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 No. 2 Red Raiders Prepare For Title Clash At No. 5 Oklahoma
 
Big 12 South Division on the line on Saturday night in Norman; kickoff set for 7 p.m. on ABC
 

Nov. 17, 2008

#2/2 TEXAS TECH at #5/5 OKLAHOMA
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium - Norman, Oklahoma
7 p.m. (CT) Kickoff

Media Coverage

Television - ABC (National)
Network Radio - Texas Tech Sports Network
Satellite Radio - Sirius Channel 121/XM Radio Channel 242
Gameday Information:
Texas Tech Game Notes  |  Oklahoma Game Notes  |  Big 12 Game Notes

Noting The Red Raiders

Darcel McBath and the defense will face a strong test at No. 5 Oklahoma.
GAME INFORMATION
Texas Tech (10-0, 6-0) faces Big 12 South Division foe Oklahoma (9-1, 5-1) on Saturday in Norman at 7 p.m. CT, at Memorial Stadium.

GAME NOTES

  • No. 2 Texas Tech is riding its highest ranking in school history as the Red Raiders enjoy the nation's longest winning streak at 12 games.
  • The game is the 113th of Head Coach Mike Leach's career at Texas Tech and he boasts a 75-37 record during that span.
  • Leach is one win shy of tying legendary Red Raider coach Pete Cawthon in second place on the all-time wins list at the school (Spike Dykes, 82 wins).
  • Leach spent one season at Oklahoma as Bob Stoops' offensive coordinator in 1999.
  • Leach is the third-most tenured coach in the Big 12 Conference at nine seasons, while his five bowl wins are second since the 2000 season.
  • Texas Tech has a 4-0 record on the road this season, marking the first time since 1977 that a Tech team has won as many regular season games away from home.
  • The most road wins in a season occurred three times - 1953, 1972 and 1976.
  • Texas Tech ranks among the top offensive programs in passing offense (first), total offense (second) and scoring offense (third).
  • The Texas Tech offensive line has yielded just five sacks in 499 pass attempts.
  • Junior guard Brandon Carter and senior offensive tackle Rylan Reed have not yielded a sack all season.
  • The Red Raider rush defense is ranked 20th nationally, allowing 107.4 yards per game - the number is 8.2 yards per game better than the school record of 115.6 set in 1964.
  • Tech's 1,326 yards rushing this season is the most since 2003, while the Red Raiders' 25 rushing scores is five shy of the school record of 30 set in 1993.

    PLAYING FOR THE SOUTH
    For the second time in Mike Leach's tenure, the Red Raiders' Big 12 South title hopes can be sealed with a win in Norman. Texas Tech entered the 2002 game at OU with a shot at winning the division, but suffered a 60-15 setback. A win this year would give the Red Raiders their first Big 12 South Division title since the inception of the league in 1996. A loss would force the Red Raiders to wait a week for the outcome of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game (Nov. 29). An OSU win against OU would hand Tech the South title.

    RANKINGS
    Texas Tech is ranked second by the AP and USA Today Coaches polls. Oklahoma is ranked fourth and fifth in the USA Today Coaches and AP polls, respectively.

    THE TECH-OU SERIES
    Oklahoma leads the series 11-4-0, but the Red Raiders have won two of the last three ... Tech dropped a 34-24 decision at Norman in 2006, after leading 24-17 at the half; OU held the Red Raiders scoreless in the second half, while tacking on three points in the third and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter for the win ... the series is relatively young as the two teams first met in 1992 ... OU won the first three, before Tech claimed a 22-12 win in the Big 12's inaugural season in 1996, Tech's only road win in the series.

    TEXAS TECH VERSUS THE BIG 12
    Texas Tech is 60-42 all-time in Big 12 Conference play and ranks fifth in conference wins during that span ... since Mike Leach arrived in 2000, the Red Raiders have won 41 league games, which ranks third behind Oklahoma (60) and Texas (58).

    BEST 10-GAME STARTS
    Texas Tech has only held a 10-0 record twice during its 84-year history - in 1938 and this season. The Red Raiders of 70 years ago finished the regular season 10-0, before dropping a 20-13 decision to St. Mary's in Tech's first Cotton Bowl appearance.

    ALSO LOOKING FOR 7
    Texas Tech's 6-0 conference record this season marks the most wins in conference play since 2005, when the Red Raiders finished with a 6-2 mark. Only two other teams have won six games in conference play in Tech's history - 1973 and 1976. The 1973 squad finished the season with a 6-1 mark in Southwest Conference play, while the 1976 team's 7-1 record marks the most conference wins in a single season in school history.

    NOVEMBER RECORD
    Texas Tech is 19-10 in the Mike Leach era in games played during the 11th month ... the Red Raiders are in the midst of arguably their toughest stretch of November dates in school history with games against then-No. 1 Texas (W, 39-33) and then-No. 8 Oklahoma State (W, 56-20) ... the two games remaining include Saturday's meeting with No. 4/5 Oklahoma and Baylor (Nov. 29).

    OKLAHOMA CONNECTIONS
    Aside from the obvious Mike Leach connection, Texas Tech has several other ties to the University of Oklahoma and the state itself. Nine Red Raiders hail from north of the border - WR Cornelius Douglas (Lawton), DE Joey Fowler (OKC Westmoore), RB Harrison Jeffers (Lawton Eisenhower), OL Joe King (OKC Putnam City North), DB LaRon Moore (Midwest City), DE Jake Ratliff (Lawton Eisenhower), DB Pete Richardson (Muskogee), WR Tramain Swindall (OKC Millwood) and NT Colby Whitlock (Noble). Tech running backs coach Seth Littrell was a running back at Oklahoma from 1997-2000 and was a captain on the Sooners' 2000 National Championship team. Defensive line coach Charlie Sadler was a member of the OU coaching staff from 1984-90, where he served as defensive line coach (84-88) and defensive coordinator (89-90). The Sooners won the National Championship in 1985 with Sadler on staff. Red Raider assistant strength coach Jozsef Szendrei is the most recent Sooner as he was a member of the OU basketball team earlier this decade. Beaver, Okla., native and Director of Football Operations Tommy McVay began his coaching career at Waynoka, Okla., in 1968, after graduating from Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

    WE'RE STREAKING
    Texas Tech currently owns the nation's longest win streak at 12 games, dating back to last year's 34-27 win over Oklahoma in Lubbock. The Red Raiders current streak of seven-straight conference wins also leads the Big 12 and is the longest conference streak in the country. Including last year's bowl game, Texas Tech has won five straight away from home, which ties fifth nationally.

  • WR Michael Crabtree has caught at least five passes and a touchdown in 13-straight games, trailing former Pitt receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who holds the record with 14 games.
  • QB Graham Harrell has completed at least 30 passes in four-straight games and has passed for 400+ yards in three of the four. Harrell also has completed at least 70 percent of his passes in the last four games and is sporting a 76.6 completion rate (154-of-201).
  • The ground game tandem of running backs Baron Batch and Shannon Woods has produced 100-yard rushing games each Saturday this season, which is a school record. Not even during the Doak Walker Award-winning years of Byron Morris (1993) and Byron Hanspard (1996) did the Red Raiders rush for 100+ in 10-straight games.
  • Texas Tech opened the season with four-straight interception games and currently have picked at least one pass in the last three.


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