What could have been a shocking upset over #7 TCU, we lost this game for three reasons...
1. Bad coaching. The fourth down calls deep in our own territory in a close game have to stop. We have a great punter so use him. Also, the offensive play calling today was, well, offensive. It got our quarterback hurt and the run by Smith was the most predictable play in history. Further, without a Rodney Allison type of option quarterback, why were we running the option so much? Sorry, but calling deep passes on third downs and a couple of yards needed is ill advised, in my opinion.
2. Mistakes on our part. Remember the illegal motion in the first half from the TCU 2 yard line? That cost us 4 points, having to kick a field goal. The dropped pass by Sparkman on the play he got hurt would have been huge had he caught the ball. The missed open receivers by Smith and Shough were also terrible mistakes.
3. Perhaps most importantly, the officiating in this game was clearly horrible, and Tech was simply raped. TCU got away with at least one block in the back on the early punt return, the non calls on several obvious TCU pass interferences, the terrible pass interference call on Tech in our end zone and the call that completely turned the game around, the phantom face mask call.
I normally don't subscribe to conspiracy theories, but this game had all the appearances of a fix. Every bad call in this game went against Tech and that smells like last week's garbage. And those calls and non calls were not just bad calls that went against us, they were outrageous and game changing.
Add it all up and it was a winnable game that we lost, thanks to the horrible calls and our own mistakes by the coaches and the players.
1. Bad coaching. The fourth down calls deep in our own territory in a close game have to stop. We have a great punter so use him. Also, the offensive play calling today was, well, offensive. It got our quarterback hurt and the run by Smith was the most predictable play in history. Further, without a Rodney Allison type of option quarterback, why were we running the option so much? Sorry, but calling deep passes on third downs and a couple of yards needed is ill advised, in my opinion.
2. Mistakes on our part. Remember the illegal motion in the first half from the TCU 2 yard line? That cost us 4 points, having to kick a field goal. The dropped pass by Sparkman on the play he got hurt would have been huge had he caught the ball. The missed open receivers by Smith and Shough were also terrible mistakes.
3. Perhaps most importantly, the officiating in this game was clearly horrible, and Tech was simply raped. TCU got away with at least one block in the back on the early punt return, the non calls on several obvious TCU pass interferences, the terrible pass interference call on Tech in our end zone and the call that completely turned the game around, the phantom face mask call.
I normally don't subscribe to conspiracy theories, but this game had all the appearances of a fix. Every bad call in this game went against Tech and that smells like last week's garbage. And those calls and non calls were not just bad calls that went against us, they were outrageous and game changing.
Add it all up and it was a winnable game that we lost, thanks to the horrible calls and our own mistakes by the coaches and the players.
