Texas Tech Football: The Red Raiders Super Bowl Fact-o-Rama
Texas Tech’s contributions to professional football are undeniable.
Tech has provided the NFL athletes, coaches, and yes, loyal fans whom, after being brought up on Red Raider football, grow up to enthusiastically watch and support the pro game.
Taking one bold step further it is not difficult to connect Texas Tech football directly with the epitome of the NFL: the Super Bowl.
This year as Super Bowl XLV pits the Green Bay Packers vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dallas Red Raider legend Graham Harrell will be suited up as a back-up QB for the Packers. If you don’t remember Harrell leading Tech’s football team you also might not remember George Washington in the Revolutionary War or that Richard Nixon had something to do with Watergate.
With the biggest game in the land less than one week away it would seem appropriate, nay, medically necessary to point out the historical ties that bind the mighty Red Raiders and the Super Bowl.
Though there are countless relations between the two the following slideshow attempts to but touch upon the highlights.
The results may just surprise even the keenest, most loyal of Red Raider football fans.
Enjoy. Happy Super Bowl and go Tech!
Red Raiders overall Record in the Super Bowl
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Red Raider football alumni have made a combined 23 roster appearances in the Super Bowl. Fourteen of these resulted in Super Bowl wins while nine resulted in losses.
Overall, Tech players are 14-9 in Super Bowls netting an impressive a 61 percent winning mark in world championship play.
Yes, that means that teams who have had a Red Raider on their roster have had a 60 percent success rate versus those that did not.
Using this statistical and inherently logical approach; the Green Bay Packers (with Graham Harrell on the roster) have a 61 percent chance of winning Super Bowl XLV while the Pittsburg Steelers (with no Red Raiders on the roster) have only a 39 percent chance of being victorious.
Red Raiders with Super Bowl Rings
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Fourteen NFL players who played college football at THE Texas Tech University have the honor of wearing an NFL championship ring.
Texas Tech was well represented on historic Super Bowl squads from Lombardi’s Packers, Namath’s AFL “upset” Jets, the Super Bowl shuffling Chicago Bears of 1986, the “this one’s for John” Bronco teams all the way to the 2006-07 Colts led by superstar Peyton Manning.
Following is the breakdown:
Super Bowl I and II Rings
Donny Anderson, Halfback, Green Bay Packers (1966-71), Texas Tech (1963-65)
Super Bowl III Ring
Bake Turner, End/Back, New York Jets (1963-69), Texas Tech (1962)
Super Bowl IV Ring
E.J. Holub, Linebacker/Center, Kansas City Chiefs (1963-70), Texas Tech (1958-60)
Super Bowl XVI Ring
Curtis Jordan, Defensive Back, Washington Redskins (1981-86), Texas Tech (1972-75)
Super Bowl XVII Ring
Ted Watts, Defensive Back, Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders (1981-84), Texas Tech (1981)
Super Bowl XX Ring
Maury Buford, Punter, Chicago Bears (1985-86, 89-91), Texas Tech (1978-81)
Super Bowl XXII Ring
Charles Jackson, Safety, Washington Redskins (1987), Texas Tech (1985)
Timmy Smith, Running Back, Washington Redskins (1987-88), Texas Tech (1987)
Super Bowl XXVII Ring
Lin Elliott, Kicker, Dallas Cowboys (1992-93), Texas Tech (1992)
Super Bowl XXXII and XXXIII Rings
Anthony Lynn, Running Back, Denver Broncos (1997-99), Texas Tech (1992)
Super Bowl XXXVII Ring
Byron Hanspard, Running Back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2002), Texas Tech (1997)
Super Bowl XXXVIII Ring
Kliff Kingsbury, Quarterback, New England Patriots (2003), Texas Tech (2003)
Super Bowl XLI Ring
Dylan Gandy, Center/Guard, Indianapolis Colts (2005-07), Texas Tech (2005)
Montae Reagor, Defensive End, Indianapolis Colts (2003-06), Texas Tech (1999)
Red Raiders in the Super Bowl Record Book
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How many individual Super Bowl records are held by Texas Tech Red Raiders?
