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GAME INFORMATION
After a difficult two-game road stretch, Texas Tech returns home to the friendly confines of Jones AT&T Stadium to host the New Mexico Lobos on Saturday afternoon. Kickoff has been set for 2:30 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on FSN. The New Mexico game will be the official Family Weekend for 2009 and less than a thousand tickets remain. For tickets, contact the athletics ticket office at 806-742-TECH.
RANKINGS
Neither team is ranked in the Associated Press poll or the USA Today Coaches poll.
TELEVISION
Saturday's game will be televised nationally on FSN. Bill Land, Gary Reasons and Emily Jones will call the action. Check your local listings for channel information.
TEXAS TECH SPORTS NETWORK
Texas Tech fans across the state and the region can tune into the Texas Tech Sports Network coverage of Saturday's game. Brian Jensen (play-by-play), John Harris (color) and Toby Cecil (sidelines) will call the action. The flagship station for the Red Raiders in Lubbock is Double T 104.3FM. For more information, log on to www.texastech.com.
THE SERIES
Texas Tech renews its border rivalry with the University of New Mexico this week as the Lobos come to Jones AT&T Stadium for a 2:30 kickoff on Saturday. Texas Tech and New Mexico have not met on the gridiron since the 2004 season when the Lobos kicked a last second field goal to defeat the Red Raiders 27-24 at University Stadium in Albuquerque. Saturday's match-up will mark the 41st all-time meeting between the two schools with Texas Tech leading the series 32-6-2. The series is the seventh most played in school history for the Red Raiders. New Mexico is the second closest Division I school to Texas Tech as 322 miles separate the two campuses.
TIME TO "THINK PINK"
Texas Tech fans will be asked to "Think Pink" on Saturday when the Red Raiders battle New Mexico at Jones AT&T Stadium. Covenant Medical Systems will be the official game sponsor for the game and is teaming up with the Susan G. Komen Foundation to promote breast cancer awareness on Saturday. The Komen Foundation will be holding their annual Race For The Cure on Saturday morning beginning at 8 a.m. at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center to officially kickoff the day. Covenant will distribute 10,000 pink t-shirts to the Texas Tech student body at the game to help raise awareness for this deadly disease.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE LOBOS
The New Mexico Lobos come to Lubbock on Saturday eager to change their misfortunes just as much as the Red Raiders. The Lobos dropped to 0-4 on the season on Saturday with a heartbreaking 20-17 loss to in-state rival New Mexico State. The Aggies scored the go-ahead touchdown with 39 seconds remaining in the game while New Mexico missed what would have been a game-winning 47-yard field goal with two seconds left. The Lobos are led by first-year head coach Mike Locksley who came to New Mexico after spending the previous four seasons as the offensive coordinator at the University of Illinois. He replaced Rocky Long who led the Lobos for 11 seasons.
Opened the season at Texas A&M and suffered a 41-6 setback to the Aggies. UNM then fell to Tulsa (44-10) and Air Force (37-13) in back-to-back weeks.
Quarterback Donovan Porterie has started all four games as the Lobo signal caller and has completed 61 of 98 attempts while throwing only three interceptions. He is averaging 132.5 yards-per-game through the air.
Linebacker Carmen Messina is the defensive leader on the squad with 57 tackles, including three for a loss of yardage.
TECH LOOKING TO EXTEND HOME WIN STREAK
Texas Tech will be looking to the put the brakes on a two-game losing skid on Saturday when the Red Raiders play host to the New Mexico Lobos. Tech will also be trying to defend a 10-game home win streak at Jones AT&T Stadium that dates back to a 34-27 win over No. 3 Oklahoma in the regular-season finale in 2007. The 10-game home win streak is the second longest in the Mike Leach era as the Red Raiders won 11-straight between the 2004 and 2006 seasons.
ON THE VERGE OF A SELLOUT
Texas Tech is on the verge of its first sellout of the season as less than 700 tickets remained for the game as of Sunday afternoon. The seating arrangement for Saturday's game will not include the new sections of the stadium that are being erected in the northwest and northeast corners. Those sections will not be available until the Texas A&M game later in October.
NOTES FROM THE HOUSTON GAME
Freshman punter Ryan Erxleben booted a 50-yard punt late in the first quarter to give him the longest punt of his brief career.
Senior defensive end Daniel Howard had a huge sack on a 3rd and goal situation for Houston as he took down Houston quarterback Case Keenum. He added his second sack early in the third quarter and that established a new career-high for Howard.
Redshirt freshman running back Harrison Jeffers put up Tech's longest rush of the season midway through the second quarter when he escaped around the right side and went down the field for a gain of 35 yards. Prior to that rush, Tech's longest run of the game was an 18-yard scamper by Baron Batch last week at Texas.
