Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 46. Texas Tech
Dough goes in. Tortillas come out. Can't explain that
Dough goes in. Tortillas come out. Can’t explain that. Texas Tech’s been a very good football program over the last 40 years, with 25 winning seasons and only 1 season with less than 4 wins. Spike Dykes and Mike Leach combined for a 166-110-1 record from 1986-2009, the “golden era” of the last 40 years for Tech football. It seems like Joey McGuire has them on the rise, being such a great recruiter in the state of Texas and seeing how much care he puts into the program. He seems like the perfect fit for Tech football, and with investments in upgraded football facilities and Texas/OU leaving, Tech seems primed to make a run at becoming one of the premier Big 12 teams in the conference’s new era.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 8 | Texas Tech | 2008 | 35.016 | 11-2 |
| 16 | Texas Tech | 2005 | 21.409 | 9-3 |
| 18 | Texas Tech | 1995 | 19.843 | 9-3 |
| 17 | Texas Tech | 1989 | 18.731 | 9-3 |
| 21 | Texas Tech | 2009 | 18.185 | 9-4 |
| 25 | Texas Tech | 2007 | 16.364 | 9-4 |
| 25 | Texas Tech | 2002 | 15.998 | 9-5 |
| 21 | Texas Tech | 2004 | 14.201 | 8-4 |
| 36 | Texas Tech | 2003 | 9.593 | 8-5 |
| 39 | Texas Tech | 2022 | 6.737 | 8-5 |
| 40 | Texas Tech | 2010 | 4.899 | 8-5 |
| 40 | Texas Tech | 2006 | 4.461 | 8-5 |
| 40 | Texas Tech | 2001 | 3.734 | 7-5 |
| 35 | Texas Tech | 1996 | 2.246 | 7-5 |
| 50 | Texas Tech | 2013 | 2.099 | 8-5 |
| 38 | Texas Tech | 1997 | 1.79 | 6-5 |
| 52 | Texas Tech | 2012 | 1.646 | 8-5 |
| 36 | Texas Tech | 1987 | 1.643 | 6-4-1 |
| 38 | Texas Tech | 1998 | 0.082 | 7-5 |
| 39 | Texas Tech | 1986 | -0.689 | 7-5 |
| 58 | Texas Tech | 2015 | -2.192 | 7-6 |
| 41 | Texas Tech | 1994 | -2.566 | 6-6 |
| 54 | Texas Tech | 2021 | -2.599 | 7-6 |
| 45 | Texas Tech | 1991 | -3.341 | 6-5 |
| 43 | Texas Tech | 1993 | -5.175 | 6-6 |
| 54 | Texas Tech | 1999 | -7.885 | 6-5 |
| 60 | Texas Tech | 2000 | -8.401 | 7-6 |
| 74 | Texas Tech | 2017 | -10.928 | 6-7 |
| 73 | Texas Tech | 2018 | -11.416 | 5-7 |
| 58 | Texas Tech | 1992 | -11.518 | 5-6 |
| 65 | Texas Tech | 1988 | -12.707 | 5-6 |
| 75 | Texas Tech | 2016 | -14.975 | 5-7 |
| 84 | Texas Tech | 2020 | -15.119 | 4-6 |
| 77 | Texas Tech | 2011 | -17.614 | 5-7 |
| 70 | Texas Tech | 1990 | -19.144 | 4-7 |
| 69 | Texas Tech | 1985 | -21.284 | 4-7 |
| 72 | Texas Tech | 1983 | -21.547 | 3-7-1 |
| 76 | Texas Tech | 1984 | -21.919 | 4-7 |
| 89 | Texas Tech | 2019 | -22.661 | 4-8 |
| 96 | Texas Tech | 2014 | -29.394 | 4-8 |
+------+------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 21560 (46th)264-217-2 record
1 conference title
13-11 bowl record
8 consensus All-Americans
64 NFL players drafted
Texas Tech has 18 seasons finishing in the top 40 of my rankings, but only 4 top 20 finishes, and 1 top 10 finish. Consistently pretty good, just not great (aside from 2008). The lone conference title came in 1994, a season where Texas Tech went…6-6, their 22nd best season since 1983. Texas A&M, who went 6-0-1 in the conference that year, was ineligible for the title, so there was a 5-way tie for first with Texas Tech getting a piece of the pie. The consensus All-Americans are P Mark Bounds (1991) who averaged 46.8 yards per punt, LB Zach Thomas (1995) who was just inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, RB Byron Hanspard (1996) who rushed for exactly 2000 yards and won the Doak Walker Award, DL Montae Reagor (1998), OL Brandon Carter (2008) who stood 6’6 340 lbs and would most notably paint his face and spike his hair, WR Michael Crabtree (2007, 2008) who played just 2 seasons, and TE Jace Amaro (2013) who set the NCAA single season receiving yard record by a TE with 1352 yards. The most notable Red Raiders in the NFL have far and away been QB Patrick Mahomes, LB Zach Thomas, WR Wes Welker, WR Michael Crabtree, and WR Danny Amendola.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2014 (4-8 overall, 2-7 Big 12)