Would anyone care to wager? Oh, come on, I can hear those chumps in Austin and College Station yelling “zero “or possibly “can you have a negative number?!”
Well, there are three individual Super Bowl records held by Red Raiders, some relatively new while others have already somewhat stood the test to time.
The following three slides detail these superbly Red Raider Super Bowl performances.
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Most Rushing Yards in a Single Game
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Timmy Smith, 204 yards, Washington Redskins Super Bowl XXII
Super Bowl XXII was played on January 31, 1988 in San Diego, CA pitting the Washington Redskins vs. the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos jumped out to a commanding 10-0 lead in the first quarter only to be lambasted by the Redskins who scored a mind numbing 35 unanswered second quarter points (also an NFL record).
Timmy Smith was an NFL Rookie from Texas Tech (where he was injured during his senior year) and the Super Bowl was his first career start.
Smith was responsible for the third of six Redskins touchdowns (another Super Bowl record) when he scampered 58 yards for a score in the second quarter.
QB Doug Williams was named MVP and was also the first African-American QB to win the Super Bowl.
The Redskins set seven team Super Bowl records in their 42-10 rout of the Denver Broncos including total offensive yards (602, which are especially offensive if you are a Bronco fan), total offensive rushing yards (280), total offensive yards in a quarter (356), most points in a quarter and in a half (35) and largest deficit overcome to win the Super Bowl (10 points, a mark tied by the Saints in Super Bowl XLIV).
Timmy Smith (a fifth round draft pick in 1987) went on to an injury riddled NFL career that ended in 1990 with the Dallas Cowboys. The NFL Network named Smith the No. 2 all time “one shot wonder” in the history of the NFL.
Most Receptions in a Single Game
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Wes Welker, 11 receptions, New England Patriots, Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was played on February 3, 2008 in Glendale Arizona and featured the New England Patriots versus the New York Giants.
The game was close all the way through the fourth quarter with the Patriots holding on to a four point lead with under five minutes remaining.
The Giants got the ball for the last time at their own 17 with 2:39 remaining on the game clock. The most notable play of the drive (and the game) came when Eli Manning (in the clutches of two defenders) kept his balance and threw up a prayer to David Tyree.
Tyree out jumped the Patriots defender Rodney Harrison and grabbed the ball one handed retaining possession by securing the ball against his helmet. New York finished the drive with a Manning to Plaxico Burress touchdown pass which was the last score of the game. Final: Patriots 14, Giants 17.
Wes Welker (Texas Tech 2004), in the Patriots losing effort, caught 11 passes for 103 yards tying him with Dan Ross (Cincinnati Bengals, Super Bowl XVI), Jerry Rice (San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowl XXIII) and Deion Branch (New England Patriots, Super Bowl XXXIX) for most receptions in a Super Bowl.
Most Extra Points in One Game
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Lin Elliot, 7 Extra Points, Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowl XXVII
Super Bowl XXVII was played on January 31, 1993 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It matched the Dallas Cowboys with the Buffalo Bills who would subsequently face each other again the following year in Super Bowl XXVIII in Atlanta.
Super Bowl XXVII was the third of the Bills four consecutive Super Bowl losses (also a Super Bowl record).
The story in this Super Bowl was one of turnovers, the Bills turned the ball over a Super Bowl single team record nine times and the Cowboys added two more to make 11 total (tying the mark set by Cowboys and Colts in Super Bowl V).
Laid upon this mistake laden foundation it’s not hard to understand how the Cowboys managed to hang up 52 points on the hapless Bills.
Of these 52 points, seven came on Dallas touchdown’s providing kicker Lin Elliot (Texas Tech 1992) the opportunity to kick seven extra points. Elliot went 7 for 7 on extra point attempts and therefore tied Mike Cofer (who kicked seven extra points in the San Francisco 49ers 55-10 rout of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV) for the most extra points kicked in a Super Bowl.
