Crimson & Creamed
BY DON WILLIAMS l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
NORMAN, Okla. – Texas Tech was looking for a college football version of a grand slam – four wins in a row over four ranked opponents, and three in the top 10.
It was a different sort of slam that Oklahoma had in mind.
No. 5 OU, taking advantage of a chance to make tracks in the BCS standings, put a 65-21 whipping on No. 2 Tech on Saturday night, ending the Red Raiders’ perfect season. It was the most points ever allowed by Tech and coach Mike Leach’s third-worst loss by margin – on one of the biggest stages.
Every element that the Raiders had deployed on the way to a 10-0 start – pass protection, the run game, Graham Harrell-to-Mike Crabtree and timely defense – fell flat on senior night at Owen Field/Memorial Stadium.
“It sours today. It wrecks today. It’s disappointing today,’’ Leach said. “But it doesn’t wreck what they’ve done. It doesn’t wreck the quality of the things they’ve done, how they’ve overachieved throughout the year and how I think they’ll continue to.’’
Nevertheless, there was no good way to dress it up.
Playing on prime-time national television, trying to keep alive the dream of playing in the BCS national championship, the Raiders were just plain awful.
“I guess the disappointing thing is I felt like we could have played the game better,’’ Leach said, “but you only get one shot, and Oklahoma did a better job than we did.’’
Tech dropped into a three-way tie for the Big 12 Conference South Division lead with Oklahoma and No. 3 Texas, all with records of 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the league. The Red Raiders can still make the Big 12 championship game on Dec. 6 with a win over Baylor in next week’s regular-season finale and an OU loss at Oklahoma State.
The way the Sooners played on Saturday, it’s hard to picture that happening.
“I am really pleased the way the entire night went,’’ said OU coach Bob Stoops, who improved his home record to 60-2 in 10 seasons. “I thought our guys came out really focused. Everything was just what you want it to be.’’
Tech had allowed only one 100-yard rusher all season, but OU had two. Tech had allowed only five sacks all season but, against OU, gave up four. The Raiders’ usually prolific offense was 1-for-13 on third down.
And in a subplot of Heisman Trophy frontrunners, Tech quarterback Graham Harrell was upstaged by Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford. Bradford threw four touchdown passes, giving him a school-record 42 for the season.
“Sam Bradford is incredible, you have to admit, in his execution,’’ said Stoops, whose program has a 24-game home winning streak. “He’s incredible and makes good decisions. Sam’s name has to be up there, if not at the top, in the Heisman race.’’
Bradford led his team to seven touchdowns and a field goal on their first nine possessions to lead 52-7 early in the third quarter. A couple of the scores were easy for the offense, because OU returned an interception and a fumble inside the Tech 5-yard line.
But there was nothing misleading about the score.
Dazzling runs by DeMarco Murray, who had 125 rushing yards, and from Chris Brown, who added 108, loosened up Tech’s defense for Bradford’s play-action passing.
Leach said, “We saw things out there that we hadn’t seen all year,’’ referring to his own team.
“We missed more tackles in this game than any other game,’’ he said. “We missed more blocks.’’
Harrell found Eric Morris for an 11-yard touchdown in the third quarter that made the score 52-14 and added a 27-yarder to Detron Lewis with 11 seconds left. But the Sooners made it uncomfortable on Harrell and everyone else from the get-go.
OU forced Tech to punt on its first three series, then stopped the Raiders on downs the next two times – at the OU 15- and 45-yard lines.
Tech’s string of 10 straight games with at least 100 yards rushing came to a screeching halt.
Harrell was sacked on back-to-back plays in the first quarter. If the Raiders had any hope of a comeback trailing 35-7, it was dashed in the final minute of the first half. Harrell threw behind Morris on a pass over the middle, and linebacker Travis Lewis picked it off and ran it back to the 1. OU cashed in, making it 42-7 at halftime.
No one was more delighted than the Sooners’ defense, who collectively had been viewed as a big question mark.
“We watch TV and ESPN,’’ Lewis said. “They weren’t really giving our defense a chance, and it got under our skin. We came out hungry tonight.’’
Stoops played a card last week, too, to help the defense. When questioned about the crowd, Stoops said OU fans had been good about cheering when the offense scored touchdowns but didn’t do much to help the defense. They were never loud enough, he said, to keep other teams from using a normal cadence.
That got the desired response from a record crowd of 85,646.
