And the PE Coach is out directing traffic in full Tech gear, which is normal, dude wears Tech stuff every single day. But when my son opens my truck door to hop out I hear the portable speaker they have set up to play music in the mornings and it's blasting the chorus to "Victory Bells" by Josh Abbott. Pretty good start to my morning. Yeah Midland schools are trash, but at least they're teaching the important things.

should come out later this morning. Without looking across the box scores of other big 12 games, I’d guess we have a solid shot to see 2 players win an award this week.

Figure offense with will go to Adrian Martinez of Kansas State.

I’d like to think Reggie Pearson’s fumble recovery and interception are enough to get his the defense award.

And then you’d think that Trey Wolff would earn the Special Teams player of the week award with his work down the stretch on Saturday.

As always this list can and will change as we get closer to kickoff. These are just the names that have confirmed so far.

2023 commits
QB Jake Strong
WR Kelby Valsin
WR TJ West (maybe)
WR Kaleb Smith
OL Dylan Shaw
OL Kaden Carr
DT Jayden Cofield
DT Braylon Rigsby
DT Ansel Nedore
OLB/DE Isaiah Crawford
LB John Curry
DB Chapman Lewis
DB Jordan Sanford
DB Brenden Jordan
DB Macho Stevenson

2023 targets
QB Jack Pitts
TE Dylan Ware
ATH Darrion Taylor
K Rance Purser

2024 targets
QB Marcos Davila*
QB William Hammond*
RB Pius Vokes
WR Dozie Ezukanma*
WR Keonde Henry*
WR Kofi Eduful
OL Holton Hendrix*
OL Kasen Long*
OL Ellis Davis
DE Carlon Jones
LB Kahlil Smith
OLB Tomsen Vickery
DB Peyton Morgan*
DB Reece Watkins
DB Zachaun Williams*
ATH Vosky Howard*
ATH Clayton Hart
ATH Elijah Jackson* (offer from former staff)

2025 targets
OL Will Ogle
OLB Jaxson Cofield

*holds Tech offer

What a tremendous improvement! Music was on point all night—loud, varied selection and good timing in relation to game action. Not a single commercial on the big board that I can recall. And no boring presentations on the field to interrupt the vibe. Overall a huge improvement over years past. Excellent job by Gio and staff. Well done.

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One of my favorite experiences of my 30 years as a Red Raider.

Tech using it in videos today makes me convinced it needs to be our “country roads”.

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So did any run into Patterson yesterday and give him the horns down? Or did he not make the trip?

Classic 😆

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-- How is Sark's press conference not on the interwebs anywhere yet? Cowards.


-- That was a bizarre first half. It could've got out of hand for us, but our offense had two ridiculously long and sustained drives, each of which involved converting 3rd & 20+ situations. Those two drives were 31 plays, 159 yards, 14 points and almost 13 minutes in possession.

Those drives kept our defense off the field when they were absolutely gashing us. Those drives also paved the way to Tech's defense only playing 63 snaps in an OT game. That allowed us to really keep a tight rotation -- only about 10-11 guys were major contributors. And our secondary essentially played the entire game.


-- In the first half, UT's runningbacks generated 177 yards on just 16 touches with 2 TDs. We only stopped them once in the half, and it was on a pretty bad decision by Hudson Card. The second half was an entirely different story. I count 55 total yards for UT's backs on 15 touches, and that includes a 40-yard TD run.

UT has some "real dudes" on offense, but not enough to jack with us. When Xavier Worthy went down with an injury, we could focus more attention on their running game, and they didn't have the WRs, OL, or QB to make us pay for that extra attention.

Jordan Whittington, who was getting loose in the first half, had 0 catches in the second half. And that's with Worthy out and UT's running game stymied. Whatever they were trying to do, we were stopping.

-- I didn't notice Dadrian Taylor much in the game, and that's a good thing. He was only thrown at once and didn't allow a reception. All of Tech's major contributors (except Tyree and Bradford) were credited with a missed tackle. Dadrian didn't miss any.


-- Muddy Waters played over half his snaps inside the box. We use him in so many ways. Rushing the passer. Stopping the run in short-yardage scenarios. Blowing up horizontal quick game stuff. Being the deepest DB on the field in pass coverage. If there's something a player can do on defense, Muddy does it. He was the highest graded PFF guy when you consider how many snaps he played v some of the DL that technically graded out higher.


