seth: Welcome this this week’s Chit Chat, which is a new feature we’re hopefully unveiling where we all assign 100 points, 100 credit points for a win and 100 blame points for a loss. This is intended to be conversational (or not) and not too terribly long, but the culmination of comments will hopefully make this a pretty good feature.

I’ll start things off. Initially, I think I want to give 25 points to David Gibbs for showing out on defense, a few turnovers and a defensive line that held EWU to less than 100 yards rushing. I want to split some points on offense. Shimonek, Stockton, Nisby, Coutee and Willies each get 5 points each. We’re up to 50 points.

I also want to give 5 points to Brooks, Allen, Johnson, T. Jones and Dorsey. I thought they played as well as could be expected.

And finally, I want to give the last 25 points to Kingsbury, Morris and B. Jones for calling a pretty spectacular and inventive game. Lots of things were happening on offense and after the first three drives, things really clicked.

Oh, and my points may be subject to change, depending on what everyone else says.

kyle4073: I think you’ve got it right. The defense played an impressive game. Late in the first half when the offense was scoring quickly I thought the defense might have been gassed. It was awesome to see the D roll in the 2s and not see a huge drop off in performance.

meestahrogers: I want to give Shimonek 25 points. Filling Mahomes’ shoes is no easy task and in his first start, he goes 26/30 for nearly 400 yards. He took care of the ball, hit the big plays when they were there and did just about everything right.

I want to give Willies, Coutee, Nisby and Stockton on offense, and Sykes and Jones on defense 10 points each. Each made spectacular plays when given the opportunity. I was especially impressed by those on this list that are new to Tech this season.

We’re up to 85 points on my scoring. For the final 15 points, I’m going to give 10 to Gibbs and 5 to Kingsbury. Gibbs points come from delivering on some defensive improvements. Defense holding a team to 80 yards rushing, forcing 3 turnovers (including on their first play of the season) and not giving up a big play is exactly what this team will need going forward. The 5 points for Kingsbury goes to making the adjustment needed early on to get the offense clicking when Mahomes’ absence was really starting to be felt. Kingsbury called a great game and really worked on establishing a run game.

seth: Kingsbury really should get some credit. I don’t know if any of us were sure about his role as walk-around head coach, but one of the first things that Tony Jone said after the game was to credit Kingsbury for getting the team ready, and then Jones was quick to credit Gibbs. Maybe this really is a bigger transformation that we’re considering.

Also curious as to whether or not anyone else wants to give some points to Brandon Jones and new points to Jabbar Juluke or DeShaun Foster, who actually ended up recruiting Nisby.

kyle4073: Jones and Juluke definitely deserve at least 5 points each. They put together a fairly complete running game. The line looked in the 2nd-4th quarters than they did at almost any point last year. There were running lanes and Shim had time to let plays develop before making throws.

briandc: I’m going to start out by giving 15 points to Gibbs. Even with the coaching change at EWU, the Eagles returned plenty of starters, and their new OC spent the past 3 years at Oklahoma State, so Eastern Washington had the horses & experience to be primed for the upset. However, the defense looked poised & ready, and from what I saw the tackling looked much more improved.

I’d also like to give 15 points to Kingsbury & 10 points to the offensive staff. While painful at times, it’s been really interesting for me to see Kingsbury figure things out on the job over the past few seasons. I think finally releasing a bit of control and turning into that “walk-around” type coach is going to be great for him. As for the offensive staff, they got the offense settled after a few drives. Juluke had the RB’s ready, and B Jones’ OL did great for being borderline being made of baling wire & bubble gum

The defensive line deserves 10 points for very solid play, and a special 5 points for Lonzell Gilmore. He got behind the line a few times, and had a great TFL in the 1st. Another 10 points for the LB corps, who always seemed to be in position and notched plenty of tackles. 10 points for Jah’Shawn Johnson for leading the team in tackles, a forced fumble, and a great PBU in the endzone. 5 points to Willie Sykes for that pick 6.

Offensively, 10 points to Shim. Showed a bit of a cannon, made good decisions. 5 points to the RB’s, with an extra 5 for Stockton for doubling his TD total from last season.

And an extra special 5 points to the EWU receiver’s hands, as their drops were incredibly helpful in the first half

michael: You guys are going to think I’m crazy, but I’m immediately awarding 15 points to special teams. The coverage was greatly improved, and aside from the first punt, I was very impressed with Panzzolo whose final two kicks of the game really lived up to expectations and pinned EWU behind their own 10 yard line.

The defense as a unit, including Gibbs, gets 35. They forced 6 punts, grabbed three turnovers including a pick-six, and had one a spectacular defensive sequence in the second half: punt, punt (three-and-out), pick-six, punt, interception, punt, punt, end of game.

Shimonek was very effecient, almost breaking the TTU consecutive completion record before halftime, so he gets 20 points. The runningback corps impressed me all day, so combined with the offensive line, I’ll assign 20 points.

The final 10 points goes to Kingsbury who called one heck of a game and really mixed it up. I loved seeing the running game get some much needed attention, and Nisby is my new best friend. Third-and-three is going to be a lot more fun with him in the mix. Texas Tech won the time-of-possession and finished a game in less than 3.5 hours while rushing for 177 yards. I kept seeing the word “methodical” pop up on twitter in reference to the play calling. I agree.

seth: And what about someone giving 1 point, just 1 point to freshman kicker Michael Ewton, who came in and kicked extra points without really missing much of a beat. I’m taking away one of the 25 points that I gave to the offensive staff and giving it to Ewton.

And Michael, you’re right, Panazollo deserves a point as well and I’m taking away one of the 25 points given to the defensive staff for Panazollo. He pinned EWU back a few times after a first-punt shank.