Post Game Thoughts :: Houston Cougars Edition

I agree that we shouldn’t give up on Potts. He can lead this team.

- Take the the 4th down-punting situation-lineup to draw offsides and call a time out play out of the playbook. Never works and burns a T.O.

- Take the QB sneak at the goal line out of the play book.

- Leach should take the FG kicker to lunch, get to know him, get some confidence in him, and USE HIM!

This was a terrible loss, one that should have been an easy win. Because of Leach’s and McNeil’s ridiculous play-calling, Tech lost. I thought they both had improved, but they both took a step back last night. Seth, you already covered Leach’s bad play selection. As for McNeil, where were the blitz packages he introduced last week. I think he went back to being fuddy duddy Mac, probably because of the return of the three DEs. He needs to keep coming with some blitzes. I do not recall any being called last night. Also, as Seth mentioned, who the heck was supposed to be covering the QB? Everyone knew he could run. COVER HIM! Lastly, the defensive line was horrible when rushing the QB. Absolutely no pressure to speak of. As much as I thought this team could be a really great one, the above things need to desperately be addressed if they expect to finish with a flourish. If not, the dreaded 7-win season is looming, as we are going to be facing some more pretty good teams down the line, none of which looks like a sure win anymore.

the one guy that looked to be unstoppable was only given 6 touches (4 run & 2 pass). If he can’t pass block just give him the ball!!!!! The QB sneak business needs to be pulled out of the play book unless they actually use that formation for something else.

I was hoping that this had all been just a bad dream. What irks me the most is that as inconsistently as the team played, they could still have won this game but for coaching errors. Also, I can’t help but think about Potts calling that last timeout instead of taking a 5 yard delay of game penalty AND HOW MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE OUR OFFENSE IS 9 YARDS AWAY FROM THE GOAL LINE THAN 1 OH GOD THE PAIN

“I called the play but there was a slight variation, but that doesn’t change the fact. At that point in the game it was a better thing to do then send of the field goal team.”

I said last night that Leach calls the formation and play. Potts makes a read and does the variation. But who runs standing up tall in that type of a play?

The offense Line should have blown the defense back 3 yards too. But its something that I chalk up to lack of experience. I guess no one ever taught the right way to do a QB sneak before this season to Potts. So its on Leach.

But I make this last statement now that Leach has circled the wagons for Potts. If North Dakota was the preverbial bad game…….. Now what is the excuse from Leach about player performaces. Nevada last year was a simular performace game. But now we have seen it three times this type of performace this year.

Thus when you see it more than twice, its where the team really is. Its not some fluke or bad game.

Seth, I love your optimism. But the Big XII south is no longer in play for Tech. You know it, I know it. We may very well end up with losses to aTM, OU, Neb, Kansas and maybe even Baylor. 7-5 is probable, 8-4 if we get things straight, 9-3 if we catch every possible break in every game.

I thought 8-4 was likely at the beginning. I was suckered by Potts’ toughness last week. Still think he’s tough as nails. Still think he makes way too many mental mistakes for this team to experience a high level of success this season. He’ll improve, but it won’t be enough to make a huge impact this year. If the pocket presence doesn’t improve by leaps and bounds, this season could be very ugly.

We are what we are.

I’m a bit confused by his statement that during the game it was the right call, and that’s how Leach always tends to roll, but the score that time was TTU 28, UH 23 with about 11 minutes left in the 4th quarter. If Leach goes for the field goal, then Houston has to score twice in order to win the game. By going for the touchdown, Leach put his team in a situation that they had to protect their endzone, again putting the defense in a tight situation. Getting that field goal would have meant that Houston would have been on the heels a bit more, needing to score twice. And for the record, I understand that statistically, it is an advantage to go for it in most situations, but this field goal puts UH on their heels as opposed to the Texas Tech defense having to absolutely make a stop.

That’s not smart football.

I think it is smart football. It either is smart football or it is not. It cannot be the case that it is the wrong call when we don’t get it, but the right call when we do. I believe that is what Leach is saying.

We get the points, it’s 35-23 and we’re at their jugular. All the reasons that we just flat out needed those three points justified the needing of a 35-23 lead. We have a tired defense that historically gives up points against a phenomenal offense that is rolling over everyone they play. On the road. You don’t usually win those games with three points. It’s unfortunate that this happened to be the game that we would have won (MAYBE — THAT NEEDS TO BE STRESSED) had we those three points.

Field goals are a bad call, statistically. Most coaches send out the FG unit for precisely this reason: Coaches who deviate from the standard play calling maneuvers are criticized in disproportionate measure after losses than those rewards flowing from close wins after gutsy calls. A good coach shouldn’t give a shit about post-game criticism flowing from anomalous statistical circumstances. A good coach grabs his balls and says the FG unit isn’t going to do it for me, today.

Statistically speaking, that’s the right call.

A lot of people don’t agree with that call. But it’s not going to be right or wrong because it was unsuccessful. It’s going to be right or wrong because it did not work in that particular instance. We either have a coach who is habitually wrong or we have a coach who has adopted a winning strategy that sometimes does not work. But it can’t be the case that we get the gutsy coach and the stupid coach. He made a decision that I think is totally justifiable, and whether or not I’m right has nothing to do with whether we got that yard.