“Tonight was by far the best atmosphere I have ever played in,’’ said Bradford, a sophomore.
“I have a game ball here for the fans,’’ Stoops said. “That’s what you hope the stadium would be like. I hope I didn’t offend anyone by challenging them this week. We have great fans. You don’t sell out every game for 10 years without loyal and committed fans. I’ve always envisioned a loud crowd to influence a game, and they sure did tonight.’’
Tech’s first score, on a 25-yard pass to Tramain Swindall, made it 28-7 at 6:28 before halftime.
That didn’t signal a momentum change.
OU came back with an 80-yard, 12-play drive – 11 of them runs – that ended with a Brown touchdown.
Leach said he didn’t think the open date last week had anything to do with his team’s lackluster showing, because earlier this season the Raiders routed Kansas State 58-28 after an open date. Last week’s practices, Leach insisted, were fine.
He admitted, however, that the a brutal four-game schedule stretch that had Tech facing Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State and OU all in a row might have finally taken a toll.
“Maybe our guys got body punched a little by our schedule,’’ he said. “We need to be able to prepare and work around it, get up one more time, and so we didn’t. I think we overreacted and over-tried and fell short, but this team’s got a tremendous amount to be proud of. I’m incredibly proud of our group.’’
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OU-CH! Well it looked pretty reversed what we have been watching for the past entire season, total dominance in offense and defense! While we were happy to have some time off and revel in our past accomplishments it appears that someone or someones were doing their homework and watching a few film clips of what to do in this game. A little of our own medicine should be enough… I hope… to make sure we keep administering that to the other guy. Keep your heads up guys! GO RAIDERS!
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Leach has proven one thing in 9 years:
He has no clue how to beat Stoops.
No clue.
As in clueless.
What Leach absolutely fails to recognize is that Stoops knows the Tech offense as well as he does. Stoops says so himself.
He also knows HoW to stop it and he’s got the HosSes to do it.
A Leach coached Tech team will never beat a Stoops coached OU team, unless, of course, the OU star QB goes down early and late in the game Tech gets a very friendly call from a good-ole-boy wearing zebra stripes.
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In what now amounts to a nearly-Cinderella season, last week’s darling of the college football world came up one shoe, and probably even two, short. TTech certainly looked as if it didn’t even belong in the same BALLROOM as the Sooners, much less in the line of suitors. The single most humiliating defeat in the history of the Tech athletic program came on its single biggest stage. It really hurts to have believed as big as we did last week, and then to get so thoroughly obliterated by a bigger, faster, quicker, stronger group. I’ll tell you straight up: it was extremely painful to watch.
And the fall was switf from glitterati back to just “gimmicky,” from Heisman trophy back to “how’s my trophy,” and from having B-C-S calls AT us back to just having B-S called ON us… This one really hurts. The never-ending beatdown will go on for at least another year, possibly more: never beat Stoops in Norman, never beat Texas and Oklahoma in the same season, never suffered this large a losing margin.
MikeL apparently really will need more than 6 plays on a 3×5 card to hang with the big boys, especially now that Stoops has shown how to turn out the lights on his “spread offense” party. And he’ll have to do it without Harrell and Crabtree next year , which Oklahoma turned from contenters to pretenders in just one demoralizing evening. This wasn’t the “we barely lost” experience of Texas against Tech, dropping them 3 BCS slots, or the “batle to the finish” experience of Okla against Texas, with Sam Bradford throwing 5 TDs and racking up 500 yards of offense. This evening was just one long wilt under the hot lights of national championship contention.
This one will hurt for quite a while… quite a bitter finish for the longsuffering faithful of TT.
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Come now Tech fans… don’t go all “little man syndrome” on us. Nobody’s laughing at Texas Tech, I promise you that. And if they are you can shove a pretty impressive record in their face.
Fact is, for whatever reason, OU is magical in Norman. If that game had been played in Lubbock it wouldn’t have gone that way. Don’t believe me? Watch the OSU game in Stillwater next week. The Pokes may or may not beat them, but I guarantee it’ll be a heck of a fight. Your team is still very much in the hunt for a big 12 title.
Your never-played-a-down, 3×5-card-totin’, only-eight-play-callin’, pirate-lovin’ coach is one of the best in the business, and there are about 100 schools in the nation who’d be thrilled to have him.
Chins up Raiders.
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Rusty, you are correct. Stoops made some amazing adjustments on us over the bye week. Noone could have predicted this.
