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