Texas Tech Soccer Wins First Big 12 Championship! Congrats to head coach Tom Stone and the ladies of the soccer program as they defeated Kansas yesterday, 1-0, to win their first ever Big 12 Championship. Gwennie Puente scored the loan goal on the day:
#Big12SOC: TECH STRIKES FIRST! @TexasTechSoccer's Gwennie Puente finds the back of the net to give TTU a 1-0 lead⚽️🏆 https://t.co/Yqt4Sx1ToE
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) November 8, 2015
Goalie Lauren Watson was named the most outstanding defensive player and Janine Beckie was named the most outstanding offensive player.
Congrats to all involved! Such a huge accomplishment for everyone.
Worse Before Better. LAJ’s Don Williams writes that Texas Tech gets worse before they get better:
So here stands Tech, two chances left to get bowl eligible, and 6-6 or 7-5 isn’t going to be enough to satisfy a lot of folks.
Tech AD Kirby Hocutt, who looked on at the post-game press conference Saturday, can’t afford to run off Kliff this soon. It would cost $12.7 million after this season.
Nor do I think he should. One thing Tech clinched Saturday was losing Big 12 records six years in a row. Kingsbury inherited that streak at three straight, so there was heavy lifting to be done when he took over. At most places, building a firm foundation to a winning program takes time, as Briles and Gundy have proven.
In the meantime, the growing pains can be a bear, can they not?
Inability to Finish. LAJ’s Nicholas Talbot writes that Texas Tech’s inability to finish games is costing this team:
Much like the Red Raider defense, it couldn’t finish.
And because of that Texas Tech can’t win — at least not lately.
Tech has dropped its last three games. And while losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State might have been somewhat excusable, this one really isn’t.
The Red Raiders really needed this win. Since 2011, the Red Raiders are 2-21 in the final five games of the regular season.
That’s not good.
Teams that fall apart late don’t get to go to bowl games.
And when they do, they fall down the pecking order and play in games like the Heart of Dallas Bowl or the Cactus Bowl.
Notebook: Washington Goes Over 1,000. LAJ’s Don Williams files his notebook, including RB DeAndre Washington going over 1,000 yards for connsecutive seasons.
- Dakota Allen left after an ankle injury early in the second half and never returned.
- Baylen Brown didn’t start, but he subbed in for Tony Morales at right guard relatively early and Emeka Okafor played right tackle.
- Texas Tech started Tony Brown and Keke Coutee at wide receiver over Reginald Davis and Devin Lauderdale and that didn’t help very much in terms of production. The wide receivers were generally abused for most of the game.
- The secondary really consisted of Justis Nelson at cornerback along with Nigel Bethel, II, and Jah’Shawn Johnson and Keenan Ward at safety while J.J. Gaines didn’t get much playing time. Tevin Madison was your nickel back.
Must Be Better on the Road.
Miscellaneous. LAJ’s Sarah Rafique has an interesting article about the actual cost to host a home football game for Texas Tech, normally around $125,000 to $150,000 per game . . . the official site has their preview with game notes (PDF), which are still meaningless because they haven’t been updated since the first of the year, but it’s there if you want to look . . . LAJ’s Nicholas Talbot has a notebooky sort of article that discusses the difference on the team’s performance on the road and some other things . . . via CampusRush, the Missouri football team is on strike and will not play another game (they have BYU on November 14th) unless the school president resigns . . . ESPN has their Big 12 power poll and Texas Tech still checks in at #6 . . .