The First Official Aggie Email

Yaaaaawwwwwwnnnnn. I would have never guessed that not watching the Ags play La. Tech would be just as boring as watching it. I hate Thursday night football, and now I have nothing to do except worry about the Florida game which is over a week away. It’s too early to start talking about the Florida game. That’s next week. So what should we talk about this week? If I came up with a silly joke, who would it be about? Who should I make fun of?

I can think of a certain socialist disguised as a democrat that I could work over, but even in Texas you run the risk of accidentally offending the occasional democrat. And then again, as I think it through there is the idea of what would happen if Hawaii’s own Harvard-educated Chicago Community Activist ran college football. I’m assuming at the beginning of each season teams like Alabama, USC and Michigan would have to give teams like Bowling Green, UNT and Tulane 40% of their athletic budget, because, you know, those that can afford to give a little more should do it. It’s only fair. I bet all those democrats in Austin would be singing a different tune then…

But politics is probably off limits.

Religion? That might even be a stretch for me.

I guess there’s “stuff” to talk about.

- It was announced this week that the A&M Arkansas game would return to Arlington next season and for the foreseeable future. And while it was not officially announced, it has been rumored that part of the negotiations with Arkansas included Arkansas stepping aside and allowing the Ags to make the LSU game our new annual Thanksgiving game. Turkey gumbo?

- I’ve noticed that the papers are discussing how t.u. is playing “SEC-like football”. If that’s just like playing actual SEC football, then I’m going to go get Theresa some “diamond-like” jewelry. “Don’t come in the bedroom kids, I’m expecting something just like genuine appreciation…”

- The Ags have announced plans for a replaced/renovated Kyle Field that would be larger and more impressive than anything yet seen by human eyes. If history is any indication our historically frugal former students will spring for something slightly less than overwhelming. We’ll plan for Adele (Big and Beautiful) and wind up with Macy Gray (well, big anyway…).

- Jerome Solomon stated in his Houston Chronicle article that he never thought a school like A&M would hire a black head coach (I guess because we’re all racists?). Ironically between Austin and College Station, the Ags have a much better record of hiring diversity at top positions, but perceptions can be hard to deal with. For example, I perceive that Jerome Solomon is a moron.

There’s probably more, but I can’t think of anything. The off-season sucks. Having the first game of the season cancelled feels very much like high-school dating. You’ve waited soooooo long. All the anticipation. You’re almost there. You start to get “that feeling”. Everything looks like it’s going to work out. You even went to the store to get a raincoat (so to speak) for protection. And then before you can even get the damn thing out of its package everything stops abruptly and you have to go home. It seems like everyone else is getting to do it. But not you! And no amount of sound reasoning will convince you of anything except that you got hosed! #*&^#$!!!

Sorry. I got stuck in a flashback.

Anyway, we’ll be back at it next week. For our first game of the season we have the Florida Gators coming to town. I’ll probably have something better to say next week. With any luck I’ll get to use that raincoat.

Gig ‘em and Beat The Hell Outta Rain Delay!

Chuck ‘96

First the Pointer Sisters, then Van Halen, then Kriss Kross - Now the Aggies

Jump baby.

Apparently jumping has been part of the American social fabric for decades. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that even the Aggies have been lining up to do a little jumping of their own. First they jumped to conclusions, then they jumped off the bandwagon. Now they're starting to jump off of cliffs. It's like watching a bunch of lemmings fighting their way to edge to be the next to take the fatal plunge into the seas of self loathing.

If I could take this ill fated analogy even a step further, I'd suggest that maybe the Aggies should try taking a leap instead. Because it will take a leap, a plain old jump won't do it. Take a leap of faith that 1. this season has been an aberration and 2. that even if it isn't the sun will rise tomorrow.

Somehow we've gotten to a bad place this season. The numbers don't look good and there's no real explanation for it. This team has not lived up any one's expectations. Not their own, not the coaches', not the administration's, and least important of all, not the fans'. OK. That sucks. I get it.

But, and I can say this comfortably because no one that I know takes this as seriously as I do, it's time to let it go. The past is in the past. I've analyzed it a hundred times and my opinion is that the coaching staff should, for the most part, be left in tact. I'd like to maybe see an offensive coordinator put in place. There's just too much happening during the game for the head coach to do both jobs. That's my opinion and it's worth less than you paid for it. At a price of $0.00 you got ripped off.

So what is a fan to do? Well, I usually look for wisdom in the bottom of a bottle which hasn't been working so far this season, so I'll do a 180 and refer back to what the alcoholics say, the serenity prayer. "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things that I can and the wisdom to know the difference."

