Yo ho yo ho! a pirate’s life for me! For the Texas Tech Red Raiders a pirate’s life consists of lots of passing, not a lot of running, and not a lot of defending. Last year was a bit more extreme as they did all those things, only more so. Usually the defense is more serviceable and the running game has a little more punch than they did in 2011.
We expect more of the same in 2012- they’ll throw it, they’ll score, but they’ll give up a ton of points as well, as they face a very pass-friendly conference with a lot of high-powered offenses in it. What’s interesting about the TTU program is what happens at the college football level hasn’t translated to any NFL quarterbacks of note. In Wes Welker and Michael Crabtree, you’ve had wide receivers that have done something on the pro level, but no signal caller is yet to do so.
2011 was: rather mediocre, especially when you consider how bad the conference record was. The 5-7 season was was the first time TTU didn’t go to a bowl in more than a decade.
2012 will go smoothly if: The schedule is favorable early on, and we’ll see if they can build momentum and confidence from some early wins. A lot of JUCO and community college transfers have been brought in on defense. The D was so bad, that immediate help was needed. It all depends on how fast the new personnel can adjust to the scheme and college football on this level. QB Seth Doege is a record-setter and could leave Lubbock having rewritten the record books. So it’s not breaking news what a big playmaker he is.
2012 will be rough if: They don’t make a huge improvement in the defense. Coach Tommy Tuberville would also like to see RB Eric Stephens and WRs Eric Ward and Darrin Moore be as big a playmakers as Doege. It’s a good chance they will be.
BMOC: all the skill position players on O that we named. Not giving anyone from the defense this status.
All-name team: MLB Will Smith “West Philadelphia born and raised, on the playground is where I s all pent most of my days,” CB Tre Porter, RT Le’Raven Clark, “That’s so LeRaven!, LT Rashad Fortenberry
Bottom Line: They should be just okay. Maybe better than .500 as 7-8 wins certainly looks likely. The 12 year bowl streak may have ended, but I believe it’ll be just a one year hiatus as they could play ball control with short passes within the system. and try to keep that much maligned defense off the field, but they’re likely a team that will play out the season the way you’d expect when looking at the schedule. They’ll win the games you think they will, lose to the stronger competition in the Big 12
Rankings Athlon- 58 Lindy’s- 40 Phil Steele- 37
All the 77s
#45 Mississippi State
#47 Northwestern
#67 Southern Miss
#73 Kansas
#76 Minnesota
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Fox Sports, MSN, Walter Football and Yardbarker
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