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| Kliff Kingsbury, for all his pizzazz, hasn't done much to radically change Texas Tech football. (photo: USA Today/Gannett) |
I exited Jones AT&T Stadium on Halloween evening with a directly opposite demeanor which I had entered the same building with. What could have been a day full of optimism, growth and a chance to chop down the Oklahoma State Cowboys' College Football Playoff hopes had melted before my eyes.
Up 14 points at one point and stopping the high-flying Cowboy drive thrice in a row, the Texas Tech Red Raiders could not muster anything offensively in the second half -- a big fat zero in the third quarter -- and allowed the still-No. 12 ranked Cowboys to walk away with a much-deserved win, 70-53.
Monday, I turned back to my radio program and listed out the same ol' problems: can't stop anybody, allowed a team to hang 70 on you after letting Oklahoma and Baylor score 63, you scored 52 and still lost to TCU on a miracle snag, etc.
But wouldn't you believe, three years in with a somewhat stamped identity of what Texas Tech football is -- air raid, passing attack, swashbuckling and all that "fearless" marketing gunk they sell you -- that a preventable defense, a passable Division I FBS defense would be nice for once?
I covered recruiting for three seasons, so I'm fairly aware of the dearth of talent the Red Raider football program has accumulated on the defensive side of the ball. Of the players Texas Tech acquired between 2013 and right now, I can probably count one game-changer on defense: Nigel Bethel, a well-regarded recruit from Miami who should've been a Hurricane.
Yes, I'm aware of Breiden Fehoko. No, he's not ready to burst out into a period of domination; he's only a freshman.
Eyes turn to the front and wonder: does Kliff Kingsbury's so-called "swag factor" work anymore?
Fans were beside themselves when Fehoko or Jarrett Stidham or Tristen Wallace or Collin Wilder or Donte Coleman initially committed to Texas Tech. Swagger! Badass! Talent! Star! Showcase!
2014 came. 4-8. Only Fehoko remains after Coleman, the most recent decommit, de-committed. And that's fine, Coleman's right, the Red Raiders might have not been what he believed they were going to be.
Kids are fickle. They like the "swag" stuff: "Johnny Football." "Kenny Trill." Kevin Sumlin's "Swag Copter." "The U." The people USC hired after Pete Carroll being basically Pete Carroll Lite. Our obsession with Oregon's jerseys or silly football-as-war templates for uniforms. Texas Tech wore gray -- that's not even in their template -- enough times in 2013 that I almost thought we were becoming UNLV.
Kingsbury came rolling in on Will Rogers' horse and proclaimed this was going to be the one. We raved at his work with Johnny Manziel, turning a stumpy 5-foot-11 three-star recruit from a cowtown called Kerrville into America's favorite Spoiled Rich White College Kid. Kliff had IT! He was attractive. He was alumni. He was Mike Leach's first Super-QB and set records in his time at the university, which was well before I even knew Texas Tech existed.
He started rounding up his old teammates for coaches and began assembling what could have been college football's great seismic change. He surely can sell a five-star receiver from Dallas on Lubbock, students, alumni and fans alike said to each other. Texas Tech now had a guy who could go viral with silly dance-offs, be all buddy-buddy and impose his will and his face upon the most Wild West program in the Wild West.
Now, for the more sobering stuff: the actual production.
- Texas Tech has not beaten a ranked opponent in nearly 23 months (Arizona State, Holiday Bowl).
- Texas Tech has not won a home game against a Power Five team which finished the season over .500 since October 13, 2012 (No. 5 West Virginia), months before the Kliff Era started.
- Texas Tech has not won a home game against a ranked opponent since No. 24 TCU fell 20-10 to the Red Raiders on September 12, 2013.
- Texas Tech hasn't beaten the following teams in the Kliff Era: Baylor, Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas State or Oklahoma. He's now 1-2 against TCU thanks to the last-moment win earlier this season.
- Iowa State, Kansas, West Virginia and TCU are the only Big 12 teams Kingsbury has defeated as a head coach. As mentioned above, he defeated TCU once, in 2013.
- Did I mention Baylor tacked 63 on Tech? Twice?
The past three seasons have marked by turbulence, decommitments, irate transfers, parental lashing-out and a fairly solid attempt to unite the fanbase which had been broken from the Leach firing and Tuberville's posh dismissiveness of Lubbock.
At what point does the fanbase realize that not much has changed about Texas Tech football since 2009, other than the Native Son being bathed in love and patience as mediocrity creeps all around him? The offensive talent, both in the man's head and on the field, is passable and a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12 (and the country): Grant, Amaro, Ward. The quarterbacks have been above and beyond expectations: Mayfield, Webb, Mahomes. The offensive line has been surprisingly sturdy for the most part.
But still, the problem remains in the fact that recruiting suffers with the continued sloshing through Big 12 season -- I laud that I didn't see many cupcakes come in this year (Sam Houston State being a notable exception) -- along with some sobering reminders (think of indoor facilities) that no matter how special you think Texas Tech University is, it's not enough to get that five-star kid from Dallas to dedicate five hours to drive out to Lubbock.
Not when College Station is closer, with their SwagCopters and their perfect rendition of the air raid, keeping them competitive amidst the 'Bama-dominated SEC West.
Not when Austin, even if the program suffers from performance anxiety and a secret idea of mutiny against Charlie Strong, is more attractive.
Not when Fort Worth is literally an hour away from Oak Cliff. Not when Coach Morris, the Texas high school football legend, is getting SMU somewhere closer to 1985 than they were in 1989.
Not when Waco just built the world's largest toilet bowl and continues to bathe in RGIII money. Not when Houston just built a stadium so magnificent, nobody goes to it even when SEC programs come to town.
Not when Oklahoma and Oklahoma State continue to effectively recruit and populate their squads with Texan talent, under five-star facilities and ridiculous oil sugar daddy benefactors.
Athletics department is trying to rectify these things with a sort of fundraising campaign. This is very noble, on the surface. Perhaps, Kingsbury will be able to wrestle with bigger fish -- somehow, Baylor and TCU, 10 years ago a below-average program and a mid-major, are bigger fish than Tech -- and be able to punch at the weight one would purport a school the size of Texas Tech should.
Internal swagger can only go so far. But if Tuscaloosa can be football heaven...if Starkville, Mississippi, can (briefly) have the No. 1 team in America ... if South Bend can house the biggest college football team in the land ... if people in Pullman, Washington, can build a half-decent program ... if Hawaii can make a power bowl game ... if Tucson, Arizona, or Provo, Utah, can have wonderful athletic departments ... Lubbock could take you somewhere.
But whatever it is now isn't taking them far.
Philip Arabome is a fourth-year sports media student at Texas Tech University. He's written in print for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and on websites such as Scout.com, 247Sports.com and KTXT-FM 88.1. He's the co-host of The Overreaction on 88.1 in Lubbock, Mondays from 3-4 p.m. CST.
Follow Philip on Twitter: @PhillyBeach93.
Follow The Overreaction on Twitter: @Overreaction881.
