... For the second-straight season, Texas Tech was largely outplayed by an FCS opponent and narrowly escaped a disastrous loss. Last season, the Red Raiders eked out a 2-point win over Houston Baptist. Tonight, the home side escaped with a 6-point win. Though the margin was narrower last season, the Huskies weren't in a position to throw into the endzone for a go-ahead score with a minute to go. The Lumberjacks were 7 yards away from handing Matt Wells a second Scarlet Letter loss in 24 games in Lubbock.
... It suffices to say that Texas Tech is extremely lucky to win this game tonight. Stephen F. Austin was the better team tonight.
... I'm very glad that I had my wife drop me off today instead of driving myself and parking on campus. Had I done that, I'm certain that I would find my car up on blocks an hour from now when I leave the stadium. It was that kind of night at Jones Stadium. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. And I mean everything. Dozens and dozens of people who were expected to work the concession stands tonight simply didn't show up, leaving the stadium severely under-staffed and fans dealing with extremely long lines. The soda machine inside the press box was broken and the P.A. system was down until midway through the first quarter. The live stat software stopped working shortly after halftime. (I'm not complaining about the press box stuff. They treat us extremely well here. I'm just using these snafus to illustrate my point.)
Oh, and the game was an abject disaster. Tyler Shough turns the ball over three times, including a second-half, fourth-down strip sack fumble where the ball is bobbled and kicked 30-plus yards down the field and sets up Stephen F. Austin with amazing field position. Jaylon Hutchings, going for a sack, snags Trae Self's helmet off on a 2nd and 30 play, giving the Lumberjacks an automatic first down.
It was a Bermuda Triangle kind of night for the Red and Black.
... I wish I had stats to back all of this up (see above!) but it sure doesn't seem like this offense has done much of anything in eight quarters outside of a handful of superhuman Erik Ezukanma plays, three explosive touchdown runs by Tahj Brooks and a few Shough keepers.
... There's very little to single out here on Texas Tech's offense. Ezukanma had a couple of bad drops which takes a little bit of the shine off of his big plays. Shough was bad. The offensive line was bad.
... Where was Travis Koontz? Chadarius Townsend? Mason Tharp? J.J. Sparkman?
... Xavier Gibson embarrassed Texas Tech's defense for four quarters.
... The 'It has been X games since a facepalm moment on special teams' counter stays at 0 after McLane Mannix's awful muffed punt return. I don't know what he was thinking there, but that kind of indecisiveness is something you would expect out of a first-year players, not a super senior.
... Five of Texas Tech's last six wins have been one-score games.
... The best thing you can say about tonight is that Texas Tech is 2-0 and if it finds four or more wins this season, very little will be said about this game at the end of the year. Obviously, if the Red Raiders play the rest of the way out like it did tonight, there won't be four or five more wins to be had.
... It suffices to say that Texas Tech is extremely lucky to win this game tonight. Stephen F. Austin was the better team tonight.
... I'm very glad that I had my wife drop me off today instead of driving myself and parking on campus. Had I done that, I'm certain that I would find my car up on blocks an hour from now when I leave the stadium. It was that kind of night at Jones Stadium. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. And I mean everything. Dozens and dozens of people who were expected to work the concession stands tonight simply didn't show up, leaving the stadium severely under-staffed and fans dealing with extremely long lines. The soda machine inside the press box was broken and the P.A. system was down until midway through the first quarter. The live stat software stopped working shortly after halftime. (I'm not complaining about the press box stuff. They treat us extremely well here. I'm just using these snafus to illustrate my point.)
Oh, and the game was an abject disaster. Tyler Shough turns the ball over three times, including a second-half, fourth-down strip sack fumble where the ball is bobbled and kicked 30-plus yards down the field and sets up Stephen F. Austin with amazing field position. Jaylon Hutchings, going for a sack, snags Trae Self's helmet off on a 2nd and 30 play, giving the Lumberjacks an automatic first down.
It was a Bermuda Triangle kind of night for the Red and Black.
... I wish I had stats to back all of this up (see above!) but it sure doesn't seem like this offense has done much of anything in eight quarters outside of a handful of superhuman Erik Ezukanma plays, three explosive touchdown runs by Tahj Brooks and a few Shough keepers.
... There's very little to single out here on Texas Tech's offense. Ezukanma had a couple of bad drops which takes a little bit of the shine off of his big plays. Shough was bad. The offensive line was bad.
... Where was Travis Koontz? Chadarius Townsend? Mason Tharp? J.J. Sparkman?
... Xavier Gibson embarrassed Texas Tech's defense for four quarters.
... The 'It has been X games since a facepalm moment on special teams' counter stays at 0 after McLane Mannix's awful muffed punt return. I don't know what he was thinking there, but that kind of indecisiveness is something you would expect out of a first-year players, not a super senior.
... Five of Texas Tech's last six wins have been one-score games.
... The best thing you can say about tonight is that Texas Tech is 2-0 and if it finds four or more wins this season, very little will be said about this game at the end of the year. Obviously, if the Red Raiders play the rest of the way out like it did tonight, there won't be four or five more wins to be had.
