1976 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team

1976 Southwest Conference football standings
	+ – Conference co-champions; Rankings from AP Poll

1976 Texas Tech Red Raiders football
1976 Texas Tech Red Raiders football
Southwest Conference co-champion
Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, L 24–27 vs. Nebraska
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 13
AP	No. 13
1976 record	10–2 (7–1 SWC)
Head coach	Steve Sloan (2nd season);
Offensive coordinator	Rex Dockery (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Bill Parcells (2nd season)
Home stadium	Jones Stadium; (Capacity: 48,000)
	Seasons ← 1975 1977 →

The 1976 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. The Red Raiders won their first Southwest Conference championship, sharing the title with Houston. The team outscored opponents 336 to 206 and finished the season with the 38th toughest schedule in NCAA Division I.^[1]

Previous season[]

The 1975 team finished with an overall record of 6–5, 4–3 in conference play, finishing in fourth place in the Southwest Conference. The team went 0–5 against teams ranked in the AP Poll.^[2]^[3] The team was led by Steve Sloan in his inaugural season as the program's eight head coach.

NFL draftees[]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
6	158	Curtis Jordan	DB	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
17	468	Tony Green	DB	Atlanta Falcons

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 11	Colorado*		Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	W 24–7	44,132
September 25	at New Mexico*	No. 20	University Stadium Albuquerque, NM	W 20–16	28,501
October 9	at No. 17 Texas A&M	No. 15	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)	W 27–16	52,651
October 16	at Rice	No. 10	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 37–13	23,500
October 23	Arizona*	No. 8	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	W 52–27	44,890
October 30	No. 15 Texas	No. 6	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)	W 31–28	54,187
November 6	at TCU	No. 5	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX (rivalry)	W 14–10	20,986
November 13	SMU	No. 5	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	W 34–7	34,780
November 20	No. 9 Houston	No. 5	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	L 19–27	45,102
November 27	at Arkansas	No. 9	War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR (rivalry)	W 30–7	41,327
December 4	No. 18 Baylor	No. 9	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)	W 24–21	37,105
December 31	vs. No. 13 Nebraska	No. 9	Houston Astrodome Houston, TX (Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl)	L 24–27	48,618
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[4]

Personnel[]

1976 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
RB		Tres Adami
QB		Rodney Allison
OL		Terry Anderson
RB		Sam Bailey
RB		Angel Berlingeri
TE		Sylvester Brown
OL		Greg Davis
QB		Tommy Duniven
TE		James Hadnot
OL		Dan Irons
RB		Larry Isaac
RB		Mark Julian
WR		Brian Nelson
OL		Mike Sears
RB		Billy Taylor
OL		Kenny Thiel
WR		Godfrey Turner
OL		Greg Wessels
RB		Jimmy Williams
WR		Sammy Williams

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DL		Richard Arledge
DL		Bill Bothwell
DL		Harold Buell
DB		Larry Dupre
DB		Eric Felton
DB		Greg Frazier
LB		Thomas Howard Sr.
DL		Jim Krahl
LB		Gary McCright
LB		Mike Mock
DL		Curtis Reed
DB		Don Roberts

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K		Brian Hall
P		David Kuykendall

Head coach

Steve Sloan

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Rex Dockery
Offensive coordinator/Quarterbacks^[5]
Bill Parcells
Defensive coordinator/Linebackers
Bob Patterson
Art Zeleznik
John Cropp

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

Game summaries[]

No. 15 Texas[]

No. 15 Texas Longhorns at No. 6 Texas Tech Red Raiders – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Longhorns	7	7	7	7	28
No. 5 Red Raiders	7	3	14	7	31

at Jones Stadium, Lubbock, Texas

Date: October 30
Game attendance: 54,187
Source:^[6]

Game information

First quarter

TTU – Billy Taylor 1-yard run (Brian Hall kick). Red Raiders 7–0.
TEX – Ted Constanzo 2-yard run (Russell Erxleben kick). Tied 7–7.

Second quarter

TEX – Jimmy Johnson 1-yard run (Russell Erxleben kick). Longhorns 14–7.
TTU – Brian Hall 34-yard field goal. Longhorns 14–10.

Third quarter

TEX – Jimmy Johnson 60-yard run (Russell Erxleben kick). Longhorns 21–10.
TTU – Rodney Allison 5-yard run (Brian Hall kick). Longhorns 21–17.
TTU – Larry Isaac 15-yard run (Brian Hall kick). Red Raiders 24–21.

Fourth quarter

TEX – Jimmy Johnson 1-yard run (Russell Erxleben kick). Longhorns 28–24.
TTU – Billy Taylor 1-yard (Brian Hall kick). Red Raiders 31–28.

vs. No. 13 Nebraska (Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl)[]

No. 13 Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. No. 9 Texas Tech Red Raiders (Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl) – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Cornhuskers	7	7	13	0	27
No. 9 Red Raiders	3	14	7	0	24

at Astrodome, Houston, Texas

Date: December 31
Game weather: None (indoor stadium)
Game attendance: 48,618
TV announcers (TVS): Merle Harmon, Alex Hawkins and Ron Franklin
Source:

Game information

First quarter

NEB – Rick Berns 1-yard run (Al Eveland kick), 5:42. Cornhuskers 7–0.
TTU – Brian Hall 28-yard field goal, 1:22. Cornhuskers 7–3.

