2008-2009 Fearless Football Predictions

I’m not sure what to think about this, SI’s Austin Murphy made some pretty bold predictions about Texas Tech.

1. I predict that trash bins at security checkpoints at Dolphin Stadium next January 8 will overflow with cheap plastic imitation cutlasses and faux prosthetic "hooks."

 

The profusion of buccaneer regalia will be the result of Texas Tech's stunning appearance in the BCS National Championship Game, to be played that night, in that venue. (In addition to his obsessions with Geronimo, rugby-union, chimpanzees, Daniel Boone and Donald Trump, Red Raiders head coach Mike Leach is also obsessed with pirates.)

2. I predict that title game will pit against each other a pair of guys who went clubbing together after the Heisman awards ceremony: Tech quarterback Graham Harrell (who threw for 5,705 yards and 48 touchdown passes in 2007) and James Laurinaitis, the Ohio State middle linebacker who spearheaded the nation's most dominant defense in '08.

Longhorns must show fire

This article by Pete Fiutak with Fox Sports is an overview of Texas Longhorn football program and 2008 predictions.  I don’t have time to comment but I will list a couple of things I found interesting. By the way, interesting doesn’t mean I agree with them. This article is definitely worth reading. What are your thoughts?

Texas players are currently known for being ridiculously talented — there's an NFL farm system in Austin — and for good and bad, for having brains, or at least for being more pensive than your average college football meathead.

Does any big-time program have as many big-time talents sticking around for their senior seasons? While that's admirable, and we'd all like it if everyone stayed in school until their eligibility was up, it questions whether or not Texas cranks out killers.

Texas Tech will be nasty and traveling to Lawrence to face Kansas isn't like it used to be.

Best Offensive Player: Junior QB Colt McCoy. It's easy to get swept aside in a year when Missouri's Chase Daniel becomes a Heisman finalist, Oklahoma's Sam Bradford leads the nation in passing efficiency, Texas Tech's Graham Harrell puts up ridiculous numbers, and Todd Reesing of Kansas becomes a national breakout star, but McCoy, outside of his 18 interceptions, deserved more attention after throwing for 3,303 yards with 22 scores, while running more than usual with 492 yards and four touchdowns.

The season will be a success if ... Texas wins the Big 12 South. This year, just winning the division, much less the conference, will be a monumental achievement considering Oklahoma is national-title good, Texas Tech has a loaded team that might be its best ever, and Oklahoma State and Texas A&M should be improved.

Conducting the show is the underappreciated Colt McCoy, who's one of the Big 12's better quarterbacks but gets lost in the shuffle.

Chase Dunagan a contributor for The Bleacher Report is not buying into the Texas Tech hype.

Who knows maybe he’s right, but like the chance to prove skeptics wrong. Tech seams to perform better as an underdog anyway, so go ahead doubt Tech some more.

Texas Tech

Oh no. That’s what you’re all thinking. “He did NOT just go there.” I did.

Texas Tech is BY FAR the most trendy pick of the off-season.  A bunch of returning starters on offense, and a good defense that has only gotten better with the additions of JUCO transfers and a year of maturity.  Well I say hogwash!

If you’re a fan of the Big 12, you know that year after year Texas Tech is touted as “the team that will surprise this season!”  But year after year Tech under performs and loses to teams far inferior to them.

In 2004, the Red Raiders had a solid year where they only lost to the big three, Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M.  Oh yeah, they lost to New Mexico, a team that lost to anyone with a pulse in 2004.    

In 2005, Tech had an amazing year.  They beat OU, and went to the Cotton Bowl.  But a loss to Oklahoma State late in the season cost them a chance to play in a BCS bowl.  Oklahoma State’s only conference win that season was against Tech.

In 2006, Tech scored a total of nine points in losses to TCU and Colorado. Colorado was 2-10 that year.

And last year, Texas Tech somehow managed to lose to Colorado (6-7) at home.  And that defense that was "good" last year, gave up a total of 202 points in the last six games of their season, including 59 points from an average Texas offense. 

The only team not to score at least 31 points in their last six games?  Baylor, who scored 7. Even if that defense got better, that’s like saying Shaquille O’Neal got better at free throws. So what?

This year people will be ready for Crabtree, and this year Tech will perform like they always do…. Disappointingly.

My Prediction:  Texas Tech will be good, real good.  But not good enough, and not BCS caliber.  I see them losing to Oklahoma, Texas, and possibly A&M (the Aggies have to win sometime).  Tech goes to the Holiday Bowl.

2008 Quarterback Crop

"Graham Harrell (Texas Tech) - Yes, he plays in a gadget offense at Texas Tech, but he may just be the best in a long line of efficient QBs in Lubbock over the last few years. Harrell completed 71.8 percent of his passes in 2007, amassing an eye-popping 5,705 yards, with 48 TDs and 14 INTs. The Red Raiders pass the ball on first, second and third downs, so you can expect more inflated numbers from Harrell in his senior campaign."

Good recognition for Graham and the rest of the Big XII, notice 5 of the 10 QBs listed are from the Big XII. Who says that the Big XII isn't dominant? Aside from them claiming that Tech has a “gadget offense”. Oh well, so what if it is a “gadget offense”, it sure is fun to watch.

Texas Tech Position Breakdown: Quarterback

The Bleacher Report’s John P. Conway had a lot of good things to say about Graham Harrell.

"Harrell was the most highly touted quarterback out of high school since Mike Leach has been the head pirate on the South Plains, and after this season, he will arguably go down as the greatest quarterback in Texas Tech football history."

