41 55 NR 25 7 6 | NR NR Air Force 7 6 15 | |
The 1995 Copper Bowl was an American college football bowl game play on December 27, 1995 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona. It was the seventh edition of the annual bowl Copper Bowl—now known as the Cactus Bowl. The game featured the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and the Air Force Falcons.
Contents
Background
The Red Raiders were 1-2 against ranked opponents, losing to #4 Penn State and #13 Texas but beating #8 Texas A&M. They finished tied for 2nd in the Southwest Conference with Texas A&M and Baylor. This was Texas Tech's third bowl game in two seasons. Air Force finished as co-champion of the Western Athletic Conference in a rare four-way tie, with Colorado State, BYU, and Utah. Air Force had beaten BYU to begin the season, but they lost to Colorado State and Utah. However, they were the only one of the four to be invited to a bowl game, their 7th in 10 seasons.
Game summary
Texas Tech scored first on a 38-yard pass from quarterback Zebbie Lethridge to Stacy Mitchell. Air Force countered with a 2-yard run from Nakia Addison to tie it 7–7, but Texas Tech scored the next three touchdowns, amassing a 31–13 lead by halftime. In the second half, Air Force came within a field goal of the lead at 31-28 with a 60-yard run from Danta Johnson, but Texas Tech running back Byron Hanspard came alive with 201 yards and two of his four touchdowns in the second half, leading the Red Raiders to a 55–41 victory. Byron Hanspard rushed for 260 yards on 24 carries and four touchdowns while also catching 2 passes for 18 yards in an MVP effort.
Aftermath
Both teams went to two more bowl games before the decade ended, though Texas Tech did not win another bowl game until 2002 while Air Force won in 1998.