I''ve got this bad feeling in my stomach that I just can't seem to get rid of. 

I have the same feeling about Tech as I did about the housing market two years ago.  The record might look good, but there is something seriously wrong with the fundamentals. 

Let's start with obvious, our defense.

Rah Rah Ruffin Doctrine

Is there a more impotent defense amongst the Top 10 teams than Tech's?  I saw three fundamental things last night that I'm not sure are correctable.

1)  Lack of talent.   Our corners are incapable of covering receivers.  We play 5 to 10 yards off the ball, and routinely allow 8 and 10 yard catches.  There is no bump and run.  No physical play whatsover.  After the first five games of the season, Ruffin must have concluded that if we can't cover man to man (and risk giving up the big play)  then we will keep everything in front of us.  Of course our secondary can't stop the short game either.

So if we can't cover man to man, and we are not fast enough to run a shut down zone defense, where does that leave us?  I'm not a defense coordinator, but what prevents the defensive line, and maybe an extra linebacker from blitzing when the secondary is playing zone? If you can't apply the rush, then all you are doing is giving the opposing team's qbs and receivers all day to find a lane, pick a spot and fire the ball.  How does that package allow you to stop the running game?

2) Fear.   The defense has no pride.  Every close up shot I saw of the defense, showed players with either the  deer-in-headlights or the emporer-has-no-clothes look in their eyes (take your pick).  The last touchdown with two minutes left  when Nebraska marched down our home field and tied the game showed absolutely no heart.  Rah rah only takes you so far.

3)  Poor Coaching.  It's time to find a new defensive coordinator.  Ruffin has been a disappointment since last season.  Ruffin has publicly stated that he has reduced the number of packages to allow the defense to play more aggressively and instinctively.  Did anyone see either of these benefits last night? Over the past six games?  

Ruffin's  other stated approach is to constantly rotate bodies as much as possible to the keep the defense fresh.  If I'm an offensive coordinator (which I'm not), the first thing I do is run a hurry-up offense to keep the defense from rotating players (which is precisely what Nebraska did). 

Defense is not just about naked aggression, it requires strategy and outthinking the offense.  How many times did we get burned on misdirection plays (that is when our secondary was not being surgically picked apart by Ganz)? Imagine applying the Ruffin Doctrine against a more talented OK State and Texas team.   

Did anyone have any doubt that Nebraska would go for the fake field goal down 24-10 and facing the prospect of trading field goals for touchdowns the rest of the game?  How many brain cells does it take to not see that one coming.   It's not just gut check time.  It's brain check time too.

Clutch?

Our offense was superb, BUT I am getting a little tired of the drive-killing third down and 2,3 or 4 where we hand off the ball to Shannon Woods and he gets tackled for a 2 yard loss leading to a three and out series.  With the momentum swinging to Nebraska, and the game being a difference between a three and out, and marching down the field to emphatically put the game out of reach, we call a draw play (by the way, if you routinely call the same play in the same situation enough times, I don't think it counts as a draw play anymore).   

Can you imagine,  with the game on the line, Brett Favre handing off the ball to his smallest contact-shy running back?  Is that what champions do?  Harrell and Crabtree are All-Americans. Batch is a bull who had shown no fear about going up the middle.  So that's the play we call?  At what point do we not call Shannon Woods out for being soft?  At what point do we recognize all of the above and stop running the same useless play?  

Before the incredible 4th and 4 play call, we ran the same sort of shovel pass draw on the preceding third down (if memory serves) .  That play could have been our entire season. How many times do you think we can afford to call these sorts of timid plays (not to mention heroic-but-low probability desperation heaves) and still go to a BCS game? 

I truly wonder if Harrell has the killer instinct to make him a true champion.   The Insight Bowl comebacks only happen when you are inconsistent in the first place.  I would have expected our All American to put the game on his back with everything on the line, show leadership poise, and take command.  What is behind Harrell's sudden gunslinger-to-girly-man transformations that he seems to experience at least once a game?

"Special" Teams

Corona should have cost us the game.  Not on field goals, mind you, but on two extra points.  I can't remember a worse kicker at Tech going back to - hell, have we ever had such a lousy kicker?  The only kickers I vaguely recall being this bad were the Florida State kickers from the early nineties that cost Bowden his championships then.

Why are the snapper, the holder and the kicker not up 24 hours a day perfecting a 15 yard kick?  Corona's performance would not be acceptable even at the high school level.  He had the Shaquille-O'Neal-I-sure-hope to-God-this- free- throw-goes-in-look on his face everytime he kicked the ball. 

Whoever the other kid is, however bad he might be in practice, he deserves a shot on the field.  Corona may nail every kick in practice, but he has demostrated - amply -  that he can't do the same thing during the game.

This is not the season where I want to end up having to get bailed out by the (Paulson) Poulon Weedeater Bowl. 

Like the housing market over the past five years, Is our 2008 season built on nothing more than a house of cards?