-- My man Jayden York was in the game in some huge moments.


-- Did Loic get hurt? I didn't even notice that he only played 5 snaps. Wonder what's up with that.


-- PFF hates our OL but screw 'em. It shows that we allowed over 30 pressures, which is 20 more than last week and the same amount as the UH game. I bet my rewatch will confirm that our issues offensively aren't necessarily allowing pressures -- it's that millisecond extra we need to get a play off. Whether it's Donovan making a decision quicker, our WR getting open a half-second quicker, or the OL holding up just a little bit longer... we "got right" Saturday afternoon with our protections. I don't care what PFF says.


-- We threw a lot of short, underneath passes. Donovan's ADOT (how far the pass travels in the air per target) was the shortest of his young career. Throwing deep balls just may not be in the cards for this offense for a number of reasons personnel wise.

I will say that I got frustrated with Donovan's deep throw to Loic. Thought it was in the air way too long and should've been a big play. However, we did complete our first pass of the year v. an FBS team that was 20 or more yards downfield. It wasn't a great read or anything (UT had jumped offsides), but Trey Cleveland made a heck of a catch over two UT defenders.

-- Tech gained 148 yards on 38 carries, and it was yeoman's work. Wasn't easy. Wasn't pretty. Our RBs and QB had to truckstick people to fall for huge yards in 3rd/4th down situations. But our running game was effective enough on Saturday.

We even hit a couple explosive ones (including one to ice the game). I wonder the last time Tech did not allow more runs of 10+ yards against UT? I bet it's been a long, long time. Both teams had 4 on Saturday.


-- We force fed the ball to Myles Price. Almost 30% of Donovan's pass attempts were thrown his way, nearly all of them within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Kittley eased up the reads and throws for Donovan in this game. McGuire praised Kittley for "spreading UT out in early downs (with 5 wide stuff)".... which gave Donovan a "clearer picture."


-- About 80% of our passes were thrown to slot WRs, RBs, or TEs. It was a much, much higher ratio than what we've seen to date. It certainly seems like Kittley made some adjustments to help Donovan out this game and it worked. Donovan's going to keep getting better, too.


-- Tech is 3-1 (1-0). We have a winnable but very tough game next Saturday in Manhattan. My voice is shot. I'm still pumped about that one and, due to conference realignment, probably will be for a long, long time. Tech football is exorcising some serious demons these last 7 games or so. I would not want to play us. No sir.

Think this is the best one yet. 😂

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Headed to Vegas this next weekend with four other couples. With a 9am local kickoff time…any suggestions on where to go? I’m guessing good mimosas and Bloody Mary’s are a must! Let’s Go!!!!

Does anyone have the play by play radio of the end of the game. Would like to hear it.

The men's basketball team had 2 visitors this weekend as everybody knows.
The volleyball team had a visitor last weekend, but I don't know who it was. Just wanted to get you know there was a visitor.
I am still trying to find out the name of the latest women's basketball commit. I have a sense of who it is, but will let the young lady announce in her own time. She is a good one if it's her.
T&F had 3 known visitors this weekend. All 3 were women's recruits. The one I know was here was Leah Acosta from Midland Legacy. She competes in the throws.
There are two players announcing this coming weekend (MBB) Jazz Gardner 6-11, C out of California will announce Friday and (WBB) Achol Magot 6-7, C out of Arizona will announce Saturday.

Bohls: Up and down Texas has been here, done that — too many times​

Kirk Bohls
Austin American-Statesman

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LUBBOCK — The view remains the same.
Texas Tech showed No. 22 Texas the identical view it’s had pretty much since it last won a conference championship 13 years ago and gave the hurting Longhorns another awful case of deja vu.
Yeah, they couldn’t finish all over again.
Feels more like deja voodoo as if there’s some haunting spell cast on a team that won a national championship and almost a second in the first decade of the 2000s and is now trying to pull itself out of the doldrums of four losing seasons in the last eight years. Of course, the latest curse happened Saturday at frenetic Jones AT&T Stadium where Michael Crabtree once snatched a potential title from Texas in the closing seconds more than a decade ago.

This Texas team probably had no such grand illusions even if it had showed signs of turning the corner with two wins in its first three games, putting in a command performance in a near upset of Alabama and leading Texas Tech by two touchdowns late in the third quarter.
In the end, it was more of the same. And no way to start a Big 12 opener.