We can't jump off that cliff.

We shouldn't be lemmings. Come on! We're Aggies, damnit!

We can be steadfast in our resolve. Control the things we can. We can be supportive even when things aren't going our way.

It's easy to destroy. Complaining, whining, mob justice. It's all easy lemming kind of stuff. But creation on the other hand is a b*tch. Let's do the tough job. Let's go create something good out of our lofty position as unpaid jurors in the court of irrelevant opinions.

People might think we're weird for supporting a losing team. But, hey, we're Aggies, right? We accepted the first time we put on a maroon shirt that we were going to be viewed as different. I relish that. We're tough minded and we drink cheap beer. We're loyal to a fault. And if that's weird, ok. I'll take it.

We just can't quit on these guys. I haven't seen a lot of quit in the players. Except for the OU game, we've been in every game this season. Yeah, we lost five of them, but we've been in them. We could just as easily be 10-2 (although clearly we aren't). This isn't a bad team. It's a good team in a bad place. I feel good about the people on this team, coaches and players alike. They are good individuals, good players, good representatives of Texas A&M. They will learn a lot from this season. They shouldn't have to do it under the weight of a fickle fan base.

No one on this email was alive the last time we won a national championship in football. I'm sure one more season of waiting will be fine. We just need to get back to who we are. Let's go out and hit someone on Saturday. Rough tough real stuff. If we finish strong it's still an eight win season. I'll take it.

Now, if you look at my request for a leap of faith as silly and preachy, you can always jump down my throat or tell me to jump in a lake. I'm a big boy. I can handle it. But, if you just don't like amateurish word play, I've got nothing for you. It's kind of my thing.

Gig 'em and Beat the Hell Outta Kansas!

-Chuck '96

If you can see past the anger and hate . . .

...you're definitely in the minority among Aggie fans. I personally have trouble understanding it. Maybe it's like mashed potatoes. They're fine. They're not great. They're just fine. But if it's all you had to eat every freakin' year maybe you'd start to get mad. Maybe you'd get so mad that the idea of more mashed potatoes would make you want to punch someone? And then post about it on the internet. A lot. And so, it seems, the prospect of another 8 win year has got a lot of fans upset. We lost another game and people are wound up about it.

Sure it was a top ten team, but we still lost another game. It's time to get out the torches and pitchforks. It's time to warm up the tar and pluck the feathers off a chicken or two. There's nothing left to be done but a good old fashioned witch hunt. Because, it's a certifiable, bonafide fact that we lost to OU on Saturday up in Norman, Oklahoma. I was there and there's just no way around that. There is no alternative.

Or is there?

You see, I googled "Time Travel" and lo and behold, I was able to buy two time trips from a site in the Netherlands (not the same as the "Nether Regions", Paul, you need a passport to get there). And, I used my first trip back in time to garner fabulous wealth for myself so I could live a movie star's life and shower the program with money. But I found the super models and big yachts shallow and unfulfilling, so I used my second trip to undo the first one and now I'm out of time travel vouchers. On the plus side, I feel better about myself and now I know who wins American Idol this year. Oh well, I tried to bend the laws of time and space and apparently that's still not enough for us to win all our games.

I guess everyone will just have to remember 2011 as the year we didn't go undefeated and didn't win the national championship in football.

I just don't think it's as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Our defense did pretty well. Sure, OU hung 28 on us in the 3rd quarter last weekend, but OU started three of those possessions inside the A&M 40. When OU started in their own territory they only scored on 3 of 12 possessions. But, when they started in A&M territory they scored on 4 of 7 possessions. You can try to blame the defense, but the defense didn't ask to start SEVEN possessions with their backs against the wall. For comparison, A&M started every single possession on their own side of the field.

Offensively I thought we were pretty even with OU. We scored on 4 of 18 possessions (all started in our own territory) and had two uncharacteristically missed field goals in the mix. We had 527 yards of offense (5.7 / play) vs. 404 yards (4.7 / play). They didn't sack us at all. Except for the turnovers, this was really a pretty decent game.

Man I hate turnovers. The four turnovers definitely cost us this game. Again. They have cost us every single lost game this year. That's not to say we would have won absent the turnovers. Who can know for sure? It's just that this game didn't appear competitive from the box score when in reality it was. You'll just have to take my word for it.

It's now officially time to focus your attention on the Kansas State game. think, think, Think, THINK! FOCUS!! Concentrate!!!!