Doug Brien also went on to tie the mark in Super Bowl XXIX when the 49ers whipped the San Diego Chargers 49-26 in Miami.
Lin Elliot eventually left Dallas for the Kansas City Chiefs (1994-95) where he infamously missed three field goal attempts in a playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts. The Chiefs had gone 13-3 in the regular season and lost to the Colts by the narrow margin of 10-7.
This marked the end of Elliot’s career in the NFL.
Red Raiders Super Bowl Trivia
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Did you know . . .?
* Donny Anderson (Texas Tech 1965) scored the final offensive touchdown in the Vince Lombardi era at Green Bay when he rushed for a two yard score with 5:54 remaining in the third quarter of Super Bowl II vs. the Oakland Raiders?
* That according to a Washington Post report published January 13 1969 that after Super Bowl III Bake Turner, (Texas Tech 1962, who was a back-up Split End for the NY Jets team who were the first AFL team to capture a world championship) “singled out Pete Rozelle” the first commissioner of the newly combined league and said “Welcome to the American Football League.” The Post further reported that “Rozelle was not amused.”
* E.J. Holub (Texas Tech 1960) is the only player ever to start in two different Super Bowls in two different positions. He started Super Bowl I for the Kansas City Chiefs as a Linebacker and then started in Super Bowl IV as a Center (also for the Chiefs)?
* That punter Maury Buford (Texas Tech 1981) is featured as the cowbell player in the 1985 Chicago Bears performance of the Super Bowl Shuffle? (Buford went on to win a Super Bowl XX Ring with the Bears when they defeated the Patriots 46-10 in January of 1986).
* That Anthony Lynn (Texas Tech 1992), who played running back for the Denver Broncos during their back to back Super Bowl wins in 1997 and 1998, is currently the running backs coach for the New York Jets (under Rex Ryan)? Under Lynn’s tutelage the 2009 Jets led the NFL in rushing at 172.2 yards per game.
* That the 2006 Indianapolis Colts (who went on win Super Bowl XLI) posted the highest third-down success rate in the post merger NFL (56 percent or 105 of 187) with the help of Left Guard Dylan Gandy (Texas Tech 2005) who started all 16 games for the Colts that season.
Vince Lombardi and Texas Tech University
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Vince Lombardi took over as the head coach of the then hapless Green Bay Packers in 1959 and began to leave his substantial and lasting impact on the Packers, the NFL and the concept of leadership in the United States.
One of the most lasting tributes to Lombardi comes via the Super Bowl trophy which actually bears his name and is thusly called “the Vince Lombardi Trophy”.
Lombardi and the Super Bowl are interconnected in sports lore.
But, what could Vince Lombardi possibly have to do with Texas Tech football? Indeed, how is it that the two could be even remotely connected?
Well, a quick and simplified version of “three degrees of separation” can be applied to illustrate that all things football run through Lubbock, Texas; home of THE Red Raiders.
Vince Lombardi
Lombardi’s first high profile coaching position came as an offensive assistant for legendary Red Blaik at West Point for five seasons during Army’s football heyday.
Bill Parcells
Parcells is connected to Lombardi as he also landed one of his first jobs in coaching linebackers at Army from 1966 – 69. Parcells actually went on to become an assistant coach at Texas Tech from 1975 -77 and is therefore directly related to the Red Raiders in that way.
Another option is through:
Bobby Knight
While at Army, Parcells served as part time assistant basketball coach for then Army Coach Bobby Knight from 1966-67.
Texas Tech University
Links from Lombardi to Texas Tech can be connected through Parcells directly or through Parcells via Bobby Knight who left Army for Indiana and went to Texas Tech after being dismissed from Indiana.
Knight coached at Tech from 2001 – 08 where he became the winningest head coach in the history of NCAA Division I men’s basketball.
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