it never happened.

The prospect of going 8-4 or 7-5 was always less painful back when “Typical Tech” wasn’t just the norm, it was an upgrade from the last two decades. Now that we’ve all tasted the fruit, it’s tough to go back. That said, I’m still convinced that one or two nasty left turns doesn’t mean we’re heading in the wrong direction as a program. If anything, a loss this painful will be a valuable teaching moment for the younger guys on the team who entered the program during the reign of King Crabtree, and just assumed that level of success comes easy for Tech.

We’re underdogs. That’s just the Texas Tech mentality: we don’t have the money, we don’t have the grand winning tradition- hell, we don’t even have particularly nice buildings, but we don’t give a goddamn because the reason we’re tough and nasty and occasionally dangerous is because no one has ever just given us anything, up to and including the benefit of the doubt. Every scrap of success and respect this football program claims must be ripped violently from those who have grown accustomed to it and take it for granted. If that’s a lesson that has to be seared painfully into the minds of each new generation of Red Raiders and Red Raider fans, then maybe that’s not so bad.