Perspective: Get Some, Tech Fans

Perspective noun ~ the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship.

Perspective noun ~ the totality of facts that keeps you from asking out the hot girl in the corner because she’s your cousin (I’m lookin’ at you Aggies).

The game on Saturday was horrible, atrocious, and just plain embarrassing; however, the end is not near. Gridiron Armageddon is not rapidly approaching. The weeping and gnashing of teeth of Tech fans can be put on hold.

Many are lamenting the end of Texas Tech football . . . forever. It is as if this year is the only year they have been a Tech fan. Emotions seem to be running wild. People are angry, disappointed, saddened. Given this past week’s debacle, they have a right to be so, but let’s not get our jock straps in a bunch. We need some perspective.

The loss to Iowa State was embarrassing, but not uncharacteristic of Texas Tech football. For some reason some people seem to think Tommy Tuberville has destroyed Tech football and that Leach would have won the last two games by a combined 40 points. In an effort to show why this is wrong, I am going to subtract something a lot of fans seem to be using, and add something few seem to have; emotion and perspective, respectively.

First, Tech fans, like all good fans, are emotionally invested in their team. That is a good thing . . . most of the time. Emotional investment is bad when it comes to evaluating the team (or anything really). Those emotions take over and cause a lack of objectivity which, in turn, creates a lack of understanding regarding the subject at hand. There are tons of examples of this type of behavior in politics. For example, look at gun control. Some argue that we need gun control because “innocent people/children are killed with guns.” While this may be true, it is an emotional plea and completely avoids other reasons for guns (2^nd Amendment, protection from government/criminals, hunting, etc.). Another example would be social security. Many would say, “We have to have social security so that my grandma can pay her rent.” Again, this is an emotional argument. It tells us nothing about the policy except your grandma needs to pay rent. From the right, a good example would be, “We have to keep fighting in Iraq because of those who died in 9/11.” Again, this is not a policy, it’s an emotional response. Emotionally-based evaluations are bad in just about every realm of life because they create horribly skewed solutions to factually deprived—and possibly nonexistent—problems.

Tech fans seem to be attached to these emotional responses. No one cares about perspective. While the outcome of ISU game makes me want to puke, that emotional response should not govern the objective reality of the situation. I have heard and read lots of whining about how Tech football has been dismantled by Tuberville, and how Leach would have this team at 5-0 after only 4 games. Let’s look at this a little more in-depth.

First, the Tech offense has scored 139 points this year. At this point last year, the Tech offense had scored 145 points. That is an average of 1.5 points less this year than last (with a horrible O-line might I add). So, for all of you who are emotionally tied to the Air Raid offense and are crying in you beer arguing that Tubs has killed it, look at the numbers. The points are still there. No, there might not be as many screens and 5 five sets, but point-wise, Tech is still scoring.

Second, what has changed is we have given up 8.5 more points a game this year than last. That is unfortunate, but hopefully this can be related to the fact that we changed our defensive scheme over the offseason. There is no way to predict the future, but we don’t need to throw away the new D after four games. We have never been known as a great defensive team. Let’s look at some Leach-era losses for comparison so that all you Leachers out there can get a dose of reality.

2009

29-28 loss @ Houston. Everyone remembers the QB sneak that didn’t work. Everyone also remembers the fact that everyone in the state of Texas knew it was coming despite the fact that it hadn’t worked up to that point.

52-30 loss to A&M AT TECH! This was a painful loss; maybe one of the most painful in recent memory.

2008

65-21 loss @ OU. And that game wasn’t even that close! Oh, and we were ranked #2 at the time.

47-34 loss to Ole Miss @ the Cotton Bowl.

2007

49-45 loss @ OSU. Remember when Tech had a chance to win in the last seconds and a pass in the end zone when off of some guy’s shoulder pads on 4^th down? I think his name was Crabtree.

We also lost @ Mizzou against CU @home and @ UT this year. Only one of those games was within less than 16 points.

Now, this is only going back three years—probably 3 of the better years of the Leach era. Only twice in the Leach era did Tech lose LESS THAN 3 conference games. EIGHT times in TEN years under Leach, Tech lost AT LEAST 3 conference games and FIVE of those years, Tech lost AT LEAST 4 conference games.

In other words, let’s put this season into perspective. It hasn’t been great, or even as good as expected. What is has been is Tech football. We had one outstanding year (and didn’t even get to the conference championship, might I add), so let’s stop acting like Tech football has suddenly fallen from grace. Tuberville has not taken your precious child and kicked it to the curb. He is not trying to kill a good thing. He is trying to take a historically slightly-better-than-average team and make it better. Let’s remove the emotional nonsense and look at the fact that we are what we always have been. We’re good enough to beat anyone, but inconsistent enough to lose to anyone. (Let’s also realize that as a whole, the Big 12 sucks this year. OU is the best team in the South and they could easily be 1-3.)

Hopefully, with Tuberville and time, we will be a more rounded team capable of beating anyone, but not losing unexpectedly. Of course, that would require patience on the part of the fan base to give him the time needed to recruit and build a program (not just an offense).

Team Leach, it's Time to Cut the Cord

As my first blog post I have to address the silliness that is going on in Lubbock and among the Texas Tech faithful. This post will likely tick some people off, but hey, losing ticks me off, so deal with it or stop reading now.

