So in saying this, I can forgive the staff for this game. Only because Leach and company did not do well in Norman during his tenure... 2000, 04, and 06 were his best games against OU in Norman, yet just could not pull it out. Just feel bad for the Boys in Black. Still not for the white helmets though, and the play calling is very questionable on Brown's part. They have two very capable QBs, and he needs to utilize his options. Potts struggles, pull him out after a couple of series (if things dont change) just like he did Sticks last week... that changed the momentum of the game greatly. Still could be an alright season with the next two games in the 'W' column.

As for the analyst's in the game... just wish those asses would just shutup about the differences between both systems under Leach and Tubbs. Winning over 70% under Leach from 05 til his last game, shows the coach knows how to win. So what he didnt utilize the "running game" as much as other coaches... his runs consisted of short, dump passes. Just let the issue go. Also ontop of that Ruffs D was not as horribly inconsistent as this years D under Willis. Ruff turned the D as the interim DC in 07, with less time to do it. But all will be forgiven with the next 2 games as wins (along with a Bowl victory) and drastic improvement next season.

Wreck em Tech!!!!

I stated in an early fan post... for the worst to happen this season: http://www.doubletnation.com/2010/10/7/1736884/i-am-prepared

After yesterdays fiasco of a game, I found myself not upset, not pissed off, not even angry. I found myself disappointed and uneasy... almost in a confused state of mind. Like every Red Raider fan is wondering... Why is this ignorant ass of a Coach trying to rebuild on a group that has the tools to be a very successful team?? I really dislike (dont like using the hate word) where this team is heading. Ok they had over 180 yards of rushing (- sacked yards)... good to hear, but still an 'L' in the column, along with poor management from the sidelines (Why in the hell would you continue to run, run, run when the team is down by 14 late in the 3rd?? Pass the damn ball, score quickly, and force another 3 and out- this team is very capable of doing that... The offense builds confidence for the Defense, especially when these fans get roused up). From what I have read- Potts may have sustained a concussion early in the game, yet still allowed to play... What happened to allowing Sticks compete more throughout the season? Didnt see the game, but My dad was texting me while I was observing online... (Correct me if I'm wrong) When the Red Raider's were on the OSU 4 yard line with a 4th and inches... My dad said Texas Tech got screwed!!! Which I quickly came to the understanding the ball wasnt spotted properly (yet no challenge from the sideline). This is the 2nd straight game, and 3 of the last 4 where Tubbs neglected to challenge the play. WTH is up with this boneheaded Coach??!!! What is up with his judgment calls off the sidelines???

This is bullshit... Ruff never gave up this many yards in 3 straight games with a group this talented (Hell his team just got done beating a tough NC State yesterday, under his 1st year as a HC). The Defense needing to show up for this game, and once again over 500 yards of offense from the opposition for the 2nd straight week, and 3rd straight where the opposition has produced over 440 total yards... with an average of around 41 points surrendered in 3 straight weeks. The facts are there for the previous Defenses under Ruff... check out OSU's and Baylor's past 2 yrs they played the Red Raiders and you will notice this was never allowed. Over 200 yards for one receiver against the Tech D... man, we're being the laughing stock of the Big 12 right now (along with TAMU, CU, and ISU). Willis really needs to swallow what ever pride he has right now and check out the past 3 yrs of defensive play from Ruff... he will definitely understand why Coach was playing the 'bend but dont break' defense. 220+ yards allowed on the ground in 2 of the last 3 games, and over 350 yards allowed in the air in 2 of the last 3 games- This is unacceptable in my eyes.

Do the Red Raiders really have 3 more wins in them for the remainder of the season? After checking out A&M and CU... It's somewhat comforting to say, they are struggling a little worse than us. Mizzou and OU... forget about it, they may beat the hell outa us. In '01 Leach's team went 1-3, losing to UT, KU, and Nebraska, while beating KSU... yet afterwards the team went 3-1, beating Baylor, TAMU, and OSU, producing a 4-4 in conference record, so from recent past results there is still some hope for wins against at least 2 of the 4 teams left on the schedule. Weber St is about a 95% chance of winning, while Houston may be another dog fight.  So 3-4 wins (6-6 or 7-5) will more than likely lead the Red Raiders to another Bowl, lowering our expectations for this group, but hopefully will lead to a much more positive season next year. I too am disappointed in what this staff has done to this team... they completely f*&ked the players, fans, and supporters of the Red Raiders, but we still need to go out and support this team for the next coming weeks. These players are starting to lose confidence with the Coaches but they need to understand WE will have their backs.... Because WE all Bleed Red And Black.

For the worst to happen this season. I know we all have probably beaten this subject down to about 6 feet underground, but still got to get this off my chest. I can't lie, I was soooo convinced the Red Raiders would get that offense to show what they were made of in the ISU game. When they went down 24-0, I was like what the hell!!!!! But when the score showed 24-24, I was ecstatic with that... The D was taking care of business, the Offense was starting to find its rhythm by passing to set up the run, but the Special Teams was looking a bit shabby. Then the horrible Fourth Quarter showed a different outcome... The Defense gave up a total of 252 yards on the ground (common I thought Tubbs was a Defensive Mastermind from the SEC), and 52 points to IS f-ing U.

Why Am I prepared for the Worst??? ISU hasnt scored over 50 points to a conference opponent since the 70's (scored 54 against Okie St. in '71), and has come close to scoring 50 only a couple of times while in the BIG 12 (against Kansas in '01 and '02; against KSU in '05; Mizzou in '96). In those games against these opponents, those teams have finished the season under .500. I am also convinced and prepared for the worst because Tech has not started 0-2 in conference play since the '01 season, Leach's 2nd year as HC. The difference between those 2 losses and these 2, is the fact Tech lost to UT in Austin and lost to KU by 3 points... This time around, Tech lost to the Whorns in Lubbock, and got flat out beaten by the Clones.

The times were different then also... Last season the Red Raiders finished 9-4, going 5-3 in Conference, producing a winning season, with players from last years roster on this years... They were used to winning and just like the '07 team were experienced enough (for the '08 season)  to produce another sort of 'Dream Season' this time around. In 2000, the team finished 7-5 under Leach, with a 3-5 Conference Record, with players somewhat grateful and excited for playing in the BIG 12 against teams such as KSU, NU, OU, UT, and TAMU. In '01, when the team started off 0-2, they were used to picking themselves up and dusting their pants off, and preparing for the next game... and they did, going 4-1 (2-1 away from The Jones) against the next 5 BIG 12 opponents. There is a similarity in all this as you can see... In '01 three of the five games were away from Lubbock, as is this season where they compete three of the five away from The Jones.

The Defense is the biggest concern in my eyes... Baylor has scored under 30 points just once, and that was against a TCU Defense that has only let one team score over 21 points- SMU; OSU is beatable from what I had seen in the TAMU game, but is this Defense going to be prepared for a team that has scored more than 5 TD's in its first 4 games? Colorado is probably the only team on this schedule I can see Tech beat, IF the Red Raiders lose this weekend in Dallas... BUT the game is played in Boulder, where the Red Raiders have struggled in previous years; Jerrod Johnson and A&M have lost the ball 10 times in the past 2 games, yet ALMOST pulled out a win in Stillwater... if the Defense is hitting all cylinders by this time, it could be be a good win, though its in College Station; Then there is Homecoming against Mizzou... where their Defense is somewhat impressive (They did hold a San Diego St. team to 24 points that just got done beating Utah St. 41-7 this past weekend and has averaged over 40 points in 3 of the 4 games they have played).

Just like '01, I feel that if the Red Raiders did not pull out that win against KSU, then they would have most certainly had a long season ahead of them... the same applies this season. IF the Red Raiders do not pull out this win against Baylor, this would be the first 0-3 in Conference start since 1990, when Spike Dykes and Company went 4-7- only the 2nd time in the Dykes/Leach era where the Red Raiders went under .500 within Conference play ('90 and 2000 the teams went 3-5). Two years later was the last time the Red Raiders were NOT bowl eligible. Like I stated at the beginning of this.... I am prepared for the worst. But Common Red Raiders... don't let this end Texas Tech's 17 consecutive seasons of Bowl Eligibility!!!! Then again, guess all GOOD things come to and end sooner or later, right???

Oh wow!!!! Damn this season is going to be a long one. ISU puts 52 on the D and over 250 yards. Colorado beats an SEC team in Boulder (though 1-4, but really are they any better than the team we have seen this season in the Red Raiders), Baylor is looking better this year than in previous years, OSU is freaking ridiculous, Mizzou is looking better than Tech right now, and the A&M game is gonna be in College Station. Damnit folks, this looks like at best a .500 season, and at worst a 3-9 season.

I don’t care what anyone says, Mike would not have let this team lose in Lubbock against TU and Ruff would not have had this Defense get burnt like it did against IS f-ing U… especially this special group of players. Ruff had this plan for his defense to be successful, competitive, and dominant… but also knew he didn’t have those players for what he had planned (well not just yet).  He was getting those recruits tho, and I believe this performance against IS f-ing U would have never occurred. It’s frustrating seeing this happen to a team with this much talent on both sides of the ball. Mike Leach would have capitalized against the Whorns when the opportunity had arisen and Ruff would have had his D ready for that running game against the Clones. This is just horrible in my eyes… I see this team slipping really quick. They have Baylor in the Cotton Bowl next week (where, in history, the Red Raiders have not done too well there…. 0-4… St. Mary’s, USC, Alabama, and Ole Miss), come home for the OSU game, then on the road to Colorado and A&M… ugh long season.

This team, in no way, has shown me that they are capable of 8-4 or better this season… hell not even 7-5 right now. Depressing, just Depressing….

But I am and will always support MY RED RAIDERS!!!

WRECK EM TECH. :\ (Sigh)

By the way... I dont need words of encouragement. I think I've lost faith in these coaches this season... Just hate to see these kids with all this talent go down in flames like this. Im hungry now and feeling like a few beers. Good night

   That was the most pitiful Offensive performance I have seen since Tech was held to only 204 passing yards in their 3-12 loss against the Frogs in  '06. Even with the losses to Colorado later that season (6-30) and Mizzou the following season (10-41), the offenses put well over 250 yards of offense. This is going to be a long freaking season from my sights. Leach and Riley would have quickly pulled Potts out of the game in the beginning of the 2nd half. Whatever Brown was looking to achieve in this game, it was not working in the 1st half (Less than 100 yards passing and negative yards for the run... what the hell was this guy thinking? ) Damn young OC needed to try something else in the 2nd half and he was either too freaking idiotic to figure it out or just plain stubborn. Sticks is a running QB and that would have easily switched things around IF Brown would have just put trust in him... but naw he decides to go back to the same damn thing that wasnt working in the first place. Potts throws into traffic and Muschamp knew that, and it hurt the offense more than it helped. The guy hardly checks down and when he gets into pressure, he makes dumb mistakes. They got a bye week this coming Saturday... lets just hope this OC and Tubbs make some changes. If not, there will definitely be more upset people along with many more losses. The offense was sooo freaking hard to see tonight.... Brown is no Mike.


The Defense on the other hand... liking what I see. They tried to keeps things close, but that freaking offense didnt help ANY in this game. Coach Leach would have kicked the hell outta Texas!!

Was just reading TUES. PRACTICE NOTES on Rivals.com... most were good on what is expected from the D on Saturday... getting pressure on Gilbert and all, but damnit!!!! The f-ing stomach virus strikes Tech Players!!!! Again for the 2nd straight season, something has struck this team when they face off against ut in September. Last season Coach Leach and crew were down all but 1 DE (I think that was right, not looking it up right now) and other players were out due to injury, illness, or ineligibility before this game last season (once again not looking it up at the moment, but you all know what I am talking about). Luckily its early in the week- they caught it in N.M., and most likely these players should be back at practice by tomorrow or thursday (Hopefully!!!). Names were not given out in the press conference, just Tubbs letting all know there are a few players out of practice due to the stomach virus, yet expressed OL's and DL's (just no specific names)

Damnit, two years straight!!!!

Just now thinking to myself, maybe that why the Lobos played horrible against Oregon... they just now passed the bug over to the Raider Linemen. Hummmm, lets do the same, haha.

Hello there all Texas Tech supporters...

    Anybody in San Antonio throwing a get together in for the Red Raider/ Lobo game and/ or the Red Raider/ Longhorn game? Just thought to ask, considering I will be staying in Town this weekend, along with next weekend. If not, does any one know where in town Red Raiders (in San Antonio) usually hang out at during the games?? Beat the Lobos, BTH outta TEXAS!!!

WRECK 'EM TECH!!!!

