Defense Makes Strong Statement in Red-Black Game
April 15, 2006 | Football
April 15, 2006
LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech's defense stood out early in Saturday's annual Red-Black game, holding the offense to three points through the first three quarters and recording six sacks at Lowrey Field in Lubbock. The offense added a pair of touchdowns to the score in the fourth quarter on a rush and pass.
The Red Raiders totaled 223 yards in the first half, but threw for 243 yards. The defense's three sacks accounted for 20 lost yards on the ground. The offense finished the day with 438 yards of total offense as the team ran through various combinations of ones vs. twos and vice versa. The threes ran against each other during the final nine minutes of the game and added the final score.
"We came out and competed real well for our offense," senior NT Chris Hudler said. "We kept them out of the end zone as much as possible. Overall, I think we played very well. The defense came out excited today. Our young guys made some great plays. We made some great stops that helped us play as well as we did."
Sophomore walk-on LB Calen Shearer led the defense with seven tackles, while three others added six each. S Joe Garcia led with two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry and six different players accounted for the sack total. Senior CB Antonio Huffman made the unit's lone interception of the day, picking off IR Robert Johnson's pass across the middle on a trick play. Junior LB Paul Williams and sophomore S Darcel McBath each totaled two pass breakups.
"Defensively, I think this is the most impressive group of guys able to respond to play after play," Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach said. "Overall, they did a great job making big plays and working well together."
After falling short through three quarters, which saw the only points coming on a 21-yard field goal by junior Alex Trlica, the Red Raider offense crossed the goal line for the first time at the 9:45 mark of the fourth quarter on a fourth-down, six-yard run by redshirt freshman RB Kobey Lewis. Lewis led all rushers with 33 yards on seven carries. During the threes session, sophomore walk-on QB Ryan Rowland connected with IR Kelly Hildebrandt on a three-yard strike in the end zone for the final score of the game.
Sophomore QB Graham Harrell led the passing game with 227 yards on 27-of-38 passing, while redshirt freshman QB Chris Todd followed with 15-of-23 passing and 119 yards. Rowland was 9-of-16 for 85 yards and a touchdown. Harrell complimented the defense after being sacked twice by the unit.
"They had some good sacks and we had some incomplete passes," Harrell said. "I think that a lot of it is on the quarterback, not on the offensive line, to get us where we need to be. The defense made some big stops when they had to and overall played really well."
Senior WR Joel Filani was active on the day with team highs in receptions (8) and yards (72). Junior IR Danny Amendola totaled 63 yards on seven catches, while Purdue transfer Grant Walker had 58 yards on seven receptions. Overall, 14 players recorded a reception on the day.
"I think that we played pretty good," Harrell added. "We moved the ball at times, and then there were times when we couldn't get the ball to move very far. I think we can definitely improve on some things but overall I feel that we played pretty good."
The Red Raiders will wrap up spring drills with an 11 a.m. Monday workout.
Players Mentioned
