Tech - SMU Post Game Thread

has Tech played on a Sunday?

Predictions:
New Mexico W
Texas L
Iowa State W
Baylor W
Oklahoma State L
Colorado W
TAMU L
Mizzou L
OU L
Weber W
Houston L

End of Season: 6-6

We may be in better shape for the UT game since we played a better opponent to start out. I wouldn’t call SMU a cupcake. Tougher games = better preparation.

We need some work there. Remember, it’s all about the team now. All 3 sides.

I’ve kept my mouth shut since the Leach firing, ignoring all the hype of Tubbs and Co. So now I’m commenting on actions, NOT words.

Tubbs and Co. proved that they can compete in Conference USA! Next week, we get to prove we could win the WAC! Is this progress, versus Leach?

I like Tubbs as a person, but whatever he said at halftime, I hope he keeps to himself from now on. SMU beat us in the 2nd half after we “wore them out” during the worst of the heat.

Very disapointed. Folks criticized Leach and company for not putting folks away??

How long before we see the “Miss me Yet?” billboards with Leaches’ smiling mug?

…..I don’t see y’all losing to TAMU, or MIzzou. Probably not Houston, either. They gave up a ton of points yesterday. Oklahoma, for that matter, looked pretty crappy.

I’ll tell you that. But, not in a good way.

Good thing it was the SMU Ponies. They were out-manned but stayed in it to the end. Thank God the refs didn’t throw more flags on late hits on their QBs in the 4th Q.

Very uninspiring from start to finish.

So did we see a new and improved Taylor Potts?

A whole lot of work for this team to do this week. We play a NM team that was just killed and we should romp. However, if they do not address :
1. Olsen at Right Tackle—allowed too much pressure and two sacks.
2. Run blocking was almost non-existant.
3. Receivers need to CATCH the ball.
4. Play calling stunk it up big time. Very poor play selection.
5. Special teams stunk it up, too. Bad tackling.
6. Potts had a good game, but could have been better. He still throws off the back foot sometimes, overthrows open receivers and lacks finess when he needs it.

Let’s not forget that we had something like a 4-0 turnover differential.

“This was a great day for the Red Raiders”.

Who’s setting the bar here?

is there any indication that he is wily? That he would hold off on the big plays or strategies until big games later in the season?

NASCAR Jesus is on TV

SMU W
New Mexico W
Texas W (but close)
Iowa State W
Baylor W
Oklahoma State L
Colorado W
TAMU W
Mizzou W
OU L (they’ll get act together by then)
Weber W
Houston L

9 – 3

WATERBOY!!!!!!!!

We knew better than to expect a perfect defense. Willis admitted that there is plenty of work left to be done. I like the Duncan move… his name got called alot this afternoon. And I REALLY like the new defensive mindset. Man coverage… more aggressive in general. We made some mistakes and defense wasn’t anywhere near what it needs to be to win the Big 12(10), but it was more enjoyable to watch for me. I’d take today’s D over Ruff’s D any day of the week.

I’m NOT optimistic against UT!

I recall all the same sort of comments after Leach teams opened with fugly games against N. Dak and E. Was. Neither of which was near as good as SMU will be. Was it perfect? No, but I think the team up 35-17 is the one we’ll see more of. Was OU, Florida, or any number of ranked teams who looked iffy week one better?

I haven’t seen too much here on him but he looks great for 2 series then goes into a funk….I liked the new D it will come…If this is the new welll Potts then I’m very worried…threw off back foot. several bad decisions, and missed open receivers…man Sticks must have been really bad in practice/scrimmages! Wreck’Em Tech

Should give us the opportunity to work the kinks out. I bet we’ll see Sticks take some snaps.

1. Tuberville was sure impressive today, huh guys? ha
2. Potts is not our answer, would love to see if Sticks could do better. Bad decisions, lucky catches sums it up. 64% against SMU? I sort of understand our secondary giving up some yards to them, but no reason they should be able to slow down our offense. Only impressive drive IMO was the last one of the first half.
3. Defense….. where was it? Terrible showing second half. Aggressiveness is not always the answer when that means corners and LB’s rushing in on the roll out and leaving their man wide open. And how was the draw there all damn day?! I thought we were playing gap D, hold your ground!
4. Unless something major happens, or SMU is one of the best teams in the conference, I feel my senior year could have a long long fall.
5. How about that 62 yd field goal?!

It’s the first game. We weren’t the only team to play sloppy this weekend. All in all I think this will be the first of many W’s under Tommy T.

This game was way worse than the 3 pick game against North Dakota, or the loss to U of H. Things have really deteriorated. Hilarious.

Good to get a win against a tough non-con. We struggled more than we should much like UT and OK did. Defense is going to be good, and offense is fine with less drops, less conservative play calling, and better OL play, especially run blocking. In the end the score did not tell the story of the game, glad to get the win and give the team some real tape to use as teaching aids.

As for the naysayers, where were you after the North Dakota game last year….oh right….up a pirates arse.

A "great"coach from a “superior” conference gets the same inconsistent results. Things that make you go hmmm …

 They have a lot of work to do … I just hope that Tubs doesn’t go conservative and run the ball more thinking that will solve some of the issues.

Saw Potts throw from his back foot several times, but did see step into his throw more today than ever. Here’s to making continued progress.

Defense has potential … they just need to put it together … and I think they will.

Tubbs needs to hire a special teams coach.

The team and staff need to settle down … and when they do, it might not be this year, the results will be more consistent.

Heard it on the radio, true story. If you left at halftime today, you can move your arse to College Station. Pissed off a few friends telling them that today.

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/tlsl07

5 slots available if anyone is interested,

but I’m withholding judgment until I hear what the all knowing Big 12/Texas Tech guru David Ubben has to say. He’ll know how to break this game down and predict our future. Just like he predicted we would lose this game.

Defense was okay but disappointed with the offense…signs of brilliance when we ran the spread (which is what we recruited these guys for) but trying to run was tough. It really seems boring on offense after what we are used to. I like Tubs but man, I hope he opens up the offense and isn’t afraid to use Sticks. I like a quick offense! I think after today, A&M-OU-OSU-UT are all licking their chops!

T. Tubss confirmed everyone’s suspicion today by being more of the Auburn failure than the Leach success! His attempt at the 4th down conversion was a stupid high scholl coach mistake that nearly cost Tech. After Taylor Potts and Tech drove 80 yards with 1:19 left in the 1st half for a TD – all passes by the way – when asked abou the 1st half summary, he said “we need to run the ball more”. Excuse me? The best Tech looked was when they passed the ball, and he wants to run more?

The D was atrocious allowing SMU to run the delayed draw up the middle for chinks of yardage at a time, and the retunr team could barely tackle.

This team was a shadow of the Leach team, and if Tubb insists on running the ball 8 plays in a row, he will realize that he has the wrong team to have a power running game.

He should be embarassed, and should clearly understand if it were’nt for the fact that the opposing team had a QB making his 12th start in all of his life (7 in high school), Tech would have lost handily.

Thank goodness Texas is a few weeks away. His first game at Tech was a miserable failure – and he should be ashamed.

He has tried so hard to wiple clean the MIke Leach imprint from this school and team that he nearly sterilized the only thing that Tech had going for it: a strong passing game.

It Tubbs thinks this type of Offense will help the Tech recruiting, he’s a moron. Back to school for Tubbs and Brown. They have a lot to learn.

They mistake is Potts….he is still the same…no excuse for not having scored 3 or 4 more tds….and that is squarely on Sr. QB Potts…..Say what you want but if Potts sticks it in 3 or 4 more times there would be no conversation about the Defense as overall they did fine….lots to learn on the D YES but as much as I loved RuFF I love The Jeep even more!!!!!! Wreck’Em Tech and bring on the gloved one!!!