Wow, to say the least and from looking at the photo from Seth's 'Potts and Sheffield Will Play'... Sticks is getting huge!!! His arms are almost bigger than Potts (well in the picture). Whatever Sheffield was doing in the summer, hope he keeps it up. Also, wonder how this competition throughout the season is going to hurt their chances to going pro after this year. Dont really have much else to say, but this should be an interesting season. Any thoughts???? Wreck em Tech

                Hey there Texas Tech fans and supporters. Got to thinking about these past 10 years on how the Red Raider football team performed and how Coach Leach was able to turn a mediocre program around. I agree he was still unable to bring home a BIG 12 Conference Championship or get to a BCS bowl game, yet kept the Red Raiders competitive year in, year out against UT and OU and some of the top programs in the nation. I decided to take some time out of my busy week and put some numbers together. Been wanting to do this for quite some time, but really had no time to do this. Listed below are overall and conference performances of not only Texas Tech but 39 other top programs in the Nation (went with 40 just for poops and giggles). You will see how they fared against a variety of teams from each Conference.

*DIV 1-AA (FCS)

** FAU did not start competing in College Football until 2001, where they began in DIV 1-AA (FCS), then in ’05 were switched to DIV1-A (FBS)

Overall Performance

       Team                                 Record                                     Winning Percentage

 1. Boise State      ’00 BIG WEST 10- 2            83.33%

                                ’01-’09 WAC 102- 10         87.18%

                                Overall   112-12                                                   85.26%

 2. Texas               BIG 12  110-19                                                   85.27%

 3. Oklahoma       BIG 12  110-24                                                   82.09%

 4. Ohio St.            BIG 10  102-25                                                   80.32%

 5. USC                  PAC10   102-26                                                   79.69%

 6. Florida              SEC        100-30                                                   76.92%

 7. Miami              ’00-’03 Big East   46- 4          92%

                                ’04-’09 ACC         46-29    61.33%

                                Overall 92-32                                                     74.19%

 8. LSU                  SEC        99-31                                                     76.15%

 9. TCU                    2000   WAC            10- 2       83.33%

                                ’01-’04 C-USA     32-17     65.31%

                                ’05-’09 MWC       53-11     82.81%

                                Overall   95-30                                                       76%

10. Georgia          SEC        98-31                                                     75.97%

11. Va. Tech         ’00-’03 Big East  37-14    72.55%

                                ’04-’09 ACC         62-18     77.5%

                                Overall 99-32                                                      75.57%

Limits of Contention with other national teams

12. Utah                  MWC     86-36                                                     70.49%

13. Oregon           PAC10   87-38                                                     69.6%

14. W. Virginia   Big East  86-39                                                    68.8%

15. B. College      ’00-’04 Big East  41-21     66.13%

                                ’05-’09 ACC         47-19     71.21%

                                Overall 88-40                                                     68.75%

16. Auburn           SEC        88-42                                                     67.69%

17. Louisville      ’00-’04 C-USA     47-16     74.60%

                                ’05-’09 Big East  36-25     59.02%

                                Overall 83-41                                                      66.94%

18. Wisconsin      BIG 10  86-43                                                     66.67%

      Flor. St.           ACC       86-43                                                     66.67%

20. TEX. TECH  BIG 12  85-43                                                        66.41%

21. Tennessee      SEC        83-44                                                     65.35%

      Nebraska        BIG 12  83-44                                                     65.35%

23. Michigan       BIG 10  81-43                                                     65.32%

24. Penn. St.         BIG 10  80-43                                                     65.04%

25. Cincinnati      ’00- ’04 C-USA    33-29     52.23%

                                ’05-’09 Big East  45-19     70.31%

                                Overall 78-43                                                     64.46%

26. Oregon St.     PAC10   80-45                                                       64%

        Iowa               BIG 10  80-45                                                       64%

28. Geor. Tech    ACC       81-48                                                     62.79%

29. Clemson         ACC       79-47                                                     62.7%

30. Fresno St.        WAC      81-49                                                     62.31%

31. Alabama        SEC        79-48                                                     62.2%

32. Hawaii            WAC      80-51                                                     61.07%

Far Below Contention (just by statistics- don’t take it to heart people)

33. Navy               IND.         74-49                                                     60.16%

      PITT                Big East 74-49                                                     60.16%

35. Troy                 ’00 Southland*      9-3          75%

                                ’01 IND*                 7-4        63.64%

                                ’02, ‘03 IND          10-14     41.67%

                                ’04-’09 Sun Belt  44-30     59.46%

                                Overall   70-51                                                     57.85%

36. Notre Dame   IND.       70-52                                                     57.37%

37. BYU                MWC     70-55                                                        56%

38. Flor. Atl.          ’01-’04 IND**      26-21     55.32%

                                ’05-’09 Sun Belt  27-34     44.26%

                                Overall   53-55                                                     49.07%

39. Mid. Ten. St.  2000 IND                6-5        54.55%

                                ’01-‘09 Sun Belt  52-55     48.6%

                                Overall   57-60                                                     48.72%

40. E. Carolina     C-USA   59-65                                                     47.58%

                As you notice above, Texas Tech is right there in contention with most of the teams listed (amongst the top 11-15% of FBS teams in the nation). The teams above Utah have surpassed the 90+ wins for the decade… not meaning the Red Raiders could not compete with those top 11 teams, but they all do have 92 wins or more, meaning these teams are definitely doing something right. Yes, some of you all may have an argument toward teams in the BIG 12, such as KSU, Mizzou, OSU, and TAMU- with their Overall Winning Percentage Performance between 52%-57%, which is well above most the bottom half of the list. The thing that sets MTSU, FAU, BYU, and ECU away from these BIG 12 teams, are their Conference Winning Performances. KSU, Mizzou, OSU, and TAMU are well below 50% in Conference since the 2000 season- Colorado even has a better conference record than these 4 teams (yet still fewer than 50% of winnings).  You will notice the above teams jump dramatically when it comes to Conference play. The biggest jumpers of the bunch are Troy (35th to 9th) and BYU (37th to 11th). Notre Dame has a good jump (36th to 4th) also, but common now they play one or two Independent teams a year (isn’t fair, but decided to throw them in the bunch anyhow for those ND supporters). BC on the other hand went totally opposite of the flow, falling from 15th to 38th.  FAU and Fresno St. were also a few Non-BCS teams making a minor jumps.

Conference Performance

       Team                                         Record                                Winning Percentage

 1. Boise St.           ’00 BIG WEST       5-0           100%

                                ’01-’09 WAC        68-4        94.44%

                                Overall   73-4                                                        94.81%

  2. Oklahoma       BIG 12  69-11                                                     86.25%

 3. Texas               BIG 12  68-12                                                       85%

 4. Notre Dame     IND.        9-2                                                        81.81%

 5. Ohio St.            BIG 10  64-16                                                       80%

     USC                   PAC10   64-16                                                       80%

 7. TCU                  2000 WAC              7-1        87.5%

                                ’01-’04 C-USA     20-11     64.52%

                                ’05-09 MWC         33-7        82.5%

                                Overall   60-10                                                     78.17%

 8. Florida            SEC        62-18                                                     77.5%

 9. Troy                  2000 Southland*     6-1       85.71%

                                2001 IND*               1-0         100%

                                2002 IND                 0-1           0%

                                ’03-’09 Sunbelt    33-10     76.74%

                                Overall 40-12                                                       76.92%

10. Miami             ’00-’03 Big East  27-1       96.43%

                                ’04-’09 ACC         25-23     52.08%

                                Overall 52-24                                                     74.26%

11. BYU                  MWC     54-21                                                       72%

12. LSU                 SEC        57-23                                                     71.25%

      Oregon            SEC        57-23                                                     71.25%

14. Va. Tech         ’00-’03 Big East  17-11     60.71%

                                ’04-’09 ACC         38-10     79.17%

                                Overall 55-21                                                     69.94%

15. Georgia          SEC        55-25                                                     68.75%

      Flor. St.           ACC       55-25                                                     68.75%

      Fresno St.        WAC      55-25                                                     68.75%

Limitations of Contention with other national teams

18. Utah                   MWC     51-24                                                        68%

19. W. Virginia   Big East  47-23                                                     67.14%

20. Michigan       BIG 10  53-27                                                     66.25%

21. Auburn           SEC        52-28                                                       65%

22. Tennessee      SEC        51-29                                                     63.75%

      Oregon St.      PAC10   51-29                                                     63.75%

Within Range

24. Cincinnati      ’00-’04 C-USA     23-15     60.53%

                                ’05-09 Big East   23-12     65.71%

                                Overall 46-27                                                     63.12%

25. Geor. Tech    ACC       50-30                                                     62.5%

      Hawaii             WAC      50-30                                                     62.5%

27. Mid.Tenn.St.  2000 IND*              4-0          100%

                                ’01-’09 Sunbelt    37-25     59.68%

                                Overall   41-25                                                     62.12%

28. Louisville      ’00-’04 C-USA        30-8       78.95%

                                ’05-’09 Big East  16-19     45.71%

                                Overall 46-27                                                     61.33%

29. Wisconsin      BIG 10  49-31                                                     61.25%

       Iowa                BIG 10  49-31                                                     61.25%

31. Flor. Atl.          ’01-’04 IND**         5-1       83.33%

                                ’05-’09 Sunbelt    21-15     58.33%

                                Overall   26-16                                                     61.9%

32. TEX. TECH  BIG 12  47-33                                                     58.75%

      Nebraska        BIG 12  47-33                                                     58.75%

      Clemson          ACC       47-33                                                     58.75%

      Penn. St.          BIG 10  47-33                                                     58.75%

36. Pittsburg        Big East 41-29                                                     58.57%

37. Alabama        SEC        46-34                                                     57.5%

38. B. College      Big East                 17-18     48.57%

                                ACC                       26-14       65%

                                Overall 43-32                                                     57.33%

39. E. Carolina     C-USA   45-35                                                     56.25%

40. Navy               IND.       11-9                                                          55%

                If you were to go and check the percentages of some of the teams, such as B.C., FAU, TCU, etc some may seem a little off. For instance-FAU was DIV.1-AA from ’01-’04, with a conference winning percentage of 83.33%, which is a great conference record (if they were competing against other Independent Foes on a regular basis and not just once a year- such as ND). Thing about the whole situation, they only played 1 or 2 Independents a season, yet they still needed to be credited for the wins against other Independents. So instead of adding percentages then dividing by 2 (such as Cincinnati), I just added winning totals from ’00-’09 then divided by total number of games. TCU was another difficult situation- They won over 80% of their games in both the WAC and MWC, yet were not as successful in C-USA. In this situation, was not sure which way to go on it, so decided to go with instincts… not sure if it were the right direction, but either way they would still be in the top 7. I am also, in no way saying the Red Raiders could not compete with the teams listed above Utah (about 85% of all 120 teams in the FBS)- but once again those teams have found a way to win (have a winning percentage of 10% or greater than TTU). In the overall performance, teams such as Fresno St., BYU, ND, and Troy are susceptible to losing big games against BCS teams- so of course it could be anybody’s game.

                We all know what Coach Leach had done here in Lubbock and for Texas Tech. Competing against the top percentile in college football is never easy- especially for a team that does not recruit as well as USC, UT, OU, Ohio St., etc. Though Texas Tech sits at 32 in the ranking of the top 40 teams in college football winning percentages against Conference competitors, there are ties amongst the rankings (6 ties, with one consisting of 3 different teams, so ideally the Red Raiders would be sitting around the 25th spot and amongst the top 16 BCS teams- 9 Non-BCS teams are above TTU). Don’t really know where I was going with all this, other than wishing these sports analyst and Leach haters seeing what type of genius this Kooky Coach really was. His teams did have some nice wins never-the-less and competitive games that could have gone the other way with a stop here, stop there, dropped pass caught here, dropped pass caught there. Where ever his next venture is next, good luck Coach in bringing success to that program as well. As for Texas Tech, I just hope Coach Tubbs can continue the success Coach Leach brought, and bring it to even newer heights.

Way to go BIG 12!!!! Baylor, Kansas, K-State, Texas.... Oh wait... the Long-Whorns lost in the final second.... Laughing My Fudging Azzz Off!!!!

Still the BIG 12 is representing greatly in Both Tourney's.... Tech moving on destroying  BE team (NIT), the BE going 1-3 as of now (In the NCAA), and the BIG 12 going 3-1 (NCAA) for the moment (I am more than fine with UT losing their arses off in the 1st round).

Lets route for the remainder of the BIG 12 teams.... A&M, Mizzou, and OSU. BIG 12 vs ACC (x2) and A&M against a pretty good Utah St. team.

WRECK EM TECH!!!!!

        The only reason I decided to post this through the forum, was because the response is pretty lengthy and I understand most do not wish to read a long reply. TTUMAR had asked if Texas Tech was to take the next step, then brought up some teams that had coaching changes since the '98 season. I only see one University that had somewhat the same experience that had happened in Lubbock...

Ohio St.
   John Cooper (1988-2000)- Only a 3-8 bowl record, a 2-10-1 record against Arch-rival Michigan, and a bowl-less 6-6 '99 season (along with pervasive academic and problimatic discipline issues) led to his firing after the 2000 season (even after an 8-3 regular season record).
   Jim Tressel (2001-Present)- Has only had two less than 10 win seasons; 9 straight bowl games, with 7 being BCS Bowls (3 NC Bowls).