Kliff Kingsbury was not known for his defense. Through 2014-16, Texas Tech gave up 41.2 PPG, 43.6 PPG, and 43.5 PPG, ranking 3rd worst, 4th worst, and worst in the nation in those years. The reason why 2014 ends up as the worst season is because the offense “only” averaged 30.5 PPG, easily the worst of the Kingsbury era. It was still good for 54th in the country though. Despite the defense that couldn’t stop a nosebleed, Texas Tech managed to beat Kansas 34-21 and Iowa State 34-31 to only finish 3rd worst in the Big 12. That didn’t stop them from complete embarrassment though, losing 27-82 to #10 TCU midway through the year. TCU put up 31 points in the 3rd quarter and had 68 total through the first 3 quarters. They had 785 yards of total offense for the game and TCU QB Trevone Boykin had 7 touchdown passes in the first 3 quarters. The bright spot of the season came in a 46-48 loss to Baylor on the final week, where a freshman QB by the name of Patrick Mahomes announced himself to the world by throwing for 598 yards and 6 TD against the #7 team in the country. QB Davis Webb, who would transfer to Cal and become a 3rd round NFL pick, threw for 24 TD 13 INT, while Mahomes threw for 16 TD 4 INT on the season. LB Pete Robertson led the conference in sacks with 13.
5. 2009 (9-4 overall, 5-3 Big 12)
2009 probably isn’t very fondly remembered by fans, with the firing of Mike Leach at the end of the year and winning 2 less games than the previous year. Still, despite losing their star QB and WR, this team was very productive. Just a 2-2 start included a 10 point loss at #2 Texas and 1 point loss at #17 Houston, but they would open Big 12 home play with a bang, first beating Kansas State 66-14, then #15 Nebraska 31-10. Unfortunately, promising junior QB Steven Sheffield was injured late in the game, and after sitting out a month, would never again truly display the skill he showed in a 7 TD performance against Kansas State. QB Taylor Potts was serviceable though, and after falling to 6-4 on the year, beat Oklahoma 41-13, outgaining the Sooners by nearly 250 yards. Wins over Baylor in the final regular season game and Michigan State in the Alamo Bowl finished the year #21, and third in the Big 12 South over Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Baylor. Potts threw 22 TD 13 INT while Sheffield completed 74% of passes for 14 TD 4 INT. With Crabtree gone, they didn’t have a true #1 target, and 4 receivers had between 550-850 yards. DE Brandon Sharpe was a 3rd Team All-American, second in the nation with 15 sacks.
4. 1989 (9-3 overall, 5-3 SWC)
One of coach Spike Dykes’ (father of Sonny) best seasons. Texas Tech enjoyed a 9-3 final record, #19 final ranking, and 4 wins over Top 25 teams. They opened the year beating #20 Arizona 24-14, improved to 3-1, beat #19 Texas A&M 27-24, improved to 5-2, beat #22 Texas, finished the regular season at 8-3, then beat #20 Duke in the bowl 49-21. Duke were the ACC co-champions that year under Steve Spurrier. A far cry from Mike Leach, Dykes’ teams used to run the ball heavy, with RB James Gray earning 2nd Team All-American honors with 1509 rushing yards and 18 TD, with backup and future San Diego Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn rushing for 568 and 6 TD. OT Charles Odiorne was a 1st Team All-American. DB Tracy Saul led the SWC with 8 interceptions, and would go on to finish his career with the 3rd most interceptions in NCAA history with 25. Against the 32nd ranked strength of schedule, they averaged 30.0 PPG while giving up 23.4 PPG.
