Texas Tech University Athletics
Football Faces North Texas On September 22
September 17, 2001 | Football
Sept. 17, 2001
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SETTING THE SCENE
Texas Tech opened the season with a 42-30 win over New Mexico Sat., Sept. 8, at Jones SBC Stadium in Lubbock. North Texas is 0-2 on the season with losses to TCU (19-5) and defending national champion Oklahoma (37-10).
The Red Raiders (1-0) travel to Dallas to face the Mean Green in what has become on interesting game for the Red Raiders in the past few years. Texas Tech has won two of the last three, including a 30-0 victory over UNT at Texas Stadium in 1998. North Texas leads the series 4-3, however, and has won three of the last five.
TELEVISION
There will be no television for the game.
RADIO
The All Sports Radio Network is in its sixth season of broadcasting Texas Tech football games on a network basis. The 27-station network covers the state of Texas and Eastern New Mexico. Brian Jensen (play-by-play), John Harris (color) and Mark Finkner (sideline) provide gameday coverage. The broadcast may also be heard via the Internet at www.texastech.com.
All Texas Tech football games are broadcast in Spanish via KXTQ in Lubbock. Mario Montez and Israel Aguilar provide commentary. The Spanish broadcast can also be heard on the Internet at www.texastech.com.
TEXAS TECH VS. THE SUN BELT CONFERENCE
Texas Tech is 13-4 all-time against current members of the Sun Belt Conference. All four losses have come at the hands of this week's opponent - North Texas.
THE TEXAS TECH-NORTH TEXAS SERIES
North Texas leads the series with the Red Raiders 4-3, but has lost two of the last three to the Red Raiders, including a 30-0 setback at Texas Stadium in 1998.
McCLENDON KEEPS TREND GOING
Senior defensive back Paul McClendon scooped up a Lobo fumble in the fourth quarter and returned it for a touchdown. The score marked the third-straight season that Texas Tech has returned a fumble for a touchdown in the season opener.
DEFENSE IMPRESSIVE ON THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS
The Texas Tech first-team defense held New Mexico without a third-down conversion in 11 attempts on the night. The Lobos finished the game with three third-down conversions, all coming late in the fourth quarter against the second- and third-team.
TECH DEFENSE ALSO LIMITS PLAY COUNT
In addition to shutting down New Mexico on third-down conversions, the Texas Tech defense also held the Lobos to seven three-and-outs in 16 possessions.
WILLIAMS' GAME MULTI-DIMENSIONAL
Senior running back Ricky Williams carried the ball 14 times for 55 yards against New Mexico, but also caught seven passes for 89 yards and a touchdown. Additionally, Williams returned a kickoff seven yards. Prior to last season, Williams had 306 receiving yards in two seasons. In 13 games under Mike Leach's system, Williams has 317 receiving yards and 59 receptions.
TRANSITION COMPLETE FOR MICKEY PETERS
After catching three balls for 25 yards in 2000, sophomore receiver Mickey Peters opened the 2001 season with two receptions for 39 yards and his first career touchdown. Peters was signed in 1999 as a quarterback and was moved to receiver last season. He completed 3-of-3 passes last season as a receiver, all on trick plays.
KINGSBURY GOOD AT HOME
Kliff Kingsbury has an 8-2 record as the Red Raider starter in Jones SBC Stadium. His first start came in the season finale in 1999 against Oklahoma. Last year, Kingsbury led Tech to six wins at home. In 10 games at Jones SBC Stadium, Kingsbury is averaging 274.8 yards per game.
SCORE, AND SCORE OFTEN
Trailing 7-3 after the first quarter, the Red Raiders rattled off a field goal and two touchdowns on their first three possessions of the second quarter. Robert Treece connected on a 32-yard kick with 12:31 to play in the frame. Kliff Kingsbury found Wes Welker for an 18-yard touchdown pass at 8:50 and hit Mickey Peters with a 24-yard scoring strike on the next possession with 6:57 to play. Tech led 21-14 at the half and never trailed again.
KINGSBURY CONTINUES ASSAULT ON CHARTS
Junior quarterback Kliff Kingsbury set a school record against New Mexico, throwing a touchdown pass in his seventh-consecutive game. Kingsbury also took sole possession of second place on Tech's all-time 300-yard passing game list with his fifth. He trails Tech's all-time leader Robert Hall by one game. And finally, Kingsbury moved into fifth place on Tech's career total offense list, passing Byron Hanspard and James Gray. Kingsbury has 4,274 yards of career total offense at Tech.
DEBUTING AT TEXAS TECH
Several newcomers to the Red Raider program wasted little time making their presence felt in the season opener against New Mexico. 4 Walk-on kicker Robert Treece connected on his first two field goal attempts from 33 and 32 yards and finished the night with a team-high 10 points. 4 True freshman Ivory McCann provided the night's biggest excitement with a school-record 108-yard kickoff return in the third quarter. McCann is only the fifth player in Texas Tech history to return a kick 100-plus yards. 4 Redshirt freshman Nehemiah Glover led the Red Raiders with nine receptions and 102 yards. He also caught a long pass of 36 yards.