First, let me ask this question: How many of you who swore you would never watch ESPN or follow Tech football because of the Mike Leach debacle have failed to follow through with your promise?

Ok, now that all of you have proven to be unfaithful to your word, let’s move on.

They say that generals fight that last war. I would argue that a lot of Tech fans are attempting to play the last season (or two). This is especially true regarding one group of Tech fans, the Team Leach followers. They are called so because they are heartbroken that Mike Leach is no longer the head pirate at Texas Tech. They whine, cry, whine some more, and have a generally negative disposition when it comes to Tech football simply because Mike Leach is gone and has been replaced with Tommy Tuberville.

The Team Leachers are easily identifiable. They are usually recognized by providing unprovable accusations such as “Leach would have won.” or “Leach would have put up 55 on Texas.” These are just a couple examples of the silliness I have seen since last night’s loss. Let’s dissect this just a bit more.

Mike Leach’s first year at Tech, he went 7-5, including a loss to East Carolina in the not-so-prestigious GalleryFurniture.com Bowl. In Tuberville’s first year at Auburn, they went 5-6; however, the second year, they tied for the SEC western division title.

Leach finished his career at Tech as the winningest coach in the school’s history at 84-43. That’s a .6614 winning percentage. Tuberville was at Auburn from 1999-2008, which is almost the exact same time period that Leach led Tech. Over that time period Tuberville had an 85-40 record. That’s a .68 winning percentage. Sure, that doesn’t sound like a big difference, but you have to consider that the SEC is, has, and probably always will be the premier college football conference. This is proven by the fact that 6 of the 12 BCS national champions have come from 4 different teams within the SEC. The other 6 champions are dispersed between 5 different conferences.

Leach’s best year was in 2008, when Tech finished 11-2 including a Cotton Bowl loss to Ole Miss. Despite Tech’s stellar season, they were destroyed at Oklahoma 65-21 and didn’t even make it to the conference championship game. Prior to that year Tech hadn’t even had a 10-win season under the Holy Mike Leach. However, while at Auburn, Tuberville tied for 1^st in the Western division 4 times, won the division outright twice, and won the conference once. He also won the Sugar Bowl in 2004, thus capping off an undefeated season. Note: The only reason Tuberville didn’t get to play for a national championship is because two other teams were also undefeated this year (USC & OU). USC won the championship, but had two wins later vacated due to NCAA rules violations (Cheaters!).

The point is, it’s time to move on. You Leachers sound like the chunky kid in elementary school who just realized someone ate your Klondike Bar. Actually, I think you sound more like an adolescent girl whose boyfriend just broke up with her. You’re emotional and irrational. The only difference is, this break up occurred almost 10 months ago and you’re still sitting in your bedroom crying.

Even worse is the fact that you’re sitting there whining about the loss of your boyfriend Leach, while another, better person is eyeing you. That person has a better history of success and all you want to do is talk about your ex. Sure, Tuberville doesn’t have the flair of Mike Leach, but you know what? Leach never was going to take you to the dance. Even in his best year, he couldn’t get to the conference championship game. Tuberville, however, has been there and done that. He may not be as flashy, but that’s ok. He’s the one you want to take home to mom.

A lot of Leachers seem to be worried about Tech’s “identity.” Whatever that is? I wonder how many other teams’ fans are sitting at home complaining that their team has lost its identity. Whine all you want to about the white helmets, the Raider Walk, and the loss of the Air Raid, but until a stat column is created for “wins due to identity”, just keep it to yourself.

There is an old adage that you win with running and defense. Tech has notoriously had neither. Coincidentally, we’ve never even won the Big 12 South much less the conference. Tuberville knows how to run the ball and play defense, but by all means, let’s sit around and cry in our Leach Brand Kool-Aid because we don’t throw the ball 60 times a game. Good coaches win games. Great coaches win championships. Mike Leach won games and that’s it. Tommy Tuberville has won championships and consistently contended for them.

Team Leach, last season is over, and so is 2008. Move on. Take your Mike Leach posters off your ceiling. Cut up all your old Leach pictures. Burn all his letters. It’s time to end the mourning process. Sure, you can disagree with Tuberville’s play calling and personnel decisions (though booing your own players during a game is idiotic and harmful to the cause of winning), but let go of Leach. He’s gone, and he aint coming back. The relationship is over and he doesn’t love you anymore, Sweetheart.

The empirical evidence is in, and Tuberville is clearly the better football coach. Mike Leach was an offensive coordinator in a head coach’s job. Tommy Tuberville is a head coach. Will there be growing pangs? Likely, but remember, your crush, Leach, had a first year record of 7-6 followed by a 7-5 season. Why y’all are trying to get rid of Tuberville after 3 games is beyond me.

Anyways, go ahead and reply to this blog with emotional rants like “Team Leach!” or “Leach woulda won!” and prove my point that you are letting the facts get in the way of the truth. Tommy Tuberville is better than Mike Leach, and the evidence supports that, so let go. Move on. There are bigger fish in the sea, and Tech finally caught one.

If you continue with this silly little Leach love-fest, you will continue to look like morons and sound like UT fans who cry about everything. Get behind your team and your coach!

Wreck ‘em Tech!

Michael