It’s hard to explain how much it stinks to drop that game. We’ve become used to Wild West style shootouts before, but that was a style of ball we haven’t seen played in a long time, and it sucks to lose it. Let’s just go ahead and get into the points of the game.

Patrick Mahomes is a gamer. The dude comes up limp early on in the game, and still puts the Tech offense on his back. He had 392 yards in the air for two touchdowns to go along with 36 on the ground and another td. For a guy to grab 400+ yards and 3 touchdowns, after coming up limp early the game, is huge. Mahomes was even able to evade two TCU linemen on the final play, in an attempt to buy some time for his receivers to get down the field. Despite the outcome, we haven’t seen a Red Raider quarterback put that much heart and soul in a game in a long time

The defense has to get better. That’s something we’ve been saying for the last 10 years, but it’s what needs to happen. Texas Tech always has great offensive squads, but their defense has always held them back. They gave up an even 750 to the Horned Frogs. Now, TCU can hold their own on the offensive side of the ball, but 750 yards is too many. Most of those yards went to wide receiver Josh Doctson (18 catches, 267 yards, not a typo.) Even with Doctson’s big day, the Texas Tech defense did play the final possession perfectly. They forced a 4th and goal, forced an errant pass on it, and it just didn’t bounce the matador’s way. That’s football, it’s going to happen.

It’s evident Tech can go fast, but I’d like to see them get better at slowing down the clock. They had the ball with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter, and went 3 and out when they tried to milk it. If they could have gotten a couple first downs there, they could have almost certainly put the game away.

Deandre Washington is a beast. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a running back do that good from the line of scrimmage. He had 188 yards today on 22 carries. For those of you too lazy to get out a calculator, that’s an average of 8.5 yards per carry. That’s insane, and quite frankly, something we aren’t used to as Tech fans.

This Tech squad can hold their own against almost anyone, as was prevalent in today’s game. We knew that, but most other teams didn’t. It’s going to make it hard for Tech to sneak up on the rest of the Big 12 from now on, given how close today’s game was. We may not be a favorite to win the conference, but trust me, we’re on the radar to ruin someone else’s chances of winning it.

Don’t let my points above lead you astray, Tech played this game about as well as we could expect them to. I’m sure very few fans are upset with the Red Raiders’ performance today, it just sucks to be that close to another victory and not have it bounce your way. If today wasn’t enough of a shootout for you, Tech’s next game is against Baylor, next Saturday, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. So, don’t forget to put antacid on your shopping list.

Wreck ’em.