Like that that miracle catch in 2008 by Crabtree, who was going to be honored for his College Football Hall of Fame induction Saturday but for a scheduling conflict, this game, too, was lost in the closing seconds. Actually, later than the closing seconds because Texas seemed to pull off a miracle of its own when, with 21 seconds to play after a go-ahead Tech field goal, quarterback Hudson Card directed the offense downfield to get in position for a game-tying, 48-yard field goal by Bert Auburn on the final play of regulation.

Whys of Texas: Yeah, the Horns spent $280,000 on Arch Manning’s visit. And? So?
Disaster replaced euphoria in quick order on the sidelines when Bijan Robinson, Texas’ most reliable player, lost a fumble on the first play of overtime. That energized the Red Raiders, and five plays later, Texas Tech’s Trey Wolff banged home a 20-yard field goal for his second clutch make in a span of six plays to pull off a 37-34 victory over the deflated Longhorns.

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“We just didn’t play good enough,” second-year Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “It’s frustrating because I know we’re better than we played today.”
They were for a half, but collapsed in the second half in a sea of offensive malfeasance and defensive letdowns. Texas went from all gas and no brakes to just flat-out gassed, its defense marooned on the field for 100 total plays.


Golden: Texas is showing that now, double-digit deficits don't equal doom
For Texas, this is getting to be like a broken record, except that failing to close out a potential, program-altering, momentous victory over then-No. 1 Alabama feels much differently than falling at the very bitter end to an unranked 2-1 Red Raiders team fueled by an energetic crowd.
Now we’ll have to see if this team is broken or not.
Starting quarterback Quinn Ewers may be a week closer to healing his sprained clavicle although Card played well under constant duress, thanks to an offensive line that got schooled. In addition, star wide receiver Xavier Worthy limped off the field with a lower leg injury — X-rays were negative — and leaves his immediate availability in question for next weekend’s home game with West Virginia.
Texas' sins were many. It didn’t pass-block well. Texas couldn’t open running lanes, rushing for just 149 yards, 62 of which came on Robinson's impressive, 40-yard touchdown run and a nifty 22-yard scramble by Card. Texas barely breathed hard on Tech quarterback Donovan Smith, sacking him only twice in 58 pass plays although on one he simply was run out of bounds.
"I don't think it's deflating," Robinson said. "I think it's a learning experience."
Haven't the Longhorns learned enough by now?


More:While quarterbacks get the attention, Texas’ young offensive line quietly strengthens
Then there’s the team’s possibly fragile psyche, given that Sarkisian’s teams have gone 1-6 away from Royal-Memorial Stadium in his year-plus. His teams have blown double-digit leads four times in 16 games. Some of the same old doubts could well surface if Texas isn’t careful, even though it has at times looked far superior to last year’s 5-7 team which lost six straight games.

“Life isn’t over,” Texas slot receiver Jordan Whittington said. “A loss is a loss to me. They just made the plays when they needed to.”
And Texas did anything but.
Once the Red Raiders went to a hurry-up offense in the third quarter, Texas was helpless to slow them down. The Longhorns just could not get off the field in the second half.
“I don’t think we have a big deal about finishing,” nose tackle Keondre Coburn said. “Now today it was a big deal and we’ve got to do a better job of finishing.”
Wolff’s field goal set off a seismic reaction from the sellout crowd of 60,975, and seemingly every student enrolled at Tech swarmed the field, threw their Horns down, acted like they were Dancing with the Stars and wildly celebrated a signature win by first-year head coach Joey McGuire.
So now it’s Texas feeling a bit broken with a 2-2 record after dropping its first road game of the year and echoing back to Sarkisian’s first season when the Longhorns turned in a 5-7 report card. They'll undoubtedly tumble out of the Top 25 and have squandered much of the good will they'd built up.


