Countdown to Kickoff: 8 Days
PREVIOUS COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF ENTRIES: 50 | 49 | 48 | 47 | 46 | 45 | 44 | 43 | 42
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Texas Tech's 2016 football season will begin in exactly eight days with a Sept. 3 kickoff against Stephen F. Austin.
Today, we continue our Countdown to Kickoff series with a notable way the number eight relates to Red Raider football.
8: B.J. Symons set a Texas Tech and Big 12 record with eight touchdown passes against Texas A&M in 2003.
B.J. Symons set a number of Texas Tech, Big 12 and NCAA records during his remarkable senior season in 2003. He had memorable performances that season against N.C. State, Ole Miss and Oklahoma State, but his most impressive outing had to be his demolition of Texas A&M.
Dennis Franchione's Aggies limped into their trip to Lubbock at 2-2 having lost back-to-back games to No. 8 Virginia Tech and No. 17 Pittsburgh, but were just six-point underdogs to the 3-1 Red Raiders.
Spoiler alert: Texas Tech covered the six points and then some.
Symons completed 74 percent of his passes that night for 505 yards and a Big 12-record eight touchdown passes, and the Red Raiders rolled to a 59-28 victory. That record still stands to this day, though Geno Smith tied it in West Virginia's 70-63 win over Baylor in 2012.
Tomorrow: 7 - We look at one of the most impressive and unlikely single-game performances in Texas Tech history.