        Cooper had a difficult time in beating Michigan within those seasons, however he did produce tremendously for the Buckeyes... went to 10 straight Bowl Games ('89-'98), and another in 2000, AVERAGED 10+ wins from '93-'98, from '91-'98 won no less than 8 games, and only produced one losing season (his first). Cooper won 72% of his games while with OSU, producing a 111-43-4 record, 3 conferences titles, and only one of two coaches to reach over 100 games won (W.W. Hayes had a 205-61-10 record from '51-'78). So after reading this brief description, one could understand why I feel that this University had somewhat a similiar experience Red Raider Nation had felt.

        As for the others... you will see below that either Coaches were not producing as the University expected them too, or they agreed to step down for another coaching job or retired.

Alabama
   Mike Dubose (1997-2000) - from a 10-3 '99 Season (BCS game/Orange Bowl) to a 3-8 season the following year and NCAA violations caused his firing.
   Dennis Fanchione (2001-2002) - Resigned after only Two Seasons with Alabama to become the new coach at College Station.
   Mike Shula (2003-2006) - went from a 10-2 '05 season to a 6-6 season the following year, where he was replaced by Interim HC Joe Kines in the Bowl Game.
   Nick Saban- Current Coach (2007-Present)

Florida
   Steve Spurrier (1990-2001) - Resigned after 12 seasons with the Gators after the '01 season
   Ron Zook (2002-2004) - Was an "underachiever" accordingly to most Gator fans considering two straight 8-5 seasons and final season at 7-4 (replaced by Interim HC Charlie Strong)
   Urban Meyer- Current Coach  (2005-Present)

Tennessee
   Phillip Fulmer (1992-2008) - Agreed to step down as HC after 13 seasons after the '08 season; saw two below .500 seasons (second being his final season) in final 4 years; No less than 8 wins before the 2005 season.
   Lane Kiffin- Served 1 season as HC (2009) then became the USC HC after the season was over.
   Derek Dooley- Present Coach

LSU
   Gerry DiNardo (1995-1999) - After 3 straight successful seasons, final 2 seasons DiNardo experienced a 4-7 '98 season and a 2-8 '99 season (replaced by Interim HC Hal Hunter in final game of season)
   Nick Saban (2000-2004)- Had a successful tenure, but left LSU to coach the Miami Dolphins.
   Les Miles- Current Coach (2005-Present)

Florida St.
   Bobby Bowden (1976-2009) - Retired after 34 years of Coaching; Final years saw a decrease in production, yet he still continued to send the Noles to post season.
   Jimbo Fisher- Present HC

Miami
   Butch Davis (1995-2000)- Brought the Canes back from violations of the NCAA rules from predecessor, Dennis Erickson; only one season under .500, and brought Canes to an 11-1 record in his final season; Stepped down as HC to take the Head Coaching job for the Clevelland Browns.
   Larry Coker (2001-2006) - Three straight 11+ win seasons, followed by two 9 win seasons; final season saw a 7-6 record.. was fired after the '06 season
   Randy Shannon (2007-Present)- Former DC under Coker and Present HC

Texas
   John Mackovic (1992-1997)- First two seasons were mediocre, then saw an 8 win and 10 win season followed by another 8 win season; In the final season, he finished with a 4-7 record. Mack Brown was hired from UNC
   Mack Brown- 1998-Present; One of the most successful coaches in program's history

Oklahoma
   John Blake (1996-1998)- Had three straight below .500 seasons. Bob Stoops was hired after the '98 season.
   Bob Stoops- 1999-Present; One of the most successful coaches in program's history.

USC
   Pete Carroll (2001-2009)- Won 84% of the games competed in; Stepped down from USC to coach the Seattle Seahawks
   Lane Kiffin- Present HC

        You see... this is why most fans are upset with the way the University handled the whole ordeal. Coach Leach was not fired due to poor performance or because of his lack of motivation. He did not step down for a coaching job that was far superior than that of being head pirate for the Red Raiders. Coach Leach was the most winningness coach in program history, led the Red Raiders to 10 straight bowl games, had an AVERAGE of 9 wins in his final 6 seasons in Lubbock, and had no less than 8 wins in all but two of his years as Head Coach at Texas Tech. He had a 5-4 record in Bowl games (Red Raiders won this final bowl game, so I am saying 6-4 in 10 years for Coach Leach), brought home a Championship from a 15 year championless drought, and turned this program around from his predecessor, Spike D(y)kes... and the University canned him for some nonsense.
           I still bleed red and black, but when something like this happens to a person that was able to achieve all this great success, it boils my blood. I do wish HC TT the best for as long as he is a Red Raider, but I give credit to Coach Leach if this team happens to win a Conference Championship (or multiple) within the next 2-3 years, because Coach Leach and his staff put this team of young men together. THEY were the one's that were going to put the face of this program on a National Scene because of all the success that was starting to be shown in West Texas. Maybe Coach Tubbs will be able to do what Coach Tress did in Ohio St. after Cooper... turn that program from an already successful program into a competitive National Championship Program. I am still skeptical until I see sometype of success within the next few years, but will continue to show my Red Raider Pride.

WRECK EM TECH!!!!!!!

Was taking a look at the BIG 12 teams home records at the moment. Overall, these teams are pretty dominant in their own arenas... overall the conference is 147-16 at home (after the MU/OSU and UT/BU game), pretty impressive if you ask me. The top 9 teams have only lost 7 total home games, with 3 of those from conference teams (BU lost to KSU, KSU lost to OSU, TT lost to Mizzou, and the Bears down the Horns). Watched the Tigers put a whooping on the Cowboys and these BIG 12 teams are tough at home.

Im trying to stay optimistic for the Red Raiders pulling off an 8-8 conference record or better to tell you all the truth. If they happen to pull it off, they go 20-10 from a 13-18 (3-13 conf.) regular season last year. I can see them do it though, will be tough, but they can pull it off. The game in College Station tonight may be the turn around point if they happen to beat the Aggies, which is feasible... Both OU and CU barely lost in C.S., yet CU got blown out in Austin (where TT kept competitive until the final minutes) and OU lost by 10 in Lubbock. The Red Raiders may have a second breath if this game goes their way... never said that they would have an easy road if they win in Aggieland, just saying their chances would be brighter with a victory. Colorado and Nebraska look like the "easier" wins compared to the remainder of the schedule. OU is tough in Norman (they beat a very good Mizzou team in Oklahoma and are 3-0 at home right now), still have to go to Waco, but they do have home games against the tougher teams of UT and KSU as well as OSU, the Bears, and Aggie.

The Red Raiders pull of a win tonight, they go 3-4, could pull out wins against NU and CU this season, possibly split the series this season against the Bears... which then could bring the conference record to 6-5. Winning two more games against UT, KSU, TAMU, OSU, and @OU is very possible. Like i stated earlier, just trying to stay optimistic for the remainder of the season. The Red Raiders do have only 1 loss this season at home for the moment... against Mizzou and the Tigers are proving that they are a very legit teams this year. The teams just needs to shoot better at the FT line IMO, then they will be very liable for a 8-8 or better conference record.

After reading on Tim Griffin's Blog off ESPN (on the Red Raider Homepage), Coach Willis had this to say about the Defense....

“This defense was very good last year,” Willis said. “Some people may look at their record and kind of change things around, but these guys competed well.”

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/9645/dont-expect-drastic-changes-in-willis-defense-at-tech

Ok thats all fine and well, but then on Rivals (Red Raiders Sports) Travante Porter stated, "They all came in and said that Texas Tech really didn't have a defense and they're going to change that." (This is from the site, needs a subscription, and if you guys have one the heading is PORTER MEETS TUBERVILLE ON OFFICIAL VISIT).

Ok, maybe Porter just got things out of context, but too me this is contradicting. Coach Willis says the Defense did an outstanding job yet tells a recruit that the Defense was not good at all. With Coach T saying not much change is coming to the offense (then getting rid of more than half the staff), then Coach Willis stating the D was great (then telling a recruit it was pitiful), me personally, am having a difficult time in putting trust in both these coach's at the moment. My thoughts may change when a full season is played out with the new Tech team. Any thoughts?

Just thought to jot some things down... kinda comparing the achievements between Coach Tuberville and Coach Leach. I started off with Big Losses under Coach T, just to show that success does show signs of big misfortunes at times. Coach Tubbs may have had a successful tenure at Auburn, but just like Coach Leach he too had to deal with those horrible outings on occasion.

Big losses under Coach Tubbs (99-07)....

1999-    @#9 Tenn.-       0-24    (9-3, 6-2)
               #12Flor.-      14-32    (9-4, 7-2)
            @#17Ark.-      10-34    (8-4, 4-4)
               #8 Ala.-       17-28    (10-3, 8-1)

All top 25 teams

2000-    @#10Flor.-        7-38    (10-3, 8-1)
               #10Flor.-        6-28    (10-3, 8-1)

Division Champs; Lost to Florida in SEC Championship game

2001-   #14 Syr.-    14-31    (10-3, 6-1)
            @Ark.-         17-42    (7-5, 4-4)
               Ala.-          7-31    (7-5, 4-4)
            @#7 LSU-    14-27    (10-3, 6-3)

Division Co-Champs; Lost to LSU in SEC Championship game

2002-       Ark.-        17-38    (9-5, 5-4)

Division Co-Champs; Arkansas went to CCG due to tie breaker win against Auburn.

2003-       #1 USC-      0-23    (12-1, 7-1)
                @G.T.-          3-17    (7-6, 4-4)
                @#2 LSU-      7-31    (13-1, 8-1)
                @#6 UGA-      7-26    (11-3, 6-3)

Only 1 team did not finish in the top 25

2004-    Auburn finished 13-0; won Division; won Conference Championship

2005-        #15 Wis.-    10-24    (10-3, 5-3)

Division Co-Champ; LSU went to CCG due to tie breaker win against Auburn.

2006-         #15 Ark.-     10-27    (10-4, 7-2)
                   #23 UGA-    15-37    (9-4, 4-4)

Finished 2nd in Division despite a 6-2 conference record; Arkansas had finished the season with a 7-1 Conference record to compete in CCG instead of Auburn.

2007-    @ # 2 UGA-    20-45    (11-2, 6-2)

2008-    @ #23 UWV-    17-34    (9-4, 5-2)
               @  #6  Ala.-    0-36    (12-2, 8-1)

    From 2005- 2008, Auburn had gotten beaten by more than 10 points by only teams that finished in the top 25. Even with (NOW UT DC) Will Muschamp, there had been 3 games in the 2006-2007 campaign, where the opponent put up 27 or more points and beat Auburn by atleast 17. Will say this though, as Coach T became more familiar with the SEC and experienced in his position, the BIG LOSSES became less. In 2006, seems to me that Coach T decided to try the Gulf Coast (run-oriented West Coast) style on the offensive side of the ball... production looked promising in '06 when the Tigers finished 11-2, yet took a step back in '07 finishing 9-4. The spread offense was tried in 2008, yet failed horribly. Coach Tubbs did however stay competitive in 5 of those 7 losses, but they were still losses. Seems Coach T needed to sit back and do some analysis in 2009, and get a few things straight. I believe he had his thoughts in the right direction, yet did not have the right personnel to achieve the goal. This might look promising for Tech in the near future. The right offensive personnel are on the Tech team compared to what he tried with Auburn in '08. We need to remember, Coach Leach started a foundation here in West Texas, so I credit him if this team is to achieve the unimaginable in 2010.

   Within the first 9 years of Coach Leach's career, he was able to bring a Division Title to West Texas... but he NEVER had a losing season. That type of achievement took Coach T only 6 years to be credited with a Division Title... yet had 2 losing seasons within that time period (Ole Miss in '96, and Auburn in '99). He did however follow up with another Division Title in 01 and '02. On his 10th year as a Head Coach (including the Ole Miss years), he brought Auburn not only a Division Title, but a SEC Championship. In his 11th year as a HC, was credited with one more Division Title.

    When comparing records between both Coach's, they seem a little Identical in achievement. Yes, Coach T is credited with 5 Divisional Titles and 1 SEC Championship, too Coach Leach's 1 Divisional Title... but take a look at how they faired in their Conference. When Auburn took home the 01 and 02 Division Title, they finished with a 5-3 Conference Record. Ok... when the Red Raiders finished with a 5-3 record in the BIG 12, they finished anywhere from 2nd to 3rd in the Conference. In his 10 season tenure at Auburn, Coach T finished 5-3 (in Conference, tied 1st in '01 and '02) 4 times, 6-2 twice, 7-1 once, and 8-0 once, with a Conference Record of 52-30 (85-40 overall)... Quite impressive right, yet also had two 2-6 conference records to go along with it (finishing 5th and 4h in Conference). Coach Leach on the other hand had four 4-4 seasons, three 5-3 seasons (tied 2nd in '02 and tied third in '04 and 09), one 6-2 record (tied 2nd), and a 7-1 record (tied 1st).... yet had a 3-5 conference record in 2000 (but never finished under 4th in Division in his tenure). Coach Leach had finished with a Conference Record of 47-33 (84-43 overall), three more losses than that of Coach T. Coach Leach really did an outstanding job if you take the time to look at what he did, compared to a coach Like Tuberville.

