Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Looking back at Texas Tech football’s best decades

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX -NOVEMBER 22: Wide receiver Wes Welker #27 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders carries the ball during the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Jones SBC Stadium on November 22, 2003 in Lubbock, Texas. The Sooners won 56-25. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX -NOVEMBER 22: Wide receiver Wes Welker #27 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders carries the ball during the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Jones SBC Stadium on November 22, 2003 in Lubbock, Texas. The Sooners won 56-25. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite/ALLSPORT
Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite/ALLSPORT /

The 1990’s

Emerging from the chaos that was the 1980’s, Texas Tech grew into a rather competitive program in the 1990’s under Spike Dykes, who took over as head coach in 1986. During the 90’s, Tech went 62-53, (53.9%) with six winning seasons and five bowl appearances.

The best season of the 90’s was a 9-3 1995 season that ended with a 55-41 win over Air Force in the Copper Bowl.  That was just the program’s third bowl win since 1954 and the fifth in program history.

Of course, one of the most iconic plays in Red Raider history happened that season.  Zach Thomas’ interception return for a TD in the waning seconds of a 7-7 game with Texas A&M in Lubbock will forever be a program highlight and cemented Thomas’ place as a Texas Tech legend.

Tech finished the 1995 season ranked No. 20 in the nation, the only time that the Red Riders would have a top-25 final ranking in the 90’s.  But most Red Raider fans remember the season prior as the most definitive season of the 1990’s.

In 1994, the Southwest Conference was uncharacteristically average with no national title contender.  A five-way tie between Tech, Texas, Rice and TCU, all of whom finished 4-3 in the league and Texas A&M’s bowl ban resulted in the first ever Cotton Bowl appearance for the Red Raiders.

Unfortunately, the most memorable part of that Cotton Bowl for Tech fans was just after the opening kickoff when they covered the end zone with tortillas to the extent that the game had to be briefly suspended for clean up.  Once the game resumed, USC and their All-American wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson ran wild to the tune of a 55-14 win. Despite winning a share of the SWC for the first time ever, Tech ended that season unranked with just a 6-6 record.

The decade and the career of Dykes ended in 1999 when Texas Tech went 6-5.  The all-time winningest head coach in program history at the time, Dykes won his final game thanks to the heroics of a redshirt freshman QB named Kliff Kingsbury who was making his first career start.  Kingsbury led the Red Raiders to a 38-28 comeback win over Oklahoma to close out the decade and send his head coach into retirement with an emotional win.

The 1990’s was one of the most important decades in program history.  Tech was able to rebound from the mess that was the 80’s and stabilize itself as a competitive national program under Dykes.  It was also the decade that saw the program join the newly formed Big 12 in 1996 and in fact, Tech was part of the first ever Big 12 football game when it lost to Kansas state 21-14 in Manhattan.

Including Thomas, the 90’s saw a number of the most popular and prominent players in program history come through Lubbock.  Icons such as Byron Hanspard, Bam Morris, Montae Reagor, Lloyd Hill and Marcus Coleman all emerged as stars for a program that began the decade as a regional afterthought but finished it on the doorstep of revolutionizing the game of college football.

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