Tech could put up 100 against ISU

- publication data - Posted: Monday, September 19, 2005
Updated: Monday, September 19, 2005 1:12 a.m.

Somewhere in Oklahoma, Barry Switzer might have been smiling. The former Sooners coach took a liking to Texas Tech coach Mike Leach during the season Leach spent at Oklahoma, and Saturday night Leach's Tech team hung almost half a hundred points on its opponent by halftime - an old OU rallying cry.

The scary thing for Sam Houston State is that it appeared Tech could hang a hundred before the night was out. Even scarier is that Indiana State, the Red Raiders' opponent this week, might not be as good as Sam Houston, the team Tech trounced 80-21 on Saturday at Jones SBC Stadium.

Substituting liberally in the second half, the Raiders finally slowed down a little after scoring on six straight possessions to start the game and getting eight touchdowns and a field goal from the first 10 series.

Tech vs. Indiana Staten

Last Meeting: Have not played.

"If we play well and we capitalize on every drive, I think we could score a hundred points,'' Tech quarterback Cody Hodges said. "I think if we're going to do it, we need to do it next week. But we're not worried about points. As long as we're moving the ball and getting first downs, the points are going to come.''

On Sunday, Tech (2-0) moved up to No. 16 in the USA Today coaches' poll, its highest ranking since mid-November 1977. The Raiders remained No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25.

Indiana State (1-2), 1-6 in the Gateway Conference last year, lost 42-10 this season to St. Francis, Ind., a team that reached the NAIA championship game last year. The Sycamores lost 27-15 Saturday to Murray State, though junior wide receiver Sam Logan caught an ISU record 17 passes - something not even a Tech receiver has done.

However, against Sam Houston State, Tech scored its most points since a 120-0 rout of Wayland Baptist in 1925. The Raiders scored a school-record 28 points in the first quarter on two touchdown passes to Jarrett Hicks and two touchdown runs by Taurean Henderson. They finished with 770 yards - second in Leach's six seasons only to the 775 yards they piled up two years ago against Iowa State.

Trouble is, those aren't the only records the Raiders broke or approached. They also collected 15 penalties for 142 yards. The school record for penalty yardage is 149, the record for penalties 17.

"We're still battling to play smart,'' Leach said.

And this is the second straight week the Raiders have come into range of those two marks. They had 15 for 128 in the season opener.

Which begs the question: Is the Raiders' soft September schedule allowing them to laugh their way past serious problems?

"I guess that'll be hindsight later on in the future,'' said Hodges, who passed for 436 yards and five touchdowns. "Right now, we're just worried about getting better. Obviously, I think we improved from last week.

"We still need to cut down on penalties. We have one more non-conference game that we can eliminate all the bonehead plays and the personal fouls and stuff like that, because in Big 12 play you can't have penalties like that.''

Tech tops the nation in total offense, passing offense, scoring offense, penalties per game and penalty yardage per game.

Against Sam Houston, Tech picked up four penalties for personal fouls, three for illegal formations and three for defensive pass interference - the latter three all in the red zone. The Raiders were flagged twice for unsportsmanlike conduct, once for taunting after a good block and once for celebrating a touchdown, and a penalty apiece for holding, offside and offensive pass interference.

In short, there were seven calls on the offense and four each on the defense and special teams.

"We don't want to do anything to curb the intensity,'' Leach said. "Somewhere we've got to balance it out and play a little smarter. Somewhere there's a fine line that we've got to be able to straddle a little tighter than we are, but I think we're better than we were last week.''