Are you focusing? What did you come up with?

What a silly mascot.

I'm just saying. K-State isn't that interesting to me.

The K-State story actually parallels A&M's pretty well for the last several years. You see, Kansas State has also had a rough run this decade. They replaced a legendary coach with something else. It didn't work. Sound familiar?

But then three years ago someone staked out the Luby's handicapped parking spots before the 4:30 dinner rush and caught Bill Snyder by the arm. They confused him with the Medicare Plan B pamphlets and talk of a donut hole and while he was telling a story about "the big one" they got him to sign a contract to return to coaching. Don't let the hover-round fool you. He's still plenty wily for a man from the greatest generation. He's got a solid 7-2 team and didn't lose to Missouri, so he's got a Sans-a-Belt leg up on the Yankee from College Station. We'll need to be ready.

And I think we will be ready. For one thing, I honestly believe we're a better team than they are. We held OU and OSU to 71 points. Not great, but it's better than the 110 point KSU held them to. And our defense has gotten better each week. If you go back and actually look at the games you'll see this to be true. I think we'll be able to score on those Wildkitties.

So buckle up the Barcalounger and tune in the old boobtube to ABC at 2:30 tomorrow. When we get done jarring those corn-fed teeth loose, it'll take more than a tube of Bill's Fixodent to get 'em all back in place. Tomorrow we set things straight.

Gig 'em and Beat the Hell Outta Kansas State!

-Chuck '96

OU don't know what to expect.

Did you get the double entendre there? I worked for literally seconds on that one. See, (1) "OU doesn't know what to expect from us." - OR - "Oh, you don't know what to expect.", implying that peoples' perceptions about this game may be off. Expect the unexpected. Oh the english language is magical.

I included some new folks on the email this week, Chris, Mike and John . They stopped by the tailgate on accident Satuday and got suckered into sticking around for a while. I thought I would throw them into the fire. Guys, I take up a little of everyone's time each week to ramble about the game and whatever else comes to mind. If you'd rather not receive it, just let me know and I'll drop your names. No worries.

I want to briefly touch on the Missouri game and then move on.

SH*%, G*%D*&M, SON OF B*&%H, ()*&$# *&#$@*#)&#^)&*^@)*&^$(*@#$^)*(@$)*(^&#%$&*(%(&*%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok. That's about all I have to say about that.

Let's examine our next opponent, OU.

OU is a very good team with an impeccable home field record. Historically we haven't faired well in Norman. You may recall that some years ago we let one slip away late and lost 77-0 up there. They're ranked in the top 10, again. They beat the whorns by 38 points earlier this year. The line on the game is OU by 16.5.

By any rational analysis, you would have to assume that we're not favored in this one. I will instead, then, rely on irrational analysis.

First, we'll look at what I call the "Toddler Effect". The Toddler Effect goes something like this: I have a 2 year old son, and I know that eventually he will stop cr*pping in his pants. Same for the Ags. The Toddler Effect.

Second, we'll examine what I call the "Roy Sullivan" effect or alternatively the "Lightning Really Does Strike Twice in the Same Place" theory. See, Roy Sullivan has been struck by lightning seven times. Everyone assumes that it just doesn't happen, but sometimes it does. OU really could lose consecutive home games. Roy Sullivan.

Next we'll look at the Platypus Theory. The Platypus Theory states that since God has a sense of humor (hence the existence of duck billed platypi) any number of other funny things could happen just to amuse him. Don't you think God would find humor in A&M beating OU two years in a row? I know I would.

Lastly, we'll look at the Blind Squirrel hypothesis. As everyone knows, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while. Well, I think we may find an acorn up in Norman. For us that would be putting together four complete quarters of football. The thing is, it has to happen more often than you would assume, or the blind squirrels would all be dead (starvation). It's not as unlikely as you think. Blind Squirrel.

In reality, we've got the talent on offense to win up in Norman. We really do. But, it's a little like me having the capacity to lose weight. I'm very comfortable that it's possible. I'm just not sure how likely it is. That said, I am on a diet right now and I'm down 3 pounds this week. So who knows?

OU is a good team with a good set of coaches. So are we. We've had a lot of injuries on defense and every week we've had to cobble together a different set of players just to field a team. It's not surprising that they've not come along as much as we had expected this year. That said, I do think the defense has gotten incrementally better each week. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow.

Our offense is as good or better than any offense in the country when they are firing on all cylinders. Every one of our offensive starters could start or be close to it on any team in the country. There is no one on offense that you have to make excuses for. I can't explain the offense disappearing in the second half of games. I have no excuse for it, but I don't think it's a talent issue. I think this one is on playcalling. That can be fixed.

