The United States Women's National Soccer Team did something during their World Cup run that the Texas Tech football team should hope to do this fall.
No, not win a championship. That would be nice -- and certainly the Red Raiders should aspire to reach those heights -- but I'm thinking of something a bit simpler.
If you watched the U.S. over the last month, you witnessed a team grow and improve as it got deeper in the World Cup. They peaked at the right time, and we witnessed the result of that on Sunday.
When was the last time the Red Raiders were appreciably better at the end of the regular season compared to the beginning? If you look at the last five games of the season, Texas Tech is 0-5, 1-4, 0-5 and 1-4 for a combined 2-18 from 2011-14; the two wins were against Kansas and Iowa State.
That's not exactly encouraging.
There are plenty of excuses to make for these numbers if you're into that. The schedule is tougher at the end of the season than it is at the beginning -- the Red Raiders have played Texas and Baylor in November every year during this stretch and Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in three of the four years. Injuries also become more of an issue late in the season and test a team's depth, and that's something that Texas Tech has had dangerously little of over the last several seasons.
Of course, most teams deal with injuries and have tough schedules late in the season. The Red Raiders are hardly unique there.
What's the answer to the program's regular late-season crashes? I wish I knew. But it's something few Big 12 teams have struggled with as much as Texas Tech, and the Red Raiders won't be relevant in the conference or nationally until they figure it out.
Maybe a phone call to Jill Ellis is in order.
No, not win a championship. That would be nice -- and certainly the Red Raiders should aspire to reach those heights -- but I'm thinking of something a bit simpler.
If you watched the U.S. over the last month, you witnessed a team grow and improve as it got deeper in the World Cup. They peaked at the right time, and we witnessed the result of that on Sunday.
When was the last time the Red Raiders were appreciably better at the end of the regular season compared to the beginning? If you look at the last five games of the season, Texas Tech is 0-5, 1-4, 0-5 and 1-4 for a combined 2-18 from 2011-14; the two wins were against Kansas and Iowa State.
That's not exactly encouraging.
There are plenty of excuses to make for these numbers if you're into that. The schedule is tougher at the end of the season than it is at the beginning -- the Red Raiders have played Texas and Baylor in November every year during this stretch and Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in three of the four years. Injuries also become more of an issue late in the season and test a team's depth, and that's something that Texas Tech has had dangerously little of over the last several seasons.
Of course, most teams deal with injuries and have tough schedules late in the season. The Red Raiders are hardly unique there.
What's the answer to the program's regular late-season crashes? I wish I knew. But it's something few Big 12 teams have struggled with as much as Texas Tech, and the Red Raiders won't be relevant in the conference or nationally until they figure it out.
Maybe a phone call to Jill Ellis is in order.
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