Texas Tech Red Raiders Football Tickets - Games - Buy Texas Tech Red Raiders Football Tickets

Tech has now had 13 straight non-losing seasons and even more impressive to me, they are the ONLY member of the Big 12 with 11 straight winning seasons. They are surprisingly 12 games over .500 in conf play since the Big 12 was formed. It took Tech a little time to warm up to the Mike Leach system but in Kliff Kingsbury's senior season they averaged 38.4 ppg. Despite breaking in inexperienced QB's the following 3 years, they've actually averaged 42.5,36.2 and 39.4 ppg with 475,400 and 389 passing ypg. In 2002 Tech outgained Big 12 foes by 88.8 ypg and improved that to 134.9 in 2003 (3rd best), 103.7 in '04 and last year 115 ypg (2nd best). In 2004 they came back from a 21 -0 deficit to TCU and 30-5 deficit vs Kansas for victories and then knocked off a Cal team, disappointed not to be in a BCS bowl, with a 45-31 win to finish 8-4. Their #18 finish in the AP poll in 2004 had been their highest since 1976. For as fast as the offense scores, I felt the D did a great job allowing just 26.2 ppg in 2004. Last year the defense had 8 starters back and showed improvement again yielding just 18.8 ppg. Even taking out the creampuff non-conf games, they yielded just 22.8 in league play. Tech has not won 10 regular season games since 1976. TT ranked in the preseason Top 25 (#21) for the first time since 1977 when they were #8. They got off to their best start since 1998 at 6-0 including a fortuitous win over Nebraska in which an int was fumbled back to them with 1; :13 left and they got a TD1:01 later. They were all fired up for their home game vs undefeated Texas but were plastered 52-17 in a game in which TTech had a 29-21 FD edge. They got their first ever Big 12 road shutout at Baylor. Tech played in just their 3rd Cotton Bowl (1939 and 1995). They were #13 after an 8-1 start but suffered a stunning loss to Okla St. The next week they actually lost to Oklahoma but got two favorable ref calls at the end, giving them the win. Their luck expired in the bowl when Alabama got a knuckle ball game winning FG to pull out a 13-10 victory. Their +9 turnovers in 2005 nearly qualified for my Turnpvers=Turnaround article (pg 312) and was the bestturnover margin in the Leach era. Despite having to replace their QB, a 4 year starting RB and facing a tougher schedule than last year, they do have their top 4 receivers back meaning Tech's offense could improve on the 33 ppg in B12 play last year. Tech returns 4 defensive players who started at least 23 games and 3 others with at least 13 starts. Tech's D has improved from #106 to #46 to #30 in total defense the past 3 years. They are more experienced than it seems as 5 starters return and could be just as good as last year's top-notch D as long as their young secondary comes together quickly. They were #18 in scoring defense allowing 18.8 ppg, their best since 1980 (17.1).