3. 1995 (9-3 overall, 5-2 SWC)
In the opener, Texas Tech nearly beat #4 Penn State in Happy Valley, losing 23-24 on a 39 yard FG with 4 seconds left. RB Byron Hanspard and LB Zach Thomas both had great games, and both would lead Tech throughout the season. After falling to 1-2, the Red Raiders were deadlocked 7-7 with #8 Texas A&M with just 40 seconds to go, and it appeared the game was headed for overtime. But the Aggies would try for a FG, throwing a pass that was intercepted by Thomas and returned 25 yards for the winning TD, 14-7. No longer losing close games, things clicked for Tech as they won 7 of their last 8 games afterwards, only losing to #13 Texas 7-48 in what in hindsight was the SWC title deciding game for Tech. A 55-41 win in the Copper Bowl over WAC co-champion Air Force capped a 9-3 season and a #23 final ranking. Mobile QB Zebbie Letheridge, who’d go on to make NFL rosters as a CB, threw for 13 TD 6 INT while rushing for 9 TD. RB Byron Hanspard led the offense alongside Letheridge, rushing for 1374 yards and receiving for 474 yards for a total of 1848 yards and 18 TD. Zach Thomas and DB Marcus Coleman were both 1st Team All-Americans, with Thomas going on to become an NFL Hall of Famer with the Miami Dolphins.
2. 2005 (9-3 overall, 6-2 Big 12)
The 2000’s, the best decade in Tech history. Mike Leach was 84-43 from 2000-09, never winning less than 7 games in a season. Coming off a bowl win over #4 California the previous year, Tech started with a preseason rank of #21, remaining in the Top 25 all year long. A 3-0 non-conference start was against just FIU, Sam Houston State, and Indiana State, but at least Tech won by an average score of 66-10. After beating Kansas, Tech was down 27-31 to Nebraska with just seconds left to play, when a 10 yard TD pass to 1000 yard receiver Joe Filani took it 34-31 to improve to 5-0. A win over Kansas State set up #10 Texas Tech at #2 Texas in a battle of unbeatens. Vince Young had his usual great game for the Longhorns, winning 52-17, no real shame in that. Tech did their best to stay in the hunt for a BCS bowl, winning 2 more to improve to 8-1 (5-1 Big 12). Despite a loss to Oklahoma State, Texas Tech finished the season in the most satisfying way possible, scoring a touchdown with no time left to walk off with a 23-21 win. This spawned the infamous “GO RAIDERS” video-bomb of an Oklahoma player’s postgame interview, the videos of which have about 500,000 combined views on YouTube. Tech lost to #13 Alabama in the Cotton Bowl to finish the year 9-3 and ranked #20.
RB Taurean Henderson ran for 872 yards and received for 528 yards, finishing his career with 3241 rushing yards and 2058 receiving yards. His 303 catches is an NCAA record for RBs, and was 3rd all-time for any position when he left college. Filani had 1007 receiving yards, and would up it next year with 1300. WR Danny Amendola was just a sophomore with 395 yards, but would go on to have 109 catches for 1245 yards in 2007 as the #2 receiver behind Michael Crabtree. FS Dwayne Slay was a 1st Team All-American, leading the Big 12 in tackles with 114.
1. 2008 (11-2 overall, 7-1 Big 12)
Clearly the best season for Tech in the last 40 years, maybe all-time. A perfect storm of talent, coaching, and a little bit of luck came together for a dream season at the Jones. All-time great QB Graham Harrell returned for his senior season, and WR Michael Crabtree entered his second and final year after winning the Biletnikoff as a freshman. Ranked #12, the two were unstoppable to begin the year, blowing out a soft schedule of Eastern Washington, Nevada, SMU, and UMass (playing 2 FCS teams, what gives, Texas Tech?). A 58-28 win over Kansas State with 6 TDs from Harrell showed Tech was not to be messed with. They almost lost the 0 in their loss column against a reeling Nebraska team though, who had lost 2 straight, taking the game to OT before winning 37-31 to improve to 6-0. A win at College Station over A&M set up #8 Texas Tech at #19 Kansas for their toughest test yet. Kansas, despite a top 20 ranking and coming off a 12-1 year, stood no chance, with Tech going up 56-14 by the end of the 3rd quarter in a 63-21 win.
