TicketCity Bowl Pre-Game Press Conference: Texas Tech vs. Northwestern
Texas Tech and Northwestern square off in the first college football game on New Year's Day in the inaugural TicketCity Bowl in Dallas, Texas.
This is the first meeting ever between the Red Raiders and Wildcats
Northwestern is making its ninth postseason football appearance and its eighth since the 1995 season.
Texas Tech is making its 11th straight bowl appearance in what is its 18th consecutive year of bowl eligibility. Only six other schools have longer active bowl streaks than Texas Tech and just three schools (Florida State, Florida and Ohio State) have been bowl eligible longer than Tech's current streak of 18 years.
Pat Fitzgerald, in his fifth year as Wildcats head coach, said that a win in the TicketCity Bowl would help move the program forward.
"Northwestern has one bowl win in school history... in 1948. We don't want to be satisfied with just making it to a bowl game," Fitzgerald said. "We want to win."
Fitzgerald also spoke of the statement a victory would make to potential recruits in the Dallas area and the state of Texas.
Tommy Tuberville talked about how a win would help him close out his first season at Tech.
"Every coach wants to end the season with a win," Tuberville stated. "We want to head towards Season Two in the right way."
Here's how these two teams matchup:
2010 Northwestern Season Review
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Northwestern earned its second straight New Year's Day bowl bid with a 7-5 regular-season record.
The Wildcats opened the season with a flawless 4-0 run through their non-conference slate, going on the road to defeat Vanderbilt and Rice while beating Illinois State and Central Michigan at Ryan Field in Evanston.
Northwestern also picked-up two early-season Big Ten road victories against Minnesota and Indiana.
In mid-November, Pat Fitzgerald's Wildcats picked up a signature win with 21-17 come-from-behind victory against Iowa. NU got two fourth-quarter TD passes from junior QB Dan Persa. Unfortunately, on the winning throw, Persa, an All-Big Ten selection, ruptured his Achilles tendon and was lost for the final two games of the season.
2010 Texas Tech Season Review
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Texas Tech has become a regular player in January bowl games (fourth consecutive year).
The Red Raiders took a different path than the Wildcats did to get to their identical 7-5 record.
After winning their opening two games under first-year head coach Tommy Tuberville against SMU and New Mexico, the Raiders came up short in Austin against the Texas Longhorns.
Trying to rebound, Tech went on a string of alternating outcomes: losing against Iowa State, winning against Baylor... losing against Oklahoma State, and then beating Colorado... losing to Texas A&M, and then beating Missouri.... losing to Oklahoma and then winning a pair of games against Weber State and Houston to close out the season.
Senior QB Taylor Potts has had another standout season, throwing for 31 TDs with only nine interceptions. He only needs one passing touchdown to tie for third place in career passing touchdowns.
An Exciting, Wide Open Game!
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With a combination of two high-powered offenses and two low-powered defenses, the first TicketCity Bowl could be a high-scoring affair.
Northwestern had the No. 3 passing offense (242 ypg) and the No. 10 total defense (415 ypg) in the Big Ten this season.
Texas Tech had the No. 4 passing offense (287 ypg) and the No. 10 total defense (469 ypg) in the Big 12.
This game could easily be one of the highest-scoring contests of all of this season's bowl games.
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