The most disappointing thing about yesterday’s performance was the defense. There was a lot of hype through summer about our much ‘improved’ defense and I agree with everyone else here, the defense does not look very different from the one that let us down several times last year. We had a chance to build a strong defense last year and a number of fans were in favor of recruiting a strong defensive co-ordinator who could build the defense to be a bigXII leader and match the achievements of our offense. We however liked what coach McNeal was doing and decided to stick with him. Now that we have a rare shot at a BCS bowl I hope coach McNeal and his defense does not let us down. What we saw yesterday was not a BigXII quality strong defense. It will be more clear next week when we are on the road at Nevada. We will see whether the new defensive co-ordinator and the Tech defense (I admit with quite a few good players) can make a statement there or we again lose just like we did against OK state last year. If you look at the Nevada offense it does remind you of the OK State offense from last year. We will see if our 12 ranked red raiders can live up to this defensvie challenge. If we fail we will have only ourselves to blame for missing an opportunity to build a strong defense last year.

Before I comment on our Red Raiders, I must say it could be worse. Take for instance A&M’s loss in its home opener at Kyle Field before a near record crowd that expected to see the beginning of a new era in Aggie football. Then there is number nine Clemson’s high expectations dashed by Alabama’s total domination. At least we survived “bumbling” our way to victory. However, I ’m not sure we were any less embarrassed as evidenced by the headlines in the sports sections of the local newspapers. I was appalled with the effort. Sloppy play, a school record 18 penalties, three costly mistakes on special teams, going for it on fourth down and not making it and a defense that appears not to be “much improved”. The performance is summed up by saying “same old Tech”. The offense saved the day again while the defensive was reminiscent of the bend but not break inconsistent play we have grown accustomed to over the years.

The point is that most of us were ready for some real improvement especially on defense. Tech did not play like a team that has the potential to be a contender for the Big 12 South title let alone be ranked 12th in the nation. I hope that the high expectations, media hype and opening day jitters were to blame for the team being tight and making mistakes. Surely the players are not really this poorly coached and disciplined. Certainly one game does not tell the tale but many of the same nagging problems that were thought to have been addressed in the off season and Spring drills were present Saturday night. I agree that “its not at all acceptable” and it must change now if we are to shake off the dust of mediocrati and have a break through season such as Kansas and Missouri had last year.

I didn’t see the game, but from what I could gather reading EWU’s drives, I think Tech’s defense played pretty solid. EWU threw 61 times!!! You don’t throw 61 times unless you have a freakin’ good quarterback., and Nichols is. I don’t know if they were playing a spread offense, but it’s a reasonable supposition to believe that a team that throws 61 times is heavily influenced by Texas Tech. There’s no way Tech sees a 61 passing play offense in the Big 12, so I’m not worried that the secondary allowed 360+ yards passing to a one-dimensional offense. I’d be more concerned if they gave up 200+ yards on 20 throws. So I see this game as a work out for the secondary. With Tech’s horrible reputation of stopping the run, I’d rather have seen them play a team than runs 40-50 times. But, not playing such a team might be indicative of how confident Coach Leach is about his front line.