In a game where emotions were already running high because
of it being the final home game of the season for the Red Raiders and also
senior day, struggling to get the offense going and silly mistakes started to
pile up and frustration started to become evident on the Texas Tech sideline.
Early in the third quarter, the Red Raiders were holding
onto a slim 21-17 lead and looked to extend it after Kansas had stalled out on
its first drive of the second half.
Tech was driving, going from its own 19-yard line all the
way up to the 49-yard line before the Red Raiders faced a fourth down and two
and had a decision to make.
Initially it looked as though Tech was going to go for it,
but then some special teams players from the punting unit were on the field,
and did not get off in time.
Whistles blew, flags flew for illegal formation and having
12 men on the field, and in just the blink of an eye what was a manageable
fourth down turned into an automatic punting situation with Tech facing a
fourth down and seven.
But it wasn’t just the mistake on the field that got
people’s attention, but rather the antics that were ensuing on the sideline
between Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville and graduate assistant Kevin Oliver,
who is a special teams coach.
“Well, not at him,” Tuberville said about the confrontation
with Oliver. “We couldn't get the right personnel. We got two back‑to‑back
penalties. That's what I was hot
about.”
The
conversation got extremely heated and ended with Tuberville knocking the
headset and hat off of Oliver’s head, which caused a lot of controversy, and
really put a shadow over the Red Raiders eventual win, especially on senior
day.
“Oh, I reached and grabbed him. He was on the field, and I reached to
grab him and pull him off. When I
pulled, I missed his shirt and I grabbed his face mask
and his microphone ripped off his head.
I was trying to get him off the field.”
The
questions continued in the post-game press conference about the incident and
Tuberville continued to make nothing of it.
“Yeah, he was trying to help me get him off,” Tuberville
said. “But he's standing out on the field and we're trying to get him off, and
the referee's standing there. I just pulled him off and missed his shoulder and grabbed his ‑‑
I mean, it wasn't anything to it. It was just one of those deals where I
missed his shoulder and ended up grabbing the microphone on his head set and
pulled it off.”
This marks
the second-straight week that Tuberville has gotten heated on the sideline,
against Texas it was directed at the referees for some calls in the game and
not at a member of the coaching staff.