Everything about the game on Thursday, specifically me watching every play of this game can be encapsulated by this gif...take it away Mr. Scott:

Oh hey and look! I found another gif that accurately depicts this team’s ball security:

Is it bad that I’m laughing at my own misery? Okay, okay alright that’s probably (fingers crossed) the meanest thing I’m going to write about this team all year, but since I’m in a foul mood let’s go ahead and just start with the bad:

The Bad:

-The offensive line. I can safely say, that in all my years of watching football, that was one of the worst performances I have seen by an offensive line in my entire life. The effort was pitiful, and the Texas Tech defensive line basically chased Shawn around all night and collapsed just about every single running lane. If you are a member of the offensive line from Thursday or a parent or family member of said players, I apologize, I know they are just student athletes but let me just finish my thought here. What is so frustrating here is that I’ve seen them play well.

Other than the one strip sack given up in the game, the offensive line played well against Ohio State - one of the 5 best D-lines in the country. So why is it, when Texas Tech strolls into our back yard, we just sh*t bricks in the trenches on offense? Is it coaching? How can it be, when they were so prepared against tOSU? It certainly isn’t talent. I know each of these guys has the potential to be good. Is it lack of experience? Maybe? What I do know, is that if we see that unit show up and play that bad on a consistent basis, we are going to lose a lot of games. There is no nice way to put it. If you want to fire off at me in the comments section, totally understandable, but I know this team is talented enough to be great and it all starts with the offensive line. They set the tone on offense. They are the ones that give Shawn the time to go through his reads or to take off if he doesn’t see anything. Instead QB1 was running for his life almost the entire game, and it became clear that he had lost faith in the guys protecting him.

Anderson couldn’t get much going either, due to Tech blocking all of the lanes for him to scamper through. He doesn’t need a huge crease to take off, as we have seen time and time again. However, it doesn’t even seem that we can get him that.

-Shawn Robinson’s/This team’s ball security. Shawn, buddy ol’ pal. What is up with not being able to hold onto the ball? I know that last interception was you trying to play hero ball and shouldn’t be an interception, and that first interception was a tip drill/a great play by two DB’s. You know I’m always going to go to bat for you QB1 (see my works on Hill, Kenny) but Shawn what is up with the 3 points of protection? Robinson finally had a nice run when he took off from the pocket in this one, but once again when he was tackled from behind, the ball came lose. Just like it did - literally - 5 times last year against Texas Tech and against Texas this year. He has to improve this if he is going to be a true dual threat quarterback. Olonilua also fumbled on a 4th down conversion attempt and Anderson also fumbled, and it would have also been recovered by Tech if the ruling on the field had not have gotten barely overturned

I also understand, like I said earlier, that Shawn was running for his life and the defense was forcing him into making bad decisions, but he needs to stop throwing off his back foot, and he needs to stop eyeballing his first read. He’s young and I totally understand not to expect the world of him after his first 6 or 7 starts, but I know he’s super talented...I just don’t know how much longer I can watch him keep making the same mistakes, and then continue to say everything is going to be fine.

-The last punt as well as the play calling on the last drive of the game. I don’t know why Patterson has lost trust in Nunez as the punter, maybe because it was the two botched snaps at the beginning of the year (editor’s note: Nunez has been injured, but is still the holder on field goals, so take that for what you will), but the last punt was laughably bad, that gave Tech solid field position at about our 47...but I can live with that one, since it appears to just be par for the course this season. What got me really upset was the play calling on the last series of the game. We decided to design a play that gave the ball to the player in the middle of the field with the clock running down. I just don’t get it. You want your players to get out of bounds to stop the clock right? RIGHT? I’m not trying to act smarter than the coaching staff and I would never think that I know more about football, but that was just head scratching. We ran two back to back plays that didn’t go out of bounds and ran about 30-40 seconds off the clock. How can we expect to win games when we can’t even trust our late game play calling?

The Good

-Ben “Ostrich Eggs” Banogu. Big Ol Ben had himself two sacks on the day, and made an awesome 3rd down stop running from the middle of the field to the side line to stop a Tech player from picking up the first down. He was making plays, getting held, but didn’t let that stop him. I am truly sorry that this is the last year that we will get to see him in purple, and I will miss him dearly once he goes on to play on Sundays.

-Can’t forget about Collier. LJ Collier also had himself a two sack day. Both of our big names on the D-line were producing and I’m still sad our offense couldn’t get them the win. The defense played a great game and held Tech to 3 points in the first half, and those guys deserve better. If there is anything that you can take solace in Frog fans...it’s that this defense will show up and play it’s heart out for the whole 60 minutes. Not to jinx anything against Oklahoma this Saturday.

-Turp and Reagor as Receivers. The losses make it easy to forget how talented we are on the outside. Turp got great separation on that tuddie from Robinson to give TCU the lead at one point, and then Reagor got UP when he caught the first touchdown of the game. Both players keep showing that they can make plays, and we just need to get the ball in their hands more. Turp had 6 grabs for 120 yards and Reagor had 8 for 73.

-Robinson throwing on the run. The only benefit of having to see Shawn Robinson running for his life in this one, was that we got to see how truly gifted he is at slinging the ball around while on the run. He’s got a rocket arm, and can deliver it across his body with gusto. It’s just a shame that we don’t run a couple more bootlegs or roll outs for number 3.

Play of the Game:

This one was pretty easy. Number 3 was on the run but then found number 1 and together they got 6 points. Shout out to that vertical from Reagor.

Also, even though I’ve been really tough on the OL, you gotta love that effort on this play from Niang.

Next up: The Sooners Roll into Town

Well the easiest way to turn your season around is by knocking off someone else’s season. I’d love to kick Lincoln Riley and the OU offense right off their Schooners...but I’ve got to see it from this team before I believe anything. Keep faith, and go Frogs. Take it one week at a time.