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Thursday Matador Mailbag 10.20.16

It's the week of probably the biggest game of the year for the Red Raiders. It's time to see what fans had to say for this week's mailbag!

By MaitlandR

It's a big game for the Red Raiders this coming Saturday as they prepare to take on the #16 Oklahoma Sooners. Fans had a lot to ask us in this week's Matador Mailbag so let's get right to it!

I don't blame the fans for being extremely disappointed after last week's terrible performance against West Virginia. I think the only way to relax the fans is for the team to play much better than they have these past two weeks. If they can somehow upset Oklahoma I think the fans will come crawling back faster than when the Air Raid offense is run at its best.

They better be! This game has so many layers. Baker Mayfield is returning to Lubbock to play against his former team, Oklahoma is one of Tech's biggest rivals, and the team just played terrible last week in all aspects. If they are not fired up based on all of that, then it's going to be a long night for them and us fans watching.

I think the only way we could see Shimonek get playing time, other than garbage time, is if Mahomes just goes out and plays even worse than last week. He had, in my opinion, his worst game last week but the offensive line play was awful, he didn't get any help with the running game, and he was without two good receivers due to injury (Cantrell and Willies). If he goes out and just plays reckless football or injures his shoulder even more, we could see Shimonek go in.

I wish we would. After all, we are the "Red" Raiders. I liked that they wore red against Kansas and I believe they could wear red against Texas for the last home game. They did that last year and they beat Kansas State. It could bring them some luck.

The men's and women's golf teams have been doing well, but they don't get near the recognition football, basketball, and baseball do at Tech. Fans of Texas Tech Athletics have declared us a baseball school with two trips to the NCAA College World Series in the last three years. Who could blame them when our football and men's basketball teams have never reached that level and our women's team has not won a national title since 1993.

I've been through this before in 2014 after Kliff's first year. So much was expected and they crash landed at 4-8. Sadly, that looks like a real possibility again given our record and remaining schedule. I'm not throwing the towel in yet, but this team has to show something against Oklahoma to still have a shot at a bowl game.

I really don't know. I have to believe all those penalties and mental errors they had last week have to be eating away at Kliff and his players. I can say like us they fell embarrassed based on his press conference after the game and other comments to the media this week.

Fans should focus more on the talent that is here in my eyes. Derrick Willies, Ondre Pipkins, and Kolin Hill have been solid guys so far. If players want to leave, it's their decision.

It wouldn't surprise me since players just seem to slip through their grasps when they're trying to tackle. Until the defense gets a lot more talent to deal with the powerful running games of the Big 12, it could be a few years before you see this defense truly stop the run in a game.

Thank you for submitting your questions for this week's mailbag! Make sure to follow us on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to be featured in next week's Matador Mailbag.

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