No. 24 Oklahoma State beats Texas Tech 45-35

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) As a former quarterback, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy tends to be tough on his signal-callers.

He couldn't find much to criticize about Daxx Garman's performance Thursday night.

Garman threw for 370 yards and four touchdowns to help No. 24 Oklahoma State beat Texas Tech 45-35. He completed 17 of 31 passes and ran for a score in his second start since stepping in for the injured J.W. Walsh.

''I thought he handled himself very well,'' Gundy said. ''It was his first Big 12 game and only his third game at this level. For the most part, he understood exactly what we wanted to do.''

Gundy picked at a few things, such as Garman's decision to challenge defenders on runs late in the game.

''He needs to learn to slide at the end of the game,'' Gundy said. ''I told him get the first down and slide and he took a hit. That didn't fire me up. But he competed.''

Marcell Ateman had career highs of six catches and 130 yards, James Washington had three catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns, and Desmond Roland ran for 86 yards and a score for Oklahoma State (3-1, 1-0 Big 12).

Davis Webb passed for 374 yards and four touchdowns for Texas Tech (2-2, 0-1) before leaving the game in the fourth quarter because of a left (non-throwing) shoulder injury. Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said Webb's status for the Oct. 4 game at Kansas State is uncertain.

''I'm not sure,'' Kingsbury said. ''I just know that they didn't feel like he could come back in tonight.''

Brad Marquez had eight catches for 106 yards, Jakeem Grant had a career-high 12 catches for 100 yards and a touchdown, and Reginald Davis caught two touchdown passes for the Red Raiders, who gained 506 yards. The Red Raiders negated much of their offensive success by committing 16 penalties for 158 yards.

''I've never seen a team shoot itself in the foot as many times as we did tonight,'' Kingsbury said. ''It was embarrassing football, honestly. That's the only way to put it.''

Oklahoma State has won six straight against the Red Raiders and has averaged 55.5 points in the past four wins.

It was a typical shootout in the series. The teams combined for 1,034 yards.

Mike Smith took over as Texas Tech's interim defensive coordinator after Matt Wallerstedt resigned from their shared position as co-defensive coordinators. The Red Raiders surrendered 528 yards.

Texas Tech marched down the field on its opening drive, and Webb found Davis down the middle for a 21-yard touchdown strike. Webb was 7 of 9 on the drive.

Oklahoma State tied late in the first quarter when Washington made an in-air adjustment in the end zone to snag a 33-yard pass from Garman.

Webb completed 18 of 26 passes for 175 yards in the first quarter.

Ramon Richards, playing because Ashton Lampkin was injured in the first quarter, intercepted Webb's first pass of the second quarter. Texas Tech's defense held, then Webb found Marquez for an 18-yard touchdown pass that gave the Red Raiders a 14-7 lead.

Jeremy Seaton's leaping 28-yard catch between three defenders set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Roland that tied it with 7 minutes left in the second quarter.

Kevin Peterson intercepted Webb's pass, then Garman quickly took advantage on the next play with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Washington that gave Oklahoma State a 21-14 lead.

Texas Tech gained 340 yards in the first half, yet scored only 14 points.

Garman struck again early in the third quarter with a 47-yard touchdown pass to tight end Blake Jarwin.

Tech hung tough. Justin Stockton caught a 17-yard scoring pass from Webb to make it 28-21, but Garman came right back and hit Tyreek Hill deep for a 50-yard touchdown pass that put the Cowboys up by 14 again. The ball appeared to be overthrown, but Hill, a track sprinter, shifted into another gear and caught it in stride near the goal line.

''It's funny, sometimes it works out exactly the way you coach it,'' Gundy said. ''Once (Hill) gets rolling, he's so fast. He's very athletic and he has really good ball skills. That's not an easy catch. To run as fast as he is running and the ball comes back over your head, and - you have to watch on tape - it looks like he's accelerating even more where the ball was thrown. So that was a really nice play.''

Later, Seth Jacobs intercepted Tech backup Patrick Mahomes' pass, and Garman kept on a read play to put the Cowboys up by 17.

''I just thought that we were trying to take away the run, so we left the corners out there one-on-one, and they took advantage of it,'' Kingsbury said. ''They took a bunch of shots, kept making plays.''

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