Frank, I do not agree. While last night was surely no fluke, Tech is not ruled out of future games with a Stoops Leach matchup. But with so much on the line and such poor adjustments on our side, next year we should assume a 0-1 start before we even play a game. That way, we have no reason to feel ahead of the Big 12. This conference does not allow easy wins.
Please guys, stomp Baylor.
Chris, I admit that I was SO wrong about OU’s home field advantage. The Oklahoma fans deserve their glory as much as the team.
Regardless, I am proud of the Red Raiders. This football team deserved every ounce of attention and praise they have recieved this year, maybe more. You guys are the best football team we have ever had. Period. My guns are still up. And as for Big 12 champs, we still are equally deserving. We just aren’t as popular…..yet
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Geez men, If OSU beats OU and we take care of baylor we play for a title! Why the long faces?
Are tech fans surprised? OU came to play and when you have a challenged D and two weeks to get ready, this kinf of stuff happens.
What will make my day is if OSU beats OU, Texas beats the aggies, and we beat Baylor and WE, yes we get to go to the big 12 championship.
And like it or not, you KNOW thats on the minds of sooner fans. In a week this game may not even matter!
We will be back, go tech!!
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SAME O SAME O TECH…….CANT HANDLE THE PRESSURE/HYPE.
2 WEEKS TO PREPARE AND THEY COME OUT FLAT AS A PANCAKE.
EMBARRASSSING………….
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This game was lost because of a poor game plan (on both sides of the ball), the inability of our lines, and demoralizing plays and calls. After a few calls by coaches and refs didn’t go their way, our players lost confidence and started playing sloppy. The timing was off on throws, catches, tackles, and blocks.
The momentum shift started out slowly during the first drive: we couldn’t establish a running game; a line judge made a bad call on Swindall’s reception; and McCoy and Company started to get pressure up the middle.
Leach ran Woods too much too early. Woods is a better blocker than Batch, but not nearly as strong of a runner. If Leach wanted max protection, then we should have kept the running backs off the field until we wore their ends out with some tight-ends.
I seem to remember three bad calls by the refs on the first couple of possessions that went OU’s way, which really affected the play of our guys (incomplete pass (Swindall), personal foul (Carter), and failure to call horse collar (tackle on Woods or Batch)). Our O-line seemed seems to give up after a few bad calls. Bad calls happen–it’s unfortunate, but you can’t hold onto it and expect to win.
Tech beat UT was because right out of the gate our D-line smashed Ogbanaya in the backfield for a safety–and the momentum swung our way from there. Against OU, our D-line didn’t get any pressure until the second half–after we were down by five touchdowns. We demoralized UT. OU did the same thing to us.
Tech reached the tipping point when Harrell was sacked twice in the first quarter. Harrell started making rash decisions and Leach started desperate play calls. He should have used the two tight-end sets, which seemed to work in the second half, or run the elf formation, which might be a play that Stoops would not know. Of course, I still thought Tech had a chance to win until Woods fumbled the ball early in the second half.
On defense, McNeal was too concerned with the big play–hoping to bend, but not break. We played that way against Nebraska and Nevada; it didn’t work well there either.
We have two of these games, where the wheels come off, each season. You could argue that we’ve already had this type of game, but managed to beat Nebraska (game plan) and Nevada (QB play). I think its unfortunate that this had to happen on such a big stage, but I think it’s partially because it was on such a big stage. This might be unfair, but I think Leach, Harrell, and the rest lost focus, spent too much time with the cameras, and not enough time on football.
Leach can talk about how his players were wore down, but I think our players underestimated their opponents, tried too hard to execute, and failed to establish the mentality necessary to compete in a hostile environment.
I am really upset for Harrell–he’s a great QB and I hope that I get to see him a lot on Sundays.
I think this loss makes it more likely that Leach will stay at Tech. If so, then this loss is a good thing. I think Leach is the best offensive mind in the country–he just needs to make a few adjustments for OU and Mizzou.
I just hope that OSU can win out against OU so Tech can get a chance at a BSC slot. Wouldn’t it be a shame to pick Cotton at 11-1?
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Coach will leave Tech, for only 1 reason.
So he doesn’t have to play OU. :-)
Leach, let’s have a different Offensive Coach do the OU game. You’re too close with OU.
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We Better have short memories and forget this ASSSSS Kicking until next year and get ready for Baylor.