Texas may be as happy to leave Lubbock in its rear-view mirror as it so desperately wants to leave its long journey of mediocrity behind. Tech, on the other hand, played with an energy and a fury that Texas lacked.
“There’s a reason they don’t want to (keep playing), and it happened today,” McGuire said. “But we should. It should be in every sport. Let’s talk about revenue. They have a much better chance of selling out their basketball arena whenever they play Texas Tech in Austin. They have a better chance of doing that whenever they’re playing here or we’re playing there in football or we’re playing there in baseball. The reasoning behind it, you can see the reasoning behind it and it’s not on our side. We want to play that game.”
McGuire may not get an amen from the Texas folks.
Leaving Lubbock may be easier than the latter because an unranked 2-1 Red Raiders team pinned a soul-stealing defeat on the visiting Longhorns with a dominant second half.
This time, Texas played one good half.
Texas stuck around for the second, but was thoroughly outplayed by an aggressive, up-tempo Red Raiders offense that had 100 plays Saturday to Texas’ 60.
“Yeah,” Texas safety Anthony Cook said, “it felt like it.”
Texas Tech made the most of its hundred snaps, particularly in the second half and overtime when it scored two touchdowns and three field goals in seven possessions and was denied at the 2-yard by a strong Texas goal-line stand on one of the other two series.

Texas, meanwhile, barely registered a touchdown and a field goal in its seven drives after halftime and then lost a fumble from its best player to add salt to what seems like a gaping wound.
Maybe this is only a momentary setback, even though it was a complete collapse on both sides of the ball in the second half, Robinson’s big 40-yard touchdown run and the heroics by Card and Auburn at the end of regulation notwithstanding.
Texas has been here before, aching to return to glory, but it keeps stubbing its toe in its desperate search to regain national — or even conference — prominence.
As for Lubbock, who knows if Texas will ever be here again.
Just don’t tell the Red Raiders this isn’t a rivalry. Don’t tell the thousands of passionate, red-clad students who stormed the field like a tidal wave and taunted the Texas football team that this doesn’t mean much. And if this was indeed the Longhorns’ final trip to Jones AT&T Stadium ever, well, Tech gave ‘em one helluva parting gift.

When things are bad, say little. When things are good, say less.

Beat K-State…

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- This is obviously the first time since 2008 that Texas leaves Lubbock with a loss. It's the first time since 2017 the Red Raiders beat the Longhorns. It's the second time in the last three years the Red Raiders and Horns went into overtime.

- Donovan Smith didn't throw one interception and really, besides maybe once, come near it this game. The Red Raiders were fortunate to rally on their own fumbles. They didn't fold like in years past.

- In 2022, Texas Tech has lost one game on any playing surface to Texas: 1-0, football, 2-0, basketball and 2-1 baseball.

- Texas Tech dominated in TOP and plays. The Red Raiders ran 100 plays, according to the live stats, compared to Texas' 60.

- Texas Tech went 6-of-8 on fourth down this game.

- I thought Reggie Pearson solidified his presence on defense. He ended up on the other end of both turnovers. He was literally at the right spot at the right time. Krishon Merriweather continues the trend of big time middle linebackers at Texas Tech. He forced the fumble in OT. Tyree Wilson was in on the sack of Hudson Card, the only successful takedown of Card. However, he was terrific again on tape. I'm interested to see his grade this week.

- I loved, at times, Zach Kittley's aggressiveness. He strayed away from it though when Texas started to throw dirt on the grave. But, just like The Undertaker, the Red Raiders rose from that grave and finished the game with confidence.



- Since the third quarter, Texas Tech scored five times compared to Texas' two including in OT.

- I was confused on not taking the field goal on 4th and 2 so close. The defense ended up stepping up and stopping the Longhorns. Following that they went down and scored to tie the game at 31-31. With a field goal the drive before the Red Raiders would've taken a 34-31 lead, which they did before playing soft prevent defense for the Horns to drive down and send it to OT.

- Texas really shot themselves in the foot this game and Texas Tech took advantage at times. The obvious fumble recovery in OT and their two offside penalties with one including a defensive PI early in the game.

- The wheels really felt like they were falling off following Bijan Robinson's touchdown in the third quarter with less than five minutes left. But, as we've seen with this McGuire team - it didn't give up. I've said it before and we saw it in 2020, but previous Tech teams would have lost this one.

- And finally, happy trails from Lubbock, Longhorns. Texas' potential last visit to Lubbock on the gridiron ends in a loss. A new leaf has turned over.

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They primarily throw nothing but short crosses, slants and outs. Rarely throw a ball more than 7-8 yards. When they do it is to stretch the defense, then back to the short game.

Texas out, K-State up to #25, team with the next most votes…Kansas. Is this officially the end of KU being the doormat of the conference?

And for those wondering, Tech recieved 11 votes.