WILLIAMS JUST SHORT OF 3,000
Senior running back Ricky Williams needs just 10 yards to become only the fourth player in Texas Tech history to rush for 3,000 career yards. Williams entered the New Mexico game needing 65 yards to eclipse the mark, but finished the game with 55 yards on 14 carries. Byron Hanspard, James Gray and Bam Morris are the only three who have rushed for 3,000 or more yards.
BRINGING 'EM IN
The Texas Tech-New Mexico game drew 48,924 fans to Jones SBC Stadium, marking the largest home-opening crowd since the Texas A&M game in 1983. Since most of Tech's top 10 crowds are against Texas and Texas A&M, the largest crowd in a Tech home opener, excluding UT and A&M, came against USC in 1979. The Top Two (excluding Texas and Texas A&M) 52,991 USC (1979) 48,924 New Mexico (2001)
ON THIS DATE...
Texas Tech has played five games throughout the history of the program on September 13. Tech is 2-3 in those five games.
NO PLACE LIKE JONES
Texas Tech has a 276-144-13 record in Lubbock since the inception of the program in 1925. Some interesting tidbits over the years include:
Most Points - 120 vs. Wayland (1925)
Most Points Since 1950 - 71 vs. New Mexico A&M (1953)
Last TIe Game - 10-10 vs. TCU (1983)
Consecutive Win Streak - 13 games from 1939-42
Most Wins in a Season - 7 (1965)
Most Points in a Season - 279 (1932)
Fewest Opponent Points - 36 (1941)
Undefeated Home Seasons - 12 (Last time in 1995)
TECH RANKS HIGH IN GRADUATION RATES SURVEY
The American Football Coaches Association recognized Texas Tech football as one of the nation's top 30 programs in graduating its student-athletes.
Texas Tech recognized a jump in graduation to 70 percent this past year after graduating 54 percent the previous year. Tech, Baylor and Nebraska were the only schools from the Big 12 recognized as having graduated 70 percent or higher.
Curtis Named to Thorpe Award "Watch List"
Senior strong safety Kevin Curtis was been named to the Thorpe Award "Watch List" for the 2001 season. The Thorpe Award is presented annually to the nation's top defensive back.
Curtis also has received several preseason honors, including being named a second-team All-American by Street & Smith's. He also is listed as one of the top 10 collegiate safeties entering the 2001 season by Lindy's College Football.
The 6-foot-3, 223-pound Lubbock native finished second on the team last season with 121 tackles and fourth in the Big 12 Conference. His 320 career tackles ranks ninth all-time at Tech, trailing former Tech All-American Gabe Rivera by one tackle.
Other players named to the list include Quentin Jammer (Texas), Roy Williams (Oklahoma), Pig Prather (Mississippi State) and Lito Sheppard (Florida).
Kingsbury Named to O'Brien Watch List
Junior quarterback Kliff Kingsbury was been named to the Davey O'Brien Foundation Watch List for the upcoming season. The award is presented annually to the nation's top college quarterback.
Joining Kingsbury on the list from the Big 12 is Eric Crouch (Nebraska), Mark Farris (Texas A&M) and Chris Simms (Texas).
The O'Brien Award is named in honor of the late Davey O'Brien, the All-American and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback for Texas Christian University who led the Horned Frogs to the 1938 National Championship.
Williams Named Doak Walker Award Candidate
Senior running back Ricky Williams has been named to the candidate list for the 2001 Doak Walker Award.
Williams rushed for 1,582 yards during his sophomore season in 1998 and was named one of eight semifinalists for the award. He also was on the preseason candidate list in 1999 and was a preseason favorite to win the honor.
He is currently fourth on the all-time rushing yardage list at Texas Tech with 2,935 career yards. He also ranks third in career rushing attempts with 647. In 1998, Williams established two of Tech's top 10 single-game rushing totals with 251 yards against UTEP and 244 yards against Fresno State.
BIG 12 RUNNING BACKS LED BY WILLIAMS
Paced by senior Ricky Williams of Texas Tech as he continues his comeback from near-career-ending knee surgery in September, 1999, active Big 12 rushers are climbing the charts after some excellent weekend performances. Williams needs 35 yards to move into fifth place on the all-time Big 12 rushing chart with 3,027 yards-ahead of Missouri's Brock Olivo, who had 3,026 yards from 1994-97 for the Tigers. Nebraska's Eric Crouch needs 67 net yards rushing to become the Big 12's career leader in rushing yards by a quarterback and to replace Missouri QB Corby Jones (2,533 net rushing yards from 1995-98) for 12th place on the all-time league list.
