1995 Football Team - 10-Year Anniversary
September 20, 2005 | Football
Sept. 20, 2005
By Bryan Coffman, Texas Tech Athletic Media Relations
With the opening kick-off of the 2005 season about to start, Texas Tech is taking a look back 10 years at the Tech football team of 1995. Tech finished the season with a 9-3 record winning eight of its last nine games. The only loss during that nine-game stretch was to No.13 Texas, falling 48-7 in Austin. It was the first time Tech had won nine games in a season since 1976. In 1995, Tech finished 5-2 in league play and finished second in the last year of the Southwest Conference.
Texas Tech started the season 1-2 losing to No.4 Penn State by one point on the first game of the season and losing the Southwest Conference opener to Baylor by two points, 9-7. Had Tech won those two games where they only lost by a margin of a field goal, Tech could have had an 11-1 season.
In the first game of the season, Texas Tech went up against the No.4 Nittany Lions of Penn State at State College, Pa. The Red Raiders got out to a 20-7 halftime lead but ended up falling short by one point on a last second field goal by Brett Conway with four seconds left in the game. The final score was 24-23.
Probably the most exciting game of the season for Tech was against No.8 Texas A&M on Oct. 7, 1995, in Lubbock. Going into the fourth quarter the score was tied 7-7. With 30 seconds left in the game, All-American linebacker Zach Thomas, who now starts for the Miami Dolphins, intercepted a pass thrown by Corey Pullig and returned it 23 yards for the game-winning touchdown as Tech beat the Aggies 14-7. This loss for the Aggies snapped their Southwest Conference winning streak of 29 games. The win against Texas A&M started a four game win streak for Tech.
Another star player for Texas Tech's offense in 1995 was sophomore running back Byron Hanspard, who won the Doak Walker award his junior year in 1996. After his junior year he was drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. In 1995, Hanspard rushed for 1,374 yards on 248 attempts and made 11 touchdowns. He also received for 474 yards and seven touchdowns.
Texas Tech played Air Force in the Weiser Lock Copper Bowl in 1995, winning 55-41 in Tucson, Ariz. Tech went to the air most of the first half getting out to an early 28-7 lead in the second quarter with drives of 80, 75, 74 and 80 yards. The second half was mainly Hanspard, who ran for 201 of his 260 yards during those final two quarters.
Air Force made a comeback to only trail 31-28 until the Red Raiders countered with a 79-yard touchdown drive, which put them back in control of the game.
Hanspard, with his incredible second-half performance, was named the game's MVP.
After the season had come to a close there were three players who were named to the 1995 Consensus All-Southwest Conference Team. Hanspard was awarded for his job at running back. On defense, back Marcus Coleman and Thomas were also awarded. Thomas was awarded the consensus Defensive Player of the Year.
The 1995 squad was the first team to win nine games since the 1976 season, which was matched again in 2002. Hopefully, with the squad that Mike Leach has this year, Tech can do just as good or even better than this special team from 1995.