So usually I hate doing this and I'll admit its a dangerous way to look at things, but here goes...  Hopefully no one has posted something similar.

I've been more than a little nervous entering this game knowing that SS has been injured in the past couple weeks, but if you look at common opponents I feel a little better about the upcoming game with Potts at the helm.

Our common opponents are UT, UH, Rice, and A&M.

OSU 35   vs. Houston  45
TTU   28 @ Houston 29

OSU 14   vs. UT  41
TTU 24  @ UT  34

OSU 41  vs Rice 24
TTU 55  vs Rice 10

OSU 36  @ A&M  31
TTU  30  vs A&M 52



Obviously the wildcard game is A&M where we got stomped at home and they one at the road, but if you discount that game given that it is the only real game where our defense was completely absent this season then we've played common opponents better.  We allowed less points to both UH, UT, and Rice.  UT and UH games were home games for OSU and road games for us. What calms my nervousness a little as well is that these games were with Taylor Potts at the helm, which is what I expect will be the case this weekend barring some quick rehab by SS.  I think in comparison our defense is significantly better than theirs despite them ranking statistically slightly higher than us.

Defense Stats from yahoo sports
Total points against per game
TTU 23.4  vs OSU 21

Total yards against per game
TTU 355.6  vs OSU  331.3

The statistical gap is not that large between the two (<20 teams) with similar levels of competition in unshared opponents.  Its always dangerous to put too much faith in this kind of comparison, but 4 common opponents is a decent crosssection and I thought I'd share as it calmed my nerves.  If our defense plays as well as they have minus A&M, I think we win this game on the road.  All the shared games featured Taylor Potts at the helm and I believe TTU fared better especially when you take into account that we played the two toughest (UT and UH) on the road while they had them at home.  The wildcard is the A&M game, if we have another letdown like that we won't beat anybody.  Here's to hoping these games tell us something.  Wreck 'em Tech!!

I think recently a lot of Tech fans (myself included) have taken some of our success for granted.  Our success against the Aggies especially.  Over the few days before the game remember countless fans telling me how big of a blowout they expected.  Tailgating there were countless fans describing the massacre of the Aggies they were about to see.  People quoting the "Tech could win by 100" article.  One friend of mine continually bragged to me about placing a bet against his girlfriends father (an Aggie) that Tech would at least cover the spread (21.5 points).  He bragged about how easy this money was going to be and I kept thinking in the back of my head "I really hope our team isn't feeling the same way".  I think almost all Tech fans WERE feeling that way to some extent.  Leach admitted that the coaches did.  I know there were several posters here on dTn that expressed fear for this game, but how many really thought we would lose?

On top of this mentality of taking success against aTm for granted, there was a lot of history at stake including:
1) Mike Leach taking over all-time winningest head coach at TTU for football.
2) Longest home win streak for the TTU football.
3) Evening the series with the Aggies at 32-32-1.  (according to the TT OSR it was at 32-31-1 before the game).

Trust me the Aggies did not want to be the team that gave all this to us.  After the war of words between Leach and Sherman this summer and after pounding the Aggies year after year for 10+ years, I doubt aTm needed much more motivation to play a solid game.  And that they did, we were thoroughly outplayed on all sides of the ball.  Obviously coaching can help to fight this, but its not easy to beat a team every year that consistently out-recruits us.  The fact that we have had so much success against the Aggies in the past is a testament to the great coaching job by Leach in the first place.  Now I am not trying to give him a pass on the loss, as it was an embarrassing way to go out, but I'm not asking the coaching staff and players to walk the plank either.  This is sports in general, it happens.  The undefeated Patriots got beat by the Giants in the superbowl a few years ago in a game that nobody gave New York a chance to win.  You give a team enough motivation and you'd be surprised what can happen. I hate losing as much as any fan, and the Aggies are always a tough pill to swallow, but I think more than anything this should be a reminder to Tech that as players/coaches/fans you can never get too comfortable. I believe the "can't wait for this blowout" of the fans can always rub off on players and I can't imagine a job tougher than being a coach and trying to convince a bunch of 20 year old men that a team that lost by 48 to a team you just blew out by 52 is dangerous.

Just my 2cents...