Some Things Never Change

I’m just recalling a humorous thing that happened Friday while watching the Canadian / Wellington game. Canadian received the opening kickoff and ran the darned thing back for a TD. What a great beginning to a state playoff game. I’m on the Canadian side so I’m obviously thrilled about this, up out of my seat whooping and hollering…..and giving the GUNS UP with both hands!

Yeah!

I mean, the vast majority of people from Canadian are Texas or Oklahoma fans….the irony is just incredible.

It was instinctive…something wonderful happened for the team I was rooting for, so GUNS UP!

HA HA HA!

You can take the boy out of Tech, but…..

Canadian Wildcat Football

I went up to Kimbrough Stadium 11/20 to see the Canadian Wildcats play the Wellington Skyrockets.  My nephew was called up from JV on the Canadian team so I wanted to show him some support, plus I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to see a two time defending state champ (Canadian) play the #1 ranked team in the state (Wellington).

I have to tell you I came back from that game thoroughly impressed with the Canadian team.  They run the spread offense, very much like Tech or Oklahoma, probably actually a little more like OU since they line up quickly on every play but usually check the sideline for their coach to give them a play after seeing the defense.  What impressed me the most was the precision and execution of this offense.  They looked like a college team out there with the timing, the routes, the pass blocking and the passing. 

Their QB can throw an excellent ball.  It’s not just heaved down the field and it’s not all 5-10 yard passes.  They throw it all, the fly, deep ins, fades, crossing patterns…everything.  The passes were mechanically very sound, on target and were frequently made to the correct shoulder or otherwise positioned such that even decent coverage couldn’t stop it.

The line is not comprised of behemoths.  They have one large guy who the brother says is getting D-I offers as a junior but they are otherwise of typical size.  Their blocking technique is superior however, and not just the pass blocking.  They run a lot of counter where the offside tackle and guard both pull and the onside line collapses down, then the running back takes a handoff from the QB, changes direction and follows the pulling linemen into the hole.  And it was typically a huge hole Friday night.  Ten and fifteen yard runs were not uncommon.  They marched it down the field over and over, not punting until the late 3rd quarter and only punting two times all night.

Remember folks, this was against the #1 ranked team in the state.  They got up 41-16 in the 3rd before a couple of late breakaway plays evened things up a bit for a 48-31 final.  Trust me, it was no where near that close.

There are times I watch one team and cannot give a person an opinion about how that team would fare against other opponents, I’m just not that good at analyzing what teams do.  But I have no problem telling you this team would crush any team I saw play this year.  Anyone in district 3-2A would be toast.  No one in Shallowater’s non-district schedule would hold up.  Canadian played AAA Perryton this year and lost their only game of the year by less than a TD in a game that was back and forth all night.  They beat an Oklahoma team that would probably be the equivalent of a AAA Texas classification.  Amarillo River Road is a AA playoff team that upset first Muleshoe and then Littlefield in the playoffs.  Canadian played them in non-district this year and crushed them.

I am totally and completely impressed with the Canadian Wildcats.

Arch Lamb’s Place

Those of you who are Red Raiders or who have lived around the Lubbock area for a while will know who Arch Lamb was. I don’t have to go into how well respected he was or what a fine member of the community he was, or what his legendary history with Texas Tech is.

Arch Lamb lived on a place that is now on the corner of west 34th street and Loop 289. As far as I know, he’d lived there a long time, long before there was a west 34th street or a Loop 289 I’ll bet. He always raised some black-eyed peas each year, and when they got to maturity there’d be a sign out at his place advertising that you could come pick some for a little money.

I work not too far from Arch’s place, and even when I didn’t I would frequently drive by west 34th and the loop.  Of course Arch passed away some years ago.

