That's an old saying, which also happens to be true.
Those a week ago who were anticipating about a five-game winning streak and wondered who had to lose to who for Tech to make the Big 12 championship game are just as reactionary as those tonight who want to burn down the football program, bench half the team and fire half the staff.
For lack of a better description, when dealing with 18-22-year-olds, it happens. Tech is not the sole occupant of Rollercoaster Island.
How to explain Oklahoma State, just one week removed from beating Texas, who beat Baylor in Waco, and had a 14-point second-half lead on TCU in Fort Worth, getting absolutely blasted by 48 points to K-State?
How to explain Notre Dame, which lost at home to mighty Marshall and a bad Stanford team, and then goes on the road to beat a now 7-1 North Carolina team by 13 and today won by 17 points at No. 16 Syracuse? Or No. 10 Wake Forest losing by 27 to Louisville, where Scott Sattefield's seat has been hot? Or No. 25 South Carolina, which gets ranked for the first time, hosts a mediocre Missouri team and is beaten by 13 points?
Hell, for that matter, how do you explain Baylor, which had four turnovers and gave up 43 points and 500 yards to West Virginia, the same team Tech dominated, and then plays almost flawless tonight?
This is not to excuse Tech, which was outplayed and outcoached in just about every facet of the game, but damn, they got company. Tech is somewhere in the middle of what they showed against the Mountaineers and what they showed against Baylor.
This season is and was always going to be a work in progress. There were reasons this team was picked about eighth in the Big 12. It's also about setting a foundation through some thick and thin for future years.
First-year coaches in a perennial rebuild, like at Tech, aren't going to be magicians that first season. Sam Pittman won 3 games at Arkansas, Aranda won 2 games at Baylor, Bielema was 5-7 last year at Illinois, losing to Rutgers, UTSA and Virginia, and is now 7-1 and will be in the top 15 next week, and Chip Kelly won 10 games in three years and UCLA will likely be a top 10 team next week.
People are going to have to have the stomach for games like this. That doesn't mean you have to like it because I sure as hell didn't. But it's more the norm than not for a program still trying to climb out of the wilderness.
Those a week ago who were anticipating about a five-game winning streak and wondered who had to lose to who for Tech to make the Big 12 championship game are just as reactionary as those tonight who want to burn down the football program, bench half the team and fire half the staff.
For lack of a better description, when dealing with 18-22-year-olds, it happens. Tech is not the sole occupant of Rollercoaster Island.
How to explain Oklahoma State, just one week removed from beating Texas, who beat Baylor in Waco, and had a 14-point second-half lead on TCU in Fort Worth, getting absolutely blasted by 48 points to K-State?
How to explain Notre Dame, which lost at home to mighty Marshall and a bad Stanford team, and then goes on the road to beat a now 7-1 North Carolina team by 13 and today won by 17 points at No. 16 Syracuse? Or No. 10 Wake Forest losing by 27 to Louisville, where Scott Sattefield's seat has been hot? Or No. 25 South Carolina, which gets ranked for the first time, hosts a mediocre Missouri team and is beaten by 13 points?
Hell, for that matter, how do you explain Baylor, which had four turnovers and gave up 43 points and 500 yards to West Virginia, the same team Tech dominated, and then plays almost flawless tonight?
This is not to excuse Tech, which was outplayed and outcoached in just about every facet of the game, but damn, they got company. Tech is somewhere in the middle of what they showed against the Mountaineers and what they showed against Baylor.
This season is and was always going to be a work in progress. There were reasons this team was picked about eighth in the Big 12. It's also about setting a foundation through some thick and thin for future years.
First-year coaches in a perennial rebuild, like at Tech, aren't going to be magicians that first season. Sam Pittman won 3 games at Arkansas, Aranda won 2 games at Baylor, Bielema was 5-7 last year at Illinois, losing to Rutgers, UTSA and Virginia, and is now 7-1 and will be in the top 15 next week, and Chip Kelly won 10 games in three years and UCLA will likely be a top 10 team next week.
People are going to have to have the stomach for games like this. That doesn't mean you have to like it because I sure as hell didn't. But it's more the norm than not for a program still trying to climb out of the wilderness.
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