A Tale of Two Halves/Lubbock or Leave It

"It was the worst of times, it was the best of times..."

Props to Dickens (and I know I flipped the script), but this basically sums up the first and second halves of our riveting come-from-behind rally against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. We put ourselves in a huge hole in the first half, trailing 17-0, only to win by one point 24-23. Most sane, logical folks thought that the game might hinge on a 4th and goal play by the Cowboys with a little over 3 minutes left in the game. Trailing 24-20, Coach Gundy opted for the field goal, reasoning that with a stop, his team would have the ball back and just need to get into position for a potential game-winning field goal. The plan almost worked, until one of the OSU defenders ran into our punter on a fourth down punt. The resulting first down basically sealed the deal.

The first half made me want to puke up the 3 hot dogs, 2 corn dogs and 1 extra large Coke I consumed and then have Coach Fran lick it up. Our defense looked like a 7th grade B team playing a high school all-star team. Our O was truly offensive, and not in the move-the-ball-down-the-field-for-TDs kind of way. Luckily, there was another 30 minutes to play, although at the start of the 2nd half, the only good news was that the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band had kicked major butt - again. As I mentioned in the last post, we needed some of our stars to shine their brilliance on the rest of us mere mortals (and the other team, too). Well, Javorskie "J-Train" Lane did just that. He ran for 2 TDs, caught another TD and damn near threw one, too, with a 49 yard spiral that was so tight, I thought it was the noose around Fran's neck. Stevie McGee played well and avoided too many option runs. Our defense put in a bend-don't-break effort in the second half and the 12th man was...simply awesome. The noise was deafening, the towels were waving and the electricity was enough to light up the eastern seaboard for a few weeks. The only thing that could have improved the game would have been to have Pat McAggie there. Most fans won't know this, but I sent a text message to J Train at the half and asked that the team dedicate this game to Pat. What a response.

After such an exhilarating win, I couldn't help but wonder how we will respond in the biannual bloodbath that is also known as our Aggies visiting Lubbock to play the Red Raiders. We've been decimated the last two times we've played there, but luckily J Train publicly guaranteed the win, so now I don't have to.

Games in Lubbock always take on a surreal feeling. I've been to the last 3 and sadly, the goal-post game was the closest affair there. I expect their fans will be rude, rowdy and loud (as is the norm at Jones-SBC-AT&T-whatever field/stadium). I also expect this to be the stiffest challenge our defense will face all year. We will need more superstar efforts (Mike Goodson, O-linemen, entire freakin' secondary - do you hear me?). Simply put, we will need to sustain drives, capitalize on any turnovers and grind this game out. We're due for a win in the dustbowl of the plains, I mean Lubbock, sooner or later. I just hope it is sooner. We enter the game 5-1 overall, 2-0 in the Big 12. We will need 60 minutes of tough football and a kiss from Lady Luck to escape 6-1, 3-0. As the song goes, "Happiness is Lubbock, Texas in my rearview mirror."

Note to all - I also bought a "Can Fran" shirt for $5.00 shortly before the game. I'm hoping for a great ROI, but only after we have the cinderella run to the Big 12 title.