85 YEARS OF RED RAIDER FOOTBALL
Texas Tech (0-0, 0-0) kicks off its 85th season on the gridiron against North Dakota (0-0) on Saturday, Sept. 5 at Jones AT&T Stadium at 6 p.m. (CT). Over the span of 84 years, Texas Tech has compiled a record of 502-389-32.

RANKINGS
Texas Tech is unranked in both the AP and the USA Today Coaches polls.

THE SERIES
Texas Tech and North Dakota will be meeting for the first time on Saturday evening.

FIRST-TIME MEETINGS
North Dakota is the 127th different opponent to make an appearance in Texas Tech annals. Texas Tech has faced 14 programs for the first time under Mike Leach and is 13-2 in those games. First-time meetings under Leach include Eastern Washington and Nevada in 2008; Northwestern State and Virginia in 2007; Southeastern Louisiana and Minnesota in 2006; Florida International, Sam Houston State, Indiana State and Alabama in 2005; California in 2004; Navy in 2003; Clemson in 2002; Stephen F. Austin in 2001; and East Carolina in 2000. A first-time match-up has taken place 25 times in bowl games, with the opponents holding a 14-10-1 advantage (Tech is 5-2 under Leach in first-time matchups in bowl games).

SEASON OPENERS
Texas Tech enters the season against North Dakota with a 55-26-3 all-time record in the 84 previous season openers. The Red Raiders will open the season at home for the 56th time and has an overall mark 43-11-2 in those games, including the last nine. The last time Tech lost in a season opener at home was against Oklahoma in 1992.

HOME OPENERS
The Red Raiders are 63-18-3 all-time in home openers, including winners of the last nine. The last Tech loss in a home opener came against North Texas in 1999.

SEPTEMBER MEANS FOOTBALL
For the 78th time in school history, the Red Raiders will kickoff their season in the month of September as they face North Dakota on Saturday. The September 5th kickoff date, however, has occurred only twice before and not since the 1998 season. The Red Raiders are 1-1 all-time on Sept. 5 as Tech took care of UTEP 35-3 at the start of the 1998 season in Jones AT&T Stadium while falling at Florida State (40-16) in the 1987 season opener. Texas Tech has opened its football season six times in the month of August and once in October back in the inaugural season of 1925.

PROTECTING THIS HOUSE
Since the start of the 2003 season, Texas Tech boasts a 33-5 record at Jones AT&T Stadium. The .868 winning percentage ranks third in the Big 12 behind only Oklahoma and Texas. The Red Raiders are currently riding an eight-game win streak at Jones AT&T Stadium with their last loss coming at the hand of Colorado on Oct. 27, 2007.

TECH STEADY AT HOME OUT OF CONFERENCE
Since Mike Leach's arrival in 2000, the Red Raiders boast a 20-1 non-conference record at Jones AT&T Stadium. Overall, Texas Tech is 34-8 in non-conference matchups, including five bowl wins. The program is 8-4 on the road and 6-3 at neutral sites during the previous eight seasons.

SEVEN STRAIGHT AND COUNTING
Texas Tech is tied eighth nationally with Ohio State, USC and West Virginia with seven straight eight-win seasons. Georgia (12) is first, followed by Texas (11), Virginia Tech (11), Boise State (10), LSU (9), Oklahoma (9) and Boston College (8). The Red Raiders' run began during Mike Leach's third season as the team posted an 9-5 record.

53 WINS IN LAST SIX YEARS
Texas Tech ranks 16th nationally with a total of 53 win over the last six years. USC leads the nation with 71 followed by Boise State (68), Oklahoma (66) and Texas (64). Tech is one of four Big 12 teams in the top 20 with Missouri coming in tied for 20th with 50 wins during that stretch.

TECH IN MIDST OF WINNING SEASONS STREAK
Texas Tech ranks fourth nationally with 14-straight winning seasons. Florida State leads with 31, while Florida (20), Virginia Tech (14) and Tech comprise the top four.

DEFENDING BIG 12 SOUTH CHAMPIONS
For the first time since the inception of the Big 12 Conference, the Red Raiders will take to the field in the season opener as the defending south division champions. Texas Tech ended the 2008 season in a three-way tie for the division lead with Oklahoma and Texas. The Sooners won the tie-breaker based on BCS standings and went on to defeat Missouri in the championship game.

WE'VE BUILT IT ... AND THEY HAVE COME
The overwhelming popularity of Red Raider Football has led to the third renovation of Jones AT&T Stadium since the arrival of head coach Mike Leach back in 2000. Last year, the athletics department secured $25 million in funding to renovate the east side of the stadium and also add six thousand seats to the north side. The new east side stadium building will feature 500 club seats and more than 20 luxury suites and will follow in the same architecture of the existing west side stadium building. The approximate 1,000 seats in the new building along with the six thousands seats in the north end zone will bring stadium capacity close to 60,000. The seating in the north end is expected to be completed in time for the Texas A&M game on Oct. 24.

SEASON TICKETS ON PACE WITH 2008
Despite significantly less preseason media hype than that of 2008, that has certainly not disparaged Red Raider fans as season ticket sales are on pace with last season's record selling year. So far, 39,384 season tickets have been sold for this season meaning 2,348 season packages need to be sold this week in order to match last year's record of 41,732.

SELLOUT STREAK IS ON THE LINE
Tech's season opener against North Dakota will put an important streak on the line as the two teams battle on Saturday night in Jones AT&T Stadium. Texas Tech is currently riding a school record of six consecutive sellouts that dates back to a 43-7 win over SMU last season. A grand total of 326,424 fans came out to Jones AT&T Stadium last year over a seven-game span.

SOMETHING OTHER THAN FOOTBALL?
Jones AT&T Stadium was put to use for something other than football this past summer for the first time in over 20 years. The stadium held its first concert since 1987 on Aug. 7 as "The Bob Dylan Show" took over the turf and drew a crowd of more than 12,000. Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson were the featured performers and ironically it was Nelson who last headlined a concert in the stadium. The concert was met with rave revues and the stadium is being looked at in the future to host other major concert events.

BOWL STREAK CONTINUES
Texas Tech's appearance in the prestigious AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic back in January marked the school's 32nd postseason game (tied for 17th nationally). Texas Tech has been bowl eligible for a Big 12 record 15-straight seasons and has been to a bowl game in each of Mike Leach's eight seasons as head coach.

TIME TO PROVE THEM WRONG AGAIN
The Big 12 media have looked into their crystal ball's and predicted that the Red Raiders will finish fourth in the Big 12 South in 2009. Texas was given the edge to take the division followed by Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Baylor was picked fifth while Texas A&M was slotted sixth. The good news for Tech fans is that the Red Raiders have finished higher than their preseason projection in three of the last four years.

NATIONAL TELEVISION STREAK COMES TO AN END
Saturday's game against North Dakota will not be broadcast to a national television audience, thus ending a nine-game streak for Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were featured on national television in the final nine games of the 2008 season, including three national Saturday prime time broadcasts on ABC. Texas Tech will return to the national stage in just three weeks as the Red Raiders head to the capitol city for a match-up against the Texas Longhorns. The game will be carried live on ABC in prime time (7 p.m. CT) with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit calling the action. More than likely, ESPN's College Gameday will originate from Austin on that Saturday.