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Texas Tech Football Monday Mailbag: Defense to expectations

By VF Castro

LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 05: Cameron Batson
LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 05: Cameron Batson /
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With kickoff just 40 days away, it’s time to get down to seasonal analysts for Texas Tech Football.

Texas Tech Football has lofty expectations headed into this season. Despite wins against TCU and Baylor in 2016, pundits are still ranking Tech just above Kansas, so it’s important for Tech to flex, and show just how much work has been put into the offseason conditioning.

Here are your questions for Monday, July 24, 2017:

Editors Note: This mailbag is analyzed and answered by Wreck ‘Em Red, not Texas Tech coaches.

"In The paper it says that [Kingsbury]  isn’t sweating, and that he isn’t feeling any panic, why is Kliff not in a panic mood?"

Kliff Kingsbury has no reason to be in panic mode. Either Texas Tech performs this season, or they don’t; it’s that simple. When a coach goes into panic mode, the team culture begins to crumble. Players stop giving it their 110 percent; you begin to see infighting between personnel; recruits sense negative vibes, and the program takes a massive step backwards. 

Everyone knows this is a pivotal season in Kingsbury’s coaching career, and hopefully everything comes together this season, but Kingsbury is right to be handling this the way he is. 

"With the Texas Longhorns having a new coach, and when playing Texas as the last road conference game, does it concern you that your football game against Texas might be even harder than ever?"

Texas having a new coach has no bearing on Texas Tech. Whenever there’s a coaching turnover at high ranks, teams usually perform at a high level in the first season. With that said, expect Texas Tech vs. Texas to be intense, but it’s a very winnable game for Tech.

"Has the defense made any new improvements to jump out of the FBS rankings?"

If you read last week’s mailbag, it was asked, “Have David Gibbs and Kliff Kingsbury made any changes to get the defense to be looking stronger for this season?” Both questions go hand-in-hand, so I’ll go ahead and repost that answer here:

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“It was announced back in Spring that Kingsbury would be taking a more hands-on approach in the defensive philosophy in 2017. Throughout Spring Ball, I think we saw his enthusiasm for defensive production in a way we haven’t seen in his career. 

For the first time, Kingsbury and Gibbs looked to be on the same wavelength, and Kingsbury was even celebrating with the defense when they were making things difficult for the offense.

As we all know, a team is only as good as its weakest link, so regardless of offensive production throughout the years, Tech just hasn’t been able to show overall improvement due to its defense. 

If both offense and defense are challenging each other the way we think they are, I believe the defense will be much improved for 2017.”

"Should the fans and students be concerned, or will there be a surprise for them during each game?"

Concern is a relative term. For some, the concern they’re expressing is because they want Kingsbury to fail so they can move on to a new coach. For others, that concern is whether Kingsbury (a likable guy, and great offensive mind), can get the job done. 

As for surprises, fans might not see them, but every week in film study, teams address points of concern, and create game plans for how to improve as the season progresses. If you see the team get progressively better week after week (tackles, sacks, turnovers, rushing yards, etc…), you’ll know the game plans are working.

"I am all fired up about this year I think Nic is going to be better than we think, and it looks like we may have a little bit of depth on defense, however, Vegas say 4.5 wins. Anyway Vegas is off 3 games? Have I had to much Kool-Aid ?"

Oddsmakers have interesting algorithms, so that 4.5 win total is based off games it sees as tangible: Kansas, Iowa State, Eastern Washington, Houston, and maybe ASU. If Tech can beat four out of five teams listed, plus TCU or Baylor, they’ll cover. For 2017 to be a successful season, the win threshold is seven. It’s going to be an uphill battle in many ways, but you can sense the urgency to win.

At some point in a program’s history, players get tired of losing, and having their talents disrespected. Hopefully this is the season where all the components finally come together.

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