The 2004 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

as a member of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

during the

2004 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 28, 2004 and ended on Decem ...

. In their fifth season under head coach Mike Leach, the Red Raiders compiled an overall record of 8–4 record with a mark of 5–3 in conference play, finished in a tie for third place in Southern Division of the Big 12, defeated

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in the 2004 Holiday Bowl, and outscored opponents by a combined total of 434 to 314. The team played its home games at

Jones SBC Stadium Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field, previously known as Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium, Jones SBC Stadium and Jones AT&T Stadium, is an outdoor athletic stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of Texas Tech ...

in Lubbock, Texas. The team was led by senior quarterback

Sonny Cumbie Sonny Jack Cumbie (born August 8, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback. He is the head football coach at Louisiana Tech University, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Cumbie previously served as the offensive coord ...

, who finished the season with 4,742 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions, leading the NCAA in passing yards. Cumbie would later serve as an assistant coach for the program starting in 2009, eventually being promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2013. He would then serve as TCU's offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2020. Cumbie would return to Texas Tech following the 2020 season, being hired as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under head coach Matt Wells. In

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, Cumbie would be promoted to interim head coach after Wells was fired on October 25.

Previous season

The 2003 team finished the season 8–5, 4–4 in Big 12 play, finishing in 4th place in the Southern Division. The team was invited to the

Houston Bowl The Houston Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was played annually in Houston, Texas, from 2000 to 2005. For its first two years, the game was known as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl, named for the website o ...

, defeating

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

38–14. Quarterback

B. J. Symons Brian Jeffrey Symons (born November 19, 1980) is a former American football quarterback. Symons played professionally for the Houston Texans and the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), the Frankfurt Galaxy and Berlin Thunder in ...

won the

Sammy Baugh Trophy The Touchdown Club of Columbus was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1956 by Sam B. Nicola at the request of state auditor James A. Rhodes, who later became governor of the state. Nicola served as the club's president until his death in 1993. More ...

, while wide receiver Wes Welker won the Mosi Tatupu Award.

NFL draftees

Schedule

Personnel

Game summaries

at SMU

at New Mexico

TCU

The Horned Frogs jumped out to a 21–0 lead midway through the second quarter before the Red Raiders scored 56 unanswered points.

at Kansas

Texas Tech got on the board first, with Kansas running back John Randle being tackled in his own end zone for a safety. The Jayhawks then scored 14 unanswered points, with a 36-yard pass from Adam Barmann to Randle and a 1-yard Randle run. Texas Tech would then respond with a 34-yard field goal from Alex Trlica with under a minute left in the first quarter. Kansas went on another scoring run in the second, scoring 16 unanswered points, including a pass from wide receiver Charles Gordon to Brandon Rideau. Gordon would then score on a receiving touchdown from Barmann, but the ensuing two-point pass would fail. The Red Raiders would score their first touchdown in the closing seconds of the first half, with a 32-yard pass from

to Trey Haverty. Texas Tech would attempt a two-point conversion, but the pass fell incomplete. The Red Raiders went into halftime trailing 11–30. The Jayhawks were shutout in the second half as the Red Raiders scored 20 unanswered points, with running back Taurean Henderson scoring the game-winning touchdown with 2:37 left. Quarterback Sonny Cumbie had an uneven game, completing 28-of-52 passes (53.8%) for 356 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions. Wide receiver

Danny Amendola Daniel James Amendola (born November 2, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Texas Tech. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2008. After spending his entire rookie season ...

lost a fumble, bringing the Red Raiders' turnover total to five. The Jayhawks would capitalize on the turnovers, scoring 16 points off of turnovers. Kansas would commit three turnovers, all interceptions by quarterback Adam Barmann.

at Oklahoma

Nebraska

Texas Tech forced eight turnovers while only committing one and had 523 yards of total offense while Nebraska only had 292. The 70 points given up and the 60 point margin of defeat are both the largest in Nebraska school history. In 2020, the ''

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

'' ranked this game as the seventh most painful loss in the Cornhuskers' history since a 36–62 loss to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in 2001.

Texas

at Kansas State

Baylor

at Texas A&M

Oklahoma State

vs. California (Holiday Bowl)

Rankings

Players drafted into the NFL

References

{{Texas Tech Red Raiders football navbox

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

Texas Tech Red Raiders football seasons Holiday Bowl champion seasons

Texas Tech Red Raiders football The Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University (variously "Texas Tech" or "TTU"). The team competes as a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Football Bowl Subdivis ...