October 07, 2002
Texas Tech QB Kliff Kingsbury, Texas A&M QB Dustin Long (Co-Offense), Texas CB Rod Babers, and Texas Tech WR-KR Wes Welker have been named as SBC Big 12 Conference Players of the Week for games of Oct. 5 in voting by a select panel of media covering the Big 12.
Kingsbury of New Braunfels, Texas, Long of Port Neches, Texas, Babers of Houston, Texas, and Welker of Oklahoma City, Okla., were selected as SBC Offensive, Defensive and Co-Special Teams Players of the Week.
The two quarterbacks in Texas Tech's 48-47 overtime at Texas A&M combined for a whopping 841 yards on 70-for-96 passing with 12 touchdowns (largest combined totals for two QB in a single Big 12 contest). Kingsbury was 49-for-59 (83.1 percent, a personal game best), 474 yards, five TD, and one interception. Long threw for a Big 12-record seven touchdowns on 21-for-37 passing for 367 yards with a long gainer of 82 yards. completion percentage of 83.1 percent also is a career best. Kingsbury also navigated the Red Raiders' comeback from a 35-17 and needs four TD tosses to break his conference record of 25 TD passes in 2001. Long eclipsed the A&M school mark of six touchdown passes by Gary Kubiak against Rice in 1981 and posted the third-highest passing yardage in a game in Ags' history.
Babers helped pace a Longhorns'defense that limited Oklahoma State to 273 yards of offense (134 pass, 139 rush) in a 17-15 victory. The Cowboys entered the game averaging 420.5 yards of offense (29th in the NCAA), 279.3 passing yards (20th) and 39.3 points (14th NCAA) per game. The Texas secondary and Babers held one of the Big 12's premier receivers Rashaun Woods (eight receptions per game, 134 yards each contest) to six catches for 63 yards. The UT standout also made two game-saving plays by tackling Woods at the one with Texas holding a 17-15 and 4:04 on a two-point conversion try. minutes later and with Oklahoma State at Texas' 48-yard line, Babers intercepted a seconddown pass from Josh Fields and the Horns held on for the victory. He registered four tackles (three solo), a tackle for loss, two pass breakups and an interception on the game.
Welker gave Texas Tech its first lead over No. 23 Texas A&M at 38-35 (after a two-point PAT) with an 88-yard punt return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter in the overtime win. The return was the longest ever recorded by an Aggie opponent, and Welker finished the game against A&M with the second-highest all-purpose game in Tech school history--327 yards (166 punt return yards, 41 rushing yards and 120 receiving yards) behind Byron Hanspard had 347 yards against Baylor in 1996. Tech's wideout-KR also finished with 10 receptions and added a touchdown reception for a score and moved into ranks second place in Tech career records and fourth in the Big 12 with 90 punt returns. He's also now second at Tech and third in the Big 12 with 1,042 all-time punt return yards.