 "Photo: Karl Anderson")
 "Photo: File photo")
A prideful Daniel Howard couldn’t wait to talk about what Texas Tech’s defense had just accomplished. That much was obvious after the Red Raiders’ 31-10 upset against Nebraska on Saturday.
“Go ahead, I got a chair for you,” the normally tight-lipped defensive end said to a reporter as he positioned a chair across from him.
In the same week that Nebraska’s vaunted defense had just renewed the prestigious black shirt defense, the Red Raiders showed they can play that tune as well, holding the Huskers to their lowest point total since 2006.
The duo of Howard and defensive end Brandon Sharpe had a lot to do with that.
Sharpe has emerged as one of the top pass rushers in the nation. The senior from Lyons, Ga., was named the Big 12 Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Week after he had a career high seven tackles and four sacks against Nebraska.
He now has eight sacks this season, which is second in the Big 12 Conference and fourth nationally.
“B-Sharpe, he was my roommate when I first got here,” Howard said. “He comes off the edge real fast. I always tell him, you gotta come off fast. You gotta hustle. You gotta go every play and something good is gonna happen.”
Howard may be on to something there.
The Red Raiders’ 23 sacks lead the conference and are eighth nationally — particularly impressive considering the departure of Brandon Williams and McKinner Dixon last season, who combined for more than 20 sacks.
But Tech seems to be doing just fine without them, perhaps even better.
“I just remember the first two sacks,” Sharpe said of his field day against Nebraska. “I don’t remember the other one. I was just out there having fun and running hard, trying to get noticed in the field of football. Enjoying it, this is my last year, so I have to play it to the fullest.”
On the other end of the line, Howard returned a fumble 82 yards to give Tech a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter.
“I feel comfortable saying this, he might have the best motor of anybody on our team,” Tech coach Mike Leach said. “He just plays and plays and plays and plays. We’re routinely seeing him tackling people on the other sidelines, he’s a defensive end of all things.”
Although he brushed aside the compliment, Howard’s response to Leach’s assessment showed why the coach was correct.
“I don’t know if I have the best motor on the team,” Howard said. “I think I try to have the best motor on the team.”
In other words, he may not have the same athletic capabilities as some of his teammates, but he’s going to do everything in his power to replace that with unmatched grit and determination.
“Daniel is a guy who’s always been a playmaker for us,” said defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill. “To see him make a play, it doesn’t surprise me. It surprises me more when Daniel does not make a play. He’s a guy on film, if you watch film, that he’s never not played hard. He goes very hard, every snap — to exhaustion.”
As happy as he was with the outcome, Howard still wasn’t satisfied. Tech allowed a few big plays and if it weren’t for Nebraska shooting itself in the foot with penalties and dropped passes, the game would have been much closer than 24-10 midway through the fourth quarter.
But all things considered, the Red Raiders won a game with defense, which was a big reason Howard couldn’t stop smiling.
“As far as the games I’ve been associated with,” he said, “we’re finally coming around to being a swarming, aggressive, attacking defense.”
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