Part 3: Assessing the First W (in context)

Continued from Part II

(Sorry for the Parts 1,2,3.  I think the graphs take up too much memory and there's only so much memory allowed for each post!) 

But you know, I gotta have more cowbell charts!

  Defensive Performance

The defense held up its end of the bargain and performed well.

Conclusions:  I am already on record and will continue to be a ready critic of the Texas Tech defense for the rest of the year.  Despite, the progress we were alleged to have made as a defense last year, we still ended up being ranked just 79^th overall (94^th against the pass).   I’ll save my breath on this for later, as I (unfortunately) expect that there will be ample opportunity to expound on this topic as the season progresses.

Having said that, I thought our defense played pretty well, despite giving up some longish possessions.   After our jaw-droppingly poor performance against Eastern Washington last year (or were you so traumatized that, like me, you erased giving up 360-odd yards to the E-Dub Eagles from your memory), I felt we contained North Dakota well.  It was the defensive unit’s third best performance in an opening game for which it deserves credit.

You might argue that North Dakota is the worst cupcake we’ve played to date, but I bet that the 2009 Fighting Sioux squad would give 2005 Florida International,  2008 Eastern Washington and some of those SMU teams a good run for their money.

For those of us who have followed Tech for awhile, we know that Tech is not the kind of team that goes out every night and does what it’s supposed to, especially early on.   

It’s disappointing that we didn’t dominate this one from start to finish.  The Team, Leach and his coaches know they have a lot to prove this season, and game one was just the first step.   

Go Red Raiders!!