Just my two cents.

Everybody take a deep breath. First it’s a game right? Second its college not pros right? Third how much better can you get if you are Houston? I mean who plays their progeny in 100% humidity, at their place with a veteran opposition quarterback (who is a good as your last years senior QB i.e. G. Harrell ), after you have been knicked up in arguably the toughest game of the year for this squad? Everybody take a deep breath. It’s just the beginning stanza of the second 4 game stretch coming up. No doubt the Raider pick themselves up, dust off the grass, blood and sweat and get after the next opponents. The Raiders have a persona, they have guts, character and cojones. So let’s forget this one – learn from it Coach Leach(damn gambler) – get going on the next enemies of the Raider nation and have some fun. OBTW just as a ceremonial hand wringing in a second guessing sort of way we did win this one i.e. J. Wall successfully intercepted the UH 2 x point conversion. That is if you assume Matt Williams hits the 4th quarter field goal vice running a stinking QB sneak. Ugh!. There are no guarantees. .but I still love the Raiders. On to the next series in the 09 campaign. "Row well and live"

Yes Very! But not the end of the season. If we are fighters and as disgusted at losing as we should be this is just motivation to win. The old days of accepting loses and trashing OUR program should be over. Have faith in Leach Potts, Ruff and all the rest, don’t be a fair weather a hole.

Potts did well for his 2nd game on the road in front of a sellout crowd on national TV. The running game reemerged. The D looked good most of the game. I felt like the D was really wiped out at the end. They gave it their all. I wondered if they had rotated the D linemen in and out to keep them fresh. I thought that the O line did great. Potts missed some wide open guys, but it was a bowl game atmosphere there and he will only get better.

The coogs were well coached and prepared for this game. I like how they run effectively out of the spread – Tech might study those running plays and incorporate some of them. Coogs have some really solid running backs…

We showed up against Texas on the road and made them play 4 qtrs. We went on the road against a ranked team that beat OSU at home and took it down to the wire in a great game. So, we’re better than OSU and just below Texas, technically. And I don’t think we’re as good as we are going to be right now. The Big XII is still open for us.

Keep hope alive!

this game. I’m a huge Leach supporter but the 4th down gamble in a must win game on the road against a ranked team is just plain stupid. We would have been ranked with all the ranked teams losing Saturday. As far as I’m concerned the players did what they could and our captain cost us this game. I could also argue the same for the UT game in a couple of instances on 4th down but I won’t even go there. Mike needs to realize that last seasons team may have been able to convert these 4th downs but this group isn’t seasoned enough to handle that pressure. This game should have been Tech’s victory and could have been with some smart coaching.

I could strangle the Tech player who caught the interception on the extra two point attempt after Houston took a 1 point lead. He had open field in front of him & didn’t make an attempt to return the INT. I suspect he didn’t know that a return for score on a conversion attempt is worth 2 points. Which would have given the lead back to Tech. The guy just laid down after intercepting it.

Woulda coulda shoulda.

I thought I’d be able to level-headedly post up grades, but this is the downside to becoming as invested in this damn game as I have. I won’t be posting grades up this week, largely because everything that I could say has already been said, to an effect.

I can add few minor things:
1) Eric Stephens is a steady player, but that fumble, the 2nd most important play in the game, in my opinion, is what you get with a true freshman.
2) The most important play of the game was a 2nd a 4 in the 4th quarter. Run the ball and you eat up clock and, with the way you were running it, probably get a first down. Throw the ball deep (which we didn’t try much of), and you take a shot at breaking the game open and ending it. Instead I think we saw Potts throw a short slant to a covered receiver who dropped the ball. Out of rhythm, the next play was also a short slant to a tightly covered receiver who dropped the ball. That 2nd down play wasted the opportunity to finish the game.
3) I hate our coverage tendencies. I think that we play man coverage but we play it so loose that it’s like receivers are running into zones. We’ve gotta play tighter coverage against a team that can actually throw the ball.

4) (And this is the most important thing, so pay attention) Pablo M, you need to lay off Potts. Like now.

I think same can be said for Leach. Potts and Leach know what to do, just maybe unsure, like all of us, of what we have. I said last night that his decisions were not up to par. What I meant was that he, like all Tech QB’s, is in his learning curve. He will get quicker with his decisions and his reads. What a way to start your career playing your first two road games against good opponenents. Stay cool, guys, last year was no fluke. We’re almost to the point of reloading. Most of us were expecting around a nine win season, and for legit reasons, but many of us got our hopes up after Texas. This season is still in play, and next year will be awesome. I won’t stop rooting for our guys. Our guys are still young, and will get better.

is going to be sorely tested with the indefinite suspension of Carter. It’s taken us 1/3 of the season to try and get stable play from two new linemen and now we’ve got to find another. The upside? Next year (the year when we are supposed to be so good) we are going to have to replace Byrne, Carter, and Winn. I guess this way we can start the rebuilding a bit earlier than expected. sigh……

What is happening to our team?