Countdown to Kickoff: 45 Days
PREVIOUS COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF ENTRIES: 50 | 49 | 48 | 47 | 46
Texas Tech's 2016 football season will begin in exactly 45 days with a Sept. 3 kickoff against Stephen F. Austin.
Today, we continue our Countdown to Kickoff series with a look at a notable way the number 45 relates to Red Raider football.
45: Texas Tech logged a Big 12-record 45 first downs versus Iowa State in 2003.
The Texas Tech offense was firing on all cylinders as it neared the midway point of the 2003 football season. Entering the Red Raiders' Homecoming game against Iowa State, quarterback B.J. Symons had tossed 24 touchdowns and was averaging more than 493 passing yards per game. The team's four-headed monster at receiver - Carlos Francis, Nehemiah Glover, Mickey Peters and Wes Welker - was making life hell for opposing secondaries. Texas Tech's defense was... Well, it was there too.
Iowa State, meanwhile, was having a forgettable season. Dan McCarney's team was riding a three-game losing streak into Lubbock and was a week removed from giving up 613 yards to Oklahoma.
Things would get much worse for the Cyclones. Much worse.
Symons and the Red Raiders dissected the ISU defense, setting Big 12 records in total offensive yards (775), plays (111) and first downs (45).
The game was a bit closer than the final 52-21 score would suggest, as the two teams were tied at 21-all early in the third quarter. It was all Texas Tech the rest of the way out, though, as the home team rattled off 31 unanswered points.
Symons finished the game having completed 45-of-65 passes for 487 yards, five total touchdowns and, perhaps most notably, a torn ACL.
Tomorrow: 44 - We look back at one of the best players to ever put on a Texas Tech uniform.
