TCU escapes Texas Tech in thriller with incredible fourth-quarter touchdown

LUBBOCK, Texas Josh Doctson had made every play, but he couldn’t make the last one. Leaping as high as he could in the end zone, he knew the ball had escaped him.

“My heart sank,” he said.

Then something happened the TCU senior receiver did not expect. Something no one expected.

“I saw a flash of white jersey,” quarterback Trevone Boykin said.

Doctson: “I got twisted around, and here comes Aaron Green.”

Yes, Aaron Green.

A running back, in the back of the end zone, watching the play, tracking the ball, getting to it just in time to catch it off the deflection, keep his foot in bounds, and give TCU an electrifying 55-52 victory against Texas Tech.

The 4-yard touchdown catch, on only Green’s second catch of the day, kept the No. 3 Horned Frogs unbeaten and kept alive their hopes for the Big 12 title and consideration for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Barely.

They thought it was over.

“Yeah, I thought it was over,” Boykin said. “Just because it got tipped almost through the back of the end zone, and then I just saw a flash of white jersey come through and just grab the ball. Really, the only thing I was thinking was, ‘Man, I really hope he got his foot in.’ ”

Doctson cut in and flashed open. Boykin threw high.

“I saw Josh kind of got grabbed. I put the ball in the air because I knew he could outjump everybody,” Boykin said. “Once the ball got tipped, I was just like, ‘Man.’ ”

Doctson, who caught a school-record 18 catches for a career-high 267 yards and three touchdowns, said he should have caught that one, too.

“It just went off my hands, and my heart sank,” Doctson said. “I know the concept of that play, and I’m the only one over there. And here comes Aaron Green he’s not even supposed to be over there. And he just catches it, makes an unbelievable play. And I’m just like, ‘Am I dreaming?’ He made the play. He saved us.”

Safety Derrick Kindred had closed his eyes.

“I heard everybody cheering: ‘Aaron caught the ball!’ ” he said.

Said TCU coach Gary Patterson: ‘Thank goodness. I don’t know where he came from. But thank goodness.”

It finished a day when TCU (4-0) racked up 750 yards and Texas Tech (3-1) had 607.

The Red Raiders still had 27 seconds after the go-ahead score and managed to get a final play off that had a chance to reach the end zone, thanks to some laterals.

“When I saw the offensive linemen catching up, I was like, ‘You got to be kidding me,’ ” Patterson said. “And then he flips it to No. 11, and you can’t hardly tackle him in a phone booth. And so we got guys running around all over the place, thinking how is one guy going to get him on the ground?”

TCU did, and now gets to lick more wounds. Slot receiver Ty Slanina is lost for the season with an injury, Patterson said.

“We had guys step up,” Patterson said. “They’re basically finding a way to win. ... No matter how the rest of the year goes, you’ve got to give this group of kids a lot of credit. They’ve fought through a lot.”

Boykin finished with a career-high 509 passing yards and four touchdowns.

Green ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns.

(c)2015 Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Visit the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at www.star-telegram.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.