I was wrong about SMU. These guys cam e in and played really well. I think we play decent but not to what I expected at all. Defense looked like it needed some work especially on pass rushing and secondary. Second half was pretty dismal for Tech I thought. Batch didn’t have any jail breaks and I think Stephens was the only back that looked like he was in the game. I expect this game was just a pretty good SMU team which may be as good as any of the Big 12 schools after this weekend. So far I think Potts did about as good as expected in the first game but I didn’t see any greatness coming from him either. Lots of work needs to be done especially catching balls and establishing a running game.

It was nice to meet everyone, i really do appreciate the send off and the flag. Rest assured that it will fly with me everywhere i go. I leave the country on the 26-27 and should be able to contact yall by the 30th. Loved the game, there were some things to work on but i think that this win will look a lot better here in a couple of months than it does now.

Of all the area’s to worry about, special teams is where we have the most work to do. Two kick blocks, a 92 yd return kept SMU in this. The offense ground out the typical 400+ yards, five TDs. The defense held them to under 300 yds, three INTs and five sacks. So that’s all about what I expected.

Did not expect our special teams to be so weak on the kicking side. The punting was actually quite good.

Keep in mind, UT, Florida, OU…none of them looked very good against much weaker teams than SMU (weird to say that, by the way).

is a good football team that came into this game very prepared. I think Tuberville did a good job in this game and it did look a great deal like Mike Leach’s offense to me. I’m thinking Tech did alright for the first game under a new defense and head coach. I did expect a blow out but soon realized that SMU has a pretty damn good football team. I think there is plenty of room for improvement but that is the case with most of the teams I’ve watched this weekend. Tech will be ready for Texas when they come to town.

A big part of me thinks Tuberville, this not being his first rodeo, has held a lot of the playbook back today on offense and defense. I think he felt they could beat SMU straight up with a vanilla game plan and not reveal much to UT. I expect much of the same from the team next week. Could be way off base, but that’s just my feeling. Brian Duncan said post game that the defense didn’t run much of what they have in the game plan.

Running game was awful…. Just awful. Bad play calling and also bad play on the line. The fake Potts rush up the weak side is hilarious, the 4th and 1 was fine but 1.) Don’t QB sneak and 2.) Don’t screw up the snap. I think the best run of the day was an end around.

Potts was pretty wildly inconsistent. His best efforts of the day were the 2 minute drill before the half and the next scoring drive. He missed a few open receivers and had a couple of miscues. However, nothing major came of it other than stalling a scoring drive, which was pure luck, but ya know, we’ll take it. We’re missing two of our best receivers and it definitely showed. With a +4 turnover ratio and lack of penalties this game should not have been this close.

Defense started off with lots of energy and some great play but became increasingly bad as the game went on. That’s on the coaches for either not refocusing the defense or not making proper adjustments to improve their chances of stopping SMU once SMU adjusted. Watching your defense get shredded in the 2nd half is cause for a timeout and a “Come to Willis” talk.

Special teams was a total train wreck. Tubs has a lot of work to do there. We need to be able to kick field goals – those are worth points.

I don’t think we held anything back today with the exception of things we couldn’t run because we don’t have the personnel for those packages due to injury. I don’t have any reason to believe that what we saw today isn’t more or less what we’ll see this year. This wasn’t a really bad first game.. we’ve played worse against worse competition. There is a LOT of room for improvement though.

The bottom line…we won the game. That’s the objective. Was it perfect and without flaw? No, but when is it?

The offense needs find a way to open some running lanes for Batch and his crew; we need to secure the ball when Potts puts in the mitts; the kickers need to not hit the line in the head; Potts is what we have to live with until he gets us in a pickle. But remember, he didn’t throw any interceptions today. He missed a few that could have popped big, but the WRs also dropped at least two that would have gone for 20+ yards.

