AMES, Iowa — Behren Morton drove Texas Tech 71 yards for the winning touchdown with 20 seconds left, and the Red Raiders denied No. 11 Iowa State its best start in program history with a 23-22 upset Saturday.
Tahj Brooks‘ 5-yard touchdown run came after the Cyclones had taken their first lead on Rocco Becht‘s 44-yard touchdown pass to Carson Brown with 2:11 to play.
“I’m so proud of this football team,” Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “It’s a huge win for us because we get bowl eligible and it keeps us in the mix.”
Brooks ran 25 times for 122 yards to go over 4,000 for his career. He has gone over 100 yards in all nine games this season.
“(Tahj Brooks) is one of the players I have the utmost respect for,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “I think he’s one of the great players in this conference, so a lot of praise to him for sure.”
The Red Raiders (6-3, 4-2 Big 12) won after dropping consecutive games to Baylor and TCU. It was the highest-ranked opponent the Red Raiders have defeated since 2012 against No. 5 West Virginia.
Iowa State (7-1, 4-1) was trying for its first 8-0 start, and it had multiple opportunities to do it but fell short.
Becht threw for 315 yards and two touchdowns, and Jayden Higgins caught 10 passes for 140 yards.
“We deserve this loss because we didn’t play to our standards,” Becht said.
Morton, who was knocked out of last week’s game against TCU because of an injury to his left (non-throwing) shoulder, was 21-of-40 passing for 237 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted twice.
The Red Raiders overcame three false-start penalties on their winning drive, and Morton converted a fourth-and-7 with an 8-yard pass to Josh Kelly. Brooks scored the decisive TD after taking a direct snap.
The score with 20 seconds left was their latest go-ahead TD in regulation since a 2008 victory over then-No. 1 Texas.
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.