   If Coach Leach was to take these same records to any other Division or Conference in the country, the outcomes would probably be identical to what people see in Coach T. The only couple of differences is that Coach T had been a Head Coach for a total of 14 years and Coach Leach was one for 10 years. Another note, is that when Coach Leach had taken over in 2000, he had alot of work to do... bringing a program that had only seen 9 wins once in the 90's (1995 finishing 20th in the nation as well as finishing #16 in '89 with a 9-3 record), while fans, supporters, and alumni had settled with 7 and 6 win seasons (last ranked in Final Polls in '76 before the '89 season). Coach T on the other hand, had a winning program to work with... yes, the '98 season finished 3-8, yet finishing in the top 25 six times within the decade shows promise for future outcomes ('90- #19, '93- #4, '94- #9, '95- #21, '96- #24, '97- #11). Now Coach T is handed another opportunity to achieve success... a winning program to work with, finishing in the top 25 five of the past six years ('04- #17, '05- #19, '07- #22, '08- #12, '09- #21). Coach Leach is the man that got TECH to this hieght, and from Coach T's past, looks like he will be able to keep the Red Raiders in the light. One other notice is that Coach Leach had losing records to 4 teams (MU, CU, OU, UT) in the BIG 12, while Coach T only had a lossing record against one team in the SEC (look below)... looks a little more promising for the future in Raider Land. Once again, this could not all be possible if it were not for that Mike Leach... he took a chance on the Red Raiders and made them into a Force to be WRECKEN with. Thank you Coach

Coach T's records against SEC foes:

Flor        (3-4)
LSU        (5-5)
UGA        (5-5)
Ark           (5-5)
Bama      (7-3)
Miss        (7-3)
MSU        (7-3)
Tenn        (4-1)
Vandy      (5-1)
UK           (2-0)
SC           (2-0)

Tuberville coached 19 players who were selected in the NFL draft, including four first round picks in 2004, with several others signing as free agents. He coached 8 All-Americans and a Thorpe Award winner (Carlos Rogers). Thirty-four players under Tuberville were named to All-SEC (First Team). Eighteen players were named All-SEC freshman. His players were named SEC player of the week 46 times. He also had 2 SEC players of the year and one SEC Championship game MVP (In wikipedia).

    Now that I have finally gotten this settled into my system, and finally came to terms that Captain Leach will no longer be coming back next season... I would like to send off this last message to Coach Mike Leach. It was very emotional to me that this situation had to go this far... into firing a great coach, a wonderful yet stern and strict man, a mean SOB at times, yet fair and would never put a player in harms way. While attending the Alamo Bowl, I got emotional towards the end... while writing this letter, I got emotional. Captain Leach did something not many could do... bring a whole nation (Raider Nation) together, and bring a program such as Texas Tech to the brink of National Prominence. Thank you for your honorable efforts Coach...

                                                                    A Tribute to "Captain" Mike Leach

    Mr. Leach, I do not know if you ever get onto these Red Raider websites just to see what we all talk about. If you do, just know that I am one of many supporters that have been behind you since you first started your tenure back at the beginning of the millenium. Since becoming a Red Raider fan in '89, there has not been one person that has accomplished what you had done with this team, with this university, with this city. I am honored to be a part of what had been done within your 10 year stay in West Texas. Thank you for what you have done for Raider Nation and for the Hub City... it is disappointing to see a person with your stature to have to experience these ordeals with a wonderful institution such as Texas Tech University. I do not understand how the Administration could have let this situation get to a point in firing the person that had put Lubbock and Texas Tech on a National Level (well, I sort of do understand, but this should have never happened). Whatever the reason may have been, I still support our former Head Pirate and hope that you do succeed in whatever it is you decide to do after these altercations are done and over with. To do all that you had done here at West Texas is no easy task for any individual. To take a program such as Texas Tech to these levels, is exceptional in my eyes.
    Since 2004, you led the Red Raiders to an average of 9 wins and between 3-4 loses a season (6 consecutive seasons)... that feat had not been seen since the Coach Cawthorne years; winning atleast nine games 4 of the last 5 years, and having no less than 8 wins within that 6 year time frame. Conducting a 33-5 record at the Jones since the 2004 season, finishing in the top 25 four of five years (from 2004-2008) while possibly having the Raiders finish in the top 25 this season, and having 8 consecutive seasons with atleast 8 wins... simply outstanding Captain and I thank you. Having a 7-3 record against the Aggies, a 10-0 record against the Bears, a 6-4 record against the Cowboys, splitting the last 6 games in the series against the Sooners (3-3) making life tough on the Longhorns 6 of the last 8 years, having a 4 game winning streak against the Huskers (only UT and OU have managed to succeed a 4+ game winning streak in the past 20 or so years), and a 15-3 record against ISU, KU, and KSU. Yes, there are downs to every up... such as only being 2-8 against the Horns, 3-7 against the Sooners, 2-6 against MU and CU, and only being 1-9 in the state of Oklahoma... but you have made it an exciting decade. There are flaws to all success, and I was proud to accept each and every flaw, no matter how crucial or painful it was.
    Coach Dykes brought many winning and bowl eligible seasons to Texas Tech, but to actually take their team to bowl games and have 6 straight seasons of 9 wins (on average) is certainly amazing in West Texas; to have their teams win 6 of the last 8 bowl games is also exceptional. It is a shame to only wonder on how things could have played out through the 2015 season (when your contract was up), but still wish the best for you and your family. Yes, during that time frame the teams you had coached fail to one opponent, horribly; yet I for one, would certainly settle for one blowout loss a year, compared to 6-6 and 7-5 seasons. Hopefully the following Head Coach finds as much success as you had... for the sakes of the fans, players, and supporters of Raider Nation. You may no longer be our Head Captain, but you and your family will forever be in my (and others) heart and thoughts. Thank you once again for a wonderful 10 years, you will be greatly missed. Good luck on wherever your next journey begins... fairwell our Captain.

Here are a few Websites that I found interesting. You have made an impact on many Red Raiders fans and supporters:

http://www.sbnation.com/2009/12/31/1227561/mike-leach-fired-texas-tech-adam-jones-downfall-of-different

http://www.doubletnation.com/2009/12/31/1227836/the-saga-of-mike-leach-the-end

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/1860985.html

http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/19238949

Hey there guys, this is pretty long but just jotting down some thoughts. It has been quite interesting on how things have been fairing since the '04 season (on football). Since the '04 season the Red Raiders have stunningly became the 2nd best team in away games... read on and you all will understand. Really have not had too much time to compare and contrast but have done it on an occasional timely basis. It's just some friendly input on Red Raider football as of lately...

Continue reading this post »

    That was a disappointing loss AT home to say the least, but I tell you this... im hoping those Aggs keep trucking along and beat the remainder of the teams on their schedule. Tech still has ALOT to play for. Dignity, pride, and respect for the university should be at the top of that list. This is the first A&M win in 4 straight tries and the first win in Lubbock since '93 (that was the last time Tech lost in blowout to the Aggs in Lubbock... 31-6), so hey it was a good run for OUR Red Raiders. The Aggs were due one sooner or later, rather have sooner than later. The Red Raiders are still 7-3 in Leach's tenure and are 10-4 since the inception of the BIG 12 against A&M. The Red Raiders MUST have came into this competition thinking it was going to be a simple win... hopefully they learn from this loss and finish the regular season 8-4 or 9-3. They are going to have a spectacular season next year... i deeply believe that.
    The only disappointment I have out of this game is the 52 points on the scoreboard by the Aggs. It is NOT ordinarily that any team comes into The Jones and does a number to the Red Raiders like that. Five turnovers certainly didn't help that out much, right? Haaaa. The Aggs were just dominating in this one... and from the sounds of it, the Red Raiders just took this one game for granted, and they should not have. Fans and supporters, this is not the ONLY time the Red Raiders have been blown out by an opponent in The Jones... anytime it does happen, I am still a Red Raider and proud of it. Look below:

The last blowout at The Jones was in 2006- Mizzou beat the Red Raiders 38-21. They also had 5 turnovers in this game, and Mizzou needed all 4 quarters to pull out the win. TT battled pretty good in this one, just came out short. Red Raiders went 4-3 in the last 7 games of the season. Two of those losses were by 4 (against UT) and at Norman (lost by 10)... near 10 win season, just not enough. Finished 8-5 this season.

In 2004- Tech had lost to the Longhorns 21-51 in Lubbock, but still had a pretty good season, finishing 8-4 (lost to UNM by 3, lost to OU by 15, and lost to A&M by 7... all away from home and stayed very competitive throughout the season). After the blowout, they went 4-1 (including the Bowl win)... only loss was against the Aggs, by a TD in OT.

In 2003, another blowout loss came to the hands of the Sooners at The Jones... 56-25...final regular season game. May have been blown out this season, but did have an 8 win season. Two of those losses were by 2 and 3 points to OSU and UT (both away games)... near 10 win season, just not enough. OSU was Cotton Bowl bound, as UT was Holiday bowl bound... yet both teams lost those bowl games. Tech came out strong in their bowl game, beating Navy 38-14. 1-0 after losing BIG at home.

The next blowout losses kind of really do not mean too much, considering it was still early in Coach Leach's career, but will list them anyhow:

In 2001. Under Coach Leach's second term, the Red Raiders suffered a 30-13 loss against the Sooners and finished the regular season at 7-4, with a 10 point loss to NU in Lincoln and a 3 point loss against the Jayhawks (the 4th was an ugly loss against the Horns 42-7 in Austin, the 3rd game of the season)... so Texas Tech stayed pretty competitive throughout the season.

In Coach Leach's first season as head coach, the Red Raiders were completely destroyed by Nebraska at home 56-3 and to this day, the worst loss in Leach's tenure. In Tech's 7-5 regular season record, the closest loss was against KSU, by 5... the other 3 (other than the Husker one) were by 12 or more points. Coach Leach's first season as head coach... probably expected.

The last 3 times the Red Raiders got blown out at home, they still finished the season with a respectable 8 win season... compiling a record of a 9-4 record after a blowout loss at home (since the '03 season). Three of those losses were by 10 points or less, so to say the least... Leach and company will have these kids ready to compete this coming saturday.

Hell, they better have them ready... making the trip to see them beat the crap out the Jayhawks and driving in from San Antonio.

FYI:

The series between the Aggs and Red Raiders has been an interesting one. Tech has gone on a 4 game, and three 3 game winning streaks since 1982 ('05-'08, '01-'03, '95-'97, and '82-'84). The Aggs have had a 5 game winning streak within that time frame ('90-'94) and a 2 game winning streak ('85 and '86) and another 2 game winning streak in the '80/'81 seasons. The Aggies needed a marque win sometime soon, so lets see how they respond for the remainder of the year and seasons to come. It was starting to get boring watching the Red Raiders beat up on the Aggs anyhow.  This blowout by the Aggies is only the 7th blowout since the '80 season (12 or more points), this only being the 2nd this decade:

33-15 in 2000 at CS.

 Red Raiders have had 7 blowout wins as well, 5 alone this decade.

43-25 in '08 at CS
35-7 in '07 at Lbk
56-17 in '05 at Lbk
59-28 in '03 at Lbk
12-0 in '01 at Lbk

Each team has blownout the other at their opponents house 3 times since the '80 season:

TT beats A&M at C.S.- 24-15 in '82, 30-12 in '84, 43-25 in '08

A&M beats TT at Lubbock- 37-14 in '91, 31-6 in '93, 52-28 in '09

Texas A&M may lead the series 35-32-1, yet since both these teams began competing in the same conference, Texas Tech has led 28-22-1 (since 1960); Texas A&M has not won a bowl game since the '01 season and is 6-12 since the '80 season (won in '95, '90, '81, and two Cotton Bowls to conclude the '85 and '87 season); 3-10 in bowl games since the '90 season; since the inception of the BIG 12, are 1-7 in bowl games. Red Raiders on the other hand are 7-9 in Bowl games since the '80 season; have won 5 of the last 7 bowl games ('02-'08; vacated Bama's victory in the '05 Cotton Bowl); 5-5 since the inception of the BIG 12 (1 loss towards the vacated Bama victory); have been bowl eligible 20 of the past 23 seasons (Not eligible in the '88, '90, and '92 seasons), with 16 straight years of eligibility.

Get those boys ready for the Hawks Coach!!!!

WRECK EM TECH!!!

I had placed a whole bunch of stats a couple of weeks ago... probably confused a lot of you, apologies. I did say that I would place more states in a couple of weeks, and this is to be that week...

