LUBBOCK, TEX. ? From the big numbers the offense continues to pile up to the shrinking ones allowed by the defense, the Texas Tech Red Raiders have good reasons to be optimistic about this season.

And if they need anything else to get excited about, they can pop in the tape from the last game they played, a 45-31 throttling of No. 4 California in the Holiday Bowl.

That victory capped an 8-4 season and earned Tech the 18th spot in the final poll, its highest finish since 1976. Perhaps more important was the exposure and respect that came from beating a Cal team trying to prove a point about being left out from the BCS.

“We’ve got a long ways to go, but it’s exciting that we’ve got some folks interested in us,” coach Mike Leach said. “I feel like we’re getting better, we’ve improved.”

Any new admirers will see what folks in West Texas have been watching ever since Leach arrived in 2000 – a wide-open, unrelenting passing attack that tries to pile up yards and points.

Tech quarterbacks have led the nation in passing five straight years. The past two seasons, it was done by fifth-year seniors who were first-time starters.

Although Leach has yet to name this year’s QB formally, fifth-year senior Cody Hodges could make it three straight years that a starter watched from the sidelines for four seasons.

Hodges said he expected to be the one who would be taking the snaps in the season opener Sept. 10 against Florida International.

Hodges certainly has put in his time.

A four-year starter at Hereford (Texas) High, where he threw for 6,500 yards and 70 touchdowns and ran for 30 more, Hodges was the new kid on the squad when Kliff Kingsbury was finishing his great run leading the Tech offense.

Then he saw B.J. Symons take over in 2003 and put up remarkable numbers – 52 touchdowns and an NCAA single-season record 5,833 yards passing – and witnessed Sonny Cumbie lead the nation in passing last year with 32 TDs and 4,742 yards.

“I’ve had the opportunity to sit back and watch three great quarterbacks and kind of soak up different aspects of their games,” Hodges said. “Then maybe I can add my own dimension and do something special around here.”

Leach will pick between Hodges and Graham Harrell, a red-shirt freshman from Ennis who broke his ankle in an off-field incident in the final week of spring practice. Harrell holds the state’s high school passing records with career marks of 12,532 yards and 167 touchdowns.

Whoever is the quarterback, he will have bigger receivers than in the past, including Jarrett Hicks, who led the conference in yards per game (98 yards) and caught 13 TD passes last season.

“I think we’ve got quite a bit of talent,” Leach said. “We’re not lacking experience, but we’re shy on it, I think.”

Tech’s defense, long known to wear down in games and during a season, improved considerably last year.

The biggest improvement was against the pass, shaving 75 yards per game off its previous average to hit 15th in the nation.

With players going into their third season under the same scheme, Leach expects more improvement.

“We got better and better as the year went,” Leach said. “So now we’re a junior defense with a lot of guys that have played quite a few snaps.”

So if the offense keeps humming along the defense continues to improve, Tech could do better than last year, when it went 5-3 in the conference, tying for third in the South division.

“You constantly try to improve, constantly try to tighten the slack,” Leach said. “It’s not usually about improving a bunch of big things. It’s just trying to be sharper at as many little things as you can.”