Countdown to Kickoff: 31 Days
PREVIOUS COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF ENTRIES: 50 | 49 | 48 | 47 | 46 | 45 | 44 | 43 | 42
41 | 40 | 39 | 38 | 37 | 36 | 35 | 34 | 33 | 32
Texas Tech's 2016 football season will begin in exactly 32 days with a Sept. 3 kickoff against Stephen F. Austin.
Today, we continue our Countdown to Kickoff series with a notable way the number 32 relates to Red Raider football.
31: Texas Tech stormed back from a 31-point deficit in the 2006 Insight Bowl to defeat Minnesota 44-41 in overtime.
Texas Tech's win over Minnesota in the 2006 Insight Bowl remains the one of the most unlikely wins in Red Raider football history.
Mike Leach's team entered the game as eight-point favorites against the 6-6 Golden Gophers, but any notion that Texas Tech was vastly superior to what was perceived to be a big, lumbering Big Ten was quickly erased as Minnesota raced out to a 35-7 halftime lead.
Gulp.
The Gophers extended their lead to 31 points with a field goal midway through the third quarter.
From then, however, it was all Red Raiders.
From the 4:58 mark of the third quarter to the end of regulation, Graham Harrell and the Texas Tech offense dissected the Minnesota secondary and scored 31 points. Alex Trlica's 52-yard field goal, a new career long for the junior kicker, as time expired sent the game into overtime.
Texas Tech needed just one extra frame to finish out the win. Two days later, the Gophers fired head coach Glen Mason.
Tomorrow: 30 - We look the best players in Texas Tech football history.