Kingsbury Proves Too Tough for Tigers

---

ORLANDO - Kliff Kingsbury proved to be everything the Texas Tech sports

information department's advance billing said he was. But they left out

one

thing.

Tough.

Knocked from the game with a severely sprained ankle early in the third

quarter, Kingsbury returned to cap off a record-setting night in his

team's

55-15 thrashing of Clemson in Monday's Mazda Tangerine Bowl at Florida

Citrus

Bowl Stadium in Orlando.

"I was going to get back out there," the game Most Valuable Player

said. "It

wasn't going to keep me off the field. I just told the offensive line I

couldn't move around, and they did a good job of protecting me."

That protection allowed Kingsbury to complete 32-of-43 passes for 375

yards

and three touchdowns. His numbers set new bowl records for completions

and

attempts, and tied the record for touchdown passes.

He also hit a much loftier goal with just over 6:00 left in the game.

His 19-yard pass to Mickey Peters gave Kingsbury 5,017 yards for the

season,

making him just the third quarterback in NCAA history to surpass that

total -

joining Houston's David Klingler and Brigham Young's Ty Detmer.

"They told me I only needed so many yards to break the record,"

Kingsbury

said. "So I went out and completed one more pass and got out of the

game."

Kingsbury's accuracy, surprising mobility for a big quarterback and

most of

all his toughness caught the attention of Clemson head coach Tommy

Bowden.

Besides being knocked out of the game for a series, Kingsbury was

sacked four

times on the evening.

"He was everything they say about him," Bowden said. "He was

composed...we

couldn't rattle him."

Few teams have.

And when Kingsbury is composed, he usually picks apart opposing

defenses.

Such was the case Monday, when nearly everything the Red Raiders tried

offensively worked to perfection.

"We felt like we could do some things, felt like we could exploit

them," he

said. "We should have scored a couple of more times.

"I don't think they were ready for the pace we attacked them at."

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