Posted October 22nd, 2005 by Brian
Filed under: Football

Just minutes away from probably the toughest hurdle still ahead of Texas this season. A victory over an undefeated and top ten ranked [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] Red Raiders in front of much of the nation would go a long way to securing the number two spot in the very important human polls for the rest of the year. Now that the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Harris Poll make up 66% of the BCS rankings, winning in front of national viewers and winning convincingly are more important than ever.

First Quarter
  • Kick off deep to the back of the end zone for a touchback. We’ll see what the wind looks like or if it was just a great kick.
  • Three and out for the Texas defense on the first series. Two great plays, a tough penalty negating a play against Tech, and then great coverage on third down. Cody Hodges had way too much time but he couldn’t find anyone open and had to run.
  • Short punt gives Texas great field position.
  • My stupid dog just jumped across me and tore the the Option key off and jacked up the D on my Powerbook. If I spell lots of wors wrong, you can blame the stupi og.
  • Starting off in the I formation and a couple of good runs for Selvin Young.
  • Vince Young looks like he has an opening on third and 8 but he gets stopped short of the first down.
  • 40 yard field goal from David Pino.
Texas Tech 0, Texas 3
  • Another good kick off from Greg Johnson.
  • Big gain from Taurean Henderson of Tech. Looked like Michael Griffin was the only man in the middle of the field and Tech put a body on him and there was no one else around.
  • Defense steps up again. Lots of guys coming from the secondary at Hodges has really kept him uncomfortable so far. He’s 0 for 4 passing so far.
  • They said Quan Cosby’s name on the first punt but I wasn’t sure (they’re wrong a lot), but it’s definitely him back there. Definitely more dangerous than Aaron Ross, and I’m guessing Mack Brown trusts him now to make the right decisions and catch the football.
  • Jamaal Charles in the game for the first time.
  • First option from Texas. Much earlier than most games this season, it’s what we really killed Tech with in the second half last year.
  • Reggie Bush is overrated.
  • Interception and long run back by Texas Tech. Limas Sweed has to come back and get the ball better, but the ball was thrown behind him pretty badly. Crap.
Texas Tech 7, Texas 3
  • Defense is playing fantastic the first two series and we give them the ball at the 20 freaking yard line. We really need a nice long drive to go back ahead and give them something to think about. No mistakes and ram it down their throats.
  • Good return by Ramonce Taylor gets us almost out to midfield.
  • That’s got to be roughing the passer. It doesn’t matter whether he knew Vince had the ball or not, he slammed him to the ground way after he had thrown the ball.
  • Bad decision by Vince that time. Taylor was covered well and the safety was coming over as well. Another interception. He had all day to throw, if no one’s open after all that time he’s got to hold onto it and run with the football.
  • Great defense by the Horns picks up Vince and gets the ball back quickly.
  • That’s why Cobsy’s back there!! Fantastic return all the way to inside the ten yard line. First and goal Texas!
  • Vince is off again. Charles was open in the flats and his missed him by a bit.
  • I think Henry Melton may be better when he get a little bit of room and has some space to run than he is in true short yardage. Looked great on a handoff when it was first and goal on the 4.
  • Melton punches it in for the touchdown.
Texas Tech 7, Texas 10
  • I love touchbacks and I love our return game so far. Right now we’re definitely winning the special teams battle but obviously the turnovers are killing us.
  • Hodges’ grip on the football is dumb. There’s no reason to do that.
  • I am getting SO DAMN TIRED OF REPLAY. Huge third down touchdown calls that go against us aren’t replayed, but first quarter spots that might be half a yard off are. Plus, from the 3 replays they showed us you couldn’t tell at all when he was down. It looks like his knee was down while ball was still at 29 yard line, but they overturn the spot and give Tech the ball out past the 30 for a first down. I’m this close to losing it.