That set up the game you, your friends, and your friends’s friends remember. #7 Texas Tech vs #1 Texas. College GameDay for the first time in Lubbock. Legendary basketball coach Bob Knight, who had just retired from the Tech sideline earlier in the year, summed up the feelings of all Red Raider fans heading into the game: “I deeply hope we beat their ass today.” Lee Corso put on the Raider Red head, firing guns into the air: “GO TEXAS TECH! SHOOT EM UP TEXAS TECH!” A sea of black greeted the Longhorns, 56,000 strong for an over-capacity Jones SBC Stadium. And from the jump, they were on the Horns’ ass. A safety in the first 5 minutes opened up a 2-0 lead for Tech, jumping to 12-0 with a touchdown as time expired to end the 1st quarter. It was 22-6 by halftime. Texas took any points they could get—Colt McCoy’s roommate Jordan Shipley took back a punt 45 yards for a TD…followed up by McCoy throwing a pick six on their next drive. 29-13 Red Raiders. But the Tech offense started to stall, watching their lead evaporate. Down 26-32, Texas ran in a 4 yard TD to go up for the first time all game, 33-32, with just 1:30 to go. Tech got into FG range with 16 seconds left, about a 45 yard FG, but nothing was a guarantee; their kicker was Matt Williams, who was signed to the team midseason after winning a kicking competition. Harrell tried to get a couple more yards, but his pass was tipped into the air, intercepted by Texas safety Blake Gideon. Except it wasn’t—the ball went straight through Gideon’s hands in one of the most inexplicable drops you’ll ever see. 8 seconds to go, time for one more play to get closer to field goal range. Harrell just fires it up to Crabtree in double coverage…
…
“CRABTREE! PULLS FREE! AND TOUCHDOWN, RED RAIDERS, WITH A SECOND TO GO!”
Tech fans stormed the field, they didn’t care if there was 1 second left. A few penalties and long wait later, Texas Tech was victorious 39-33 over #1 Texas. Most people forget, but they followed it up immediately with a very impressive 56-20 win over #8 Oklahoma State. College GameDay came back to a Tech game, this time #2 Texas Tech at #5 Oklahoma. To this day I’m still not sure why Tech fumbled the opportunity so hard here, but they went down 7-42 by halftime, losing 21-65 to the Sooners, and it wasn’t nearly as close as the score suggested. Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Texas all ended the year 11-1 with a 7-1 Big 12 record, with Oklahoma getting the tiebreaker nod to make the Big 12 title game. Tech settled for the Cotton Bowl, losing a disappointing 34-47 game to #20 Ole Miss.
The All-American team pretty much consisted of all Tech players. QB Graham Harrell was a 1st Team All-American, finishing 4th in Heisman voting by completing 71% of passes for 5111 yards 45 TD 9 INT, finishing his career 2nd in NCAA history in passing yards with 15,793 and 1st in TDs with 134. Crabtree joined him as a 1st Team AA, winning the Biletnikoff for the second straight season with 97 catches for 1165 yards and 19 TD. On the offensive line, Brandon Carter was a 1st Team AA, Rylan Reed was a 1st Team AA, and Louis Vasquez was a 3rd Team AA. DE Brandon Williams led the Big 12 in sacks with 13. The 2008 Texas Tech team goes down as an unforgettable one.
5th Quarter
Thoughts on Texas Tech? Who’s your favorite Tech player/coach from the last 40 years? Was Graham Harrell-Michael Crabtree the best QB-WR combination in college football history? Where does that 2008 Texas Tech-Texas game rank for you in the best games you’ve ever seen? Why did Texas Tech poop the bed so bad against Oklahoma in 2008? What’s your favorite Mike Leach memory?
Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years - Main Hub