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This has been a wonderful season and much has been accomplished. Let’s not let one poor performance take away from all that has been done this year. Beating two top ten teams and another in the top twenty-five is more than I think anyone would have thought we would have accomplished when the season started. This is a special team and they have given us much to cheer about all season long. Keep your guns up!!!
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Pete… nice post. Couldn’t agree w/ you more. I’m still a little surprised that we were not as preparred as what we led on to believe. But, anyhow… Congrats to Stoops and his Sooner success in Norman, 60-2…amazing! TTU has nothing to be ashamed of, whatta run they’ve had. Twelve straight wins dating to last year, beat 3 top-twenty teams this year,including beating #1 ranked Texas (who OU couldn’t beat), a 10-0 start, a #2 BCS ranking and two-Heisman candidates… nothing to be ashamed of, just proud of. Let’s focus on Baylor and see what happens in Stillwater. You never know. Guns Up!
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“A Campbell” how old are you 12?
You cant be serious dude blaming the “REFS” ?
Boomer Sooner Baby. . . .
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True,
Penalties fed the fire that burned us, but the penalties were against OU. They didn’t cost us anything, much less the game (which was never ours from the beginning)
We were rattled for sure.
I have nothing else to say
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We need OSU to Win and were in.
Tech is always near the goal but can’t punch it in.
1997 enter the game 3-0 in the south all we have to do is beat Texas we lose 38-32
1998 enter the 4-0 in the south all we have to do is beat OU we lose 32-21
2002 enter the game 4-0 in the south all we have to do is beat OU we lose 65-15
2008 enter the game 3-0 in the south all we have to do is beat OU we lose 65-21
The above games give us the South Championship if we win. The First two are Spike Dyke teams. The next two are MIke Leach teams. We ha ve a history of losing the big game to win the south.
Go Raiders Beat Baylor
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I was proud of the Sooners for their win last night, & appreciated the “good” fans for their noise level, which played, I believe, a huge role in Tech’s lack of ability to find any rhythm. However, I was humiliated by one of our players who made a jackass out of himself during the opening coin toss by screaming in a Tech player’s face (we should’ve been flagged) and by numerous of our fans I saw yelling insults at 3 or 4 Tech fans who were sitting near me. Thanks to their behavior, I felt like I was part of lynch mob. Is there a way both our sides can learn to enjoy the game & be civil to each other?
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Poor preparation on all sides. Tech new it was going to have to throw something different at OU and didn’t do it. Tech only had the two weeks and failed miserably. That was an embarrassment. A grade of “F” on all sides of the ball. Including coaching. Poor tackling thoughout the game. The swarm defense forgot to show up. Defensively, Tech threw nothing at OU. No pressure at all on OU’s offense. The difference was a good defensive coordinator vs a poor one. As for the offense…Stoops knew Tech’s offense and stopped them…but don’t kid yourself…Leach knew what OU’s offense was going to do as well. Leach just got out coached. OU players wanted it more then the Tech players.
As for did anyone see it coming…for two weeks almost everyone was picking OU. 99% of the sports writers saw it coming. I think deep down inside a lot of the 1% did too. Until Tech gets a real defense…they will never win the Big 12. Granted the offense did not play well either.
If you expect OSU to beat OU…your living in the same dream world. Not going to happen. OU is to well coached.
11-1 is good but still no titles for Leach. How many more years do you give him? Considering the money draw…I think the powers that be will put up with a coach that can’t win a title as long as the money keeps coming in.
It has still been a fun year for Tech fans. Tech going undefeated this far into the year and a #2 ranking. Toss in a 167 point total by the men’s basketball team…there has been some excitement coming out of Lubbock.
I have to admit some exciting things are happening with the Red Raiders but I think the ultimate goal of a title in any sport is a long way away.
I
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A Cambell A few bad calls in the first quarter? Thats hardly the reason for a 65-21 loss. They got spanked by a superior team.
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For those of you using the “refs did this to us” excuse, quit embarrassing yourselves. If anything, Oklahoma got the worse end of the ref deal.
The real culprit, or culprits, in the demise of Tech in yesterday’s game are: 1) brutal back-to-back-to-back-to-back schedule against excellent teams, 2) too much of our young, young men reading their press clippings, 3) intimate familiarity of Tech’s offense to its foe, 4) raucous crowd of 86K, 5) the best QB in the country wore a different color jersey, 6) playing against a maligned and overlooked defense that is scary good, 7) facing the top offense in the country that is scary great.
