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Texas Tech football: Disappointing losses haven’t always spelled doom for Red Raiders

By Matthew Conner

Texas Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie celebrates 45-31 victory over Cal in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. Cumbie was 39 of 60 for a career-high 520 yards and three touchdowns to lead the No. 23 Red Raiders to an upset of No. 4 Cal. (Photo by Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
Texas Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie celebrates 45-31 victory over Cal in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. Cumbie was 39 of 60 for a career-high 520 yards and three touchdowns to lead the No. 23 Red Raiders to an upset of No. 4 Cal. (Photo by Kirby Lee/Getty Images) /
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Texas Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie drops back to pass during 45-31 victory over Cal in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. Cumbie was 39 of 60 for a career-high 520 yards and three touchdowns to lead the No. 23 Red Raiders to an upset of No. 4 Cal. (Photo by Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
Texas Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie drops back to pass during 45-31 victory over Cal in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. Cumbie was 39 of 60 for a career-high 520 yards and three touchdowns to lead the No. 23 Red Raiders to an upset of No. 4 Cal. (Photo by Kirby Lee/Getty Images) /

2004: Texas Tech lost to New Mexico in week two but still went to the Holiday Bowl

Mike Leach’s first truly stunning defeat came in his fifth year in Lubbock at a time when many were growing frustrated with his inability to take the program to the upper echelon of the conference.  That season saw former walk-on QB, Sonny Cumbie, earn the starting job over 5-star JUCO signee Robert Johnson, much to the dismay of many around Raiderland.

It didn’t help Cumbie’s perception that in his second start, he and the offense struggled in a 27-24 loss to New Mexico in Albuquerque.  Though that era was one of the best in UNM history with Rocky Long leading the program to five-straight winning campaigns from 2001-2005, the Lobos were still a team that Tech fans considered vastly inferior.

After that loss, there were plenty of people ready to run Leach out of town.  However, the season would soon take a turn for the better.   A week later, Tech would thump TCU 70-35 in Lubbock and later in the season, a 70-10 destruction of Nebraska in Lubbock would completely change the tone around the program.

Tech would end the year 8-4 and 5-3 in Big 12 play.  The capper on the season was a stunning beatdown of Aaron Rogers and No. 4 Cal in the Holiday Bowl which helped Tech end the year ranked 17th in the national polls.  That 45-31 win stunned the nation and would have been hard to envision in week two as Tech fans had to live with the ignominy of losing to the Lobos.

In all, 2004 would be the year that Leach started to turn the corner in West Texas.  The next season he would go 9-3 and reach the Cotton Bowl.  Then, in 2006, the Graham Harrell era would begin, a run that would culminate in the famous 2008 season.

Maybe 2023 will follow a similar script in that it will be a building block for Joey McGuire.  Though he hasn’t been on the job as long as Leach had been in 2004, there is similar urgency among the fan base as we wait for Tech to finally become nationally relevant, something that seems unlikely this year after the loss to Wyoming.  However, 2004’s loss to UNM should serve as a reminder that one bad loss doesn’t have to define an entire season and doesn’t mean that the program’s progression is halted.

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