Strive for Honor, Ever More

There are few things making me as happy right now as Texas Tech football.  We are now officially ranked #6 in the nation, the highest Tech has been ranked since the 30s, when there were like 15 football teams.

Watching us annihilate Kansas on Saturday was a great joy.  Crabtree and Harrell are really out to prove something this year, and you could feel that on every play.  Our defense even stepped up!  3 interceptions I think!  We are 8-0 with Texas coming to visit next Saturday.  I will be at that game, in a brand new black-out shirt, and I'll be cheering my head off and waving signs behind the boys from ESPN GameDay.  Cause oh yeah, they'll be at Lubbock.  And oh yeah, it's the biggest game of the year.

The winner of this game will be in the national title.

I can not believe I even am writing that.  It's amazing to even think that we're in the same sentence!  Now, if Tech wins, that does not necessarily mean we get the title game, there are other teams and we still have to play OU.  But they look increasingly beatable ... as do the Longhorns.

We have not beaten UT since 2002, in the greatest football game I have ever seen.  Kliff Kingsbury threw for something like 500 yards.  It. Was. Awesome.

Which brings me to my next point ... these current students at Tech have no idea what us alumni have gone through with this team.  Freshman year, we still had the odeous Spike Dike and the worst quarterback ever, Rob Peters.  I would get so frustrated ... Peters would drop 20 yards out of the pocket trying to avoid getting sacked, hold onto the ball, and we'd lose 20 yards.  This was not a once a game occurance.  This happened, repeatedly.  I have never wanted to egg someone's house as much as I wanted to egg Rob Peters house.  I loathed him.  The next year though, we got a great blessing.  Kliff Kingsbury.  And the crazy Mike Leach, who is less of a blessing and somewhat of a liability with him and his devil and angels on 4th down.  Now I like going for it on 4th down.  I do.  But Mike Leach has made going for it on 4th and whatever into a bit of a habit.  And it's scary.

Now he's the mad scientist and it's working.  So I love him.  But I have watched the destruction and meltdown of this rowdy bunch for almost ten years.  (I can't not BELIEVE that number, sheesh!)  And this year is the single greatest I have seen - because we have not had a meltdown!  Even if we lose next week, that's a #1 team beating us.  That's okay.  That was a loss we were looking at beginning of the season.  It's not since we've started kicking butt and taking names that we've started thinking about that differently.

But these kids don't know how good they have it.  When you're in the trenches and you've beaten UT. At home. To a sell out crowd.  And you've gotta play in Norman the following week and ESPN puts you on national television and you get STOMPED and they go to a different game midway through the broadcast (that's how bad it was) ... and then you're still a fan ... then we'll talk.

I'm so excited about next weekend.  I'll be in Lubbock.  With a sign.  And my rowdy raiders will be on national television on ABC or ESPN at 7CST.  Look for me!