I Hate Leonard Fournette

I still have nightmares of Leonard Fournette running through our porous defense in the Texas bowl. For one half of that game, I really thought the Red Raiders had finally solved the formula that would be the end of Fournette's yard-stacking performance.

Unfortunately, that half of football was the quickest half I had ever experienced. The Heisman contending running back recorded four rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. By the time the dust cleared, and the final whistle was blown, Leonard Fournette had exposed Tech's defense to the core and had the time of his life doing so.

I hate Leonard Fournette, and it's not because I wish he would have brought his talents to Lubbock (a longshot), but because he didn't have the right to be in that bowl game. By the cruel intervention of the college football gods and the sly dismissal of Texas A&M to play us, Louisiana State was deemed a suitable replacement to match up with us. All I wanted for Christmas was an in-state, winner-takes-all, football game with the Aggies. Leonard Fournette was the coal in my stocking.

Although the immediate concerns of how our defense was going to hold against the #7 rushing offense in the nation were raised, I still thought our defense, although inferior to LSU's, would have a dog in the fight and maybe upset the Tigers in Houston shocking their fans, and maybe even the nation. My overly confident optimism got the best of me, and what I witnessed inside NRG stadium was a spectacle for both teams, except my team still lost after four quarters. Go figure.

I don't hate Leonard Fournette for his ability to play the game of football so well. Between the constant anxiety of seeing him rush towards the end zone when he had the ball and the excitement of the Red Raiders finding a way to score against a fast, physical, and aggressive defense in LSU, I enjoyed having the opportunity to watch a player who without a doubt will be a contender for next year's Heisman trophy, a player who plays physical all four quarters, and a player who will put on a show (except for Alabama) wherever he goes.

I hate Fournette for what he did to my Red Raiders, but I always have to give credit where credit is due. Leonard Fournette will always be the bane of Texas Tech's defense, but he also deserves as much credit as the yards he's steadily collecting.