Red Raider Ravioli: Magnifico!

Buongiorno!

I really hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend and that you ate a lot of tacchino (turkey, obviously). For sure, the weekend of Red Raiders sports didn’t make it indigestible.

Let’s start with football. We all still have in mind the great comeback that allowed the Red Raiders to win in Austin for the second consecutive time - the first time in history- but this victory didn’t come without suffering (could it be different?).

Coach Kingsbury tried to mix things up and started McLane Carter, who had a what-the-hell-is-this first drive but normalized since then, throwing two interceptions and showing problems in terms of accuracy and power.

John Gutierrez-USA TODAY Sports

There are many possibilities he’ll be our quarterback next year, and I’m not concerned at all. He showed a strong personality, a quick release, he read the field with perspicacity and hit his targets with short throws.

On the other side, he constantly underthrew deep passes, and maybe for the heat of the moment, overthrew many intermediate routes. There’s a lot to work, but the Bowl berth concedes teams other training, and that’s absolutely useful.

Did I say Bowl? Yessir! With the victory over Texas, the Red Raiders earned their Bowl berth and they have one more game to play. Obviously, there’s nothing stated until the committee will name the four teams that will make the playoff, but a POSSIBLE (not certain) scenario is Texas Tech playing the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

And that also was a good farewell for Nic Shimonek, who struggled late in the season, received many fair criticisms, and was benched against Texas, but found the strenght to come back and win his could-have-been-last game as a Red Raider.

John Gutierrez-USA TODAY Sports

With this year slowly going out, I really wonder what could happen if coach Kingsbury, who’s been confirmed for 2018, found more offensive solutions to support his defense, that once again was fantastic against Texas. A word is due to Justus Parker, who had the first interception for the Red Raiders, as he in 2015 played for Texas Lutheran in DIII and now makes plays in FBS. Well done!

And now, let’s talk about basketball. With the win over Savannah State, a funny team that shot everything fast everytime they had the ball, the Red Raiders are 6-0 and are going to travel to New York, where they’ll play in the Madison Square Garden next Thursday against No. 20 Seton Hall.

That will be an important test for Texas Tech ambitions, as one victory will send to the final of the Under Armour Reunion, facing Temple or South Carolina. The best way to start the season.

Grazie a tutti (Thanks, everybody)

Ciao!