Tech was simply outclassed, out coached, out played. Period. That said, it is one game out of eleven. There are still two, maybe three to play.
An 11-1 season and a top 10 ranking are nothing to sneeze at.
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We lost not because of a bad game plan, or because Leach can’t beat Stoops or any of the other nonsensical reasons listed in these replies. We lost because Oklahoma is (still) a far superior team.
Thanks for the scrimmage Oklahoma.
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Ha…Ha… the BCS now has you at # 8. OOOOOHHHHH!!! OUCH!
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OU IS NOW # 2
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AH DAMN, THAT WAS USA TODAYS RANKING, MY BAD
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what the hell were the tech players doing chest bumps when they were getting stomped like a Oklahoma mud hole?by the way that penalty on Nic Harris in the 4th Qtr was an terrible call.
BOOMER SOONERS how do you like me now!
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No Tech thank you for the scrimmage………..
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Hats off to OU… No need for you “Boomer Sooners” to stop by here and gloat… You had our number – and a little more – last night , and executed a near flawless game… So congrats to your team and the coaches at OU…
I also don”t see last night’s loss as the result of Leach’s one-time connection to OU… Stoops may say he is all too familiar with Tech’s game plan – but thanks to game film – and trust me, there is plenty of it out there – every other coach out there in the Big 12 should be / could be saying the same thing… Stoops no more “has our number” than any other Division 1 team…
So what was the difference last night?… IMHO, OU came out to play “thug ball” – and we didn’t!!…. OU’s players plain and simple PUNISHED Tech players constantly, regardless of whether our offense or defense was on the field… OU players were constantly pushing the limit with contact to the head and neck regions… They weren’t just hitting and tackling – they were SLAMMING people to the ground… The ENTIRE game, too… They didn’t let up even when they had us down on the mat yelling “calf rope”… If you recorded the game, go back and watch (as painful as that might be) – you will see OU came to punish – and we didn’t… And once they established this with Tech, they could do whatever they wished…
Tech has had a “team for the years” this season… We had talent and depth at every level that we have rarely seen in Tech’s history… We’ve got phenomenal, innovative coaches… But what Tech still lacks to date – that other national contending programs have/find/assimilate – is a TEAM of players who makes the other team “pay the price” on each and every play in big games…. Yeah, we have had our Dwayne Slay’s and Zach Thomas’s over the years… INDIVIDUALS who would “punish” play after play after play…. And we certainly have some “man-sters” on both lines this year…. But again, look at the game last night… Who had a TEAM of players, all of whom were ready to punish at any moment?? It sadly wasn’t us….
Our season isn’t over, Techsans… We still have an opportunity at redemption for last night’s butt-whuppin’ and embarassment… But it has to begin now wiith Baylor and whatever bowl game we land in – and then carry through all of next season, especially when we go visit UT in Austin and OU comes to Lubbock….
Are we ready as a program to do what it takes to become a national contender?? I certainly hope so!!
Guns Up, Raiders!!!!
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OU might have been the more superior team but that doesn’t mean Tech didn’t have a chance. They got an old fashion a**-whipping because they didn’t prepare well enough. I think Tech believed their own hype and ranking and walked into Norman expecting the title to be handed to them.
Some people think the loss was not embarrassing! When was the last time a #2 ranked team had that many points put up on them? Embarrassing is an appropriate word. If Stoops wanted to…he could have put 90 points on Tech by leaving the first string in. NO DEFENSE!!! Embarrassing is what it was. It was not due to the refs…it is all on the coaches and players.
What was Tech doing the last two weeks? They definitely were not preparing for that game! Maybe the players were vacationing with Jessica Simpson in Cabo because they sure as hell were not preparing for Oklahoma! That is the only excuse I can come up with and it isn’t legitimate either. Pathetic!
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Raider fans, please ignore the stupid sooner fans gloating here. Fact is, all Sooner fans were nervous about this game and no one expected it to be the blowout it was. We did expect to win. We enjoy Tech and Leach and are happy with the good season you’ve had. Enjoy beating Baylor while we take care of Okie State.
