Texas Tech Wins in a Show of Force : Copper Bowl: Red Raiders enjoy a record night in 55-41 victory over Air Force.

Texas Tech figured out how to offset Air Force’s wishbone--trump the running game with Byron Hanspard and add the arm of Zebbie Lethridge.

Hanspard upstaged the Falcons and set Copper Bowl records with 260 yards and four touchdowns Wednesday night, and Lethridge threw for 245 yards while directing a no-huddle offense that powered Tech to a 55-41 victory.

“I knew it was going to be an offensive game,” said Lethbridge, who also ran for 85 yards. “We were going to have to put points on the board to keep up with them. With the offense they have, you have to put it together on every opportunity.”

He said the Red Raiders (9-3) worked on a no-huddle attack in practice but never showed it during the season. Coach Spike Dykes credited offensive coordinator Dick Winder for the ploy.

“We came out with the intention of showing them something different. We knew they would be keying on me,” said Hanspard, a sophomore who led the Southwest Conference in rushing in its last year of existence.

Air Force (8-5) made a game of it early in the third quarter, taking advantage of mistakes by the Red Raiders to close a 31-13 halftime deficit to 31-28 in the first seven minutes of the period.

But Hanspard got his third touchdown with 5:06 left in the quarter, then ran 63 yards to set up another Tech score and a 45-28 lead.

Air Force, which was No. 3 in the NCAA in rushing offense and No. 105 in passing offense, wasn’t able to come from behind.

“We had several points where we were about to turn the game around,” quarterback Beau Morgan said. “But it seemed like we were playing catch-up the entire game.”

The teams shattered most of the offensive records in the seven-year-old bowl.

Hanspard, who carried 24 times, scored on runs of two, 11, two and 29 yards.

Lethridge threw a 38-yard scoring pass to Stacy Mitchell and scored on runs of one and three yards. Tony Rogers kicked field goals of 24 and 31 yards for Texas Tech.

Air Force cornerback Mickey Dalton, the defensive player of the game after picking off a pass by Lethridge, who had set a SWC record with 211 consecutive throws without an interception, said the quick-paced Raider attack didn’t wear him out.

“We just had poor execution,” Dalton said. “We didn’t tackle very well and we had a lot of breakdowns on defense.”

Air Force’s Danta Johnson scored on 71- and 60-yard runs.

Johnson was the first to break the Copper Bowl rushing record of 133 yards by Kansas State’s J.J. Smith in 1993. Johnson had 145 of his 148 yards in four carries, but Hanspard, with 201 yards in the second half, passed him.

The Red Raiders opened a 28-7 lead by marching 80, 75, 74 and 80 yards to touchdowns on their first four possessions.

Lethridge had big plays in three of the four drives--a 42-yard run before his pass to Mitchell for the first score, a 46-yard pass to Donnie Hart to set up Hanspard’s first touchdown, and a 25-yard run and 26-yard pass to Field Scovell before he produced the 21-point lead with his keeper.

But the biggest play of the third drive was a penalty after the Falcons had stopped Tech.

Air Force’s Sam Ransom slid into Tech punter Brad Cade, incurring a 15-yard penalty that kept the drive going. Hanspard broke loose for 12 yards on the next snap, and Lethridge, minutes later, got 13 yards on back-to-back plays--a keeper and a pass to Scovell--before Hanspard’s run.