Anyway, I drove by the place again today and saw a sight that bugged me just a bit, tugged at the heart strings I guess.  They’re tearing the brick off Arch’s old house and moving it and apparently all the other structures off that corner.  I guess there’s some business that wants that corner now.  Sad to see it go, but that’s “progress” I guess.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good

SMS OAP won first place in their district competition.  It was my first time to see the contest and thus see other school’s performances.  There were a couple of good ones but SMS clearly stood out.  Lots of individual honors in addition to the play winning first.  Well done troupe!  Thanks a TON Cindy Couch for the incredible work you do with our drama dept.

The Bad

Tech let one get away this weekend against OSU.  The defense played well in the first half but couldn’t get off the field in the second.  We still cannot decide who our QB is.  It’s not a lost season since the expectations were about where this team is, but it could have been better.

The Ugly

Two words.  Dallas Cowboys. 

The “Broken” Play

I didn’t know we had a shot of it.  Lisa must not have uploaded this picture from the camera until recently or I just missed it, but this is the play where Shane broke his arm.  It’s a kickoff return with Philip bringing the ball back (partially hidden by Carson).  Note Shane has his arms somewhat extended before contact at high speed (bad technique), and that Jared who is behind Shane in this picture is dialing in on the same player (74) Shane is…..and that was it, our season is over after this play. 

Wind in the Willows

I saw our middle school OAP performance of “Wind in the Willows” Sunday afternoon.  It’s a good play.  Not that I know anything at all about judging one act plays or anything, but this seems like a neat play to get all the talent we have involved.  It’s not the kind of play that rides on the shoulders of one or two actors, there is lots of meaningful action and dialogue from multiple actors and some well choreographed action with 10+ actors at once.  Pretty neat to see these young ones have all that down.  I was impressed with their performance almost all the way around.

Shane plays the part of Jack Weasel, and he did a nice job Sunday.  His part is a ne’er-do-well type of part, the leader of a disreputable band of weasels that are played very much like gypsies (the play timeframe is 1909 so I think this fits).  Cindy wants him to play it like Johnny Depp; are we having some fun with that.  His costume is probably the most outrageous of the set, wearing boots with loose striped pants tucked into them, a large sash/belt, an oversized jacket and a bandanna on his head atop which sits a large top hat.  It’s a hoot.  He has some parts where he leads the weasels onto the set in the dark, and they slink in with his profile outlined against the backdrop — it’s very cool.  He has some significant lines in the play and I thought he did them very well Sunday (then again, I would).

During Sunday’s performance Hayden came very near having a major wardrobe malfunction but played through it brilliantly.  In fact, I was not sure what occurred wasn’t supposed to be in the play.  It was just a riot.  I found out afterward that this was not supposed to happen, but you sure couldn’t tell it.  Well done.

They are two weeks away from contest (11/14) and have two more public performances.  Good luck troupe!

EDIT: Their last public performance is Sunday 11/8 at 3pm in the high school auditorium.

Here’s a shot that includes Shane from the first public performance:

Jack Weasel lead his clan and Mr. Toad away before killjoys return.

“Potts” Old is New Again

What a wicked season.  Some have said a trained monkey could succeed in Mike Leach’s offense.  I’m wondering when the box score will show how the trained monkey did.

Tech went to their third string QB, I mean their third starting QB, and then after two QB fumbles directly led to the only points the other team had at halftime reverted to their first string QB, I mean their second string QB….no wait….I mean their….well….the one that started the season as the starter, who didn’t exactly set the world on fire but was in there for the win 42-21 against KU.

KU and Tech play, two of the most highly rated offenses in NCAA Div I, so we naturally have a defensive struggle for most of the game.  KU scored once on defense and their D gift wrapped another TD for their team right before half.  Tech’s D gift wrapped one TD for their team, and scored one directly to put their team up by two TDs in the 4th quarter, after having entered the 4th quarter trailing by one TD.

Wait.  I’m getting dizzy.  Let me slow down a little and come back in a minute.

 

Ok.  I’m better now.  In that 4th quarter, the team had three turnovers, and they’d only fumbled three times all season.  This resulted in the QB getting benched, so Tech brought in…wait…no…that was KU that benched their QB that was the starter at the beginning of the season.  This season.   And last season.  And the season before that.