Second Quarter
  • Why are they trying to give Tech’s defense so much credit? We’ve moved the ball everytime we’ve had it but have thrown it right to them twice.
  • Several times today we’ve looked confused at the snap on defense. We’re still making calls and looking around when they’re snapping the football.
  • They’re apparently going to let them tackle our defenders as usual.
  • We’re getting good pressure on Hodges but we’re falling all over ourselves and can’t get a hand on him. We had two guys with chances to sack him but they got in each other’s way.
  • Man the announcers just aren’t getting any better. The ref is calling illegal participation on Texas and he’s counting players over and over again arguing that there should be an illegal participation call. Dude, if you’d shut up for a second they just did call it.
  • Another 5 minutes, NBC is still talking about it. Why do people keep claiming Matt Leinart faked that he was going to kill the clock? Pete Carrol is on the sideline screaming for him to spike it, but Leinart never does anything that looks remotely like it.
Texas Tech 10, Texas 10
  • I turned to NBC about 15 minutes ago and they were doing a story on last week’s USC – Notre Dame game, I turned back just now and they’re doing another story on it. Let it go people.
  • Cosby back on kickoffs too instead of Tarell Brown.
  • Definitely a wind this direction, Tech’s kicker just boomed it out of the back of the end zone too.
  • Good catch and run by Taylor for a first down.
  • Crap, Charles just limped off the field.
  • Great run by Selvin Young for a touchdown! He’s looking really good today, running with a little confidence for the first time all year.
  • Why anytime there’s a random unsportsmanlike penalty on us can’t the referree give us a number? Selvin just dropped the ball and hugged his teammates, so it wasn’t there. Where was it?
Texas Tech 10, Texas 17
  • The penalty on the touchdown kills us and we have to kick off from our own 20. Good return by Tech but it’s negated (fortunately) by a penalty.
  • Big series for the defense. Being up two scores would be huge.
  • Hodges has way too long to throw.
  • Reggie Bush sure gets a lot of credit for returning a punt versus a terrible Washington team that can’t beat anybody.
  • The little bit of pressure we have gotten on Hodges has come from the outside and he’s been able to step up and make easy throws. Really need the defensive tackles to step up.
  • Oklahoma State is beyond terrible.
  • Big 4th down attempt but they get a delay of game and will bring the kicking team out.
  • Blocked punt by Michael Griffin! Ball flew backwards and went out of bounds way back at the 23 yard line. Big time play. Also an excellent celebration where two players jump over the punter still lying on the ground to high five each other.
  • Why do they keep trying to blame the deep snapper? It was slightly off to the right but that hit the Tech punter right square in the chest and he just dropped the football.
  • Fantastic touch pass to Billy Pittman in the back of then endzone for a Texas touchdown. Perfect throw by Vince after rolling to his left, getting his feet under him, and then drops it in there perfectly to Pittman.
Texas Tech 10, Texas 24
  • Good kickoff against the wind that scoots along the ground and is tough to return.
  • That’s the second time the play clock said 0 and they didn’t call it on Tech. Nice catch by Joel Filani on the play though.
  • Our defensive line are taking poor angles against Hodges. They’ve got to hit him when you get the chance.
  • They sure played up Ricky Williams’ 6 carries for -1 yards last night on SportsCenter. If you watched the replays he was hit by about 3 guys in the backfield on every play. He brought it upon himself, but there’s a ton of people in the media just dying to take shots at him.
  • Eric Hall getting snaps at defensive end, makes a big play on a tunnel screen. Third and long for Tech.
  • Not a soul around and Henderson takes the draw for almost 20 yards on third and 11. Aaron Harris was only person in the middle and we were running a twist stunt him and Tim Crowder.
  • Interception by Crowder!! Ball hits Harris right in the helmet and bounces to Crowder for the big turnover. Texas ball on the ten
  • I honestly think the announcers at these games are watching things on tiny portable televisions. That clearly hit Harris and he just goes beserk thinking it hit the ref. Maybe they have Vcast.
  • Vince misses another open guy.
  • Good run by Charles but you can tell all the tape on his ankle is a little restrictive.
  • Fantastic catch by Pittman!! VY throws it too far out in front and Billy brings it in with one hand and runs for 48 yards. What a great play by Pittman!
  • Moron Texas fans are doing Texas Fight! while we’re on offense. Shut up when we’re trying to run a freaking play.
  • Selvin Young makes another great run for a touchdown to cap off a 90 yard drive. What a change of momentum. It was about to be a 7 point game and instead we’re up 21.
Texas Tech 10, Texas 31
  • Hodges has more rushing yards than Vince.
  • It worked, but that’s a stupid 4th down attempt by Tech on their own 30. We were again not ready at the snap though and they complete a 4 yard pass.
  • First time all day that a Texas lineman took a good angle and Brian Robison makes the tackle for a 1 yard sack.
  • One more play till half and Hodges makes a mistake and tries to run with it. You’ve got to just chunk that one and hope someone makes a play for you.

