Sunday, September 8, 1996

Tech, Hanspard roll over OSU
By LANCE FLEMING
Staff Writer

IRVING - If the Lord really was opening all the holes Byron Hanspard ran through Saturday, then the Oklahoma State defense should have been praying for a little bit of divine intervention.

Hanspard, Texas Tech's junior running back and an ordained Pentacostal minister, ran for a school-record 272 yards Saturday as the Red Raiders beat Oklahoma State, 31-3, in front of 30,269 fans at Texas Stadium. The victory was Tech's first of the season, and its first-ever in the new Big 12.

Hanspard's yardage total, which he attained in less than four quarters of work, bettered the previous school record of 268 yards set by James Hadnot in 1978 against New Mexico. Hanspard added two touchdown runs, one from 72 yards out in the first quarter, and a 2-yarder in the third quarter.

And he did it all on a bad right ankle that he injured in last week's loss at Kansas State. However, Hanspard said after a lot of prayer by his mother, minister friends and himself, he was able to get it going Saturday.

"The Lord allowed me to be able to run through those holes," Hanspard said. "He also allowed the offensive line to do a wonderful job of opening those holes."

The Cowboys (1-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12) never could contain Hanspard as he ripped off nine runs that covered nine or more yards.

"We made him look that good," Oklahoma State head coach Bob Simmons said of Hanspard. "I think he's a good football player. For us to allow him to get that many yards ... we've got to evaluate what we're doing."

Tech led 13-0 early in the second quarter on the strength of Hanspard's 72-yard TD run and two Jared Greaser field goals when it wrestled total control of the game away from the Cowboys.

On first down, Cowboy quarterback Chris Chaloupka threw deep to the right side, but his pass was picked off by Tony Darden, setting up the Red Raiders at the OSU 44-yard line.

Hanspard took over from there, carrying the ball on five of Tech's seven plays that moved the Red Raiders into field goal position. Greaser then banged home a 42-yard field goal to make it 16-0 with 5:37 left in the half.

Tech's defense then stuffed OSU on its next possession, and the Red Raiders got the ball back at their own 30 with three minutes left in the half.

Tech quarterback Zebbie Lethridge, who suffered through a miserable 5 of 13 first-half passing performance, connected on three passes in the drive. Tech eventually got down to the 1-yard line when disaster nearly struck.

Lethridge tried to sneak over, but he fumbled the ball into the end zone. Fortunately for Tech, tight end Brad Spinks - the son of former Abilene High head coach Louie Spinks - recovered for the TD and a 22-0 Tech lead at the half.

"I felt like I scored," Lethridge said. "One reason the ball came out is I stretched it over the line and the guy knocked it out before the referee signaled a touchdown."

That put an end to the game for all intents and purposes, and with 163 rushing yards at halftime, the only mystery left in the game was whether Hanspard would break the school rushing record.

He broke the record on Tech's third drive of the third quarter when he ran around, over and through the Cowboy defense.

Hanspard passed the 200-yard mark with a 12-yard burst near the end of the third quarter. Two plays later, he converted a third-and-22 with a 24-yard rumble that took the ball to the OSU 44-yard line. On the next play he went 25 yards down to the 19, and on the next play he carried the ball 13 yards to bring him within two yards of tying the record.

Hanspard broke the mark with a 4-yard run on the next play, then finished off the TD drive with a 2-yard TD run that made the score 28-3.

"I don't know if it's his quickness or strength, but Byron breaks a lot of tackles and makes a good run," Tech head coach Spike Dykes said. "He ran through a bunch of folks and makes good runs. He's stronger than he was a year ago. I'm just glad he's on our team."

And Hanspard's effort might have landed him on the frontrunner list for the Heisman Trophy. However, he said he's not even thinking about that honor right now.

"I'm not even worrying about," he said. "If I get it, that's great. But as long as we're winning and I'm doing what God wants me to do, I'm happy."

Tech began its domination of this game early in the contest when it took the game's opening drive and marched to a 40-yard field goal by Greaser.

The score remained 3-0 until late in the first quarter when Hanspard took a second-and-6 sweep, shook three tackles at the line of scrimmage and outran the Cowboys 72 yards to the end zone and a 10-0 Tech lead.

"That touchdown run was one of his best since he's been here," Dykes said. "He ran through some folks, stumbled and still scored the touchdown."

Greaser put an end to Tech's next drive when he booted a 40-yard field goal with 9:44 left in the first half. Darden then picked off Chaloupka's first pass on the Cowboys' ensuing possession, and the Red Raiders set about the business of putting the game in the bag.

The victory was not only Tech's first in the Big 12, but it also atoned a little bit for last week's sloppy performance in its season-opening loss at Kansas State.

"I was real interested to see how our kids would react to the loss," Dykes said. "We won this game on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the way we worked in practice. How you respond to a loss is awfully important, and I thought we responded really well."

Byron Hanspard's 272 yards surpassed his previous career best of 260 set in last year's win over Air Force in the Weiser Lock Copper Bowl. The yardage total also marked the eighth straight game that Hanspard has rushed for more than 100 yards. ... Hanspard's 72-yard touchdown run also broke his personal best of 63 yards set against Houston in 1995. ... Hanspard's rushing total is a college and pro record at Texas Stadium. The previous record was 241 set by SMU's Eric Dickerson against Houston in 1982. Former Dallas Cowboy running back Tony Dorsett has the professional record of 206 yards against Philadelphia in 1977. ... Kicker Jaret Greaser tied the Texas Tech school record with four field goals in one game. The record has been matched six other times, the most recent by Lin Elliott in 1991 against Cal State-Fullerton. ... Tony Darden's interception in the second quarter was the first of his career. He is playing his third position at Texas Tech in three years (QB, WR, CB).