Best 4th Quarters: Huge Texas Tech Comeback (2006 Insight Bowl Minnesota vs. Texas Tech)
Tom Bombadil Tom Bombadil
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 Published On May 30, 2020

The 2006 Insight Bowl, a college football bowl game held on December 29 at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, pitted the Texas Tech Red Raiders against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This game is tied for the biggest comeback in NCAA Division I FBS bowl history. The Red Raiders, after falling behind 38–7 with 7:47 remaining in the third quarter, rallied to score 31 unanswered points to send the game to overtime. The Gophers scored a field goal in overtime, but the Red Raiders responded with a touchdown to win.

The other record bowl comeback was a 31-point comeback by TCU against Oregon in the January 2016 Alamo Bowl.

The game was televised by the NFL Network, which as of December 31, 2006 has made the game available free for online viewing.

Harrell, who threw for 445 yards and two touchdowns while also running for a touchdown, was chosen as the offensive MVP. Tech cornerback Antonio Huffman was defensive MVP. Other top performers for Tech included Woods (109 yards and three touchdowns rushing) and Filani (nine catches for 144 yards and a touchdown).

In addition to Pinnix, other leading performers for Minnesota included Cupito (263 yards and three touchdowns passing) and Simmons (seven catches for 134 yards and a touchdown). Simmons was filling in for the injured Matt Spaeth, the winner of the John Mackey Award as the nation's leading tight end. The Gophers set a school bowl scoring record, and Cupito tied the Minnesota career record for touchdown passes with 55.

Two days after his team's loss in the Insight Bowl, Minnesota head coach Glen Mason was fired. Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi did not publicly detail the reasons for the firing, but strongly hinted that the Gophers' collapse was the proverbial last straw, saying "If we had not lost the way we lost, we probably wouldn't be here today." This was the latest in a series of Minnesota second-half collapses under Mason, which also included one of the previous three biggest bowl collapses in Division I-A history.

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