Equally sloppy play by both teams in the first half so the score matches up pretty well to what I thought it would be. Vince Young makes two bad throws early on but then Tech has the punt blocked and throws a pick when they were going in for a score. If Texas can settle down a little we’re moving the ball up and down the field on the Red Raiders. The defense so far has made them string together a real drive if they want to score and they haven’t really been able to do that yet. Keep the big plays too a minimum and don’t turn the ball over and we can blow this thing open in the second half.

Third Quarter
  • Why do commentators never notice that a team is going to have less total yards if the other team gives them the ball with a short field every time?
  • Billy FREAKING Pittman! Why do so many teams forget to cover him?? He just finds a way to get open. Running right down the seam wide open and VY hits him in stride for a 75 yard touchdown!
Texas Tech 10, Texas 38
  • Vince needs to work on his Heisman pose, that was pretty weak.
  • This game isn’t close to over, Tech showed last week that they’re more than capable of putting up 28 points in a half. We’ve got to still play offense and keep putting up points if we want to win this game. Remember, style and margin of victory matters in the human polls.
  • Texas A&M is still crappy. They were up big but gave up 20 points to Kansas State in the 4th quarter and barely held on, 30 to 28.
  • Cody Hodges looks like he’s 35. Finding Neverland was boring.
  • If it takes Texas Tech 5+ minutes to score they’re not going to win this game. That doesn’t mean we should play conservative defense, just that we have to make sure tackles and not give up the huge play.
  • Someone ought to let the announcers know we won a national championship in baseball 4 months ago. How can you mention our athletic program’s success and not mention a national title in one of the 3 major sports?
Texas Tech 17, Texas 38
  • It really doesn’t make any sense that Reggie Bush has somehow become the obvious favorite for the Heisman. He had a really good game against an average Notre Dame defense, while Vince had a perfect game versus an average Colorado defense.
  • Since when is 79 degrees this kind of heat? Have these guys ever been to Texas before?
  • Ramonce Taylor has really come into his own as wide receiver the last couple of games. He’s only going to get better and once he has the ball in his hands he’s electric.
  • Looks like there might be a fight somewhere but they’re not showing us. I guarantee Kasey Studdard was involved with that one. I love that SOB.
  • Good subtle cut by Henry Melton to get the 3rd and 2.
  • Vince is getting cocky, I love it. 11 yard touchdown run.
  • If Vince is the ultimate weapon in college football, why did you say Reggie Bush was your runaway Heisman favorite half an hour ago?
Texas Tech 17, Texas 45
  • Great, great play by Eric Foreman. He makes Hodges hold onto the ball by getting his arms up twice, but didn’t leave his feet either time and was able to make the sack. Really smart defensive play.
  • Vince has been off all game long, he’s hit several huge pass plays but he’s missed a lot of open guys as well.
Fourth Quarter
  • Great play on the pass by Aaron Ross but he can’t bring it in for the interception and Jarrett Hicks makes a remarkable catch on the tipped ball.
  • Bad call by the ref costs Tim Crowder a touchdown. Cody Hodges loses the ball and the ref blows his whistle early and calls the play dead. Meanwhile, it sure looked like a Tech lineman ripped Tully Janszen’s helmet off and gave him a forearm to the head. Of couse the Tech lineman’s helmet was alreay off so I don’t know what happened before that. Tech is always pretty dirty (ask Kalen Thornton) and as this game gets further out of reach look for some cheap stuff from them. We need to be careful and not get anyone hurt.
  • Alabama just kicked a field goal with 13 seconds to go up 6 – 3 over Tennessee. Without Tyrone Prothro, they’re offense is really average. After the way they and Georgia have played lately, the SEC really has no complaint if they get left out. They’re both undefeated and both not all that good.
  • Michael Griffin strips and recovers the ball from Henderson and gives Texas the ball in great shape.
  • Chris Ogbonnaya really looks pretty good running the football. I know he hasn’t played in any real situations, but everytime he’s out there he looks solid. He was a WR that got moved to running back in the Spring when Ramonce Taylor was the only back on campus. I believe he was moved to fullback in fall practice, but he doesn’t look to have the frame for that.
Texas Tech 17, Texas 52
  • In no doubt passing situations we do a great job of rushing the passer. Sack by Brian Robison puts Tech back inside the five yard line. I still wish we could get a more consistent rush though.
  • Another sack, this one by Crowder brings up 4th and a mile.
  • Mack Brown can’t win big games because everytime we win, it’s not a big game anymore. See the Holiday Bowl loss to Washington State versus the Holiday Bowl victory versus Washington. Also see Arkansas win versus Arkansas loss.
  • One minute left, let’s keep them out of the endzone.
  • Eric Hall sacks Hodges to end the ball game.
Final Thoughts