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I agree with the aggressiveness and the “in your face” nature of OU’s play last night but I thought the main difference was that the same Graham Harrell I saw pick apart people the last 4 weeks must have stayed in Lubbock. He has been putting the ball right where he wanted but last night he was throwing to places and people nowhere near where he wanted. He has been like a surgeon in the past but he had a bad night last nigh
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TT Fans – I am a Sooners fan and this is NOT a gloat. You have a had a great season to be proud of and this was nothing personal.
The Red Raiders just got caught in the way of a team with something to prove. As you will recall, the Sooners were receiving end of this kind of loss last year courtesy of TT and it sucks.
Side not to Texastechsans – I cringed on the horsecollar tackle on Crabtree myself but truly don’t think it was intentional. That guy was headed to the house and Nic grabbed whatever he could to stop him. I have noticed that no one mentions the “hands to the face” penalty that occured on the same play. Not saying either one was right but lets at least be fair.
Go Tech – Beat Baylor!
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Go fuck yourselves sooner fans, all of u.
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LEAVE US PATHETIC LOSERS ALONE, GO ON GIT!!!
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Tech loses one game and all of a sudden the trash-talking trolls come out from under their rocks. So sad. Beat Baylor!
Wreck ‘em Tech!
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Tech needs to regroup so that one lose doesn’t turn into two. I hope the team will respond and the fans will show up and be loud in Lubbock against Baylor. I am an OSU fan also and I can tell you the Cowboys always play OU tough in Stillwater. They believe they can win, and they have had two weeks to prepare for the Sooners, Plus, nothing makes Cowboy fans and players happier than spoiling OU’s chances at a national championsh[p. Tech needs to take care of business and then be prepared to cheer on the Cowboys. Guns up! Go pokes!!!
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Good points, stillwater! This season is far from over! Wreck ‘em Tech!
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Fuck this, I’m transferring to another university. See ya…
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Good riddance x raider fan.
If you were at the game as I was, you would have realized that OU would have beaten anyone last night, including Florida, Alabama, Texas and USC. The crowd noise was amazing and the intensity of the OU players was incredible. Unfortunately, it was Tech on the receiving end and we were punished in the same manner we punished OSU. Noone is to blame. Life goes on and there will be more great moments for Tech!!
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New BCS rankings:
Texas #2
OU #3
Tech # 7
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I am about to go off and rant so first thing is first….hats off to OU! They came to play! I love watching teams do what they did. Every play was filled with so much of the ‘chip on the shoulder’ attitude. Every hit had attitude. I wish TTU would have had that attitude.
I have read most of the posts and agree with most….first of all, OU came to play exactly the way TTU came to play against Texas. It is hard to beat a team when you can’t or don’t match their intensity. It looked as if TTU thought they ‘deserved’ to play cinderella forever. Gerald Caldwell said it best in an earlier post….’they got an old fashioned a** whipping because they didn’t prepare. AMEN brother! I knew all week long that Stoops was the wild card because that guy can scheme against you….like no other. I blame this loss squarely on the shoulders of Leach. He went for it on fourth down when we should have taken points…he went for it on the fifty and the rout was on. At some point, he has got to realize that you have got to give in sometimes and play the percentages. I am an ex-athlete and I will tell you that game performances are built solely on the week of practice prior to the contest. You hype-up everyday and hit people in the mouth, talk trash, back it up, jump around, have a team fight or two…..and you’ll show up at game time. Evidently, OU did a little of that last week…actually Stoops talked about it his postgame press conference….do you think TTU did any jumping around? No, we were too busy trying to figure out the BCS and how we should be ahead of Alabama. Take care of business through the week, handle your business on Saturday (with the big boys), and shut your mouth and maybe we will get some national respect. We need a defense and the only way you get that is by getting a good Defensive Coordinator. Sorry, Ruffin McNeil won’t cut it….somebody better find a Muschamp or Veneables (sp) and give him some money….otherwise, we will be up again sometime in the future and we will get smoked in Austin, Norman, Stillwater, or Columbia on the big stage again. I was so embarrassed by what I saw. I am not upset by losing to OU….I am upset that we were embarrassed and they cause was lack of preparation and lack of motivation. Who needed to have external motivation for this one?? I would have played with more heart. I watched and yelled at the tv with much more heart.
