RED RAIDERS HOST HUSKERS FOR HOMECOMING
Texas Tech puts its No. 7 national ranking up against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock. The game will be televised nationally on FSN with Joel Meyers (play-by-play), Gary Reasons (analyst) and Jim Knox (sideline) calling the action. The Red Raiders enter the game with its first 5-0 record since the 2005 season, while Nebraska is 3-2. The Red Raiders are coming off a 58-28 win at Kansas State in its Big 12 Conference opener last weekend. The Huskers dropped a 52-17 decision at home to Missouri over the weekend. RED RAIDERS ON HOMECOMING
Texas Tech is 47-28-3 all-time on homecoming and has won five of the last six. The last loss came against Missouri in 2006, while last season's win was against Iowa State. This matchup with Nebraska is the second on homecoming in Lubbock as Tech took a 70-10 win in 2004. TEXAS TECH-NEBRASKA SERIES
Nebraska leads the series 7-2, but the Red Raiders have won the last two meetings, 70-10 in 2004 and 35-31 in 2005. The teams first met in 1976 in the Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston with the Huskers taking a 27-24 win and handing the Red Raiders only their second loss of the season. Big 12 precursor games in 1993 and 1994 pitted a top ten Nebraska team each year against the Red Raiders. The two began Big 12 Conference play in 1996 and 1997 and have jumped on and off each others' schedules every two years. PREVIEWING NEBRASKA
Nebraska enters the game averaging 33.4 points per game, but has been held below that mark in each of the last two. Opponents are scoring at a 26.2 point per game clip with the last two eclipsing that mark. The Huskers have been impressive through the air with 270.4 yards per game and are getting 140.2 yards on the ground. The scoring has been balanced offensively as 10 scores have come through the air. Defensively, Nebraska is allowing 376.2 yards of total offense per game and rank 11th in the Big 12, allowing 248.2 yards through the air. Marlon Lucky leads the ground game with 46.4 yards per game and has four of the team's eight rushing scores. Todd Peterson and Nate Swift have been the go-to receivers with 22 and 20 receptions, respectively, and one and three touchdowns. Swift leads with 60.8 receiving yards per game. Joe Ganz ranks fifth in the conference with 257.4 passing yards per game and has thrown nine scoring passes. Cody Glenn and Phillip Dillard are the team's leading tacklers with 35 and 32, while three players, including Zac Potter, have two sacks. Potter leads the team with seven tackles for loss. RED RAIDERS EARN HIGHEST RANKING SINCE 1976
Texas Tech leapfrogged BYU in the USA Today Coaches Poll and is ranked seventh in each poll this week. The rankings are the highest for the Red Raiders in any poll since sitting at No. 5 three-straight weeks during the 1976 season.
- Texas Tech has appeared in nine final AP polls throughout the program's 83-year history.
- Texas Tech spent 22-straight weeks in the AP top 25 from 2004-06, a program best; the previous high was 20 weeks during the 1976-77 seasons.
- The Red Raiders spent three-straight weeks in the AP at No. 5 in 1976, Tech's highest-ever ranking.
- The Red Raiders spent eight weeks in the top 10 in 1976.
- Texas Tech is currently in a five-year streak of being ranked in the AP poll, the longest streak in school history.
TEXAS TECH QUICK NOTES
- Texas Tech is 5-0 on the season for the first time since 2005 ... in the history of the program, Texas Tech has been 5-0 only five times.
- Texas Tech is sixth nationally with 11-straight non-conference wins, including bowl games ... the Red Raiders last lost a non-conference game at TCU (12-3) in 2006.
- Texas Tech's top 10 rankings each of the last three weeks in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls is the first time since the 1976 season that Tech has been ranked among the top 10 in as many weeks ... it also is only the third since the installation of the coaches poll in 1989 that Texas Tech has been ranked among the 10 in both.
- Texas Tech is 9-4 all-time in Big 12 Conference openers, including last weekend's 58-28 win at Kansas State ... last year's league-opening loss at Oklahoma State snapped a string of five-straight conference-opening game wins.
- Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, Texas Tech is 19-18 in games against the conference's North division ... the Red Raiders are 14-11 in head coach Mike Leach's nine seasons, but have won 11 of the last 16 ... had perfect seasons against the North in 2004 and 2005.
- Red Raiders may turn into "Road Warriors" after the month of October is complete ... Tech plays at home only once (Oct. 11 vs. Nebraska) during the month ... games at Kansas State (Oct. 4), Texas A&M (Oct. 18) and Kansas (Oct. 25) make up three-quarters of the month's slate.
- Texas Tech boasts a 29-5 record at Jones AT&T Stadium since the start of the 2003 season ... Tech's .853 success rate is tied 11th during the span with Georgia and Florida and is third in the Big 12 to Oklahoma and Texas.
- The Red Raiders have scored 30 or more points in 21 of the last 23 games, including the last nine straight, which leads the country ... Texas, with eight-straight 30-point games, is second among the national leaders in consecutive 30-point games.
- Since Mike Leach's arrival in 2000, the Red Raiders boast a 19-1 non-conference record at Jones AT&T Stadium ... overall, Texas Tech is 32-8 in non-conference matchups, including five bowl wins ... the program is 7-4 on the road and 6-3 at neutral sites.
- Texas Tech has the Big 12 Conference's longest winning streak at seven games, dating back to last season.
- Texas Tech ranks fifth nationally with 13-straight winning seasons. Florida State leads with 30, while Michigan (22), Florida (19), Virginia Tech (14) and Tech comprise the top five.
- Texas Tech has scored 30 or more points in 71 games during the Leach era and has won 60 of those games. The Red Raiders are 30-5 under Leach when scoring 40+ and 21-0 when scoring over 50. On the flip side, Tech is 10-26 when scoring 29 points or less.
- Texas Tech quarterbacks have thrown for 41,551 yards during the Mike Leach tenure - or 23.6 miles. The offense has also accounted for 327 passing scores since 2000 as compared to the 232 thrown the previous 20 seasons.
- Texas Tech ranks third among Big 12 members with consecutive eight-win seasons. Texas leads the group with nine, while Oklahoma has done it in the last seven seasons. Texas Tech has recorded at least eight wins each of the last six seasons.
LAST GAME AGAINST THE HUSKERS
Cody Hodges eluded a tackle and scrambled to find Joel Filani in the back of the end zone with 12 seconds to play to lead Texas Tech to a 34-31 win at Nebraska in 2005. On the series prior, Hodges threw what appeared to be the game-ending interception, but the ball was fumbled on the return, giving the Red Raiders a last shot at a win. Hodges threw for 368 yards in the game, while Filani had three touchdowns and 163 yards on 11 receptions. The Red Raiders held a 27-14 lead in the third quarter, before Nebraska 17-0 scoring run that gave the Huskers the lead early in the fourth quarter until Tech scored the game-winning TD. |