Lots of work to do. But that’s almost always the case after week one. Last year we looked like chit against UND in our opener, the year before that EWU kept it close in the opener. It’s typical and it’s not just Tech.

Considering this is a totally new staff and a revamped and re-schemed defense, the result was what we could have expected. Did SMU make it closer than we wanted? Yep, but they are not a crap team and will go to a bowl this year. We’ll thump UNM next week by no fewer than 21 and then get fired up for UT.

At times the offense looked tepid…I saw some passes off the mark, I also saw a bunch that were catchable and not caught…all are equally the same lost opportunity.

Coach Moore’s OL reminds me too much of last season….we need someone who can block an SMU for a one yard gain w/o going to a qb sneak…that looked like 6th grade little boys trying to hike the football…we should not have been in that position vs SMU.

There were moments of good, fast paced, energized offense…excerpt the last drive of the 1st half, SMU went to the dreaded prevent and that always opens the gate…with whomever trying to run it.

Middle linebacker looked lost…inept, sometimes hardly moving more than a couple of steps in a play…I couldn’t believe it…I guess he was staying home taking care of his gap.

Funny enough, the suspect secondary made some plays, the int’s were all hustle, even the long one that was under thrown.

Disappointed beyond words with kick offs, punt teams, and return teams…Detron Lewis does not fit that role.

There is more than I want to write….I can’t wait to see what Raider Replay publishes this season from the post game interviews…

Don’t bet on him risking losing just to keep UT from seeing a few plays. The O-line was nothing on the running plays. That is basic. Has bee for many years. Olsen allowed both sacks. Tubs said they worked on “driving” the defense downfield. I saw none of that, or so little of ti it was hard to pick up. I thought that in the 3rd quarter Tech was finally going to put it all together. But no. The defense decided to rest and the offense went stale. Even SMU picked up on that and capitalized. Of cours, it helps when their guy makes a spectacular one-handed grab to move the chains, then a Tech defender pulls a UT and tips the TD ball to the SMU receiver. Oh, and the “sneak” that wasn’t, looking more like a scrum in rugby. For me, I was not at all impressed. I just hope the team and their coaches have just as bad a gut feeling as us fans, because I sure don’t want to see a performance like this….ever again.

You think they’d have to disclose it for a Freedom of Information Act request?

Ha, apparently, without going to the game, I managed to get on TV.

When they cut to a clip of the bowl game, they had an endzone shot with me, right there.

SMU +13.5 worked out quite well

1. Kicking a field goal (and getting blocked) on 4th and one deep in their territory.
2. Going for it on 4th and 1 on our own 30.
3. The so called power running game.
4. After all of Detron’s whining in the off season about having to play hurt, he sure dropped a lot of balls right in his hands. He’s no crab.
5. Worst possible uniform combination. Just wear all red!
6. Kneeling on the ball with 1:30 left in the game. There is no playoff. Style points count! Neither ut or ou had them.
7. smu’s receiver running wide @$$ open all the time.
8. Terrible tackling

Potts was the least of my worries.

and it was quite pleasant here in North Texas…..what was the temp and the field temp?

I believe the days of the “blowout” are over. We’re just going to have to get over it. But let’s all be honest here, if we are racking up a heaping of “W’s” are we really going to complain? We’re not going to beat everyone by 30+ points like we used to. Different QB, different offense, different coaches.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that we are going to see lots of defensive battles here in the Big XII this year.

For my review, I mentioned there were two things I wanted to see 1) Potts throw downfield, and 2) good play in the box.

As to #1 Potts did make some throws down field…they weren’t pretty, but at least he wasn’t ALWAYS checking out to the RB on the Swing Route.

For #2, our box play was pretty poor. We HAVE to learn to hold the draw because UT and aTm will kill us if we don’t. Otherwise, I was REALLY impressed with the defense, and James Willis scares me as a person.

Wreck ’Em Tech!