I'm going up to Norman to watch this game. I'm going to do all that I can to help the team along. I'm tired of listening to all the whiny pot bangers. People act like we've been relegated to the Sunbelt Conference and perpetual mediocrity. "It's over and there's nothing we can do. We'll never win again."

Bull Butter!

Sure, this season has been a kick in the pants, but SO WHAT? When you get thrown from a horse, what do you do? You don't just get back on, you go whip the sh*t out of the horse, and then you get back on. It's time to rally around the team and the coach. These are my guys. They aren't mercenaries. They're Aggies. They go to the same class rooms I went to as a student. The eat in the same places. They're Aggies. They love A&M just as much as I do. They leave it all out on the field every week for A&M. They're my guys. And I just can't imagine abandoning them right now.

So, I'm driving up to Norman, Oklahoma tomorrow morning, and if my team and my coach can't do it, then I will personally BEAT THE EVER LOVIN HELL OUTTA OU all by myself!!!! And Tim too, of course. I'll let him clear out the easy ones up front and I'll come in after to take care of the rest. ;)

This game is on ABC at 2:30 PM. You'll want to watch just in case I get called in there at the end.

Gig 'em and Beat the Hell Outta OU!

Chuck '96

Did you ever break up with someone and they just didn't get it?

US: "Hey, I think we'd both be happier apart. This just isn't working."

THEM: "No, you can't leave. I'll die. My economy will be ruined."

US: "You'll be fine. You'll find someone new. We can still see each other socially."

THEM: "I can change. I really can. It'll be different this time."

US: "Let's not dwell on the past. This is better for both of us."

THEM: "I'll sue. I can't live without you."

US: "Whatever."

THEM: "I found someone new. I never needed you anyway."

US: "OK. Bye."

THEM: "You'll rue the day you left me."

US: "OK. Bye."

THEM: "Did you see my new boyfriend? Jeaolous, aren't you?"

US: "I'm happy for you. Bye."

THEM: "I'll never speak to you again. I don't need you. I never loved you anyway."

US: "OK. Bye."

This thing never seems to end. Some Big 12 schools are boycotting A&M for out of conference games going forward in all sports. I'm not sure how long this hissy fit will last, but it seems like it would need to end at some point. You can't tell me that tech would rather sell 15,000 discounted tickets to play SFA than 55,000 full price tickets for a game against the Ags. But maybe so.

So this week, Kim Mulkey, Baylor's women's basketball coach, came out and announced that Baylor would never, ever play A&M in women's basketball again. Her comment was something like this. "If a man divorces me, fine. But if he comes back later and wants to have sex, the answer is 'no'."

First of all, and I want to be REALLY clear on this, no human, male, female or otherwise, is trying to have sex with Kim Mulkey. She looks like a gaunt, angry skeleton. There's not eneough tequila in all of Mexico. Second, surely she's not operating under the illusion that any of this had anything to do with A) Baylor or B) a sport other than Football. But maybe so.

I really like Gary Blair. He was asked to comment on Kim Mulkey's statement and he could have just held up his national championship trophy and said "neener, neener, neener..." Instead he took the high road and said. "We'll play anybody in the Big 12 who wants to play us as long as it's going to better our RPI schedule and if I'm taking recruits back into that area." and "A lot of it, not playing could be said it's going to be for recruiting. Okay. Throw all that other hogwash out the window. It's for recruiting. But there are about -- correct me if I'm wrong, Peter -- 12 other Division I schools in the state of Texas, and I think a lot of them will be glad to play Texas A&M."

This is not going to be a clean, friendly divorce. It's getting mean and nasty. But, in case you didn't know it, we've been dominating the state in almost all sports for a little while. t.u. hasn't beaten our women's basketball team since 2007. Tech hasn't beaten an A&M team in any sport since 2009. We've got a winning streak in football on every team in Texas. Winning cures everything and as long as we keep winning everything will be fine.

Speaking of continuing to win, we're going up to Ames, Iowa for a little football contest Saturday. I've always liked Iowa State. They seem like nice people. They've been ok from time to time, but have generally been the whipping boy of the conference. This year is no exception, although they are not to be overlooked. I expect the good guys to go up there and win convincingly, hopefully letting some key players get some rest. The game is at 2:30PM on ABC's regional broadcast.

