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Those who put down Tech are just plain Tech haters or haven’t been arounf long enough to appreciate the other side of a bad team (Losing). Thiose who have been around a losing Tech team and continues to support and defend them are the REAL deal.

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There has been a lot of blame passed around this week, and deservedly so. There were breakdowns on many levels in the A&M game, offense and defense primarily. I read many of the comments above, and they illustrate NOT how simple the matter is, but how complex it is. Many (NOT ALL) of the comments have elements of truth, a few were rediculous written by ignorant and illiterate people who never played sports at a high level. Allow me to make a few observations along with those made above:
1. I had never seen Steven Sheffield play until he came in when Taylor Potts was injured. First, I saw how the crowd reacted to him when he ran on the field-very telling. Immediately, I noticed how the TEAM reacted to him BEFORE he ever ran a play. IT WAS ELECTRIC!!! That told me a couple of things-primarily that there had been underlying issues at that position. Then as he began to run the offense, it was “clicking” the way it was DESIGNED (by Coach Leach) to click. I immediately went back to how Graham Harrel ran that offense. That explained why both the home crowd and the TEAM reacted the way they did when “Sheff” came in. Taylor Potts is a terrific QB, but he should be operating in a different offensive system. The Tech system is fast paced, quick decisions and quick reactions. I believe Taylor would function best where he can set up in the pocket and use that wonderful arm he is gifted with. NOT EVERY GOOD QB WOULD FUNCTION WELL IN THE TECH SYSTEM. I don’t know that Tim Tebow would be at his best here. It takes a specific physical, mental and emotional makeup to excel in the offensive environment. Graham had it and I believe Sheffield does, although the physical may be a quesiton. Taylor has the physical, but the mental may be a question, and the emotional is suffering.
2. We have all suffered as the defense has struggled for years. I must admit my frustration over the last few years especially as we had a “high-powered” offense (No. 1 in the nation at times) putting up hugh point totals, and the defense couldn’t make it hold up (i.e. UT and Okla St. 3 seasons ago). I believe Ruffin McNeill has made improvements, but we are not there yet. In the past, the offense would cover for the lack of defense, but that is NOT now the case. It was painfully obvious to me after the 1st quarter of the A&M game that the defense had (1) taken A&M too lightly-lack of preparation and respect; I can only guess they put too much on how bad Tech beat Kan. St. and how bad Kan. St. beat A&M along with all the great things the experts were saying about Tech’s defense and how they had improved and ranked nationally. *THIS SHOWS A LACK OF CHARACTER!! You NEVER take anything for granted. They got where they WERE, by hard work and dedication, but nothing is given. A&M is a team with talent, but was suffering their own identity crisis with lack of confidence UNTIL Tech restored if for them. One of the first lessons I learned in sports was what it takes to win. You must be dedicated to pay the price, learn the lessons, execute those lessons, never take anything or one for granted, and drive nails in the other teams coffin. Don’t hesitate to bury your opponent on the field, it is their job to stop you. If they don’t, you must make THEM pay the price. Our offense basically has learned those lessons, but the defense is too busy feeling “good” about themselves and not busy enough paying the price, being dedicated and burying the opponent. Lack of character. *yes these are strong words, but the truth does hurt. All the talk in the world by the defense won’t change it, only their actions on the field will!!
3. I have great respect for Coach Leach, and love the system he has brought. For the most part, I like the 4th down gambles because it flies in the face of textbook football philosophy. I have greatly enjoyed the exciting football over the last few years, and get to watch alot of it on TV because it is exciting. My question is why he chose Taylor over Steven at QB at the beginning of the season? It is clear Steven is a better fit for this system. I don’t blame Taylor, because we all are what we are. Also, I do not agree with Coach Leach about the confidence factor. You don’t just “choose” to be confident. It is much more complicated than that. We have all seen the best athletes in the world from all sports suffer from lack of confidence (baseball, football, golf, etc.) You start with an idea, but if you have breakdowns physical, mental or emotional and you fail to perform, you WILL not be confident. YOu must then began to re-build what you do so that you can HAVE success and then confidence. Taylor is suffering, probably because of injury, as well as setbacks on the field. He is a good athlete, but this will test his character.
Tech’s character will be further tested as we face Kansas, Okla. State, and Oklahoma. No time for press clippings, reveling in past success…..it’s kill or be killed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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However, let me play Devil’s Advocate and toss an idea out there. As soon as it became clear he would be the starter Potts started engaging in some serious self promotion. Then, with the interceptions in the North Dakota game and later with his play prior to the injury against New Mexico he establishes a counter-narrative to the one everyone would prefer where he is slow to react, makes some bad decisions and forces some passes. Then he is out for several weeks and when his big opportunity comes against our hated rival and he should be more motivated than ever… he reinforces the bad storyline instead of the good one. I think the trend across those three games rather than blaming him for the one game is the cause of the Potts bashing.

In other words — Potts bashing, bad. Potts disenchantment, justified. I agree with the commenter who said Leach should have locked up the players who talked about their QB preference to the media. I think he was indisputably right to go with Sheffield, but as a coaching staff they should have stuck harder to the “gametime decision” policy.

Ultimately while the players are amateurs and young and I admire Gundy’s ranting a little, the quarterback is naturally going to be constantly evaluated more than the rest of the team in terms of leadership and decision making. This is totally legitimate. NCAA football is not MLB baseball where three regular season games really don’t matter that much in the big picture. Every game has a large impact on the whole season and it’s appropriate to scrutinize the QB in areas where they have an impact. The defense in the A&M game isn’t one of those areas, but given the self-promotion and the trend I mentioned, the only reason I care about Potts’ self-esteem is its impact on his performance.

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Guns Up! Go, Tech! Win out the rest of the season!

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Remember who we are. We are a team who overachieved for the last decade when you consider the level of talent we have compared to the top of our division. We have 5 maybe 6 players in the NFL right now while UT and OU put that many in the league EVERY YEAR!!! The recruiting is getting better… The play is getting better… The national respect has been there when WE EARN IT… Besides this loss to A&M how many other times has Leach lost to scrubs? Spike lost at least once a year to the New Mexico’s, KU’s (when they were bad), NORTH TEXAS, etc. relax.

@Scott Tech Fan For Life

Houston doesn’t count? Have you watched a single game they played besides ours? We lost that game to a guy that would be on the short list for the Heisman if he played at a bigger school- Case Keenum. UH is every bit as good as TCU this year- they just can’t get the pub from the talking heads because they haven’t done it consistently in recent years- like TCU, Boise, Utah, etc. Watch the games man. “real teams”? You include K St as a “real team”? Why because they play in a BCS conference? Watch the games.

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