We have had some great quarterbacks in Leach’s tenure, or at least quarterbacks that put up huge numbers. Most people outside of the Red Raider Nation would argue that they were just system quarterbacks, and judged by their success at the next level this maybe true. I don’t think that you can argue that they were great college quarterbacks though. Personally, I think that Harrell may be the first under Leach’s tenure that could really contribute at the next level.

"One aspect of his game he will need to improve on is after a loss being able to bounce back the next week. In 2006 Texas Tech lost to Missouri at home and a very bad Colorado team on the road. In 2007 the Red Raiders lost at Missouri, an understandable defeat, but then loss to Colorado at home in a game which Graham Harrell had several interceptions."

I agree that Tech needs to bounce back after emotional games to get prepared for the following week but I don’t think this is only the quarterback’s responsibility. I think this falls as much on the coaching staff and the entire team. Tech always seems to play with confidence until they have a loss and then become spotty for the remainder of the season. Yes, Harrell played bad against Colorado but the entire team was flat and this is something that Tech teams in the past have been guilty of after emotional losses. I don’t think you can question Harrell’s leadership; remember the last two bowl games. Hopefully, the two by-weeks we have this season will give the team time to get their head right and keep their momentum through the season.

Burnt Orange Nations take on Texas Tech this year.

The general consensus seems to be that Tech will probably be better this year than they have been since 2005, they're still Tech: that weird school with the weird coach that upsets a better team every year and loses to inferior team every year.

Did I read that correctly, someone from Austin just called Lubbock and Tech WEIRD? What? Really, from a school that has T-shirts printed with "Keep Austin Weird"? Austin and UT is one big commune and A&M is one core member away from being a cult but we get labeled weird, go figure. Mike Leach being weird, I can't really defend the fact that our coach does some unusual things.

Texas Tech has beaten OU twice and Texas once under Leach and has a 6-2 record vs. A&M.  And he's fairly consistently challenged Texas even in the losses.  And he's doing this with a TERRIBLE defense.  Imagine what his teams could do with even a mediocre defense.  If Tech held Texas to 35 points a game, Tech would win more than half the time, most likely.  If Tech had a good defense, not even a great one, I think they could be a top 10 team every year.  And I tend to think that it's not impossible for that to happen.

I agree with this comment, which I didn’t see coming. The beginning of his posts bashes everything Tech and then he pulls a 180 and says that we could be a Top 10 program every year.

Now, does that mean that Tech can compete for the national championship this year?  Probably not.  The defense isn't there yet, but it's a whole lot better than it used to be.  So can they win the Big 12?  Absolutely.  Will they?  Who the hell knows.  The only problem I have with Leach's system is that it's like the knuckleball of offensive systems.  When it's working, it's practically unhittable.  When it's not, well, it just hangs up there waiting to get hit out of the park.

Again, I have to agree with some of his comments and I like the knuckleball analogy. Overall, this was a pretty interesting article but this doesn’t mean I have forgotten about him calling Lubbock and Tech weird.

Jake Shaw's Texas Football blog, 6/18/08 edition

DCTF writer, Jake Shaw, backs up the magazines prediction that Texas Tech is the best in Texas.  

A compilation of 15 rankings services (not counting our own) has Tech ranked 14th in the nation. Like our preseason poll, Sports Illustrated rated the Red Raiders 8th in the nation. The lowest the Red Raiders appear is No. 21, by the Sporting News.

Count me and fellow DCTF staff among those who believe Tech will live up to these expectations. We didn't pick Tech this high to stir things up. The Red Raiders have the best team in place of all teams in Texas to make a dash for the BCS.

Finally, someone needed to say it. Nice post from Tim MacMahon on The Dallas Morning News College Sports blog. So, I'm not the only one sick of the Aggies delusional arguments that they are still a top tier program. Nothing gets me geared up for the college football season like a good Aggie bashing!

Aggies need to accept that Tech has better football program 

I've read all the bickering between Aggies and Red Raiders on this here blog over the last few days. I tried to stay out of it, but it's clear that an unbiased party needs to talk some sense into those silly Aggies.

Texas Tech has a better football program than Texas A&M at this point. The Aggies have a huge advantage in the history department, but there's no possible way to argue that A&M has been better than Tech since Mike Leach arrived in Lubbock.

Tech has won six of eight meetings between the rivals -- and, yes, the Red Raiders are rivals of the Aggies -- with Leach on the sideline. That includes the last three. Let's face it: Pirates beat soliders most of the time these days.

Leach is 65-37 with eight consecutive bowl appearances. The Aggies are 53-45 with five bowl appearances during that span. Those numbers are pretty convincingly in Tech's favor, don't you reckon?

Aggies, stop slamming the Red Raiders and start hoping that Mike Sherman can get A&M's program back to Tech's level.

Bumped to the front page.  Thanks for the find.  Seth C

Can Texas Tech make the leap?

This is a good read by SI writer Stewart Mandel discussing the Red Raiders chances of having a breakthrough season in 2008. He discusses the usual eccentricities of Mike Leach, as if we havent heard enough of that, but he does give deserved props to Crabtree.

"...reigning Biletnikoff winner Michael Crabtree deserves mention alongside Larry Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson as one of the greatest receivers the sport has seen this decade."

His comments on the OU victory last year.

"This was the first moment in Leach's nine-year tenure that I actually believed Tech might be on the cusp of breaking through. And they followed that up with a Gator Bowl victory over Virginia."