Look, I'm not at all pleased that we lost to OkSt on Saturday. But the truth is, it really doesn't fucking matter. We weren't going to the playoff this year anyway. We are not an elite team (not this year). But our guys do play really fucking hard and we punish opponents for making mistakes. OkSt just didn't really make any. We have a true and consistent gamer at quarterback for the first time since Colt McCoy. We also have a head coach who finally gives a shit—that is something else we haven’t had in about a decade.
Yes, we sucked shit through a straw on Saturday… mostly on defense, where we looked outright lost for most of the night. But on offense too, although there were a few flashes of brilliance (e.g., Ehlinger’s dime to Beck), LJH and even CJ had some massive drops that are extremely atypical for their usual level of play. Our run blocking was also bad for most of the game. To say it was an off night for us is an understatement. And then there was the officiating, which to be certain did not help things, but the effort we showed through 3 quarters was more than enough to lose the game on our own.
Nevertheless, Sam fucking Ehlinger led us to get within 3 at the end of the game—despite everything, we STILL had a chance to win the fucking thing. That effort was sadly undone by a subsequent shitty special teams play, a phantom holding penalty that negated what could have been our game winning drive, and a shitty defensive stand in the final minutes. So we lost. We went 0-1 this week. But, and let me be clear about this: It. Does. Not. Fucking. Matter. All that matters is how our team responds. They know this, and they are going to fucking respond. They have done it all season.
We still control our own destiny to arrive in the Big 12 championship game on December 1st. I feel supremely confident in saying that we will not have a game as shitty as Saturday's for the rest of the season. Whatever pressure we had on ourselves from before that game with trying to make our way into the CFP is now dissipated. The orange voodoo from a Halloween night game in Stillwater is now gone. I believe our team will play looser and more determined to win the rest of this season. We are going to get there, and it will start this Saturday against WVU.
Here are my fearless predictions for the rest of the season:
Texas wins its next 4 games (WVU, @TTU, ISU, @KU) and will play OU for the conference title on December 1st.
WVU- Yes, their offense is legit and Grier is good. Grier also trusts his receivers implicitly and throws balls up to them all the time, which has made WVU very turnover prone this season. We will pick him off a couple times on Saturday and will do enough to win.
@TTU- This game was scarier before our loss to OkSt. Now I’m sure that we will win it. Tech has OU in the prime time slot this weekend, and they will leave it all on the field. That game will be their chance to blow their load for the season, and they will. Their game against OU will go one of two ways: either Tech will play its game but lose in such a manner that they will be deflated going into the following week (against us) or Tech will beat OU outright in a shootout. Regardless of that outcome, Tech will play us the following week feeling that they can handle us without issue (as Tech demolished OkSt in Stillwater earlier this season). Our team, however, will not be fucking around, and we will take them.
ISU- Out of all our remaining games, I am most glad we are playing this one at home. ISU is every bit as good this year as they were last year. This will be a hard fought slugfest, but we will pull away in the end on senior night.
@KU- If we don’t win this game, then fuck us and fuck everything I just said, because we won’t deserve shit. That said, we’ll win this game.
We will arrive for our rematch with OU in the Big 12 CCG at 10-2. I have no idea how that game will go. But however it goes, I know we will have opportunities in the game to beat them and win the conference. Herman and our team are deadliest when playing the underdog role.
In conclusion, fuck OU and Hook ‘em Horns.