STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 22: Quarterback Alan Bowman #10 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders launches a pass against the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the first quarter on September 22, 2018 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Red Raiders won 41-17. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

The Texas Tech football team knocked off Oklahoma State 41-17 in Stillwater ending a nine-game losing streak to the Cowboys.

The longest Texas Tech football losing streak to one opponent since the 1960’s is no more. The Red Raiders finally put an end to a nine-game losing streak against Oklahoma St. by dominating the 15th-ranked Cowboys 41-17 in Stillwater.

Kliff Kingsbury’s team moved to 3-1 on the season thanks to its defense and a punishing ground game that churned out 224 yards and three touchdowns. Senior running back Demarcus Felton, who announced his intention to leave the program following spring practices only to return to the Red Raiders shortly thereafter, led the team with 121 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 carries (a 10.1 yards-per-carry average).

The ground game stepped up to support freshman Alan Bowman who looked almost mortal for the first time in his brief collegiate career. Throwing the first two interceptions of his career, Bowman was still solid (35/46 for 397 yards and two touchdowns) but did not have the type of dominating performance that he had last week in throwing for 605 yards against Houston.

On the other side of the ball, Texas Tech’s defense held an Oklahoma State offense, that had averaged 52.3 points per game in its first three games, without a point for the final 42 minutes of the game.

Tech harassed OSU quarterback and West Texas native Taylor Cornelius into the worst performance his career. The fifth-year senior was just 18-38 for 258 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

The win was the first for the Texas Tech football program in Stillwater since 2001 when Kliff Kingsbury was a junior and the starting quarterback. Now, the embattled head coach can add another win over the Cowboys to his resume with Saturday night’s being the most significant of his coaching career.

Kingsbury and the Red Raiders opened a brutal three game stretch against ranked opponents to begin Big 12 play with arguably the best performance of any Kliff Kingsbury coached team. It was the kind of performance that Texas Tech fans have been clambering for for years.

Tech was penalized only three times for 20 yards, dominated the line of scrimmage, and controlled the game throughout the second half. It was the first win over a ranked team for Kingsbury since 2013 and now it is fair to wonder if we will point back to this game as the moment the Kliff Kingsbury era finally turned the corner.