Texas Tech Defeats Cyclones, 42-17

LUBBOCK, Texas?Iowa State staked Texas Tech a 28-0 lead and could not recover, as the Red Raiders downed the Cyclones, 42-17, Saturday night at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. ISU struggled on offense, generating a season-low 287 yards of total offense to fall to 1-5 on the season. Tech improves to 5-1.

“I thought tonight we probably played the worst game we've played all year, starting with coaching,” said ISU head coach Gene Chizik. “I thought we got outcoached and I thought we got outplayed. That all starts with me and our coaches. We didn't get it done tonight and it was a very lopsided loss."

Texas Tech got on the board first in its second series after the Cyclones held the Red Raiders to a three-and-out in its first drive. It marked the first time this season that TTU failed to score on its opening drive. Michael Crabtree caught his 15^th touchdown pass of the season on a 32-yard toss from Graham Harrell. Crabtree broke the NCAA record for most touchdown catches by a freshman on the grab, giving the Red Raiders an early 7-0 lead.

It took four plays for Tech score on its next series. Harrell took it in from 1-yard to give TTU a 14-0 advantage with 2:42 left in the first quarter. Tech closed out the quarter with another touchdown to push the lead to 21-0. Harrell hit Crabtree again, this time from two yards out. The score was setup by a 52-yard screen pass to Eric Harris.

ISU tried to run the ball against the Tech defense in the first quarter in order to keep the clock moving. However, the Cyclones mustered just 32 yards on 12 carries in the opening period.

Tech was looking to score late in the second quarter, but ISU's Alvin Bowen forced a fumble that was recovered by Athyba Rubin at the ISU 7-yard line. However, a J.J. Bass fumble on the next play was returned 16 yards for a touchdown by Tech's Darcel McBath to give the Red Raiders a 28-0 lead.

After ISU punted on its next series, the Cyclones got new life when James Smith picked off his second pass of the season and returned it 29 yards to the Red Raider 20-yard line. Bret Culbertson then drilled a 30-yard field goal to close out the half with the Cyclones down, 28-3.

There was no scoring in the third quarter, as the ISU defense held strong against the high-octane Red Raider offense. The Cyclones came up with a key goal-line stand on Tech's first drive of the second half, Tech had first-and-goal at the five-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs when ISU came up with the key defensive stop.

Harrell dialed in two more touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring for the Red Raiders, the last one setup by a high snap over Bret Meyer's head that was recovered by Tech deep in ISU territory. The Cyclones notched their first touchdown late in the game on a 5-yard keeper from Meyer to cap off an 11-play, 80-yard drive to cut the lead to 42-10. Meyer then hooked up with Todd Blythe for a 38-yard strike to make it a 42-17 game. It was Blythe's third touchdown catch of the season and his school-record 29^th of his career.

Todd Blythe finished the game with eight catches and 128 yards. The senior is now ISU's all-time leading receiver with 2,736 yards. He moves past Lane Danielsen, who had 2,690 yards from 2000-03. Blythe also ranks No. 2 on ISU's career reception list, moving past Tracey Henderson with 156 career catches. Blythe hooked up with Bret Meyer for a 39-yard pass in the third quarter for ISU's longest play of the year.

Alvin Bowen led ISU with 12.5 tackles, as the Red Raiders failed to tally over 500 yards (489 yards) of total offense for the first time this season.

ISU returns home next weekend for an 11:30 a.m. kickoff against Texas.

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Players Mentioned

Todd Blythe

Todd Blythe

Alvin Bowen

Alvin Bowen

Bret Culbertson

Bret Culbertson

Bret Meyer

Bret Meyer

James Smith

James Smith

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