I have a feeling USC will get a lot more credit for beating #9 Notre Dame by 4 than we will for beating #10 (and #7 in the BCS) Texas Tech by 35. A completely dominating performance by both sides of the ball today and once again I don’t think we played near our best football game. Vince Young finished the game only 12 of 22, but had 239 yards and two touchdowns and made the plays he needed to win the game. Jamaal Charles looked to be about 75% and was clearly limited both by his ankle and the coaches, so Selvin Young stepped up and had a great game. He had 76 yards on the ground and added two good TD runs and just as importantly didn’t put the ball on the ground once. The defense played solid all game long, holding Texas Tech well below their season averages despite the fact that our quick strike offense gave them the ball often. Sure tackling and excellent play by the secondary made it a long game for Mike Leach’s boys.

Players of the Game

Offense – For the first and probably only time this season I’m not going to give this to Vince Young. While he didn’t have his best game, Billy Pittman gets the nod this week for seemingly always making the big play. Billy only caught 3 balls today but they were three big ones, including a 75-yarder and two touchdowns. The kid has been nails all year long and just keeps coming up huge. His speed and ability to get open have changed the face of our offense. Runner up: Selvin Young.

Defense – This award goes to the entire secondary, anytime you hold the Texas Tech offense to only 17 points you know the guys back there had to have done a good job. Cody Hodges completed 42 passes for 370 yards but they had to work for every single one of them. Great tackling through out the game as well as consistent coverage. They completed their passes but there was always a DB right there to limit the run after catch. The group was also solid blitzing all day, caused a fumble, blocked a punt, and just didn’t make any mistakes.

Share

Related Posts

0 Comments

Comments are closed.

Texas FanGuide - Texas Longhorns fan app with roster, news, and team schedule

Subscribe to the 40 Acres!

Don't miss breaking news or another story from your favorite Longhorns fan site, subscribe to our RSS(?) feed!

Become a fan of the 40 Acres on Facebook

Recent Comments