Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech football classics: Red Raiders score emotional win in 2010 Alamo Bowl

By Matthew Conner

SAN ANTONIO, TX - DECEMBER 28: A view of the logo at midfield before the Valero Alamo Bowl game between the Washington State Cougars and the Iowa State Cyclones at the Alamodome on December 28, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX - DECEMBER 28: A view of the logo at midfield before the Valero Alamo Bowl game between the Washington State Cougars and the Iowa State Cyclones at the Alamodome on December 28, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /
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The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot “Masked Rider”. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot “Masked Rider”. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

“Sticks” saves the day

Lost in the controversy between the James family, Leach, and Hance was a lesser but also significant controversy that played out over the course of the 2009 season, “Sticks” vs. Potts.  In the 2010 Alamo Bowl was written another chapter of the first true QB controversy we’d seen in Lubbock in decades.

Incumbent starter Taylor Potts began the game and performed rather well.  In three-plus quarters of action, he passed for 372 yards and two TDs as Tech held the lead for most of the night.

But his final pass was picked off at the 13:31 mark of the 4th quarter as Tech trailed 28-27.  On the play, Potts floated a pass right into a defender’s arms in what was an inexplicable decision on his part.  Following that series, he was shown jogging off to the locker room to have what we would learn was a broken finger on his non-throwing hand x-rayed.

That would open the door for Steven “Sticks” Sheffield to come riding in to save the day.  The former walk-on had quickly become a fan-favorite after making three starts in the middle of the year.  In his first start, he threw for 7 TDs in a 66-14 home win over Kansas State, and the next week, he led Tech to a 31-10 road win at Nebraska.

But at the end of that Nebraska game, he sprained a foot on a QB sneak and though he would try to play a month later against Oklahoma State, he was not himself in a 24-17 loss.  In fact, after hurting his foot in mid-October, he would see action in three more games, the third of which was the Alamo Bowl.

The TV crew said that the decision to change QBs was a coach’s decision and that Potts was cleared to return.  But going to “Sticks” was the right move because the moment he stepped onto the field, the heavily pro-Texas Tech crowd came alive.

On his first drive, he went 6-6 with a TD pass to Detron Lewis to put Tech up 34-31 with 4:56 to play.  And a series later, he would convert two fourth-downs in Tech territory by hitting Alex Torres and Lewis with laserbeam passes to help the Red Raiders score another TD to sow up the ten-point win.

Unfortunatley, the foot injury would pop up again in the spring and prevent Sheffield from competing for the QB job as he missed all of spring football.  As a result, Sticks would lose the 2010 QB job to Potts.  But in the 2010 Alamo Bowl, he was the star of the night as he completed 9 of 11 passes for 88 yards and a TD to help bring his team from behind.

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