Up-to-date stats on Defense

    SACKS(YDS)      INT'S/FUM'S   P-YDS/AVG-COMP/ATMPS- TD                        R-YDS/AVG- TD

OU       18 (97)              8/ 5-8          (10.65/ catch) 1012/ 95/172; 6               (R/A-145) 268/ 1.8- 0 (365/ 2.9)

TTU      18 (113)          4/ 6-13         (9.51/ catch) 1455/ 153/241; 5               (R/A-204) 643/ 3.2- 7 (756/ 4.1)

KU       16 (114)            4/ 3-5          (10.81/ catch) 1308/ 121/194; 7            (R/A-147) 461/ 3.1- 4 (575/ 4.4)

TAMU   16 (110)           2/ 6-11        (12.56/ catch) 1168/ 93/165; 7              (R/A-184) 769/ 4.2- 9 (879/ 5.2)

UT       14 (141)            8/ 7-14        (9.23/ catch) 933/ 101/191; 6                 (R/A-146) 254/ 1.7- 1 (395/ 3.0)

NU       12 (87)            5/ 5-13          (10.84/ catch) 813/ 75/158; 1                 (R/A-181) 544/ 3.0- 3 (631/ 3.7)

OSU      11 (72)           4/ 6-9            (10.85/ catch) 1206/ 108/202; 7            (R/A-181) 582/ 3.2- 6 (654/ 3.8)

BU          9 (52)            6/ 4-10          (10.22/ catch ) 1053/ 103/180; 4           (R/A-213) 856/ 4.0- 8 (908/ 4.5)

UH-          7 (81)          3/10-13         (10.61/ catch) 1103/ 104/169; 5            (R/A-205)1149/5.6-13(1230/6.2)

KSU         7 (56)          6/ 4-7            (12.25/ catch) 1348/ 110/185;14           (R/A-240) 710/ 3.0- 3 (766/ 3.3)

(Explanation from above with the Sooners- OU has 18 sacks up to now, in a loss of 97 yards total, along with Intercepting the ball 8 times and recovering 5 fumbles of the 8 produced. Out of each reception made, the Sooners have averaged 10.65 yards per catch allowing 1012 yards total off of 95 Completions from 172 attempts, giving up 6 TD's. In the rushing department, the Sooners have had 145 attempts allowing 268 total yards, averaging 1.8 ypc and no TD's. Without the sacks, the Defense is giving up 365 yards total for an average of 2.9 ypc.)

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Statistic wise, KSU was no different on defense than that of Nebraska now. Yes, the wildcats were nothing close to stellar offensively, yet the defense is what kept Kansas St. in each one of their games before they met the Red Raiders. The KSU offense really had nothing going before going to Lubbock only producing an average of 24 points a game, but Nebraska is averaging 37 points a game. So Nebraska not only has a Defense that keeps the opposition in check, they have an offense that can score... but has struggled against two good defenses this season.

Before the Wildcats entered into the game, they had the best secondary in the BIG 12 and one of the best in the nation, yet really did not get tested before heading to Lubbock. The Red Raiders put 66 on the board and put up 739 offensive total yards on the KSU D, which 554 came through the air. Difference between KSU and NU....KSU was unable to get to the QB or get many turnovers, which the Huskers have already sacked the QB 12 times (good for 4th in the BIG 12- 2 teams have 18, 2 others have 16, and another has 14)... not including MU, ISU, or CU due to these teams not on the Tech schedule. The Huskers have also caused 13 fumbles, while recovering only 5 (38%) to KSU only recovering 4 of the 7 the defense caused. While the Huskers have only allowed 75 passes for completion (from 158 attempts), the secondary averages 10.84 yards per reception... so has this team really been tested in the secondary? Probably a bit, but they should get tested this week even more, just as the Wildcats did. Do I see a similiar outcome? No, I dont. Reason being, is due to the pressure of the Defensive Line getting into the backfield AND BEING IN LINCOLN. Luckily, Sheffield has the agility to get away from the pressure (as seen in the Lobo and Wildcat games) and make things happen... so that may help out a bit.

Another thing, has the offense really been tested as of yet against a good defense? Yes, against V-Tech, which the Huskers lost too by 1 point. And against a pretty good Mizzou D, which the Husker D helped out tremendously in getting the offense into sync. If not for the Nebraska Defense, I believe those following 2 TD's after their first one in the 4th quarter, would not have happened. Texas Tech, I believe will NOT let that happen in Lincoln. The Red Raider Defense will be the difference maker in this game... at the moment Tech is only behind the Longhorns in yardage per catch, at 9.51 yards (UT at 9.23). What does this mean? It means that the secondary keeps the opposition in front of them, and tackles on first contact (most of the time). Tech is tied with OU in sacks (18), both leading the BIG 12 and they too (along with Nebraska) have produced 13 fumbles, yet have recovered 6 (46%). UT leads producing fumbles in the BIG 12 with 14. Difference between the NU secondary and TT secondary is that this unit has been tested greatly and has kept two teams that score over 40 a game to only 3 offensive TD's (UT and UH). Before the Houston game, they were averaging 50 a game; UT, without the TT game is averaging over 50 a game. UT tossed the ball 34 times, while UH tossed it 58 times, even Rice attempted 41 passes. UH is 2nd (behind TT) in total passing yards, UT is 24th nationally, and Rice is registering at 52nd. Nebraska has seen the ball tossed around against Mizzou at 43 attempts (and will give the secondary props for only letting 17 be complete) and 41 attempts from FAU, 20 being completed for 236 yards which is 11.8 yards per completion. Mizzou is at 35th nationally, while FAU is at 78th in total passing yards this season. The Tech secondary will be ready for this game... Huskers are at 61st nationally. Nebraska has yet seen the type of passing offenses the Raiders Defense has seen this season. As for the rushing offenses, Nebraska has faced a 16th nationally best V-Tech team to TT's 38th nationally best KSU team. The Huskers kept the Hokies to 111 yards (minus sacks) to TT keeping the Wildcats to 116 rushing yards (-sacks)... VT rushes an average of 208 yards a game to KSU rushing an average of 176 yards a game. At the moment both rushing Defenses are about even... TT is 27th nationally in stopping the run, while NU is 30th nationally. TT has a bit of an edge in this category, going up against not only the 38th best, but also the 39th (UT) while Nebraska has been tested by not only the Hokies but also the 51st nationally (ASU). All 4 of these teams average more than 160 yards on the ground per game. The Red Raiders have kept both UT and KSU to an average of 126 yards on the ground, to the Huskers keeping both V-Tech and Arky St. to 127 yards. From the looks of this, it is going to be a very physical game.

Offensive wise, the Red Raiders have not shown much before these past two games on what they can do. They showed it against Rice, then again against the Lobos and Wildcats. They were able to produce yardage between the goal lines, but struggled on getting the points to go along with it in the UT, UH, and UND games. The running game has been overshadowed by the sacks the Red Raiders have sustained in these past 6 games... before Sheffield, Potts was sacked 9 times (in 4 1/2 games). Sheffield in 1 1/2 games has been sacked 4 times both totaling 137 yards (actually 117 but if you go and check out the UT/TT game stats, Potts was sacked in the 1st quarter for a loss of 12 yards, but fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Tech in a 20 yard loss... so they recorded it as a -20 yard run for Potts). As for Batch, Jeffers, and Stephens each have 5.9, 6.9, and 4.3 yards per carry and average 22.2, 38.2, and 12.4 yards per catch. Against KSU the running game produce 194 yards (8.1 ypc), against Houston 191 yards (6.4 ypc), against UNM 88 ypc off just 18 carries (averaging almost 5 yards a carry). For any team to go through the struggles they did against UNM (5 sacks, 5 turnovers, injuries, 11 penalties for 99 yards, and to only convert 1 third down out of 7) and still put 48 on the board, with almost 500 yards of total offense is just unbelieveable to me. That was one of the worst games I had seen as a Red Raider supporter, but damn they were still able win by 20. The Defense even let the Lobos score a season high 28... talk about a total breakdown on every side of the ball. Oh and one more thing... NOT a lot of footage on "Sticks" right now. That D is going to have a difficult time in finding his weakness, because at the moment he has made minimal mistakes... thrown 2 pik 6's in two games. Other than that, nothing too much, he has completed almost 76% of his passes and can connect up to 10 receivers in a game and has thrown 11 TD's, with a QB rating of 215.5. Not only has he passed, the kid can run...he has only rushed 5 times, but has gone for 32 yards averaging over 6 yards a carry... he is NOT afraid to leave the pocket. The Husker DC is going to be having difficulties in finding a productive game plan against a kid that had 4 TD passes in his first game then followed up with 7 TD's in his first start EVER in a college football game. The crowd is going to have to come up BIG in this game.

As for Nebraska they struggled to get anything going against the Tigers this past week only producing 105 on the ground and 158 through the air, with 56 of that going for a TD pass in the opening minute of the 4th quarter. Even when they played V-Tech, they struggled to get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. No TD's, but did manage to get 207 yards on the ground. Looks like both of these teams may have to rely on their defense to get them the win... but that only goes so far. KSU had a pretty good secondary before this past weekend and they too were tested a bit in week 1 and 2, when the UMASS put the ball through the air a total of 34 times in week 1 (completing 10 for 102 yards) and LA-LA threw 36 times in week 2 (completing 20 for 185 yards). KSU was tested a bit, but got demolished in Lubbock... NU was tested a bit more, lets just hope the BOYS can get something going in Lincoln.

The Red Raiders did have a greatly played game in Lubbock this past weekend, but that was only one game. Hopefully that brings momentum into Lincoln, because it is greatly going to be needed. Coach Leach is 3-2 against Big Red, and has found a way to win the last 3 games. I for one, hope that he can find a way into beating them a 4th straight. There are not too many teams that have beaten Nebraska 4 straight times and it would not suprise me much if the Red Raiders were to either win or lose this one. Only teams that come to mind to have achieved this as of lately are only the Longhorns (all-time record is 4-8; 1-7 since '96) and Sooners (all-time record is 37-44-3; 3-5 since '96). As long as the West Texas Boys give the Huskers hell this weekend, I am fine with either. These Raiders know what is in store for them in Lincoln, and I believe they will not get "big heads" because of this 66-14 thrashing of the Wildcats. They need to bring that same motivation and determination into this game against the Huskers as they did against the Cats... Respect everyone but fear no one.

Decided to wait until after the Houston game to come up with these thoughts and analysis:

TT Offensive output in past seasons:

2009- 36- average in 1st 4 games (2-2)

2008- 46 (4-0) 11-1; 7-1 Bowl Loss; 44 points average remainder of season

2007- 50 (3-1) 8-4; 4-4 Bowl Win; 38 points average remainder of season

2006- 35 (3-1) 7-5; 4-4 Bowl Win; 30 points average remainder of season

2005- 57 (4-0) 9-2; 6-2 Bowl Loss; 33 points average remainder of season

2004- 38 (3-1) 7-4; 5-3 Bowl Win; 34 points average remainder of season

2003- 43 (3-1) 7-4; 4-4 Bowl Win; 43 points average remainder of season

2002- 34 (2-2) 8-5; 5-3 Bowl Win; 39 points average remainder of season

2001- 31 (2-2) 7-4; 5-3 Bowl Loss; 38 points average remainder of season

2000- 25 (4-0)- 7-5; 3-5 Bowl Loss; 25 points average remainder of season

You see, when the Offense is not producing points in the first 4 games, the outcome is not comforting for Tech fans. The last two times TT went 2-2 to start off the season, they finished with no less than 4 losses. The same applies when they averaged less than 40 in their first 4 games since 2000. The last time the offense average was better in their last 7 or 8 games than they did in their 1st 4, was in '01 and '02. That was well over 7 years ago... not looking good at the moment. Really did not expect to see the difficulties on the offensive side in the Houston game. Thought the offense would finally come alive and score atleast 40 points, yet in reality everyone saw what happened. Yes, the running game came out monsterous in this game, but bad play call, ball security, and unexperience kept the TTU offense from getting those much needed points. The offense has only 2 games to get ready before squaring off against 5 straight teams that are capable of putting points on the board. NU has only had one game that kept them from scoring more than 7 TD's (against VT and they demolished the "U" this saturday). TAMU is averaging 45 points in their 1st 3 games; KU is averaging 41 points in their 1st 4 games. Since the UGA game, OSU has had no less than 7 TD's (including the loss to UH); OU is averaging 55 points in the past 2 games and blanked out their opponent's in each (with a freshman QB).

The upside to this is that the TTU defense has been stepping up this season:

This weeks stats:

DEFENSE        SECONDARY                RUSHING

BU-     248        115 total (19/31)                133 total (43/ 3.1)

OSU-    260        104 total (11/26)                156 total (42/ 3.7)

KU-    409        340 total (29/43)                69 total (26/ 2.7)

TAMU-    303        74 total (9/25)                229 total (35/ 6.5)

KSU-    115        127 total (12/19)                -12 total (25/ -.5)

NU-     222        120 total (15/27)                102 total (37/ 2.8)

TTU-    579        435 total (38/58)                144 total (36/ 4.0)

UT-     75        43 total (9/26)                        32 total (25/ 1.3)

UH-    484        321 total (30/47)                163 total (32/ 5.1)

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Other Weekly Defensive stats:

    SACKS(YDS)  INT'S/FUM'S   RUSH YARDS (- SACKS)

BU       2 (10)        2/ 2-2        143 total (41/ 3.5)

KU       0 (0)        1/ 1-1        N/A

KSU       3 (27)        1/ 0-0        15 total (22/ .7)

NU       2 (14)        1/ 2-4        116 total (35/ 3.3)

OSU       3 (18)        1/ 1-2        174 total (39/ 4.5)

UT       4 (30)        4/ 2-2        62 total (21/ 3.0)

TAMU       4 (20)        0/ 0-0        249 total (31/ 8.0)

TTU       2 (17)        1/ 0-1        161 total (34/ 4.7)

UH       2 (28)        0/ 2-3        191 total (30/ 6.4)


Up-to-date stats on Defense

    SACKS(YDS)  INT'S/FUM'S   P-YDS/AVG-COMP/ATMPS- TD    R-YDS/AVG- TD

KU       14 (102)    4/ 3-5    (10.57/ catch) 1015/ 96/153; 5    (R/A-104) 242/ 2.3- 2 (344/ 3.8)

TAMU   14 (100)    0/ 4-8    (9.97/ catch) 618/ 62/113; 1    (R/A-105) 437/ 4.2- 5 (537/ 5.9)

UT       12 (115)    6/ 7-13    (9.21/ catch) 848/ 92/168; 4    (R/A-112) 212/ 1.9- 1 (327/ 3.3)

OU       12 (53)      4/ 5-6    (10.34/ catch) 548/ 53/101; 2    (R/A-96)  122/ 1.2- 0 (185/ 1.9)

TTU       11 (66)    4/ 2-5    (9.07/ catch) 971/ 107/161; 3    (R/A-141) 412/ 2.9- 5 (478/ 3.7)

NU       10 (72)    3/ 4-11    (11.70/ catch) 679/ 58/115; 1    (R/A-146) 453/ 3.1- 2 (525/ 3.9)

BU        8 (42)    5/ 3-5    (7.94/ catch ) 405/ 51/85; 2    (R/A-138) 494/ 3.6- 5 (536/ 4.1)

OSU        7 (48)       4/ 5-7    (10.85/ catch) 933/ 86/153; 4    (R/A-140) 473/ 3.4- 5 (521/ 3.9)

UH        5 (66)    1/ 8-10    (9.53/ catch) 667/ 70/114; 1    (R/A-113) 514/ 4.5- 6 (580/ 5.4)

KSU        4 (36)    5/ 3-3    (10.69/ catch) 588/ 55/113; 4    (R/A-172) 371/ 2.2- 2 (407/ 2.4)

(Explanation from Above)

TT has had 11 sacks for a total of 66 yards lost against opponents with 4 INT's and recovering 2 fumbles of the 5 that were forced. Up to now, the Red Raiders have had 971 total receiving yards thrown against the secondary having 107 completions out of 161 attempts with 3 TD's. TT secondary has an average of just over 9 yards per catch (2nd best in the conference). In the rushing department, out of 141 attempts, Tech has given up 412 yards on an average of 2.9 ypc (4th in Conference) and 5 TD's. Minus the sacks, Tech has given up 478 yards on the ground with an average of 3.7 ypc (also 4th).

The D has done a tremendous job in lessening the blow against two powerful teams... The Horns (minus the TT game) average 55 points in the other 3 games; UH averaged 50 in their 1st two games. Keeping both of those units to only 3 offensive TD's is/was no easy task to accomplish. So props to the Defense doing everything possible in keeping the opponent from making these past two games a total blowout. Yes, yards in this past game were given up greatly, but only given up 3 TD's against an offense that produced 4.7 ypc on the ground (minus sacks) and 435 yards in the air is nothing to be ashamed of. ALOT of that yardage came in the 4th... the Houston humidity greatly played a part in the let down, but the offense had plenty of opportunity to strike heavingly and did not. Leach and Ruff knew that the UH offense was going to come out strong, and they knew the bend but dont break mentality was going to play a big part of this game. The offense NEEDS to improve greatly in these next 2 games if they are going to have any chance to come out strong for the remainder of the season.

OSU does not worry me half as much, considering (hoping) the offense does start to click by the time they go to Stillwater. Nebraska seems to be a loss in Lincoln, considering they too had given up yards on the Defensive side, but have improved on that in the past 2 games. If the Huskers take care of the Raiders soundly in Lincoln, look for TAMU to be in the hunt of playing their best game in Lubbock since their last win at the Jones in '93 and the following 3 losses ('95, '97, and '99- where they lost by an average of 4 points). Personally I do not want to see it this way, but if the TT offense does not find its mojo against UNM and KSU, things are definitely not going to look good for the remainder of the season. The Defense is completely doing their job the best they can... they kept two teams averaging 50 points or better (not including the game against TT) to ONLY 3 offensive TD's. The team that has gotten me a bit worried other than Nebraska is Kansas... Southern Miss had given them a run for their money as well, so that may have lessened the worriness a little but not much. Upside to that, KU is going to the Jones this year along with OU (which is another worrisome team). I am ok with the outcome this season, no matter 10-2 or 7-5... but damit, put up a fight this season. Show that the Red Raiders are going to have another great season next year.

Will post another one of these after the KSU game...

Just thought to throw some thoughts down from this past weekend. Yes, it had taken me a little longer than I wanted, but had to catch up on somethings... went to Lubbock for the game and fell behind on personal issues here back at home. Finally got caught up.

As we can all see... the offense was NOT even close to what most of us expected in this past weekend's game. Give UND some credit... their coaches knew how to get a good game plan going against the Raiders for their first TRUE season as an FCS team. I understand that this is an FCS team, but you got to remember this... This was their first game against a BCS team and they were going to make sure that they were not going to just get blown out the water. More than likely they trained all summer long to ensure they were not going to be taken lightly... on this ONE game alone. They did a very good job and hopefully they have a very successful season this year. Ontop of that, this was Potts first time as a starter since his high school days. I for one, hope Taylor can shake this game off and have a stellar game this coming week against the Owls. Potts did however shake off those INT's pretty well on the next series of possession (excluding the one that was right before the ending of the 1st half). After the other 2, he did lead the team out on TWO scoring drives that started on the TTU 26 and TTU 30... thats pretty impressive for
a first year starter. The OL needs to wake up this weekend against the Owls and get this running game going that most of us have been so optimistic about. I for one, believe they will get their thing going this weekend. Lets hope so, or may get ugly Sept. 19th.

Well, the Defense did not do that bad against this team (yes, I realize UND is an FCS team, but most the DB's are young and this being their first game in a college football atmosphere... not too shabby). Take a look below; Numbers will list of how many passes or rushes were over 10 yards on one play. For Instance, BU had a total of 269 yards against their D; 143 yards came through the air and they had allowed 2 of those plays to go over 19 yards, while 1 went for 22. In the rushing department, 2 went over 10, one for 18 and the other 14 and a total of 126 yards against the rush D.

DEFENSE               SECONDARY                            RUSHING

BU-----269----2 for 19, 1 for 22- 143 total--------2 over 10 (18, 14)- 126 total

OU-----367----2 for 49; 16, 19, 23- 329 total-----2 over 10 (15, 11)- 28 total

OSU---257----29, 25, 17; 3 for 10+ - 162 total--- 2 for 10+ (10, 19)- 95 total

KU-----246----36, 21, 12- 172 total------------5 for over 10 (11, 13); 3 for 15+ -74 total

TAMU--238---10, 13, 12; 3 for 15+ - 210 total----2 over 10 (11, 16)-  28 total

KSU----212---35, 17, 10- 102 total ----------------18- 110 total

NU------358---6 over 10; 38, 27- 236 total--------23- 122 total

UH------263---2 over 10; 11, 16- 106 total--------20, 12, 10- 157 total

UT------298----5 over 10; 75, 28- 197 total--------31, 16, 10- 101 total

TTU----207----18; 5 were under 15- 134 total-------12- 73 total

Only teams other than TT to keep an opponent from hitting over a 20 yard gain threw the air were Houston and TAMU. Houston had their longest go for 16 yards, A&M had a 19 yarder and Tech had an 18 yarder. Difference is this... TAMU had given up a total of 210 yards within their game, Tech had 134 total yards while Houston kept their opponent to ONLY 106 yards. KSU had the best effort in the secondary, yet only won by single digits. Seeing that there were no gains over 18 yards, means that this YOUNG secondary was tackling extremely well in one on one coverage.

One can see that the coverage was one on one most the night, considering the rush D kept those UND rushers to only 73 yards. Only 1 rush went over 10 yards for the night. I feel this Defense is going to live up to their hype as long as they improve week in, week out. There were only 2 teams that had better success on the ground than Tech did... OU and TAMU. Difference is this... they both gave up over 200 yards through the air. OU had given up 329 yards to TAMU's 210 yards. On top of that, both these teams gave up runs of over 10 yards, twice throughout the night. Even teams that completely dominated their opponents on the scoreboard still gave up huge amounts of yardage. Example... KU and NU both annihilated their opponents 49-3, yet KU allowed 246 total yards with 172 yards through the air; NU allowed 358 yards with 236 in the air and 122 on the ground. The Jayhawks even allowed a 36 yard and 21 yard reception to get through their secondary and had 5 rushes go over 10 yards; The Huskers allowed a 38 yarder and 27 yarder get through their secondary and had a rush go over 20 yards in that game. Houston even got 157 rushing yards handed to them even though they destroyed Northwestern State, 55-7. Even the Longhorns gave up chunks of yardage from a veteran secondary.... 75 yard and 28 yard passes, plus 5 passes went for 10+. They even gave up runs of 31, 16, and 10 yards, though they pretty much destroyed ULM 59-20.

The Red Raiders had the better defense this week in the BIG 12 and the offense, I believe will come around this weekend. This kind of reminded me of last seasons opener. The penalties, an FCS opponent coming into the Jones and not just letting the Red Raiders have their way with them, the players kinda nervous in their first game of the season in front of the home crowd (wanting to live up to expectations... their own and others). The Defense opened their eyes the following week against Nevada in Reno, lets just hope the Offense is the one to open their eyes this week against Rice at the Jones. Red Raiders...

LETS PROTECT THIS HOUSE!!!!!!

I know that the Coogs game is quite sometime away, but gotta question for you all...

Do you all know if there is going to be sometype of huge TAILGATE over at the stadium for those that wanted to get tickets, but were not able to purchase them due to them already being sold out?

Was wanting to go to Houston and understand that the game is sold out... there going to option 2 out there for Red Raider fans?

Would have done a fanshot, instead of post... but was REALLY looking for some responses, Haha.

I was a little bored on this Saturday afternoon, started thumbing through Texas Tech Web Links and came across a particular deal about Dixon declaring his eligibility into the NFL; losing B. Williams to the NFL and possibly losing Sesay because of academic problems. Wow, 3 BIG performers gone after the 2008 season... so what do I say:

RELOAD!!!!

Lets see thats 2 LB's from TT possibly heading to the NFL under 1st yr DC Mcneill (and who would not agree Sesay has what it takes to make it in the pro's as well?). This has got to say something about the way McNeill has handled adversity in his 1st FULL season as the DC. IF Sesay is a loss coming into the season... things may still be alright, dont forget about Whitlock, Duncan, Bird, and the other Williams along with J. Wall. ALL were very productive last season... these individuals are 5 of the top 7 leading tacklers coming back for TT this coming season. Dixon was not even in that list and Sesay only had 8 TOTAL tackles for the SEASON.

(All stats prior to the Bowl Game)

As for B. Williams, he came in at #13 in total tackles... ones returning this season whom were ahead of him- B. Nickerson (DB) and R. Jones (DL), which if you count correctly 7 of the top 13 tacklers are coming back this coming season. Tech will not be in that bad of shape... even if you check out the young secondary, they are actually not that inexperienced. This team may be the darkhorse in disguise if you ask me. Check it out...

In the Secondary:  J. Wall and B. Nickerson are more or less the veterans in this area. Dont forget that there were 2 freshman that DO have game experience from last season... T. Charbonnet (11 Total Tackles in 8 games) and J. Flannel (12 total in 6), both played in 6 or more games. Even SO F. Mitchem had quite an impressive season totalling 15 tackles in 10 games and playing in the final 8 regualar season games. Charbonnet played in 3 of the final 4 games of the regular season; Flannel played in 2 of the final 3... so both may be young, but are well experienced in their fields... especially throughout the offseason. That is already 5 in the secondary that had sometype of gametime and have over 10 total tackles for the season... ALL exceeding Sesay's numbers in 6 games. Even SO L. Moore (DB) had 9 total tackles in ONLY 4 games, 4 tackles coming in the OU game... making it 6 in the secondary with field experience. Dont forget about B. Dewhurst either, whom had a strong performance in the Sring game and probably coming along well throughout the offseason.

So the Secondary is not in all that bad of shape... even hearing some positive feedback from RS FR Cody Davis... an INT run back for a TD and 5 solo tackles in spring game against the AirRaid. Also some positive feedback from the likes of both RS FR Daniel Cobbs and Will Ford.

As for the DL... This bunch is going to be the backbone of the D in my eyes. Whitlock and Jones are going to have to lead this bunch from the getgo... Their motivation and determination are going to fallback on the young lions such as Perry and Henley, along with returning SR S. Riley. They should be getting assistance from veteran LB's such as M. Williams, B. Bird, and  returning SR V. Hunter (whom had the same amount of total tackles as B. Williams- 21).

There were quite a bit of RS FR and young SO stepping up last season and TT pulled out an 11-2 season with that bunch filling in positions when needed. With alot of questions still floating around in each position of the Defense, I can see something that is somewhat comforting. Even with 7 of the 8 players in the starting/backup position in the secondary gone, there were still another 5 that actually had playing time out on the field (6 counting Dewhurst)... and NOW have that experience to push them this coming season.

Let other teams out there think that the Red Raiders are going to have inexperience in the DB/CB/Safety position this coming season. Let them think that losing not only B. Williams to the NFL but now Dixon (likely playing in that same league) being out of the lineup and Sesay possibly not making the grade... is going to hurt Texas Tech this season. Let them think that Texas Tech losing their best QB/WR matchup is going to hurt the AirRaid in 2009... losing half their starting Offensive Line is going to make this team fallback to a 5 loss season. I want to see  the eyes of those same people after the Texas Tech Red Raiders prove them wrong yet again as they did last season.

Yeah, i was bored... now time to go do something. Haaaaa

that I been having a good feeling about this coming season's team and reading this FREE article from rivals, gives me a better feeling about the 2009 team....

http://texastech.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=962411&PT=4&PR=2

By the way, it is a free article from rivals... if we are not supposed to post anything up from a paid website, my fault. Just thought to show this to everyone that has not gotten the chance in reading it yet.

There are those that continue to state that WE only have football to look forward too. Well, I am here to put that to rest. Yes, I will agree that recently football has been more successful than that of Baseball and both Men's and Women's basketball. These past few years have not been too kind to either program for the moment, but at any given time things can change around.

Though the Mens Basketball program has not won a Conference Title since the SWC Era, the Red Raiders have achieved success by taking part in the NCAA tournament in '02, '04, '05, and '07; making it to the sweet 16 in 2005 along with making it to the NIT semi's in 2003. Only having 5 winning records (within the conference) since the inception of the BIG 12, is nothing to gloat about, but tell me this... other than KU, UT, OU, and OSU what other team in the BIG 12 has had much success in this Conference? The Jayhawks have pretty much owned the Conference with 9 Conference Titles. Other than the Longhorns taking 3 Titles, no other team has more than 2 to account for (ISU won 2- 2000, 01; OSU and OU have both won 1 Title). If you go and check the BIG 12 database 2 Titles were split between UT and KU in 2006 and 08; 1 Title was split between OU and KU in 2005. The past couple of seasons in Red Raider basketball have been down, but the last 8 games of the 2008 season (including tournament) showed alot of promise for the 2009 season. The only teams to dominate across the board against the Red Raiders have been the Jayhawks, Sooners, Cowboys, and Longhorns... are the other 7 teams in the BIG 12 having much success against these teams?? Before the inception of the BIG 12, the records stood as such against the other 7 teams in the BIG 12..

Baylor- 54-34          TAMU- 47-45          ISU- 0-2        Mizzou- 1-2
Nebraska- 3-7        Colorado- 4-9        KSU- 1-7

Through the 2008-2009 season; () show records since the BIG 12 Era:

Baylor- 71-44 (17-10)    TAMU- 64-56 (17-11)     ISU 8-9 (8-7)           Mizzou- 8-10 (7-8)
Nebraska- 9-14 (6-7)    Colorado- 12-16 (8-7)    KSU 12-12 (11-5)

From seeing above, the Basketball program has been staying competitive against the remainder of the BIG12 opponents, with only showing signaficant improvement against the Wild Cats. The Red Raiders are also keeping grasp of the A&M and BU series.

Women's basketball has taken a pretty good hit in the past 3 seasons. In Marsha Sharps final coaching season (2005-06), it was her first time to not hit 20 wins since the 88-89 season. Since the beginning of the BIG 12 Era, the Lady Raiders have earned 2 Tournament titles and 3 regular season titles. They have also made the NCAA tournament from the 96-97 season to the 04-05 season (9 straight seasons). Also note, Marsha Sharp had lead the Lady Raiders to 17 straight NCAA tournaments, winning 1 NCAA championship. During the BIG 12 tenure, they have also made it to the NCAA Sweet 16 seven total times (leads BIG 12) and the Elite 8 twice (leads the BIG 12 along with OU and ISU- both with two). Since the beginning of the NCAA tournament, only 1 team has been able to make it to the Sweet 16 as many times as the Lady Raiders... the Lady Horns, both with 11 appearances; only the Lady Horns have made more overall appearances in the Elite 8, with eight while the Lady Raiders have made it 4 times. Keep in mind the Lady Raiders along with the Lady Bears and Lady Horns are the only teams from the BIG 12 to have taken home a National Title for Women's Basketball. Yes, the Lady Raiders have been down for the past 3 seasons, but do not count them out. With a winning tradition as this, they will not be down long. Below list some notes from each team in the BIG 12; () shows all-time series records along with record since the inception of the BIG 12... if need be.

Baylor (46-20; 15-12) - Since the ‘02 season, the Bears have gone 12-5, winning 9 of the last 10 games.

Colorado (14-5; 11-4) - 1st time this series has been tight… series is at 2-2 in the past 4 games.

ISU (8-7)- Cyclones are on a 3 game winning streak, winning 4 of the last 6 games.

Mizzou (10-5; 9-5)- The tigers have taken 3 of the past 4 games; 1 being at the BIG 12 tournament.

Nebraska (13-2; 13-1)- Lady Raiders are on a 12 game winning streak; last loss to the Huskers was when the BIG 12 was established.

Oklahoma (21-16; 11-14)- The Lady Raiders have struggled against the Sooners, losing 14 of the last 19 games and on a 6 game losing streak.

OSU (25-14; 22-5)- The Cow girls are on a 2 game winning streak, right after the Lady Raiders 7 game winning streak.

Kansas (11-3; 11-2)- Lady Raiders are on a 9 game winning streak against the Lady Hawks; last loss was in 99.

KSU (8-8; 8-7)- Another team the Lady Raiders are struggling against; losing 6 of the last 8 games, after a 5 game winning streak.

Texas (24-55; 15-14)- After dropping the first 37 games of the alltime series, the Lady Raiders have a 24-18 threshold on the Horns. The last 8 games have been split by both teams… 4-4.

TAMU (52-13; 19-5)- The Aggies are on a 5 game winning streak, after the Lady Raiders pulled a 19 game winning streak.


Baseball has also taken a toll since the 2005 season. This program, just like the basketball program has not won a title for quite sometime. It has been since 98, that the Red Raider baseball team has been able to bring home a BIG 12 Conference Title ('97) or Tournament Title ('96, '98). This program has also found success by making it to the NCAA tournament... 8 straight from '95-'02 then again in 2004. For the past 4 seasons, the baseball program has seen times of struggle... keep in mind though before Hayes took over as HC, TT did not have much success. Coach Hayes turned this program from a struggling program to elite competitors. Under new Coach Spencer, there have been signes of success for seasons to come. It has been since the 2000 season, that Tech was able to win atleast 1 game against EVERY BIG 12 opponent. Only the '97, '99, and 2000 teams were able to accomplish that feat. During the Hays tenure, there have only been 2 teams within the BIG 12 that have been able completely shut down his teams... Nebraska and Texas. Tell me though, does this surprise other BIG 12 teams? I am pretty sure these two teams have dominated over the remainder 7 teams in the Conference. With both these teams taking 8 of the 13 Tournament Titles; No other team has taken home more than 1 Tournament Title. TAMU is the only other team (other than UT and NU) to bring home more than 2 Conference Regular season titles ('98, '99, and '08). Before the Hays Era, the Red Raiders had a horrindous records against the Aggies and the Longhorns. Against the Aggies, the record stood at 19-41; against the Horns, 10-52. Hays turned that around, though the records are still losing ones against both the Aggs and the Horns (against the Aggs, the record stood as 28-37; against the Horns, 23-41), his teams have shown competitiveness against both teams compared to before. The biggest difference has come since the inception of the BIG 12, where the Red Raiders have shown vast improvement against both the Aggs (16-16) and against the Horns (15-18). The Red Raiders only other losing records are against the Huskers (15-25) and the Cowboys (16-18). The Red Raiders THROUGH the tenure of Larry Hays ( NOT all- time) have shown these records against the rest of the BIG 12 teams.

() are records since the Inception of the BIG 12... If need be

Baylor- 41-26 (21-15)           Kansas- 20-12             KSU- 21-13-1        Mizzou- 18-16
Nebraska- 15-25 (12-23)    Oklahoma- 21-21-1    OSU- 16-18            Texas- 23-41 (15-18)
TAMU- 28-37 (16-16)            ISU- 13-2 (5-1)

ISU discontinued the baseball team in the early 2000's; CU has not fielded a baseball team.

WE fans of either baseball, football or even Men's or Women's basketball have seen the Red Raiders go through years of struggles. Yes, it does get frustrating, but WE stay loyal to the program and continue to route for OUR team. So to say that WE only have football to look forward too... you people know very little of Texas Tech athletic programs. After reading this, hope you understand the Texas Tech baseball, mens and womens basketball may be down... but they are not out.

By the way for those of you wanting to know what type of websites I went to... it ranges from the BIG 12 webpage, to the Texas Tech official website, to BIG 12 database records, to wikipedia. There were plenty of places I got this information... be my guest on doing your own searching. HAHA

Was trying to attach this to a message on the primary post i had begun. Did not work out too well, so decide to just start another topic. Here are the numbers for those of you that wanted to check it out first hand. Have fun reading. The post should come out better than what it would have on a regular comment.

Baylor--      2008- 4-8    2007- 3-9    2006-  4-8    2005-  5-6    2004-  3-8
    BCS                   3-8               0-8           3-6                2-6                   1-7
    NBCS                 1-0                 3-1        1-2(Army)    3-0(Army)        2-1

       2003- 3-9    2002-  3-9    2001-  3-8    2000-  2-9
    BCS    1-7                   1-8            0-8          0-9        TOTAL      11-67 (78)
    NBCS    2-2                 2-1             3-0        2-0                          19-7   (26)
                                                                                                           30-74 (104)
    14% winning percentage against BCS teams
    73% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    29% total winning percentage

Colorado-  2008- 5-7     2007-  6-7    2006- 2-10     2005-  7-6    2004-  8-5
                 BCS          3-7          4-7                   2-8                   5-6                5-5
                NBCS        2-0        2-0                    0-2                     2-0                3-0

       2003-  5-7    2002-  9-5    2001-  10-3    2000-  3-8
        BCS    4-7                8-4                      8-2        3-7    TOTAL      42-53 (95)
    NBCS    1-0                1-1                         2-1        0-1                    13-5   (18)
                                                                                                               55-58 (113)
    44% winning percentage against BCS teams
    72% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    48.7% total winning percentage

Iowa St.-   2008-  2-10     2007- 3-9    2006-  4-8    2005- 7-5    2004- 7-5
                 BCS            0-9        3-6                      1-8         4-4                4-5
                 NBCS        2-1        0-3                     3-0        3-1 (ARMY)    3-0

       2003- 2-10    2002-  7-7    2001-  7-5    2000-  9-3
    BCS            0-9            5-6                     5-5        7-3    TOTAL      29-54 (83)
    NBCS            2-1        2-1                     2-0        2-0                       19-7   (26)
                                                                                                              48-61 (109)
    35% winning percentage against BCS teams
    73% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    44% total winning percentage

Kansas-        2008- 8-5     2007-  12-1     2006- 6-6    2005- 7-5    2004-  4-7
                    BCS            5-5                8-1                4-6                  3-5              2-7
                   NBCS            3-0               4-0                2-1                4-0 (UH)    2-0

       2003- 6-7    2002-  2-10    2001-  3-8    2000- 4-7
    BCS        3-7                0-8                    1-8                 2-7    TOTAL      28-54 (82)
    NBCS        3-0                2-2                   2-0               2-0                       29-3   (32)
                                                                                                                          57-57 (114)
    39% winning percentage against BCS teams
    90.6% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    50% total winning percentage

Kansas St   2008- 5-7    2007-  5-7    2006-  7-6    2005- 5-6    2004-  4-7
                 BCS            2-7            3-6                    4-6                 2-6                2-6
                NBCS          3-0            2-1                    3-0               3-0               2-1

       2003- 11-4    2002-  11-2    2001-  6-6    2000-  11-3
     BCS         8-3                    8-2             4-6                    8-3    TOTAL      41-45 (86)
    NBCS         3-1                    3-0             2-0                    3-0                     24-3   (27)
                                                                                                                          65-47 (113)
    47.7% winning percentage against BCS teams
    89% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    57.5% total winning percentage

Nebraska  2008- 9-4     2007-  5-7    2006-  9-5    2005- 8-4    2004- 5-6
                 BCS           5-4            3-7                    6-5              7-4          4-5       
                 NBCS        3-0            2-0                  3-0                1-0          1-1        


      2003- 10-3    2002- 7-7    2001-  11-2    2000- 10-2
    BCS         7-3                4-7              7-2                    8-2    TOTAL      51-39 (90)
    NBCS         3-0             3-0            4-0 (ND)            2-0 (ND)             22-1   (23)
                                                                                                                     73-40 (113)
    56.7% winning percentage against BCS teams
    95.7% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    64.6% total winning percentage

Missouri-  2008- 10-4     2007- 12-2    2006-  8-5    2005-  7-5    2004-  5-6
                 BCS        7-4                10-2                 5-5                    5-4                  3-5       
                NBCS        3-0                 2-0                 3-0                    2-1                  2-1      
                                           41-22    (63)
       2003- 8-5    2002-  5-7    2001-  4-7    2000-  3-8
    BCS        5-5                3-6                     3-5            2-8    TOTAL      43-44 (87)
    NBCS      3-0                2-1                     1-2            1-0                       19-5   (24)
                                                                                                                    62-49 (111)
    49.4% winning percentage against BCS teams
    79% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    56% total winning percentage

Oklahoma  2008- 12-2    2007- 11-3    2006-  11-3    2005-  8-4    2004- 12-1
                   BCS        11-2                8-3                   9-2               7-3             10-1
                    NBCS      1-0                3-0                   2-1 (BSU)    1-1               2-0
                                          
       2003- 12-2    2002-  12-2    2001-  11-2    2000- 13-0
    BCS        10-2                9-2                       9-2                10-0    TOTAL      83-17 (100)
    NBCS         2-0               3-0 (USF)            2-0                 3-0                    19-2   (21)
                                                                                                                        102-19 (121)
    83% winning percentage against BCS teams
    90.5% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    84.3% total winning percentage

Oklahoma St. 2008-  9-4    2007- 7-6    2006-  7-6    2005- 4-7    2004- 7-5
                    BCS            6-4            5-5                 4-5                  1-7        5-5
                    NBCS          3-0            2-1                3-1                   3-0        2-0

        2003- 9-4    2002-  8-5    2001-  4-7    2000-  3-8
    BCS            5-4              5-4                     2-6            1-7    TOTAL       34-49 (83)
    NBCS        4-0          3-1(So. Miss-B)    2-1            2-1                       24-5   (29)
                                                                                                                   58-54 (112)
    41% winning percentage against BCS teams
    82.8% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    52% total winning percentage

Texas-       2008-  12-1    2007-  10-3    2006- 10-3     2005- 13-0    2004- 11-1
             BCS                9-1              6-3                     7-3                 11-0                 9-1       
             NBCS            3-0               4-0                     3-0                    2-0                2-0       
                                           
       2003-  10-3    2002-  11-2    2001-  11-2    2000-  9-3
    BCS             7-3                8-2                 9-2                     7-2    TOTAL      71-17 (88)
    NBCS         3-0                3-0                    2-0                     2-0                    24-0   (24)
                                                                                                                              95-17 (112)
    80.7% winning percentage against BCS teams
    100% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    85% total winning percentage

Texas A&M  2008- 4-8         2007-  7-6      2006-  9-4    2005-  5-6    2004-  7-5
                 BCS        2-7                     4-6                    5-4                 3-6                6-4
                NBCS    2-1 (ARMY)          3-0                    4-0 (Army)    2-0                1-1

       2003- 4-8    2002-  6-6    2001-  8-4    2000-  7-5
    BCS        2-8               4-6             4-4                         5-4        TOTAL      35-49 (84)
    NBCS    2-0                 2-0        4-0 (ND, TCU-B)   2-1 (ND)                   22-3   (25)
                                                                                                                           57-52 (109)
    41.7% winning percentage against BCS teams
    88% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    52.3% total winning percentage

Texas Tech- 2008- 11-2    2007-  9-4    2006- 8-5    2005-  9-3    2004-  8-4
                 BCS             7-2                  5-4               5-4                 6-3             6-3       
                NBCS           4-0                 4-0                 3-1                 3-0            2-1       
                                           
          2003- 8-5    2002-  9-5    2001-  7-5    2000-   7-6
          BCS     5-5                 7-5               4-5                     3-5        TOTAL      48-36 (84)
         NBCS     3-0(Navy)      2-0            3-0                     4-1(ECU)                28-3   (31)
                                                                                                                               76-39 (115)
    56.5% winning percentage against BCS teams
    90% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    65.5% total winning percentage

If it comes out all messed up, damit my bad.

Alright, told some guy from A&M i would do this... hint, hint 12th man. Not going too much into an introduction, just read:

Baylor        
    14% winning percentage against BCS teams
    73% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    29% total winning percentage

Colorado
    44% winning percentage against BCS teams
    72% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    48.7% total winning percentage

Iowa St.
    35% winning percentage against BCS teams
    73% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    44% total winning percentage

Kansas
    39% winning percentage against BCS teams
    90.6% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    50% total winning percentage

Kansas St.
    47.7% winning percentage against BCS teams
    89% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    57.5% total winning percentage

Nebraska
    56.7% winning percentage against BCS teams
    95.7% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    64.6% total winning percentage

Missouri
    49.4% winning percentage against BCS teams
    79% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    56% total winning percentage

Oklahoma
    83% winning percentage against BCS teams
    90.5% winning percentage against N-BCS teams

84.3% total winning percentage

Oklahoma St.
    41% winning percentage against BCS teams
    83% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    52% total winning percentage

Texas
    80.7% winning percentage against BCS teams
    100% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    85% total winning percentage

Texas A&M
    41.7% winning percentage against BCS teams
    88% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    52.3% total winning percentage

Texas Tech
    57% winning percentage against BCS teams
    90% winning percentage against N-BCS teams
    66% total winning percentage

BIG 12 Average percentage against BCS teams= 49%

BIG 12 Average percentage against N-BCS teams= 85%

BIG 12 Average total winning percentage = 57.4%

All teams are over 70% winning over N-BCS teams; UT, NU, KU, OU, and TT are 90% or better. BU (73%), CU (72%), ISU (73%), MU (79%), and OSU (83%) fall under the average percentage.

KU (32) and TT (31) have over 30 games against N-BCS teams; OSU (29), KSU (27), ISU (26), BU (26), and TAMU (25) have had 25 to 29 total N-BCS games since 2000.

Only 2 teams are 80% or better against BCS teams (OU and UT). Other than Longhorns and Sooners, only 2 others over 55% against BCS teams (TT-57% and NU-56.7%), whom are over the average percentage. Next closest is MU at 49.4%.

OU (100) leads BIG 12 in total games against BCS opponents followed by CU (95), NU (90), UT (88), MU (87), KSU (86), TT (85), TAMU (84), OSU (83), ISU (83), KU (82), BU (78).

Only 2 teams are over 80% against ALL opponents (OU and UT). Other than Longhorns and Sooners, only TT is over 65% against ALL opponents (NU is at 64.6%), whom are over the average winning percentage. Next Closest is KSU at 57.5%

Revision:

Ok, apologies for just leaving like that. Had a few things to take care of throughout the day, so had to keep it short and sweet. This only tells little of how TT has improved over the past few seasons, mainly 2004 onward.  In that time period, Texas Tech's numbers have improved against BCS members along with overall winning percentage. Since 2004, the Red Raiders have a 64% winning percentage against BCS members and have a strong 71.4% total winning percentage. Only two teams are above TT and you should all know who those teams are. Yes, OU and UT both are over 80% in all categories.

Still, winning 64% (over BCS opponents) compared to the beginning of the decade shows just how much TT has improved since Leach has been able to mold with the Red Raiders. Mizzou is another team on the rise and should be taken seriously. Since 2004, they have improved to 59% winnings over BCS opponents 85.7% over Non-BCS teams and 65% total winning percentage. That ranks them 4th in the BIG 12 behind the Red Raiders.

Are they actually going to give the win to Texas Tech? Has anyone heard any word on this? Its kinda wierd if you ask me, but truthfully is that L going to be a W in the record books?

FUNNY.

Yes I am a Red Raider fan, have been since the 89 season, but this is a wierd ordeal to me. Any information would be helpful. I mean they actually did win that Bowl game, because of the Bama reciever knee was down... old news, but WOW this is something different.

Whats up everyone?  Hope everyone has recovered from this Cotton Bowl already.  It had taken me sometime to finally get over the disappointment of that game.  Our boys were not themselves in the final 3 games of the season.  Whatever the reason may have been, all is fine.  Let it be known that this season may be a stepping stone for seasons to come.  Numerous records have fallen these past few seasons because of Leach and Company.  It has taken alot of time for things to get turned around in West Texas..... Thanks to Mike Leach!!!  For quite sometime, he has been dealing with the cards he was dealt.... cant criticize the man for making something out of very little.

Tech is not the only team to lose a bowl game this season or previously.... all will be fine.  This program has completely turned around in the past 23 years, its ridiculous.  Looking at the history of the football team from the time Coach Cawthorn retired up to when Coach Sloan and Coach Carlen took the helms of Head Coach, then again up to the '86 season, nothing was going all that well for Tech.  Constantly losing to UT was a sure thing until the '86 season, alot changed from that point on.  Since the '86 season with Coach D.y.kes (1987-1999) and Coach McWilliams (1 season-1986), the series between Tech and UT was a 7-7 tie.... no other coach had been able to that in Tech history.  Up to this point, Tech is leading the BIG 12 in graduation rates only behind Vandy and Wake Forest nationally, having the third most overall wins in the BIG 12 since 2000 (only behind UT and OU and 2 more than NU), tieing for thirteenth in the nation for overall bowl appearances (32), the Red Raiders rank fourth nationally in consecutive winning seasons (14), trailing only Florida State (31), Florida (20), and Virginia Tech (15), have been bowl eligible now for 16 straight seasons (.500 in '94 and '93) as well as 21 of the past 23 seasons ( 5-6 in '92 and 4-7 in '90).

Think about this a minute.... since the 2000 season, Tech has had 76 total victories, which is 3rd best in the BIG 12 only behind UT and OU.  These seniors have set a new school record of 37 wins during their 4 year tenure.  This 76 is tied for 15th best in the nation since the 2000 season, with only 19 teams that have had more wins than Tech in that time period, putting Tech in the top 16 percentile of the nation (since 2000).......

OU- 102, Boise St- 98, UT- 96, USC- 93, Ohio St.- 91, Georgia/LSU- 90, V Tech- 89, Florida- 86, Miami (Fl)- 84, TCU- 82, Oregon St/Auburn/Boston Col.- 80, Louisville- 79, Flor. St.- 78, WVU/Oregon- 77, T TECH/Michigan/Tenn.- 76.

Also, you cannot win every bowl game.... OU has lost 4 of the last 5 bowls, but yet still has the best winning record in this decade.  Tech will get their's soon, no doubt.... their recruiting has been getting alot better since Leach was offered the Head Coaching job in Lubbock.

The Red Raiders won 12 straight, including wins against (at the time) two top 5 teams, another top 10 team, and two more top 25 teams (includes last seasons final two games).  Texas Tech has also done something that has only been done twice in over 40 seasons..... beat the #1 team then beat a top 10 team.... last to do that was OU in '84, when they beat #1 NU then turned around and beat #3 Okie St.  OU also lost in their bowl game that season.  Notre Dame is the only other team to do that back in '66 in over 40 years.  Though, when looking back through records, they actually did not accomplish that.  #1 Notre Dame played #2 Mich. St., but both tied at 10-10.  #1 Notre Dame, the following week handed #10 USC a 51-0 shutout.  Notre Dame finished the season 9-0-1 and the NC Champ along with Mich. St. finishing 2nd, both without playing in a bowl game.  For a third time, other than regular season matchups, I had also found out there was a team that had beat the #1 team, then beat a top 10 team in the following game..... USC in 1967.  #4 USC beat #1 UCLA on Nov. 18th, had a bye week the following week, then defeated #4 Indiana in the Rose Bowl in January (they were not consecutive weeks, but the following game was a top 10 team).

This program is on the rise and we as supporters, fans, students and loyalists to this school and team should be proud of what is happening with this University.  This loss in the final game of the season was a hard loss to many of us, but things are looking alot better in seasons to come.  Lets congradulate these students and staff for their performance from this past season, it was a memorable one.