Forgive this rambling, but this was a heartbreaking loss. After spotting Texas Tech nineteen points, we clawed our way back into the lead only to lose on the final play. I haven't watched the replay yet. Too much agony. Instead I think I'll shove bamboo slivers underneath my fingernails.
This loss is on our offensive coaches. They set the tone for the first half by lining up in the I formation on our own 1 yard line. On our first possession against a fired up defense playing before a raucous home crowd, we decide to line up our tailback seven yards deep in the endzone? Are you fucking kidding me? That was a gift of two points for Tech.
It didn't get much better for the offense in the first half. Quan Cosby got his bell rung on his first catch and didn't catch another pass the entire game. Jordan Shipley dropped a sure touchdown that would have given us a 7-5 lead. We had at least 3 other drops in the first half that I recall.
On more than one occasion we had a tight end/center trying to block Texas Tech's best pass rusher. That is madness. Tech was able to get pressure by only rushing 3 and 4 guys, yet I can count on one hand the number of times we rolled the pocket. Tech had zero reason to respect our running game until we finally decided to give Fozzy Whitaker his first carry of the game with about seven minutes left in the third quarter.
Tech's defensive coaches did a great job of gameplanning against our offense. They played man under with the two safeties deep in the first half. Smart. We do our best against zone, and with Cosby not right in the head they really only had to worry about Shipley. They probably should have paid a little more attention to Malcolm Williams. Williams had a breakout game catching the ball, and he was also money on special teams.
Our defense played great. Tech was going to get their yards. But when you can hold Tech to to 30 points on their home field with little help from your offense, you deserve credit.
Roy Miller and Brian Orakpo played great despite getting held on every. fucking. play. The officials were horrible. Just flat out horrible. The league office needs to take a look at this shit because it's gotten out of hand. Orakpo injured his knee on a play when he was tackled by Rylan Reed, and there was no call. I hope you refs can still look at yourself in the mirror. One holding penalty was called in this game. One. Instead they call two hands to the face penalties. The one holding penalty they called was huge because the next play McCoy threw a bad pass that was intercepted and returned for a td. Meanwhile our entire defensive line is held with impunity the entire game.
Yet our team continued to fight. They came back to take the lead, but they left too much time on the clock. Yet another breakdown by our kickoff team allowed Tech to start their final drive at their own 38. And then Blake Gideon dropped a easy interception that would have sealed the win. He makes that play 9 out of 10 times. This was the one time he didn't. Then on the final pass to Crabtree, Earl Thomas took a bad angle and Curtis Brown couldn't make the tackle.
Now we have to hope that Tech loses. They have Oklahoma State next week, and they still have to go to Norman. This was a tough stretch. Only one team in college football history had won four straight games against teams ranked in the Top 12. We came up one game short.
This team has already exceeded my expectations though. They refuse to quit, and they always play hard. If they keep doing that, hopefully everything will fall into place.