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Hey RedRaiders, ya’ll have a solid program and I apologize for some of our not-so-classy fans coming here flamin’. Personally I was hoping it would be closer. You guys just have to find some more top talent & upgre that D. When you have talent like top-10 progams do you will win more games on the road like these. Good luck and I hope you guys play on new years versus an sec school and spank them!! Boomer Sooner…
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What is wrong with you people? Do not go to a message board and talk poorly about our Red Raiders. We have had a great season. Let’s not forget that we won our first 10 games! That is not a small feat. I am damn proud of our team. We have come a long way. We didn’t look like the team that we have looked like all season, but that place was hostile. I know, I was there. It was not a fun place to be and I imagine being down on the field in the cold was a lot harder than any of us “fans” could possibly know. We had stuff thrown at us, we were cussed out and threatened. But I walked out of there with my head held high, I am proud as ever to be a Red Raider. We had a bad game and it is unfortunate, timing-wise. But don’t give up on our team. They have played hard for us all season. Don’t forget about that.
RAIDER POWER
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I lost a bet because I knew my Raiders would win this game but shouldnt have because my Texas Tech Raiders did not show up some other team did, where were they?? We beat UT and A&M which will have to satisfy us till next year!!
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Ugh…I’m a bit embarrassed for the trash-talkers on both sides of the fence. I’m glad it’s not representative of the majority of the posters here, though.
This one really hurt, but as someone who suffered through every minute of the Tech teams of the ’80s (losing records with almost no offense but sometimes *incredible* defenses), I’m just happy that Tech seems to have turned a big corner in the program. Barring an upset by Baylor, this Tech team has done something that Leach’s teams have failed to do in the past…win all the games they were supposed to, and beat most of the teams they weren’t supposed to. While Tech often pulls an upset of a highly-ranked team, they almost always have lost a game or two that they weren’t supposed to. Frankly, the odds makers here in Vegas usually have their spreads down to a science, and I think the touchdown Oklahoma was favored by is probably much closer to the truth in terms of the talent that separates the two teams, bot what we saw last night.
I’ll be pretty happy with an 11-1 season and a Cotton Bowl berth, but I’d sure like to see them slip back into the BCS mix! Go OSU!
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You know, I’m a Sooner for life, but I am not gloating. TT is an excellent team. Just ask the other teams that they beat this year and they wll tell you just how good Tech is. OU seems to put it together the last few games every year. You caught us when we were pumped, that’s all. Good luck for the rest of the season and your bowl game. Boomer Sooner!
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Tech “kissed the donkey”!!!!!
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Just stopping by to wish Tech good luck with the rest of thier season. Keep your heads up high. We are the Big 12!!!
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Sooner Man, it is nice to see that there are some classy OU fans out there. I was at the game with my mom and we had things thrown at us, we were cussed out and threatened. We simply went to support our team and we were harassed. We didn’t feel safe and that is sad. I don’t wish that upon anyone. So thank you for stopping in to wish us luck with the rest of our season.
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Hey Tech fans, we had a watch party for the game with both Tech and OU fans present. Tech got whipped by a team that was fired up and ready to play! Don’t be too sad. You guys have come a long, long way to be playing even up with the big boys (OU, Texas, etc.). Leach is a great coach and you better hope that you can keep him. Seriously though, did Tech really think it could come into Norman and beat the Sooners?
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I think we did get beat by a better team, but I do think our guys were over hyped and just lost there focus and tried to hard.
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Sooners indeed beat Tech like they stole something, but remember Raiders fans; my Sooners run a version of the offense that Leach left behind. The offense, in practice, faces it every day. They are quite hip to the nuances of this type of spread scheme. That along with execution, execution, execution being the word of the week, seemingly. It’s not rocket science to understand why this happened. I remember hearing one of the commentators saying that it looked like OU’s linebackers and secondary were getting to the opposing offense’s routes before they were. I usually don’t agree with what those big media types say because they pretty much like to hype everything up and over- dramatize. I did think that he might have had a valid point this time.
In any case, I am proud of your Red Raiders as a footbal team, as the under dog, as overcoming mainstream media, ( who have their favorites) and as a powerful representative in the most dominate conference ever witnessed. You deserve to hold your heads high even above the champions of the other conferences including Florida or Alabama.( whom you’d beat like a crimson headed step- child )
Ya’ll proved to be one of the ELITE teams in college football.(welcome! ) OU, TT, TU – WILL TAKE ON ALL COMERS!!!
