ok a few thoughts on texas tech going to austin to play the longhorns. As you all know , I am a HUGE fan of mike leach but i will leave my bias out of this post. I actually want to rant about something else........ Texas Longhorn Haters. This team has absolutely been bashed by the media, by their long time haters, by their own fans , and on virtually every cfb board you can find on the web. Why ???? I often hear people say that Texas is a fraud , or over rated , or under achieving ..... i dont get this. lsu loses at kentucky ( a tough spot and ku is no slouch but not a great loss ) , they get outplayed by auburn , outplayed by florida , outplayed by alabama .... but they are considered a juggernaut. Texas loses to oklahoma ( another team people refer to as a juggernaut ) in a game where they basically played even with the sooners and lost on a fumble at the five yard line. They lost to an above average if not decent kansas state team by allowing a bunch of special team fluke plays. Those are their two losses. Why the hate ?? They are having a decent season and they are basically doing it without their best offensive player the whole year as sweed was banged up to start the year and eventually his season ended do to injury. They lost one game they should not have and went toe to toe with oklahoma in their other loss. I have heard texas fans call for Chiles to replace McCoy .... i dont get it .... Hasn't McCoy to date had the best freshman and sophomore years back to back in school history ??? When i was in attendance at the red river shoot out i actually heard someone in the fourth quarter say that McCoy needed to be benched .. what ?? the guy had a hell of a game !!!!! This kid has heart and is a leader .. he is a man. ( even if he is not 40 okie state fans ). I think the hate from their own fans is not only misguided it is the result of being spoiled beyond comprehension. it isnt enough for texas to win ... they have to destroy their opponents ... "Come on , We're the longhorns damnit ".... ok that pretty much concludes my rant on haters of this texas team.... lets look at the match up with texas tech.
Texas Tech offense vs Texas defense
Texas has not performed well against the pass this year but this has more to do with scheme than talent in the secondary. The longhorns have dedicated themselves to stopping the run in large part do to facing some great backs and rushing games.... whether it be kevin smith , allen patrick , demarco murray , marlon lucky or dantrell savage. The gameplan has been to stop the run at all costs , and it has succeeded. Despite playing these rushing attacks with these studs at rb , Texas has allowed just 101 yards a game on the ground, ranking them 13th nationally. It has come at a cost .... less men in coverage. This has made texas look like a team with a weak secondary and while it is certainly not the strength of the defense , it has appeared weak do to selling out to stop the run. Here is the thing .... you dont have to stop texas tech from running. In this match up you only need to crowd the line of scrimmage when you plan on blitzing Harrell and smashing him in the mouth. Now lets look at texas tech and the offense that they run. We all know how they spread the field and throw throw throw. Why does it work... well this is a two part answer .... REASON 1 - most teams dont see this offense week in and week out ( spread offenses are certainly getting more fashionable these days however ). It is hard to prepare for in a weeks time. REASON 2-- A lot of schools just do not have the depth at linebacker, db , and safety to defend all those receivers for that many plays ( Tech games have way more snaps than your average game ). The combination of these two things is what leads to Tech dismantling lesser teams like smu , rice , baylor , and the like. They simply dont have enough athletes to match up and have not seen the offense enough to have learned how to defend it. The learning curve is such that teams then fall behind and are forced to throw to try and keep up with Tech. This often hides Techs softness and inability to take a punch in the mouth. Now this years team is blessed with a really good qb in Harrell .... this guy can make all the throws and WR Crabtree can make all the catches. But the underlying problem for them in this game is that if there is one thing that texas has ... it is depth .... and they have seen this offense before. Also note that Texas Tech plays considerably better offensively when they are on artificial turf .,.... they struggle a lot more on grass. This is their only game on grass this year. Do you think for a second that there will be the space in the secondary of the longhorns in this game that we have seen in games when they have to stop a running attack ??? nope,me either. Texas Texh will get their yards and they will likely get some points but it is not nearly the bad match up of Texas Techs great pass attack against texas' poor pass defense that some will make it out to be. In addition I don't think I need to tell anyone about Texas Techs road woes ... especially when they visit austin.
Texas offense vs Texas Tech defense
what a terrible match up for that tech defense . lets look at the tech losses this year ... missouri , okie state , and colorado. First note that all of these are schools that play tech often ( conference ) and have athletes and depth capable of matching up with the gimmick offense. But look at what all these teams have in common on the offensive side of the ball.. balance. They can pass or run and Tech simply does not have a defense tough enough to compete. Texas is certainly balanced and more importantly they are by far the most physical offense that tech has faced this year. The red raiders are very suspect on run defense and Texas has really started to hit their groove in the run game. In situations where Tech cannot run away from teams and hide .... where they are forced to defend physical rushing games (( games they are notl eading huge )))) they foild up like cheap origamy. Also keep in mind ... it is very difficult for tech to simulate power teams in practice ... no matter what players they use to simulate an offense like the longhorns it cannot come close to the real deal .... tech recruits a different type of offensive player. speed guys , finesse guys ... not power guys. you cant simulate power.
I really think everything points to texas winning this game ...
- Home Finale
-tech on grass
-tech road woes
-longhorn history of pummeling teams at home
-longhorn history of handling tech at home
-familiarity of techs offensive schemes for both players and coaches
-physical running game of texas vs tech rush defense
-texas defensive atheltes and incredible depth
-techs inability to even feign a rushing attack, which allows for texas scheme however they want on defense
now with all that said i am not going to bet this game, unless i decide i want to use it in a teaser. What i fearmore than anything .. is the backdoor. Texas tech has that kind of offense and 6 ... 6.5 points are ripe for backdoors. As i mentioned earlier in the thread about a different match up ... i really need to be confident that a team will win by double digits for me to lay a number around a td. Even then ... i prefer to lay it against teams that once i get there ... i am fairly confident they cant backdoor me. Leach , Harrll , Crabtree and company are certainly capable of that. I say Texas by 9.
