Well, that was an interesting evening at Ford...

[Techsan-81]

[DISCLAIMER] I did not agree with the offensive calls Coach Leach made at the end of the game. I thought it was chickensh*t and served no purpose, and said so during and after the game. [/DISCLAIMER]

Congrats to SMU on a tremendous effort Saturday night. I was at last year's game and you have a MUCH improved football team. They had a good game plan, were well coached, put forth great effort, and completely surprised me. SMU is going to win multiple games this year.

I expected Tech's offensive line to dominate the game. They are a big, talented, experienced group and I really thought they would be the major difference. Whether it was outstanding play by your D-Line or miserable play by our O-Line or some combination thereof, your guys neutralized Taurean Henderson for the most part, and that is a big accomplishment.

A lot of Tech fans are complaining about Cumbie's performance, but I didn't see receivers running wide open every play. That, again, is a tribute to your secondary.

I'm not really sure which QB you guys should be starting. The JUCO guy that came in (Eckert?) looked pretty good to me, and I think having a more efficient passing game might be the better choice. Munlin is a load, and if the passing game can loosen up defenses, he can do some damage. On the other hand, Phillips can really hurt a defense scrambling around making plays. I think Coach Bennett has a tough decision to make there.


Finally, I think in the long run the big melee at the end may be the best thing that has happened to SMU's football team in a long time. The players have to love Bennett for confronting Leach like he did and it gives everybody something to rally around. I know you guys lost the game, but the psychological aftermath of that mess at the end makes this week very different than it would have been if Tech had just taken a knee with 45 seconds to go. That in no way excuses Leach's poor decision at the end, but I think there's a silver lining in it for SMU.

Anyways.. those are my thoughts. I'd like to say I enjoyed the game, but in truth I was pretty miserable. I, like all us obnoxious Tech fans, was hoping for and somewhat expecting a big blowout. SMU didn't cooperate, and it was very frustrating watching our team sputter and lurch on offense. And then to have the game end like it did, well, like I said, it wasn't the fun-filled beginning of the college football season I had anticipated.

Good luck against TCU and for the rest of the season. I understand if y'all hate Tech from now on, and wouldn't blame you, but try to remember that a lot of us fans didn't agree with what Leach did.

[ponyboy]

Now THAT's class and is the perfect reason why we shouldn't broadbrush all Tech fans.

[mrydel]

If we could combine this poster' class with the lack of class by Leach, Techsan81 would still have sufficient class but Leach would still not get there. Thank you for some sober input.

[NavyCrimson]

agree - well said!

like tech - we have our 'yahoos' as well -

thank you 81!

[gostangs]

Thanks for a very well thought out post. I agreed with everything you said - and although I was encouraged by what I saw in the ponies, we still lost and we still gave up a million yards - around here we are looking forward to the day when we can stop saying we played hard, looked good in losing, yada yada yada -we areready to say - way go Stangs - we kicked their arse. Looks like that day is a ittle closer is about all we can say right now.

[PK]

I understand if y'all hate Tech from now on, and wouldn't blame you, but try to remember that a lot of us fans didn't agree with what Leach did.

Hate is a harsh word and although some of the Tech fans who posted here were a little strange, I don't think we hate Tech...however, your coach won't find much in the way of any respect here. As I said before, it's a shame we won't have any more games with you guys...it had the makings of a good rivalry.

[MustangStealth]

Bravo.

If I was your team, my biggest concern would be pass protection. It seemed like on most plays the QB was getting rid of it with no time to spare. He was making good passes, but he won't have as long against a Big 12 D.

[Techsan-81]

Thanks for a very well thought out post. I agreed with everything you said - and although I was encouraged by what I saw in the ponies, we still lost and we still gave up a million yards - around here we are looking forward to the day when we can stop saying we played hard, looked good in losing, yada yada yada -we areready to say - way go Stangs - we kicked their arse. Looks like that day is a ittle closer is about all we can say right now.

My senior year at Tech we went 1-9-1 under Jerry Moore, including a 30-6 beating at the hands of SMU. I used to yearn for a day when Tech would be criticized for running up the score on people. I guess you have to be careful what you ask for...

[Webmaster]

Many thanks Techsan,

There are too many great people from TTech (including our Editor-in-Chief's girlfriend) and too many great memories from the old SWC days to ruin it by the actions of a few clods.

Thanks for the classy post. Good sportsmanship is not dead in West Texas.

[Techsan-81]

Hate is a harsh word and although some of the Tech fans who posted here were a little strange, I don't think we hate Tech...however, your coach won't find much in the way of any respect here. As I said before, it's a shame we won't have any more games with you guys...it had the makings of a good rivalry.

Leach is a different breed of cat. One of his nicknames over on the Tech boards is TSO - The Strange One. He didn't come up through the typical path of college player, grad asst, asst. coach, etc. He didn't play college ball, and went to law school instead.

I think that background causes him to approach the game a lot differently than guys that worked their way up the network in a more traditional route.

Now I think a lot of what happened on that last drive was due to his frustration and perhaps bruised ego. But, he has coached like that a lot. He is a lawyer, after all.

Some of you may remember our game against UT down in Austin a couple of years ago. Late in the game we were getting killed, and were down 3 or 4 touchdowns. He was still going for it on 4th down, even in our own end of the field. This was almost guaranteed to make the final score even worse than it would have been if he'd just run the ball and punted. But his philosophy is to try to maximize your results. In his mind it doesn't make any difference really if you lose by 1 point or 50 points.

So he rationalizes that last drive against you guys as being a situation that would benefit an inexperienced QB and group of receivers; a situation that you can't really duplicate in practice, and he wanted to see them execute.

Not saying it's right, but that's probably the way he viewed it. And with his background, those "unwritten rules" of game conduct aren't ingrained in him like they were with, say Spike Dykes.

And, just for the record, I would point out that he did not graduate from Texas Tech.

[Water Pony]

Very interesting post, 81.

Knowing one's path helps explain how someone filters information and decisions. There are/were other TSOs in college football, such as Steve Spurrier, Woody Hayes, Lou Holtz, etc. but they are/were FB people first and more most.?

Is Mike popular or respected by his coaching fraternity?

[Techsan-81]

Very interesting post, 81.

Knowing one's path helps explain how someone filters information and decisions. There are/were other TSOs in college football, such as Steve Spurrier, Woody Hayes, Lou Holtz, etc. but they are/were FB people first and more most.?

Is Mike popular or respected by this coaching fraternity?

Probably not as much this week as last week.

I really don't know. I know he is friends with the Stoops brothers and him and Barry Switzer are good friends [insert joke here].

But other than that, I suspect they kind of look at him like that crazy relative that you have to pretend you like him when he's around because he's in your family, but you just don't really know what to make of him...

[MrMustang1965]

Props to Techsan-81 for a classy post.

[Hoss]

Just wanted to echo what others here are saying: T-81, you're a credit to your school. Thanks for the encouragement and kind words.