Second quarter

TTU – Billy Taylor 14-yard pass from Rodney Allison (Brian Hall kick), 12:08. Red Raiders 10–7.
TTU – Billy Taylor 11-yard pass from Rodney Allison (Brian Hall kick), 2:14. Red Raiders 17–7.
NEB – Mark Dufresne 22-yard pass from Vince Ferragamo (Al Eveland kick), 0:33. Red Raiders 17–14.

Third quarter

TTU – Billy Taylor 8-yard run (Brian Hall kick), 11:32. Red Raiders 24–14.
NEB – Rick Berns 18-yard run (kick failed), 9:19. Red Raiders 24–20.
NEB – Chuck Malito 23-yard pass from Vince Ferragamo (Al Eveland kick), 7:01. Cornhuskers 27–24.

Fourth quarter

No scoring plays

Despite losing the game, Texas Tech quarterback Rodney Allison was named the game's MVP.^[7] Nebraska trailed by ten in the second half, coming back to win 27–24.^[8]^[9] The Red Raiders looked to take the lead back late in the fourth quarter, but lost a fumble that was recovered by Nebraska's Reg Gast to seal the Cornhuskers' victory.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Rankings[]

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
AP	RV	RV	20	17	15	10	8	6	5	5	5	9	9	13

Players drafted into the NFL[]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
3	67	Thomas Howard Sr.	LB	Kansas City Chiefs
6	196	Tommy Duniven	QB	Cincinnati Bengals

References[]

^ "1976 Texas Tech Red Raiders Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
^ "1975 Texas Tech Red Raiders Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
^ "Texas Tech Football 2017 Media Guide". Texas Tech University. 2017. p. 98. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
^ "2012 Texas Tech Football Media Supplement". Texas Tech University Department of Athletics. July 20, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
^ "The Rex Dockery Award". Bradley Central High School. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
^ "'Greatest Game': Texas Tech Beats Texas." Eugene Register-Guard. October 31, 1976
^ "Nebraska aerials key to win over Raiders". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. January 1, 1977. p. 10.
^ "Nebraska rally sinks Texas Tech, 27-24". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). UPI. January 1, 1977. p. 1B.
^ "Bonnet bowl win for Nebraska, 27-24". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 1, 1977. p. 12.
^ http://www.huskers.com/attachments1/580034.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=100^{[bare URL]}
^ "1976 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl".
^ "Auto PDF p hotos s chools text sports m footbl auto PDF 05mediaguide bowlhistory".

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[1] "1976 Texas Tech Red Raiders Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 27, 2021.

[2] "1975 Texas Tech Red Raiders Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 27, 2017.

[3] "Texas Tech Football 2017 Media Guide". Texas Tech University. 2017. p. 98. Retrieved September 27, 2017.

[4] "2012 Texas Tech Football Media Supplement". Texas Tech University Department of Athletics. July 20, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2012.

[5] "The Rex Dockery Award". Bradley Central High School. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2009.

[6] "'Greatest Game': Texas Tech Beats Texas." Eugene Register-Guard. October 31, 1976

[7] "Nebraska aerials key to win over Raiders". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. January 1, 1977. p. 10.

[8] "Nebraska rally sinks Texas Tech, 27-24". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). UPI. January 1, 1977. p. 1B.

[9] "Bonnet bowl win for Nebraska, 27-24". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 1, 1977. p. 12.

[10] ttp://www.huskers.com/attachments1/580034.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=100^{[bare URL]}

[11] "1976 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl".

[12] "Auto PDF p hotos s chools text sports m footbl auto PDF 05mediaguide bowlhistory".

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v t Texas Tech Red Raiders football
Venues	South Plains Fairgrounds (1925–26) Tech Field (1926–47) Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field (1947–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arkansas Baylor TCU (Saddle Trophy, 1961–c. 1970) Texas (Chancellor's Spurs) Texas A&M
Culture & lore	History Raider Red The Masked Rider "Fight, Raiders, Fight" "The Matador Song" Goin' Band from Raiderland Guns Up 1939 Centenary game 2008 Texas game 2008 Big 12 South 3-way tie controversy 2016 Oklahoma game
People	Head coaches Captains Honorees NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

1976 Southwest Conference football standings
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 4 Houston +	7	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 13 Texas Tech +	7	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 7 Texas A&M	6	–	2	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
Baylor	4	–	3	–	1	7	–	3	–	1
Texas	4	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	1
Arkansas	3	–	4	–	1	5	–	5	–	1
Rice	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
SMU	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
TCU	0	–	8	–	0	0	–	11	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll