PREVIEW: TEXAS TECH VS OKLAHOMA STATE

Deed is done again, we've wonAin't talking no tall tales friend

'Cause high noon, your doom Comin' for you we're the cowboys from hell – Cowboys from Hell, Pantera

When: 11:00 am Nov 12

Where:  Jones Stadium, Lubbock

TV:  ABC

Weather:  low 70s, windy

Line: -17 OSU

Hey Tech fans, remember when we beat OU in Norman and things we looking great for the rest of the season? No? Anyone? Coach Tuberville put your hand down.  Well how about another shot at knocking off the #2 team in the nation at home, yep not feeling it.

But before we get into the OSU Cowboys, lets look back at last week…

I think the refs just signaled another touchdown for the Longhorns. This time they started at the own 1 inch line and in three quick  runs, score again. How can Tech not field a defense on a weekly basis? Are they that thin that with injuries you are fielding a six-man squad against UT? The Horns didn’t even have their starting RB, but their back up managed to put up almost 200 yds and 3 TDs. 489 yards on the ground. Stellar effort there. 0-4 against A&M and UT Tubs. You can’t go 0-4 at Auburn against Bama because they’d fire your butt, but keep it up. Its all coming together.

So this week Tech gets to rebound from that shellacking with a nice matchup against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Its in Lubbock, but so was the Iowa State game. The Cowboys come in looking to go 10-0 and secure a spot in the BCS title game.

Gundy and the OSU staff looked at what Tech was doing in the ‘00s and said, we like it lets do it better. Well by bringing in Brandon Weeden , Justin Blackmon and Joseph Randle they have a scoring machine, averaging over 50 pts a game.  And Randle ranks 2^nd in the Big 12 in rushing. Fantastic!

So Tech comes into this with a shredded defense, still questionable special teams and an offense that has managed to score 27 points in the last two games (and remember one of those games was Iowa State). I’m still waiting for the inevitable press release in December (assuming no bowl game) that Doege is hurt and that’s the real reason for the collapse so don’t worry next year will be different, purchase those season tickets now.

Hopefully Tech surprises everyone! They need one more win to be eligible for TicketCity or Pin Stripe Bowl.

BEST GUESS

OSU 59

Tech 10

FUN WITH NUMBERS

2  Number of passes UT completed and they were still up 31-6

93-27 Points Tech has surrendered and scored in last two games

.803 Tech’s winning percentage at home since 2002.

GUNS UP!

PREVIEW TEXAS TECH VS UT

MISS THE MIKE LEACH INTERVIEW? GO HERE: http://wisdomofthewannabes.blogspot.com/

“They say misery loves company. We coud start a factory and make misery. FRUSTRATED. INCORPORATED” – Soul Asylum, Misery

When: 11:00 am Nov 5

Where: Austin, DKR Stadium

TV: FX (look for the rotating announcer logos, its like FX is spoofing FOX)

Weather:  low 70s, sunny

Line: -14.5 UT (opened at -9)

Alright alright alright. Time for another matchup between the Longhorns and the Red Raiders. Got NO clue what team is traveling to Austin for Tech, but before we get to that, lets briefly look back on the past two week….(sorry boss came to town so no writing)

OU – 41-38. A Huge WIN in Norman, we’re the best team ever.

ISU – 41-7. To quote Norm McDonald “What the H?”

Ok Coach Tuberville, to continue the Soul Asylum song lets see if you can make the cure, because you made the disease. Good lord, I don’t know what to take out of that Iowa State game. About the only thing good is that there is no written record of Wisdom of the Crowd’s preview with a 42-7 Tech win prediction.

Tech is beat up across the board. Against ISU they lost another two starters and the backups look like they had no clue what to do. On offense, I swear Doege must be injured. Against the Cyclones he didn’t step into throws, floated passes and was just about as accurate as Zebbie Lethridge with a head cold.

So now you get to lick your wounds by hoping on a plane and flying down to Austin.  In case you don’t have the Longhorn Network (and that’s pretty much everyone), you missed them picking apart Kansas. But UT has some issues as their losses to OU and OSU showed. Now the Oklahoma State game could have been much closer than it was, but OU just destroyed UT both offensively and defensively.  That has got to give every Red Raider fan some hope.

UT on defense has some holes. Against the two “good” schools they played and lost to, they gave up an average of 46.5 points. Now those were to two Top 10 national offenses. Tech was another Top 10 offense until last week so that’s good.

Offensively, I still think their rotation of Ash and McCoy at quarterback is a bad idea and they should settle on one. And here’s a hint, the coaching staff is very much rumored to be leaning hard towards Ash. The horns have two great backs to. Malcolm Brown gets the majority of the carries, but Fozzie Whittaker gets his touches to.

And then there is some kid named Shipley. And than name should strike fear into any Big 12 defense.

Overall, I want to throw out the best and worst games for both these teams. Doing that, I think Tech has a pretty good shot here and knowing that UT fans will not be at full tilt for 11 am kick, DKR might not be the usual canyon of doom for tech.

But then history slaps you right in the face. The Longhorns have won two straight against the Red Raiders and lead the all-time series  44-15 and Tech hasn’t won in Austin since 1997. Tech has a puncher’s chance.

BEST GUESS

Tech – 35

UT – 38

FUN WITH NUMBERS

16-32 Doege’s passing stats last week against ISU

4-0 Tech’s road record stretching back to last year

1928 – Year that these two teams first met. UT won in Austin 12-0

GUNS UP!

Preview TEXAS TECH VS OU

She came from Oklahoma and the end of the world is on its way. In a Chevy nova. 

Oklahoma by Bob Schneider 

Where Norman

When Sat 7pm

TV ABC

Line OU  -28.5

Weather 60s w scattered showers

Well lets see if this team can flip the usual road woes that have bit the red raiders in the rear repeatedly can somehow pull a HUGE upset in Norman and beat the Sooners. Vegas did not think too much of this as the line opened at OU by -25 and the public seems to think that was not enough and the line has continued to move against the red raiders.

But before we get into this week, let’s look back at the last two weeks as I missed updating this

AGGGIES - for all that happened it was a pretty good showing by tech. You take away a horrendous special teams gaff resulting in a blocked and returned field goal and a dead ball play that blew up Stephens knee ending his season, this could have been a win. But the Aggies held on to finish this series with a win.

WILDCATS - speaking of special teams there is a huge turd in the punch bowl for tech and it’s the special teams. If memory serves Tech had the same issues last year and they haven’t been fixed. TWO blocked field goals and a kickoff return will tend to force you into a loss. And then, wait for it, the Tech offense disappeared in a key game in the second half gaining only 6 pts.

At least it can’t get worse, oh wait it can. Tech gets to go on the road and head to Norman where the Sooners have a 39 game win streak. OU is a monster on both sides of the ball.

Offensively they have unreal talent at QB w Landry Jones and his key receiver broyles just set the ncaa career reception mark last week in their whuppin of kansas. Defensively they are just as good. 

The good news for the Red Raiders is that offensively(minus that 2nd half) are still the number 9 offense in the country and Doege is making defenses look silly. And Crawford and Washington have stepped up on the ground to make up for Stephens absence.

I believe that this will be a shootout but that OU comes out with 14 pt win.

BEST GUESS

Tech 34

OU  48

FUN WITH NUMBERS

26 of 29. Number of losses for tech on the road against ranked teams

13 points special teams cost Tech against KSU

8 number of field goals Donnie corona has this year through 6 games 

GUNS UP!

PREVIEW: TEXAS TECH VS AGGIES

Lets just say adios with a kiss and a sighGet your tongue outta my mouth cause I'm kissing you goodbye.

Ray Stevens

Where:  Jones Stadium, Lubbock

When:  6:00pm Central

TV:  FX

Weather:  High 60s, cloudy with possible showers

Line: Tech +9

Saturday is going to be the 70^th time the Red Raiders and Texas A&M Aggies have met since 1927. When they meet for the 71^st time, who knows, maybe the Cotton Bowl next year given that the Ags are off to the SEC. So lets do this one more time and see what happens.

Before we get to that, let’s look to last week….

The Raiders just keep trying to make their games more interesting than they need to be. Nothing like spotting the other team (who you are visiting by the way) a nice 20-0 advantage in the first quarter. Now Tech proceeded to outscore the Jayhawks 45-14 the rest of the game, but good lord the habit of spotting the bad guys a lead has got to stop.  The good news is that Doege continued to put up big numbers (366 and 3 TD) and a running game showed up, with Eric Stephens picking up over 120 yards and two TDs. That’s great, cause we’re going to need it against the Aggies.

If you have turned off the Aggie games the past two weeks at half, you’d think A&M is undefeated and probably a Top 5 (top 10 certainly) team. The only problem for them this season is that like there are two Os in Goose, there are two halves in football boys. The second half of both the Oklahoma State and the Arkansas games have just been train wrecks. And as a farily biased fan without any stake in those games, it looks like the offense tends to panic and get away from running the ball and that’s what’s led to the losses.

I don’t know if you can install the wishbone offense in a week, but if I were the Aggies, looking at Tech’s horrendous defense I’d say “we are running this play on first down, second down, third down. Hell we may even run on fourth down”. I honestly don’t know why you would not put the ball in Cyrus Gray’s or Christine Michael’s hands on every play. They combined for 381 yards and 5 TDs on the ground against Arkansas. And ok, if they want to throw it, its not like they don’t have a good QB Tannehill has over 500 yards in the air the past two games and he has a few weapons, none better than Swope (go chaps) to go to.

Tech’s won 11 of the last 16 matchups between these two teams, but the Aggie’s are riding a nice two game streak over Tech. And for all the changes Tuberville has brought to Lubock, it really seems like he just doesn’t get the importance of this game and the UT game. I think its safe to say that Tech going 10-2, but losing to UT and A&M is a bad year. Going 2-10 but beating UT and the A&M will get you a contract extension and a raise.  Bad news for Tuberville and Tech is they are young and probably don’t have the horses to keep up with the Aggies this year.

But there is always the SECOND HALF! Whoop!

BEST GUESS

TECH      34

Aggies   42

FUN WITH NUMBERS

35 – Zach Thomas’ number while at Tech. His INT turned the tide in this series

10 – number of times the Tech/Aggie game has  been decided by 3 points or less

475.4– Average offense per game in 17 games under Tuberville (6 more yards than last 17 under leach) for what that’s worth Tech PR department

GUNS UP!

PREVIEW: TEXAS TECH VS NEVADA

Couldn't roll me a seven, If you gave me loaded dice. I couldn't draw a hand, If I sat here all night
Scared money bad whiskey, there ain't no way to win

RENO – Doug Supernaw (home of Nevada Wolfpack

Where:  Jones Stadium, Lubbock

When:  6:00pm Central

TV:  Fox College Sports

Weather:  80 clear

Line: -15.5

The Red Raiders wrap-up their non-conference schedule with a night match against the Nevada Wolfpack. Three years ago, this was a dangerous game. Last year this would have been a scary game. This year, it should be another opportunity to play a lot of folks.

Before we get to that, let’s look back two weeks….

Welcome to the record books Seth Doege! Good lord, the man with bionic knees took on the Lobos and the weather in Albuquerque last week and didn’t let them affect the team one bit. He started out the game completing 15 straight passes and finished 40-44 for 401 yards and 5 TDs. It was unreal to watch, even with the 95 minute weather delays.  New Mexico finished with 13 points for the game with 337 yards of total offense, lots of it in garbage time. Would have liked to see under 250, but will take the points, three sacks and INT. Nice work.

Now its time for the Wolfpack to come to Lubbock and see if Tech can the streak that the Raiders have been on since the start of the second half against Texas State. I think everyone is getting excited about what they are seeing, but being Tech fans, everyone is still skeptical.

Nevada had an amazing run under their last QB, Colin Kaepernick who ran the pistol based offense to a 13-1 record in 2010, with a nice bowl win. And when Tech made the trip to Reno in 2008 it was a nip and tuck battle and was closer than the 35-19 final score showed.

But Kaepernick is now with the 49ers waiting for the real Alex Smith to combeback and the Wolfpack is back to square one.  The AD for Nevada must either be broke or not like their coach, because these poor SOBs have four games on the road to open the season against Oregon, San Jose State, Tech and Boise State. They are praying to come out of this with a 2-2 record, but after surviving a 17-14 game against lowly San Jose State 1-3 is looking more realistic.

Their new QB is Tyler Lantrip and to say he’s struggling would be an understatement. He has 4 INTS on the year and one TD for 331 yards. On the ground, Mike Ball seems to be the main focus as he’s  got over 220 yards rushing total and averaging 5.2 yards a carry.

 So based on their only true test so far against Oregon, they gave up 69 points and 600 yards of offense to the Ducks. Tech’s offense is not at the same level as Oregon, but it should be another field day.

BEST GUESS

TECH      56

Nev        24

FUN WITH NUMBERS

90.9 – Doege’s completion percentage against New Mexico

339-4 – yards receiving and TDs for Darrin Moore in two games this season

64 – games in a row Tech has thrown for at least one TD

GUNS UP!

PREVIEW: TEXAS TECH VS NEW MEXICO

Who's feeling sorry now? Just when I thought I knew how the man with the master plan I let it all slip through my hands. – LOS LOBOS (couldn’t just cut and paste La Bamba)

Where: Albuquerque, NM

When: 2:30 Central

TV: Versus (or NBC Sports or whatever they are calling it)

Weather:  78 sunny

Line: -21

There aren’t too many songs from hair bands that I can pull lyrics from that you all will enjoy so I’ll default to Los Lobos as recognition of New Mexico’s mascot. And if you look at the Head Coach’s record, well that master plan is damn sure slipping through their hands.

Before we get to that, let’s look back two weeks….

Tech opened the season at home playing a Texas State Bobcat team that is transitioning to D1 and with a new head coach in Coach Fran. The first half was just god awful, no matter how you look at it for Tech. The defense was getting shredded, not in big plays, but in consistent 5 and 7 yard plays and could not get off the field. The offense looked anemic (yes I spell checked that) and could not muster any rhythm let alone points. At half, it was TSU 10, the mighty Red Raiders 9.

