards on a reception down the sideline, Baxter ran for 13 yards and another four yards, and Whittington completed a screen ball to produce 12 yards on a cut across the field. Ewers' planned jump ball for Mitchell was intercepted in the end zone, thus the Longhorns were only 3-of-4 in the red zone for 13 points. This was the Longhorns' second failure in the red zone. 

Texas Tech scored on its opening play with a 13-yard completion, but on the third play of the drive, Texas junior cornerback Terrance Brooks seemed to pick up his third interception of the year, a call that stood on review on the field.

Before Mitchell moved into the red zone with a 20-yard reception on a look route RPO, Baxter moved the chains by running up the middle and gaining six yards on first down and five yards on second. Before Ewers lost the ball at the mesh point on second down, he recovered for a two-yard loss after a check down to Helm yielded four yards. Texas had to settle for yet another field goal and punt after Ewers threw the ball away on third down and a 23-7 lead. 

With 1:12 left in the half, Brooks gained a first down and two runs before the Red Raiders found themselves in a crucial third and 5 situation, which the Longhorns postponed with a timeout. Texas Tech continued to play, throwing short of the chains once more before Hill made the stop and turned the ball over on downs. 

With 11 seconds left, Sarkisian called for his second timeout. The Longhorns attempted a shot play down the sideline to Worthy, but it was unsuccessful. Instead, Blue gained significant ground to get into field goal range with an 11-yard run and an 8-yard gain to the 26-yard line. With two seconds remaining, Ewers almost took a sack and had to rush to throw the ball away, forcing Sarkisian to call his third timeout and sending Auburn back onto the field for a 44-yard touchdown. With a 26-7 lead at the half, Texas had a lot of unrealized potential and Worthy's health to consider. 

Third Quarter

The offense was having trouble shutting down Texas Tech, so the special teams decided to take center stage. Robinson returned the opening kickoff of the second half 95 yards for a touchdown, the first of the Sarkisian era in Austin's history, and increased the advantage to 33-7. 

The Longhorns maintained their impressive special teams performance, stopping Brooks on first down, limiting the return to 17 yards, and forcing two incompletions for a three and out with junior CB Gavin Holmes breaking up the second-down pass and offering solid coverage on third down.

One play after Baxter was hurt on a short pass, Ewers took a sack with the intention of passing on third and 4. Senior Ryan Sanborn was bumped by two Texas Tech players during the punt play, but the officials infuriated Sarkisian by awarding a five-yard penalty rather than a 15-yard penalty, allowing the punt to stand.

For the second consecutive drive, the Red Raiders were unable to gain any ground and were forced to punt the ball 33 yards to the Texas Tech 42-yard line, handing the ball to the Longhorns. Blue gained 12 yards on his first down before making a smaller gain on his next play. A holding call on Jones negated Blue's run on a 17-yard gain up the middle, and Ewers took a covering sack in search of a downfield play. On third and long, with sophomore running back Savion Red wide open in the flat, Ewers' ball was swatted down. Auburn continued to be dominant in field goal attempts when he connected from 54 yards, which was four yards farther than his career long, to increase the advantage to 36-7.

After hesitating for a while, Texas Tech decided to punt on a fourth and 3 from the 32-yard line. However, two Red Raider penalties negated the successful punt fake, so the team decided to call an end around pass instead.

The Longhorns were able to move the chains twice thanks to a screen throw to Worthy and a check down to Blue. Worthy then had the opportunity to seal the victory with a 19-yard catch and run for a touchdown and a 42-7 lead. The ball passed through his hands, giving Texas Tech the opportunity to extend the drive for many more plays until a pass went off Brooks' foot and caromed to Bush, who returned it 43 yards for a score. Ford had a chance to intercept and make a return, but he failed to do so. Freshman quarterback Arch Manning made his Longhorns debut with the game already out of control, stumbling for five yards and a first down on his first drop back. 

Fourth Quarter

Before attempting his first two passes, which included a ball to rookie wide receiver Johnny Cook on a fourth down in the red zone, Manning demonstrated his mobility once more. Both of his attempts were unsuccessful.

Eventually, Manning found Cook for 17 yards on his first college pass.