To say this game was unexpected would be an understatement. Texas Tech put up 59 points last week, versus 27 this week. 27 is usually what we put up by halftime. Mahomes last week had a total of 819 yards from scrimmage, that’s more than both teams COMBINED for yesturday (763). This game was as much of a defensive struggle as you will ever see in the Big 12. It was 10-10 for the majority of the game, and then all of the sudden things got a little crazy. Here are a few of the main things that I saw during the thriller that was Tech’s double overtime win against the Horned Frogs.

Somewhere, somehow, we found a defense

I don’t know what kind of sorcery David Gibbs might have done in the huddle, but boy, something worked. Without even getting into stats just look at the final score. When was the last time Tech scored 27 points and won? Ill help you out, it hasn’t happened in awhile. TCU had eight possessions without a score, one interception, three missed field goals, and four punts. Four CONSECUTIVE punts. At one point I had to double check the channel and make sure I was watching the right game. I didn’t like the soft coverage that we were playing for most of the first half, but other than that, you will hear no complaining from me. Tech likes to play the bend but don’t break defense, but the problem with that is obvious, if it breaks it’s not much use to us.

It’s one of those things where if it works (like it did yesturday), you’re a genius. However, if it doesn’t work (like against OU), you get burnt, and you get burnt bad. Luckily it worked. Whether our amount of defensive production was a fluke or not, I’ll take it. We may not have had as many turnovers as we wanted, but we still found a way to get it done, and getting it done is all that matters.

Predicting how our defense is going to show up next week may be harder than predicting the winning lottery numbers, but hey, like the lottery, you never know.

You Don’t Know The Value Of A Kicker Until The Other Team Doesn’t Have One

I mentioned before that they had three possessions that ended in a missed field goal. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that if TCU would have had 9 more points, we wouldn’t have even made it into overtime. 37, 32, 39, those were the field goal distances that TCU’s Hatfield missed. I know that our Hatfield (Clayton Hatfield) has had his spurts of inconsistency, but he certainly made his (NCAA approved) figurative money yesturday. So, hats off to Hatfield. Whether it’s an extra point or a field goal, it may not always be pretty, but he get’s it done.

Mahomes Found A Way

24-39 for 206, and 20 rushes for 39. For Mahomes, that’s a pretty rough day. It shows a lot about his drive, his fight and his character that he found a way to win. For most of the game he was having a hard time finding his usual rhythm, but when he needed to show up he did. Down 17-10, he put together a scoring drive when we needed it most. He had to scramble a lot trough-out the game (including in overtime), but at this point in the season I’m not going to bash the O-line for not giving him time, I’m just going to simply chalk it up to “That’s what Mahomes does”. Yes, our O-line needs help, but I’m all for Mahomes extending plays and making some magic happen.

It wasn’t a pretty win, but it’s a win nonetheless. Like Kingsbury said “We found a way”. When nothing seemed to be working, we still managed to scratch and claw and come out on top. I am proud of the way our Red Raiders fought yesterday. It was certainly a different kind of fight than it was against OU, but it was fun to watch them fight their way back.

Don’t look now, but next week Charlie Strong and the Texas Longhorns come rolling into town with their new found confidence. It’s time to get the grill fired up for some Bevo burgers.