Second half the Raiders showed up and just whooped the Bobcats. Final score was a 50-10 drubbing, so I really don’t know what to take out of this. Tech did what they were supposed to do against a very inferior team. Nuff said.

So this week, Tuberville takes the team on the road for their first “test” against a D1 team. This should be the same outcome, hopefully a better first half, but Tech’s depth and talent should prevail.

In case you don’t bet for entertainment’s sake only, New Mexico has been a team you can pretty much ride all year. Since Mike Locksley took over this program, they are 2-24. That’s right, two wins and he still has a job. They are usually dogs by more than 20 points and lose in amazing fashion. They’ve played two games so far, held their own against a bad Colorado State team and got killed by Arkansas. Their offensive leaders are QB Tauren Austin who has an amazing 350 yards passing in two games. He also is ranked as their 2^nd best rusher with 88 yards. Their defense is so bad, their communications department celebrated their first interception of the year in their weekly release.

Tech is playing at ton of young kids, 8 true freshmen played against Texas State, so big plays for the Lobos is always a possibility, but this should be over by half.

BEST GUESS

TECH      49

Unm      17

FUN WITH NUMBERS

9 – number of players the Lobos have in the NFL

52-17 – score of the game last year at New Mexico

43 – number of times these two non-conference teams have met.

GUNS UP!

Preview TEXAS TECH VS TEXAS STATE

What exactly is in store for this season? Shooting for 8 wins is looking good.

I’m going through changes. I’m going through changes. - Black Sabbath

Where: Lubbock, TX

When: 6 PM

TV: online only

Weather: 92, clear

Line: n/a

Well I’m pretty sure Ozzy wasn’t signing about the Big 12 conference when he wrote that song, but wow, another year another changing of the lineup and where this merrygoround will stop, lord only knows. Red Raiders fans are hoping that we end up somewhere good whether that’s in what hybrid SWC/Big 12 conference comes out, of maybe Tuberville has some really good connections left in the SEC but that’s probably not going to happen. Guess we can only sit back and like the other non-powerhouse schools (aka OU and UT) wait to see what our fate is.

But at least we have football starting this weekend. In fact as I’m writing this there are games a plenty going on and its great to be back focused on what will actually happen on the field and not in Deloss Dodd’s office or a conference room in Bristol, CT.

So what do we have for the Red Raiders this year? A couple of key changes in personnel, coaches and strategy that’s what. Let’s tackle a few.

4-2-5

Nope that’s not Aggies trying to count, it’s the new defensive scheme that Chad Glasgow is brining to the Hub City from TCU. The guy spent 10 years helping turned the Horned Frogs into one of the best defenses nationally and Tech is hoping that some of that will transfer out west and result in some improvement from a defense that ranked somewhere north of 110 in the FBS schools. If tradition holds, he’s going to look at speed, speed and more speed and put people on the field that will flat out fly to the ball. Interesting that part of what drove this large shift nationally to the 4-2-5 is the success of Tech’s offense during the Leach years that spread the ball from sideline to sideline and turned the Big 12 offensive mindset from 3 yards and a cloud of dust to AIR RAID type offenses.

DOEGE

If you’re going to have to start over at quarterback, well I guess its nice to have a Junior who has been with the program three years backing up a few pretty decent quarterbacks. Biggest concern here is that he really hasn’t done anything since his sophomore year in high school, that’s right high school. Due to blowing out his knees in his junior and senior season. So really the last time he played was against powerhouse 4A programs like Hereford and Dumas (not UT and OU).

11 RETURNING STARTERS

Now it is easy to be disappointed with last season, but 8 wins is still 8 wins. And now Tech only has 11 returners across the board. That might be mixed blessing, but still it gets pretty damn scary when that’s all you got. The good news is that most of these returners are across the O-line which is key. Defense is light on returners but after ranking 114^th and helping your coach lose his job, that’s a-ok.

Texas State

The Bobcats are starting a transition year as an independent before jumping into the WAC next year. God help us if this is a preview on future conference matchups for Tech. Good ole Coach Fran is making a return to Lubbock as the new Head Coach of Texas State (wondering if Cindy Crawford is their kicker like in Necessary Roughness). Really not too concerned about Coach Fran and his team. He has yet to name a starting QB, he’s just installed a spread offense and what do you know, they are also changing to the 4-2-5 defense.

I’m not going to really look into this much further because if we hear any of the Bobcats names enough, then things have gone downhill fast.

PREDICTION

Tech 57

Texas St 20

FUN WITH NUMBERS

60 – Average points Tech has put up against FCS schools since 2005

950 – Number of games Tech will have played after Saturday in its 87th year

0 – Number of cans of beer you can have the next time you float the Guadalupe near Texas St campus

GUNS UP!