Just a quick couple of thoughts on the Baylor game. The game was closer than the four touchdown lead indicated. Baylor has a very good offense that, unfortunately for them, turned the ball over once on downs on the goal line and missed a short field goal. Our defense came up with some really good stops when it had to. Most years you can dismiss the Baylor win as insignificant just because it's the same thing that has happened in 23 of the last 25 meetings, but this was a good win and a really fun game to watch. Robert Griffin III was simply amazing. By all accounts he's a good kid and one heck of an athlete. The Aggie offense was unstoppable though, and scored on nine straight possessions. It was more than Baylor could overcome. At the end of the day, RGIII or not, they're still Baylor.

Wear maroon. Lots of maroon. People need to see that we're out there and damn proud to be Aggies.

Gig 'em and Beat the Hell Outta Iowa State!

-Chuck '96

Of sand fleas and bear droppings . . .

Great win over Tech. Not so much because it was great football, although there were certainly moments, but because we overcame adversity on the raod and won back to back games in Lubbock for the first time in a long time. We gave up a trash TD late, but for the most part we were ahead by 10 or more points the whole way. We ran back a blocked FG for a TD (thank you Dustin and Trent) and really killed any momentum they had going. The refs were bad. The crowd was bad. But the good guys got it done. Bring on the next victim.

Baylor. Man. I'm not sure what to think of Baylor. Hell, I'm not sure what "Baylor" even means. I'll look it up.

OK. At the crossroads of Google Avenue and Wikipedia Drive, I found the following information. Baylor was founded by an Alabama lawyer, Robert Emmet Bledsoe Baylor, who in 1845 convinced the two other founders to name the university after him (sounds lawyerly). REB Baylor was later a judge and one of the men who penned the unintelligible Texas state constitution. He was also a Jacksonian, the political party that later became the modern day Democratic party. It's unclear why he left Alabama for Texas, but I imagine it had something to do with the ncaa and freeloading. Somehow it's not surprising that there's a lawyer at the root of all this.

I also checked on the other primary source of internet goodness, TexAgs.com for information on Baylor. No definition, but many versions of the name "Baylor" including Bailure (like failure), Gaylor (seems rude to gay people), and Baylro (I don't get this one but it's out there a lot).

I have nothing but contempt and animosity for Baylor these days. For 15 years Baylor did nothing to improve the Big 12. They just sucked from the teets of schools that actually care about football. It's very much like welfare. Not very greatful for the freebie, but watch what happens when you try to take it away. When the whole longhorn / aggie thing became untenable, we decided to part ways amicably but Baylor screwed it up. Ken Starr, a stained blue dress of a human being himself, wrote op ed pieces in the New York Times, the Houston Chronicle and any other paper that would carry his message. He threatened litigation, and draped himself in the American flag while eating apple pie and stabbing TCU, SMU, Houston and Rice in the back. We were held hostage by the man who spent $58 Million to prove that Bill Clinton was a liar and a cheater (stunning revelation). But now that the Big 12 Conference is stable, hey, let's all be friends. Right?

To quote one of my favorite movies, Hoosiers: "Look, mister, there's... two kinds of dumb, uh... guy that gets naked and runs out in the snow and barks at the moon, and, uh, guy who does the same thing in my living room. First one don't matter, the second one you're kinda forced to deal with."

All I can say is that I've never much cared about this game until this year. I hope we put RGIII on his butt. I want to see this team come out fired up and just stick it to the bears, in both halves.

That said, RGIII (Robert Griffin the 3rd), really is a special talent. He has world class sprinting speed and he's having a phenomonal year. His QB rating is through the roof. He has 19 TD's and one interception. He's completing 80% of his passes. He's got more touchdowns than incompletions. He's the most legitimate Heisman candidate that Baylor has ever had. He's not the toughest hombre in the saloon, but he's a heck of a gun fighter. My recommendation when you're fighting a better gun fighter is to hit him on the head with a chair while you're still in the bar. Don't go out in the street and expect to beat him on the draw.

In football speak, the answer to RGIII is to hit him early and hit him often. He's not a QB that handles contact well. We are one of the top sacking defenses in country. Hopefully we can get him on the ground enough times to shake him up.

In a turn of rotten luck for the Ags, the game is at 11:00 AM. So the crowd may be relatively subdued. I think that's a shame, but it'll work out ok. I'm planning on serving screw-drivers and bloody mary's before the game. It's ok to drink before noon if you have a good reason or a drinking problem.

We'll have breakfast burritos before the game and fajitas after. Let me know if you're coming so I know how much fajita meat to buy (+/- 10 lbs).

