SORTING OUT TEXAS TECH’S WIN OVER EASTERN WASHINGTON

Good morning West Texans and all you good, fine, friendly folks out there who wish you were . . .

2.8 AND OTHER INTERESTING THINGS AS WE SORT OUT TEXAS TECH’S FIRST GAME WIN OVER EASTERN WASHINGTON

The A-J’s Don Williams has some nice stuff this morning here: http://www.redraiders.com/?p=1642 as to why Tech was able to get away with a few things last night in their 49-24 win. After going through the box and play-by-play as well as listening to Scott Fitzgerald’s quality breakdown last night on the Shiner Bock Fan Feed-Back on SportsRadio 1340 (shameless plug) I’ve got to admit that I really don’t think Tech played all that poorly last night.

They didn’t have the consistency or urgency that makes this offense great at times, but I think that will come over the next few weeks. I’ll also say again that I think Eastern Washington may be the best non-conference team Tech will play from an overall speed and talent stand-point. Nevada may play Tech closer just because it is at home, but people discounting the Eagles going in and coming out of last night just don’t know their football.

I thought the defense played pretty well, looked active and got some sudden change for the offense a few times. The offense put them in a hole with some bad turnovers, and the defense couldn’t just slam the door, but I’ll give ‘em a pass on that. I figured Eastern Washington would be good for about 17 or so legit points, so I can live with what the defense gave Tech last night. Really liked Brian Duncan but the front has got to generate more pressure on the QB. What was supposed to be the strength of the defense really didn’t show us much last night.

Offensively the number that jumped out at the end of the night was Shannon Woods 2.8 yards per carry average. While that number is skewed somewhat by some goal line carries, it still should be much better. We’ve talked a lot the past few weeks about how Tech’s ypg avg. must go up at least a full yard this year from last. Mike Leach talked after the game how he wished he’d seen more of Crawford and Batch working together and next week I bet he gets his wish. Woods remains an enigma to me. With all of his talent he just can’t seem to get a handle on things after his solid ’06 season. I still think for Tech to be the best team it can be Woods needs to be the player he was two years ago.

Have we mentioned that Detron Lewis is a stud-in-progress?

The penalties have been a recurring theme the past few years and as Leach said it boils down to focus. Discipline is another word I’d use because you have to first have the discipline in order to then focus on the “little” things like penalties. Tech just isn’t good enough to survive that kind of night against the top half of the Big 12. Leach referenced on the post-game show his sign about “you’re either coaching it or allowing it to happen”. I have a feeling that will be a recurring theme this week around the Tech Camp.

The bottom line is that Tech looked farther away from being a team ready to challenge Oklahoma and Texas for the top spot in the South last night than most folks were expecting. If it was a wake-up call, consider the phone answered judging from the comments of players and coaches alike last night. And that, my friends, is why you don’t open with LSU, Arkansas, or some other high-profile team. Not if you’ve got a possible year in the making like Tech could have.

We’ll have some more thoughts later on today and Monday. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend and please be safe out there.

MORE LATER

HYATT

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