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Thanks for all the submissions, all. Got a lot of good stuff from a lot of different corners. Here are the best tales of painful losses across the Big 12. Apparently there are both high volumes of Big 12 blog readership and pain from losses in Houston.Brian Kimball (Chicago, Illinois)
Three words - Statue of Liberty. I was a freshman at OU when they got trounced in the title game by 'SC, but the Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise St. still eats away at me. Just the whole thing - falling behind early, fighting back, taking the lead late in the game on a pick-6 ... and then the gimmicks ... I still don't order baked potatoes when I eat out.
Wilson DeSpain (Houston, Texas)
I'm a Texas Tech fan and the worst loss ever was against Oklahoma in 2008. the 65-21 blowout still haunts my dreams of what could've been today. My dad got me the tickets for my 15th birthday and we drove 8 hours to get there. It was freezing cold and i was sick but it was the biggest game in Tech history and i had to be there. It was the worst birthday of my life. For all these reasons I will never forget the day Texas Tech went into Norman with the aspirations of going to a Big 12 championship and lost in the worst way possible for any fan to endure a blowout crushing the dreams not only of the players but of the entire Texas Tech community in Lubbock and all over the world.
Nathan Penney (Tampa, Florida)
Sept 17 2004. So Miss 21 Neb 17. Growing up in Omaha as a season ticket holder and going to college at Nebraska I had seen over 100 Nebraska Football Games (including a dozen road games and 2 national championships) and I had never seen them lose in person. I had always missed the games they lost. To walk out of the stadium after a loss was a foreign feeling that made me sick.
Ben (Atlanta, Georgia)
November 22, 2008 was supposed to be the day the Everyman changed the stars forever. For three weeks, Texas Tech was the talk of the college football world. There was no doubt in my mind we would beat Oklahoma, claim the #1 ranking, and win a national championship for the little guys. We couldn't just lose the game though. Oh no! We had to be completely obliterated in every way possible. For three weeks, I felt like Stephen King's "Carrie" when she won she won Homecoming Queen. By halftime I felt like Carrie when the pig guts fell on her!
Chris Vasquez (Houston, Texas)
08'-I was so excited to watch my beloved Horns match up with Texas Tech, that I went out and bought a brand new 52'' Sony LCD to enjoy the game...When Michael Crabtree caught the long ball in the last seconds to knock my beloved horns out contention for the NC game.,I was glad I had purchased the "whatever happens we will replace your TV" insurance. I knew the TV could not handle that spiral! They took the TV back, and I can no longer watch games with projectiles in my hands.
Heartbreak (USA)
0:01
Jason Showman (Omaha, Nebraska)
After watching Texas make the game-winning field goal in the Big 12 title, I was crushed. As a die hard Husker fan, being so close and seeing it all slip away was tough.What hurt even more was that my three year-old son, who is a budding football enthusiast and watched the entire game with me, enjoyed seeing the post-game celebration so much that he asked me to carry him on my shoulders while he made the "Hook'em Horns" symbol with his hands, just like Hunter Lawrence.
Chip Van Horn (Houston, Texas)
I'm sure I won't be the only one to mention this, but 1997 Nebraska @ Mizzou. I was 12 years old and on The Hill for the game. I remember having to watch the video board because I couldn't see over everyone. As we went to storm the field I remember people yelling "Get off the field, the game isn't over!" That play was really heart breaking as a fan, and I'm sure as a player. After the overtimes the fans still went on the field and I went up behind Scott Frost and pushed him and took off running.
Rachel (Madison, Wisconsin)
Texas A&M losing to Oklahoma in '03, 0-77. Three first downs all game. It was so horrible I blocked it from my mind for an entire year.
Patrick (Houston, Texas)
2008: Texas @ Texas Tech.It was my super senior semester at UT. I had purchased options for BCS National Championship tickets at the beginning of the year, who value increased from $20 to $250 in 3 weeks. We were watching the game in Austin at a house party; when it looked like Blake Gideon caught the game winning interception everyone ran to the street cheering and yelling. When we came back to the TV we found out he had dropped the ball, and Crabtree caught the game winning touchdown with a second left.
David (Houston, Texas)
I'm a Husker fan....so just choose any of the recent games against Texas. (slap to the forehead with long sigh)
Bob Cullwell (Denver, Colorado)
Kansas' loss to Missouri in 2007 would be the most distasteful loss in my memory. It's bad enough to lose to Missouri in anything, but that game and that season had a once-in-a-lifetime feeling to it. It was disappointing to lose that one--even though that was a superb Missouri team.The revenge came, though, when the Orange Bowl had to decide whom to invite. It's sweet to still hear Tiger fans gripe about that!
Elijah (Mount Vernon, Texas)
For us at Oklahoma State, it wasn't a game. We took a brutal beating by the NCAA when they took Dez.
Jon Stewart (McCook, Nebraska)
I was 5 or 6 years old. My father was eathing peanuts during the game. I asked for some, begged in fact. He told me he would give me some when nebraska scored. They never scored again and I got zero peanuts.
Jake (Houston, Texas)
11/27/2004. ISU's first chance at a conference championship since 1912. Opponent: a 4-6 Missouri team. Drove from Minneapolis through a snowstorm. Somehow got to Ames. 30 MPH winds, wind chill of 22. In the stands, shirtless (last-game tradition), snowflakes are no longer melting on our skin. 1:04 left, Bret Culbertson with a 24-yard field goal to win it for ISU. Wide Right. Overtime.Missouri hits a FG, up 17-14. ISU drives, Meyer flings a fade to the end zone. Intercepted. Game over.Walked a mile back to the dorms on frozen joints. Longest mile of my life.
Bryan C (Austin, Texas)
As a Texas fan that started watching the team at the age of 7 in 1998, I can say without a fraction of a doubt that the most painful, excrutiating loss was the loss to Texas Tech in 2008. To watch the Horns fall into a deep hole, watch my team come back and take a late lead, watch one of our DBs drop a clinching interception, watch Michael F***ing Crabtree waltz into the endzone, and then having to watch the hated OU Sooners edge us out in the BCS by percentage points was almost unbearable.
Kaustubh Sagdeo (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
As an OU alum, it'd have to be the loss to Florida in the 2009 championship game. Two possessions inside the 10 that resulted in zero points and a tie game at half instead of a 21-7 Sooners lead was a bad sign. The tebow-worship that followed combined with seeing our defense play their guts out made it particularly difficult to swallow. That game could have really changed OU's and Coach Stoops' "big game" reputation. I had a residency interview the next day and it's safe to say I didn't sleep much that night, or for several days after.
David H (San Antonio, Texas)
Shorthanded Texas Loses to Tech, w/ no Quan, no Orakpo, dropped interceptions on last second. Physically sick for a week, my wife was 7 months pregnant and she almost induced. Coworkers talked smack for a year.
Aaron Jay Campbell (Lubbock, Texas)
Asking for the most painful game for a Tech fan is like asking when is it windy in Lubbock, always. Anytime the Red Faders show up to play, its tough. The worst to me was getting our hopes and dreams destroyed by OU two years ago in the midst of our best season in decades, if we win we're in our first BCS bowl and maybe Natl. Championship. I could have taken a loss and wouldn't have been that surprised, but to come out on that stage and just get plain embarassed, it hurt, and still hurts, I feel like I'm talking to a shrink here. I'll come back tomorrow and we can work through the damge caused by last years upset by tamu in the Jones.
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