Call me if you need anything at all.

Gig 'em and Beat the Hell Outta Baylor!

Chuck '96

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There's a storm brewing in Lubbock, Texas.

Seriously, check the radar. The forecast is for rain during the game.

But the storm I'm referring to is more of a personal storm.

What we're about to witness is a bit of a post-relationship cat fight. The image I have in my mind is of what happens after a break-up when you have to go back and get your stuff from her apartment. Only in this case it's not your ex-girlfriend's apartment. It's her ugly, clingy friend who's had a Fatal Attraction crush on you since the beginning and man, is she upset. She's gonna want to fight, and you just want your Run DMC CD's back. To her it's emotional. She'll want to show you what you'll be missing. To you it's just another horrible trip to the end of the world. At least it's the last time you'll ever have to go there.

But, let's face it. You want to go out on top. You want to walk out of there with your pride in tact and all of your stuff back. The best bet is to just go in there, take care of business, and leave no question about who's in charge. KEEP IN MIND, after you drown Glenn Close in the tub, you have to remember that she's not dead until you put a bullet in her head. Otherwise she's going to jump up out of the water and get you with that butcher knife.

BANG!

And it's over.

I wish the rest of this email was funny. Actually, I wish the first part was funny or funnier. The rest is probably not funny or at least not "funny" in the classic sense of making someone laugh, smile, or even reflect fondly.

Clearly the Fatal Attraction thing is a metaphor for not allowing a tech to come back at the end. They've been doing that and we've been letting teams do that. It should be a high scoring affair. You have one of the best passing teams in the country (ttu) against the team ranked dead last in pass defense (A&M). You also have the team ranked dead last in rush defense (ttu) trying to stop one of the top rushing teams in the country (A&M). The over/under should be 100 points. The Ags are 9.5 point favorites.

The question will be, "what happens in the second half?" I didn't write anything last week before the Arkansas game. It was a busy week and I wasn't sure how I felt after the OSU loss. I can tell you that I was so scarred by the OSU debacle that at half time against Arkansas, up 18, I thought "I wonder if we can hold on to a three score lead this week?" I just didn't have the faith. And the crowd I was sitting with was awful. They didn't stand, they didn't yell. Weak. Just weak. And, believe it or not, when I told them they sucked, they took offense. The whole thing had taken the wind right out of my sails. And everyone knows how that game turned out. Ugghhhh.

If you're looking for answers, part of it is injuries. I'm not sure why no one is talking about this piece. Sure, we brought back eight starters from last year's defense, but three of those eight guys were injured and didn't play against Arkansas (Mathis, Campbell and Judie). And we got a little more banged up as the game went along. So we were missing some key guys and we got just torched in the second half. Still, if the offense hadn't disappeared we could have easily held on to win that game. C-Mike put up a monster game, but had a critical fumble late. Tanny had a solid game, except for the way underthrown pass to Fuller that was easily intercepted. Either of those two plays go differently, and the whole game has a different complexion. And for the 3rd week in a row, we forced no turnovers of our own. Just writing about makes me want a drink. Is it too early for a scotch? Maybe a bloody mary.

Still, I actually feel pretty confident this week. Tech hasn't really played anyone yet (Tx St. 3-2, NM 0-5, NV 1-4, KS 2-2 ) and I'd say we're a battle hardened team. Since the naughty pirate left Lubbock for deeper waters, I've felt a lot better about that place in general. It's still a dump, but it's a dump where we can win. I think you'll see a much improved defense this week. Expect to see some youth injected into the defense (Toney Hurd, Shaun Ward, Floyd Raven) and a simpler defensive scheme. And expect to see an offense absolutely destroy an inferior team. We'll give up some points, but we're not going to take our foot off the gas. Now, I'm starting to feel more optimistic.

And there is plenty to be optimistic about. First, we've got a top ten offense. We're #1 in sacks per game and #3 in sacks allowed per game. We're actually #5 in rush defense (although we're still literally dead last passing defense #120). I see us pounding the ball against tech and beating them in the trenches. I think they'll have to play their safeties up to compensate and we'll burn them on some deep throws. I see the good guys winning and covering the spread.

At the end of the day, we've only lost one conference game. We've lost two total games to two top ten teams by a combined total of 5 points. We're not a bad team at all. We can be a very good team. There's no reason we can't run the table and finish strong here. It starts on Saturday in Lubbock at 6:00 PM CST. The game will be on Fox.

Gig 'em and Beat the Hell Outta Texas Tech!

Chuck '96