Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech: Fun Facts About the Red Raiders
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss will face Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl at Houston’s NRG Stadium Wednesday, Dec. 28. The teams are familiar with one another but have not played since 2018.
So, just who are these guys from Lubbock, Texas?
THE SERIES
Ole Miss leads the series with the Red Raiders 4-2 in a decidedly Texas feel to it. Only once has the game between the two been played in Oxford. It has been played in Texas three times, once each in Lubbock, Houston and Dallas.
It has been played in Shreveport, La., twice but a quick look at a map shows that the town is so close to the border, Marshall, Texas is almost considered a suburb.
The Rebels are 3-0 in bowl games against Tech, having last defeated the Red Raiders, 47-34, in the 2009 Cotton Bowl. The Rebels also beat Texas Tech in the 1998 Independence Bowl, 35-18, and won the 1986 Independence Bowl, 20-17.
MISSISSIPPI CONNECTIONS
After Tommy Tuberville spurned the pine box and he elected to go to Auburn, only to be dismissed from that post, he ended up coaching at Texas Tech. Tuberville lasted just 37 games in Lubbock before heading to Cincinnati.
Mississippi State coach Mike Leach led the Red Raiders for a decade before heading to Washington State before ending up in Starkville.
WHY THE RED RAIDERS?
There are dueling stories on how the school settled on the Red Raiders nickname and like other schools, it likely can be traced back to a sportswriter. But one thing is certain – the original nickname was the Matadors.
The wife of the school’s first football coach suggested that name to honor the Spanish architecture of the campus buildings and that name reigned from 1925-1936.
FAMOUS ALUMS
Texas Tech has some cool alumni in the entertainment field including actor G.W. Bailey who appeared in MASH and the Police Academy movies, Barry Corbin who started in Northern Exposure with Ole Miss alum Cynthia Geary, Jerry Allison who was the drummer for Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets, as well as the late singer John Denver.
A COOL MASCOT
The team is led onto the field by The Masked Rider. He rides his horse Blackie in front of the squad in one of the most unique entrances in college football.
FORMER FOOTBALL STUDS
Sure, everyone knows Patrick Mahomes played at Texas Tech, but don’t forget players like Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, Kliff Kingsbury, and current Southern Cal coach Lincoln Riley. One name that is usually not associated with Texas Tech is Baker Mayfield. He was a walk-on at Tech before transferring to Oklahoma where he won the Heisman Trophy.
SOMETHING COOL ABOUT TECH
The game will be played on Wednesday, but for Texas Tech students, gameday is always a Taco Tuesday. Red Raider fans are known for throwing tortillas at every home game. With this game being played in Houston, expect the air to be filled with them.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
