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Texas Tech football: The most explosive games in Red Raider history

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 17: General view of the Texas Tech Red Raiders scoreboard after the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on September 17, 2016 at AT&T Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech won the game 59-45. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 17: General view of the Texas Tech Red Raiders scoreboard after the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on September 17, 2016 at AT&T Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech won the game 59-45. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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General view of Jones AT&T Stadium before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
General view of Jones AT&T Stadium before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

No. 5: 59 points vs. Texas A&M in 2003

Scoring 50 or more points in a game is something Texas Tech football fans have grown accustomed to in the “Air Raid” era.  But in 2003, we were still getting used to the new high-flying offense of Mike Leach and the numbers it produced.  And when Leach’s team dropped a massive 59-28 beating on Texas A&M in Lubbock that season, it was one of the most celebrated wins of the early portion of Leach’s tenure.

The star of the game was QB B.J. Symons, who threw for a Big 12 record eight TDs.  On the night, he was 34-of-46 for 505 yards.  But he could have had even more.

Leaving the game with just under 12 minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the Houston native could have easily gotten to 10 TD passes had Leach left him in to run up the score.  After all, he had already thrown for scores of 17, 19, 48, 13, 14, 15, 8, and 16 yards.

According to ESPN, it was the third-straight week that Symons had set a Big 12 record after establishing a new conference mark for passing yards in a game in each of his previous two outings.

Another Red Raider legend, Wes Welker, also had a huge game.  With six catches for 114 yards and two scores, the slot receiver became the program’s all-time leader in career receptions as he surpassed Lloyd Hill.  Meanwhile, Carlos Francis, Mickey Peters, and Nehemiah Glover each caught six passes with Glover hauling in three of Symon’s eight TDs.

His most memorable was a score that came off a crossing route in the third quarter.  With Tech already up 38-14, Glover scampered to the front corner of the endzone from 15 yards out and as he crossed the goal line, he threw both arms out to his side and sidestepped around the pylon in front of two Aggie defenders adding further humiliation to an evening that served as one of the worst trips A&M as ever made to Lubbock (at least from their perspective).

At the time, Tech set a record for points in a game by a Texas A&M opponent.  What’s more, this game still sits as the third-biggest margin of victory Tech ever managed in the series.  By hanging the most points any Red Raider team has ever managed to hang on the Aggies and doing so on national television, this game is worthy of inclusion on this list despite not ranking in the program’s top 10 of highest-scoring games of all time.  That’s because we give it bonus points for humiliating a rival that has always done a great job of humiliating itself in the first place.

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