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NICE POST OU2
the red raiders faced a poised, prepared team and got their butt-whipped, any given saturday it can happen……
it does not change my opinion of this team ONE LITTLE BIT. We are the class of the big 12 along with ut and ou……not bad company!!!! we all beat each other which most all expected!!!
ut, you cannot throw anything tt’s way because i saw the look of ut’s players after tech got through with them, they looked very similar to tt boys after the ou game. boomer not going to leave you out either ut put a whuppin on ya’ll in dallas……….so we are all even……..
ou in drivers seat, and ut looking on with tech……..if the cowboys screw ou up,, the redraiders are big 12 champions and looking forward to mizz, if ou wins out we get to GO to dallas to the cotton bowl……ou also pretty much controls ut’s fate. big wins against osu and mizz will send ut to a bcs bowl but not ncs……..
i really don’t think anybody is wild about playing florida.,,,,so i believe ou will win out and go to ncs and get hammered by florida….
ut will draw some weak sister like utah and kill them and brag about it.
tech will go to the cotton and we will all have a good time, remain the best fans in the big 12 and support THE RED RAIDERS NO MATTER WHERE THEY GO!!!!!!!!!!!
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I didn’t go, but I sure wish fans of any school would stop all the ugly talk back and forth and name calling.
Hey, we got our tails kicked and it’s as simple as that!
We beat OU last year — badly for a while, they came back and we hung on. They killed us this year due to better coaching, personnel and performing, simple as that! We can still salvage a very good season! Yes, the loss was embarrassing, but the behavior in these comments is moreso!
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I like Tech, heck any high octane offense makes for exciting football. Sooners will dominate OSU next week. I apologize for our fans behavior as well. As dominant of a team as OU has the fans should keep hospitality and the spirit of college sports in mind when visiting teams are in town, and use it as an opportunity for fellowship and fun with the friendly rivalry. One thing I think Tech should take away from this is Graham Harrell’s cockiness should take a hit now (which is good). He’s a good QB, but saying things like “No one in the league can man crab” or that he can’t be sacked, shouldn’t be said about the Sooners. They have some of the best athletes in the country, every bit as good as himself or crabtree, and maybe even better. Anyway, better luck next time, and sorry again about some of our fans.
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Raider fans. I want to re-interate the comments of SoonerFan in TX, CastorTroy, Rufnec, and SoonerinKorea, as well as apologize to raidergirl29 for any disrespect you may be have been shown by a few thoughless and out-of-touch Sooner fans. Please believe me when I say that they are the minority and the exception and not the rule. The Sooners have had their share of losses in the past, especially in the last 3 or 4 bowl games, so we know how it feels. Its a very empty feeling when you had high hopes of greater things. But that’s life and it will go on regardless of game outcomes. Congratulations to the Raiders for a successful season, and I feel I represent most Sooner fans when I say once again that we are terribly sorry for the way some of the fans acted. It was not a true representation of the people of Oklahoma.
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First off, let’s take this game, or rather this loss, into perspective. Just because we get blown out (and it was a blowout, props to OU) in one game, does not automatically mean that Leach is now a blithering idiot walking in circles, bumping into walls, and drooling on himself. Do any of you realize that, in only the few years that he has been with the school, he has given us more than any other coach before him? Any. Does anyone realize that he’s almost surpassed Spike Dikes for the most wins by a Tech coach…lifetime…already??? Does anyone realize that he has given us the most 9 win seasons…ever??? Does anyone else remember the school expanding the stadium multiple times during any other coaches tenure? Does anyone realize that with an OSU win in Stillwater and a Tech win over Baylor, we represent the South in the Big 12 Championship game for the first time…ever??? Not Texas. Not OU. The BCS rankings only have meaning in a 3-way tie, not in a 2-way tie when we’ve beaten Texas. This loss, when taken into perspective, has the potential of being absolutely meaningless in terms of the Big 12.
My point? Do not bad mouth this team. They are great, their potential is limitless, and they still have a shot at the Big 12 Championship title. And for God’s sake, do not bad mouth Leach. He lost. Bad. One game. Let it go, look ahead, learn, and move on I say. Sure, it hurt to lose, no one likes that. But consider Florida handed Florida State (the mighty Seminoles) their worst defeat ever in much the same fashion…53-14, if memory serves. Bad losses happen, a lot, every year.
Parting thought: I read a lot of news articles and website blogs about my Red Raiders. What I notice is a lot of chiming in by TX and OU fans, but never in my wildest dreams would I (the world’s greatest Texas Tech Fan) even remotely consider “invading” another team’s blog to bad mouth them…why do you?
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