View From The Cheap Seats Texas Tech

It was nice to finally watch a Texas v. Tech game that really seemed like the Longhorns had it in hand all game. Granted, the Horns gave up 43 points, but there were very few moments that you felt like Texas was not going to win this handily. No 21 point comebacks, no last second drives, no missed FG for the win. It was relaxing.

The Good:

Colt McCoy- What can you say? It was as if Colt was channeling Vince Young for most of this game. A quick glance at his stat line will give you all you need to know about his performance: 21-30 for 280 yards and 4 TDs. Colt also added 51 yards on the ground and 2 rushing TDs. Some quick, simple math tells us that Colt scored 6 TDs. That's good. But beyond the stats, Colt's drive after Tech had just scored on a 2 play drive, late in the 4th, really sealed up the game for Texas. Up by only 8, Colt pulled off a double spin, tackle breaking, 20 yard run to put Texas up by 15 and leave Tech in the dust. This was colt's best game of the year.

Greg Davis- This may have also been Davis' best game of the year. How do you beat Tech? you don't let them have the ball. Well, Texas ran 95 plays to Tech's 55. Texas had the ball for 40 minutes, to Tech's 20. Now, granted some of this was because the average Raider TD drive lasted around 45 seconds, but Davis' offense did everything it needed to do to win. He ran it when he needed. Jamaal Charles ran for 165 yards... In the first half! And the offense was balanced and powerful: 283 rushing yards and 268 passing yards.

The Bad:

4th Quarter Defense- Look. 99% of defenses are not going to flat-out stop the Raider offense. The plan has to be to tackle well, give up the yards, but do not allow touchdowns. This is what Texas was able to do for 3 quarters. But Tech exploded in the 4th to rack up 23 points and scored 2 TDs in a total of 3 offensive plays. Texas gave up a 1 play, 75 yards touchdown drive and a 2 play 40 yard drive. If the offense had not been clicking on all cylinders, this might have been a problem. It just looked like the defense got tired and quit. But, hey, Texas won. So I guess I shouldn't nitpick.

The Ugly:

Post Game Press Conference- Once again, Mike Leach likes to say things. And those things are usually insane. The post game presser was no different. Apparently, giving up almost 60 points is not the reason that Tech lost... It was the residence of one of the referees. Specifically, one of the refs was from Austin. Leach connected the dots (all 2 of them) and came to the conclusion that if a call went against his Raiders, it was in direct correlation to where the ref's home was. Now, I usually like Leach when he is drunk and crazy, but when you are a poor loser, it makes it not so endearing. Play some defense, Mike.
Tech's "Defense"- Tech's defense is like law school. You think and joke about how hard it is, but until you actually go though it, you just can't even explain it. Such is the Raider D. You always hear their bad, people are always joking about it, but until you actually see how bad they are, you just have no real idea. No tackling what-so-ever. Texas punted ONCE. They had 2 drives that did not end in points (the other was a Colt goal-line INT). You just wonder what Leach's teams could do if they could just hold opponents to under 50 points a game. But, like an ex-girlfriend that needs your help, that's not our problem.