Following the Texas Tech football team’s 45-35 win over No. 21 Oklahoma State Saturday in Lubbock, let’s spend some time overreacting as only football fans can.
Another week in the Big 12 brings another swing in emotions for Texas Tech football fans. After seeing a vocal but small portion of the fan base denounce the Matt Wells hire as a failure following last week’s non-competitive loss to Oklahoma in Norman, all is right in West Texas after the Red Raiders 45-35 win over No. 21 Oklahoma State on Saturday.
What that faction of the fandom expected to see take place in Norman remains a mystery. That’s because the 55-16 loss played out like it should have given the talent on the two rosters.
Still, football lends itself to overreaction like no other sport. Now, we are in for a week of certain overreaction that will border on euphoria for some.
But the fact that a significant segment of Texas Tech football fans still remains passionate enough to be emotionally invested in the program, regardless of how optimistic or pessimistic they may be. Overreactions are a sign of caring.
Just like a first-time mother is prone to do with her newborn or a teenager enduring the highs and lows of his first relationship, football fans will send their logical emotions out the window with every twist and turn.
What we saw Saturday in Lubbock was a great sign for the direction of the program for sure. But just as the OU game did not spell the end of the season or the Matt Wells era, no trophies were added to Tech’s trophy case with the victory over the Cowboys.
There remain seven games on the schedule and Tech must figure out a way to win three more to reach a bowl game. Doing so would give the team four Big 12 wins in a season for just the fourth time this decade.
What’s more, we are seeing that outside of Oklahoma and Texas, the rest of the conference is a jumbled mess of schizophrenic teams. For instance, just think about how differently Tech and OSU are going to be viewed this week.
Or how about the change in the way Iowa State and TCU are going to be talked about following the Cyclone’s 49-24 win over the Horned Frogs in Ames. Then there is the sudden plummet of Kansas State which has lost two straight games, neither of which were all that competitive, after jumping into the top-25 after an impressive 3-0 start.
Just about the only certainties in this conference are that OU and Texas are going to be good and Kansas is still going to be bad. That sets up the rest of Tech’s season to be a topsy-turvy affair. So with each swing in momentum and each peak or valley, we will be here to overreact.
So let’s take a look at some natural overreactions that may arise following the Texas Tech football program’s best win since beating Oklahoma State last year in Stillwater. Feeling this way for long will not be wise but after what we’ve seen as Red Raider football fans over the last decade, it certainly is refreshing to wake up on a Sunday morning feeling excited about where the season may lead us.