Before I begin, I want to personally thank the players, coaches, band, administration, students, and fans that made a great representation of class in Lubbock this weekend. It was a proud moment to see everyone in attendance not aimlessly hoping SMU could find some miraculous way to upset Tech, but actually cheering and applauding an effort from guys who play really hard for their coaches and one another for a 60-minute game.

It’s often said you always find the things you want most in life by being certain of the things you don’t want … I do not want to be a host to a post-game radio call-in show, ever, and sure as hell never in Lubbock, Texas. For the record, (former SMU linebacker) Brian Bischoff jumped in my car Saturday and we drove to Lubbock, returning immediately after the game. Had I flown, it would have been a two-night stay — sounds like a criminal sentence.

Hampton said that once they had a chance to make adjustments, SMU's June Jones and his staff had the edge on their Texas Tech counterparts (photo by Travis Johnston).

So after the game, we headed south on Highway 84 and the only station the radio would stop on after “seeking” was the flagship carrier of the Red Raiders. For two hours, caller after caller had the same three comments:

1. “(New Tech head coach Tommy) Tuberville is not (Mike) Leach” … to which the host replied 73 times, “it was (Tuberville’s) first game.”

2. “Taylor Potts is not Stephen Sheffield” … to which the host replied 84 times, “it was (Potts’s) first game.”

3. “SMU should not have been able to give us that close of a game” which was greeted by — you guessed it — “it was (the Red Raiders’) first game.”

You’re exactly right, Tech fan and show host — it was the first game. In two weeks, SMU stands a really good chance to win that game running away.

Coaching

Hearing former players with legitimate NFL experience say June Jones is the best in-game manager is believable, but when we get to see it weekly, we see why they offer that praise. Jones and his staff, in two quarters, had Tech and its coaches broken down.

New Tech offensive coordinator Neal Brown called plays at Troy last season. Stats are relative; he had much better offensive talent than the defensive talent he faced weekly in the Sun Belt. That could only mean so much in terms of how a defensive staff at SMU could prepare for the personnel packages, formation groupings, down-and-distance tendencies, blitz protection, etc. Plus, he’s 30 — probably just experienced enough to know “taking his shots” was key, but inexperienced enough to forget to cover an angle or two along the way. Predicting when SMU would take defensive risks, and when he would slip in protecting against them, was a shot in the dark.

Tuberville did not take over a declining program devoid of talent, searching for an identity, desperate for a galvanizing coach to enter campus and make chicken salad out of chicken s***. He inherited a top-10 offense with the talent in place to remain a top-10 offense and Big 12 talent and depth and a fan base as confused about their coaching situation as they were in high school English.

They talk about a stronger commitment to the running game in West Texas; they had better find a few formations to get those talented backs downhill … and fast. Texas rolls into Lubbock in two weeks and the Longhorns’ defense could make that running game look downright pathetic. It was evident early, when the Red Raiders, forced to drive the length of the field after fielding a punt and little to no momentum, had to earn their points. When given a short field after a momentum-swinging interception, my 10-year-old nephew’s team’s defense and the Dallas Cowboys’ defense give up touchdowns at about the same rate. Those can’t be hung on a defense’s preparation level. Big props go to the staff.

The linebackers are physical and they all play with an effort and swagger coaches love to coach. The defensive line — all six or seven in Sunday’s rotation — plays hard, and Sterling Moore is in that small percentage of players that coaches generally don’t have to say a word to — just give him his assignment and let him play. I like his body language, his confidence, his earrings, his hair … all of it. I’d be cool with a roster full of Moore and Chris Banjo. Richard Crawford was welcomed to Div. I, and can take solace in the fact that it gets better from here. He wasn’t timid, he played hard, contested an NFL receiver all day — Lyle Leong is good. Welcome to the meeting if you just realized that.

Once the Ponies’ offensive coaches observed 15 minutes of Tech’s defense, they were able to march down and score to make it 14-7 with Zach Line’s score. After 30 minutes, both offensive and defensive staffs had the plan in place to go on the road and steal a game. Perceive it however you wish, but to me … sure Kyle Padron made some throws he would like to have back, but we’re not on the team or in the coaches meetings watching film today. The interceptions may be directly tied to a play call that was a test to see how the Tech defense would react to a formation. Tech defensive coordinator James Willis was on a national champion staff at ’Bama last year and coached for Tuberville at Auburn, but Sunday was his first game of calling blitzes and plays. Coaches don’t watch tape of the opposition to watch football and see who is good on the other team, they want to know how a defense lines up to the boundary on third down and less than five yards to go with a lead, how they react to a full motion across the formation as opposed to a return motion and on and on and on.

It’s like golf. I take my pitching wedge out of the bag from 150 yards in, hoping I hit that area with the flag coming out of the ground. A real golfer wants to open his club face slightly, position his feet for a draw into the wind that hits 9 yards behind the hole, hits the lip of the edge of the green so it will roll back pin-high and stop within five feet of the hole. It was as if June Jones and the offensive staff were approaching the game against Tech like a round of golf, except instead of 18 holes, they played the same nine twice. During the front nine, after trying to reach the green on a couple of short par fours, they opted for high-risk, high-reward shots because, just because they had not yet played the hole did not mean they didn’t have the guts to go for the green … and they found the water just to the right of the green. By the time they reached the back nine, it was virtually birdie after birdie after birdie

Bottom line, SMU spotted an opponent extra first half possessions — doesn’t matter if it’s Rice, SMU, Western Kentucky, or Southern Miss, when you go on the road early in the season against BCS schools, you do not win games by having fewer FIRST-HALF possessions. The ebb and flow settle in by the second half, but in the first 30 minutes, you simply can not afford to lose fumbles, interceptions, or bad fourth-down attempts. Break down the games however you see fit, but that is the only stat I pay attention to. Texas Tech had three touchdowns off of shortened field possessions following turnovers, two in the first half … and won by only 8 points after SMU had the ball in the final minutes with a chance to go tie.

• Welcome to campus, Darryl Fields.

• UAB gets a long week to prepare, SMU a short one, so get to the Boulevard early enough to get to the stadium early and be sure you enjoy this team for what it is … a direct reflection of a great coaching staff.

Thanks for reading this far.