Wait.  I’m getting dizzy again.

 

OK, I’m better now.  The run defense really kicked in at this point.  The “D” had one of the best rush defenses in the league, and had held the opponent to -32 yards rushing in the first half, so in the 4th quarter they clamped down and allowed only….103 yards….and 3 TDs rushing.  Tech’s defensive coordinator became furious at seeing this until realizing it was the Kansas D that gave this up, and 123 yards and 4 TDs rushing on the day, all to one back Baron Batch.

Wait.  That freakin’ dizziness again.

 

All right.  The vaunted Tech “O” gained only about 350 yards, but Tech got 42 points.  The vaunted Kansas “O” only got 250 yards, but Kansas got 21 points.  Each team’s “D” can be said to have given them 14 points apiece, so it was Tech Offense 28, Kansas Offense 7. 

Mike Leach is to be congratulated on the rushing and rushing TDs in the 4th quarter because he’d called….passing plays on most of them.  Taylor Potts, the “QB that shall be no more”, audibled into most of the 103 4th quarter rushing yards.  Clearly he’s not over this concussion thing or he’d know Tech cannot run the ball.

I’m feeling a little like I have a concussion myself.  Good thing Tech doesn’t play for another two weeks, because I don’t think my bruised brain can take this again for a while.

Tech QB Position “Devolves” into Chaos

Well, so much for last week resolving anything for Tech QBs.  Poor Potts, he’s getting hammered by fans for things not entirely of his doing.  I guess that’s bigtime college football for you; a little distasteful for me but then again I’m repeatedly reminded by people I’m around that I sometimes don’t “get it” when it comes to sports.  You know, the religion.

Funny thing to me is Doege is getting some love from those same fans for coming into the A&M game and…doing pretty much what Potts did.  Not the picks I guess, but I’d figure maybe one of those picks was flat out Potts’ fault.  Doege didn’t create more points, more opportunities, throw for more yards, complete more passes–I’m not sure what he did that warrants him be applauded while Potts is reviled.  Hmmm.

Not that I have anything against Doege.  If he does indeed get the start against KU I hope he has a career day and Tech blows the doors off the Jayhawk Jalopy.  But unless Doege can play DEFENSE, I’m not sure it’ll help this weekend. 

Then in a few weeks Sticks returns, and we can do this all over again….

Tech QB Position “Resolves” Itself, For Now

I was going to be interested to see how Mike Leach dealt with Tech’s QB starting position after Taylor Potts recovered enough to be cleared to play, given how much spark and energy Sticks brought to the table.  Those are both good and bad situations.  You definitely want to have the depth to be able to put in a sub without causing the team to tank, and yet you (or at least I) don’t want to see a starter lose their job because of a short term injury.

Well, as it turns out, it took care of itself for now.  Potts was cleared to play again this week, and ironically Sticks is out 2-3 weeks with an injury of his own.  Decision made for Mike Leach on this one.  If Potts plays well, my thinking is the starting job is his for the rest of the year with the explanation that he was the starter to begin with and only sat out will injured.  If Potts does NOT play well, the whole thing comes back around to be dealt with again prior to the trip to Okie State.

“Sticks” Sticks

Holy moly.  I thought there for a second we were going to have a repeat of the Nebraska homecoming beatdown of four years ago.

Had we not settled for one field goal and had our new QB throw a pick six, it actually would have been worse than that prior beatdown.

Tech’s defeat of KState 66-14 was near complete domination.  Either KState’s team is completely overrated in every possible category, or Tech played incredible ball.  I think it’s the former, although I will say Sheffield looks like the real deal.  The mobility he brings to the game is helpful, and in this offense which makes teams like KState play that 4-2-5 defense, if you get past the rushing linemen you have acres to run free in.

It’s a surprise to me that Potts has the reputation of the cannon arm, and yet since Sheffield has been playing Tech has gone to a vertical passing game much more frequently, with results that are crushing the opposing DBs.  I hope Potts recovers and does well, but I cannot see any way you remove Sheffield at this point.