While Sonny Cumbie wasn’t the most productive quarterback in Texas Tech football history and he wasn’t the first Red Raider to ever throw for 3000 or more yards in a single season, he was productive and he was a solid successor to B.J. Symons for Mike Leach and the Red Raiders.
In 2004, Cumbie became just the third ever Texas Tech quarterback to throw for 3000 yards in a single season.
Which, you know, that might seem a little odd given that the 2004 season was the fifth season in which a Texas Tech quarterback happened to throw for 3000 or more yards in a single season, but all of that has to do with the fact that Kliff Kingsbury accomplished that feat in back-to-back-to-back seasons from 2000 to 2002.
But yeah, Cumbie provided the Red Raiders with a stellar showing (more often than not). And he was certainly solid in Texas Tech’s Air Raid offense.
Texas Tech football history: Sonny Cumbie was really solid for Mike Leach and the Red Raiders Air Raid in 2004
The 2004 season allowed for Cumbie to throw for 400 or more yards in a game on a half dozen occasions (against SMU, New Mexico, TCU, Nebraska, Texas, and California). That California game was actually Cumbie’s best performance of the year, as he threw for 520 yards and didn’t toss a single pick.
Along with all of that, Cumbie completed 65.6 percent of his passes via 421 completions against 642 attempts as he threw 32 touchdowns and 18 interceptions on the year.
All of that is part of how he managed to throw for 4742 yards for Texas Tech in 2004.
While it would have been nice for Cumbie to throw a few more touchdowns here and there, there’s still plenty for him to be proud of throughout the 2004 season and this season should not get lost in the midst of all the amazing years in which a Texas Tech quarterback threw for at least 3000 yards in a year.