Texas Tech's third touchdown of the game also came on the ground but this time by Jeffers who ran in from 13 yards out to give Tech a 20-10 lead with 59 second remaining in the first half. The touchdown was the first of his career.
Taylor Potts' first passing touchdown of the night went to Tramain Swindall with 4:19 remaining in the third quarter as the two connected in the middle of the field for a 24-yard reception. The touchdown catch was his fourth of the year and gave Tech a 27-20 advantage.
Freshman Will Ford made a huge play for the Red Raiders in the middle of the fourth quarter. The Abilene native made his first career interception picking off Case Keenum.
Tech's defense held Houston's explosive offense to a season low in points. Houston came into the game averaging 50 points per game and the Red Raiders held Houston to just 29.
Texas Tech repeated a uniform combination for the first time tonight as the team went with their road white jerseys on black pants for the second-straight week. In all, Tech has worn three different uniform combinations.
Texas Tech won the opening coin toss and elected to receive. Texas Tech is now 3-1 on the season in the opening coin toss.
CARTER SUSPENDED
Senior offensive lineman and preseason All-American Brandon Carter has been suspended by head coach Mike Leach for a violation of team rules. His suspension is indefinite.
LAST MINUTE SETBACKS
Texas Tech suffered its third last minute defeat in the Mike Leach era on Saturday night against then No. 17/23 Houston. Tech had previously suffered losses in the final minute to Oklahoma State in 2005 and New Mexico in 2004.
A Look At Last Minute Losses Under Leach
9/26/09 - at Houston - 4-yard run by Case Keenum with 49 seconds remaining
11/12/05 - at Oklahoma State - 1-yard run by Al Pena with 23 seconds remaining
9/11/04 - at New Mexico - 43-yard field goal by Wes Zunker as time expired.
BATCH KEYS TECH RUN GAME
Junior running back Baron Batch lived up to his preseason billing as a Doak Walker candidate by rushing for a career-high 114 yards on 19 carries and scored two touchdowns on Saturday night at Houston. He was part of a Tech rushing attack than ran for a season high 163 yards on 32 carries. The team rushing total was the most since a 179 yard effort last season against UMASS.
Batch put the Red Raiders on the board for the first time with 6:59 remaining in the first quarter when he scampered into the end zone on a six-yard run. The TD was his first since the season opener against North Dakota. The touchdown was also the first on the ground by any player since the North Dakota game.
Gave Tech a 13-10 lead with 5:59 remaining in the first half when he scored on an 11-yard rush. The rushing TD was his second of the night and that matched his career high that he set last season against Baylor.
The 114 yards rushing by Batch were the most given up by Houston since October 28, 2008 in a game against Rice.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Last season Michael Crabtree (2007 and 2008 Biletnikoff winner) was the main target in Mike Leach's vaunted offense as he caught 97 balls while only two other receivers caught at least 50. This season the distribution of catches has evened out. Seven receivers have double digit catches this year with Alex Torres leading the way with 22. Three players (Torres, Lewis and Leong) have over 20 receptions while three others (Batch, James and Jeffers) are two away from having double-digit receptions.
HOWARD IN THE MIDDLE OF BREAKOUT SEASON
Senior defensive end Daniel Howard seems to have saved the best for last as he is in the middle of a breakout season, in this his last year in a Red Raider uniform. Coming into the season looking at a role of a backup defensive end, Howard has forced his way not only into opposing backfields but also into a starting position. The junior leads the team with 3.5 sacks and that ranks him fifth in the Big 12. He had a career-high 11 tackles against Houston and owns 19 on the year (sixth on the team).
DEFENSIVE NOTES
Tech has four interceptions on the season and is halfway to their season total in 2008 (8). Tech is currently tied for 45th in the nation for number of interceptions this year.
Marlon Williams leads the team with 35 total tackles and that mark ranks sixth in the Big 12.
The defense is holding teams to 21.5 points per game this season.
Tech is 13th in the NCAA with 7.88 tackles-for-loss per game.
Three Red Raiders rank in the top 105 of total tackles per game. Marlon Williams is tied for 53rd with 8.75 per game. Cody Davis ranks tied for 77th with 8.25 per game and Brian Duncan is tied for 85th with 8 per game.
Cody Davis (T-17th), Marlon Williams (T-24th), Brian Duncan (T-45th) and Bront Bird (T-90th)are in the top 114 of the NCAA in solo tackles.
Tech's defense is averaging 2.50 sacks per game and is tied for 31st in the NCAA overall.
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