Rock bottom.

That’s where Texas

Tech football was on Nov. 12, 2011.

The once high-flying

Red Raider offense looked listless as they lined up late in the first

half against No. 2 Oklahoma State in front of their home crowd.

Trailing 49-0,

they ran a draw play.

It was clear in the minds and

eyes of the Texas Tech faithful that their team didn’t have any

fight.

Final score: 66-6.

Just a

few weeks earlier, Texas Tech stunned the college football world with a

41-38 road win over No. 3 Oklahoma, snapping the Sooners’ 39-game home

winning streak.

The Red Raiders didn’t get the win

in Norman, Okla. this season, but fans couldn’t be more excited with

where this program is headed.

The difference?

Kliff Kingsbury is not Tommy

Tuberville.

Before Tuberville ditched Lubbock, Texas

for Cincinnati last December, it was not uncommon to hear him to blame losses on lack of

depth when he was the Tech head coach from 2010-12.

He recruited well for the Red Raiders, but he often

used his players’ inexperience as an excuse why they weren’t ready to

win.

When asked at Big 12 Media Days why

Texas Tech took TCU off the 2011 schedule,

Tuberville didn’t believe his team was ready to play a then-strong

Horned Frogs team.

“That’s really probably not type

of a team we want to play right now,” he said.

Kingsbury doesn’t think the same way.

Behind his trademark shades, there’s a cool and

confident young coach who truly believes his team can compete with the best in

the country.

Kingsbury knows he can win a

championship with the players he has.

Tuberville

didn’t.

Kingsbury is winning with two true freshmen

quarterbacks.

Tuberville would have said he needs to go recruit better talent before they can contend for a title.

When Tech fell behind 21-7 in the third quarter to

the Sooners last weekend, Kingsbury’s team kept fighting and scored 17

unanswered points to take the lead.

“Fortune favours

the bold” has become the team motto, and it showed by his aggressive

play-calling.

When Texas Tech was

clinging to a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter against TCU last season, Tuberville

attempted to chew more clock by running the

ball.

Most coaches would have done the same, but it

didn’t work as the Frogs had enough time to tie the game and send it

into overtime.

Faced with a similar situation against West

Virginia this season, Kingsbury trusted his young quarterback Davis Webb

to throw into the end zone to put the game out of reach.

“If we have the ball in our hands, we’re going to go win the game,” he said following

the 37-27 come-from-behind win. “We’re not going to try to depend on someone else or something to happen or just sit on it. We’re going to go take control of our own destiny.”

And players love fighting for a leader with that kind of attitude.

When something goes wrong, Kingsbury

stays calm.

Completely the opposite of how

Tuberville handled those situations.

Oklahoma State returns

to Lubbock on Saturday for the first time since that 66-6 rout.

Texas Tech likely won’t fall behind 49-0 going into

halftime this time.

But if the Red Raiders do, don’t expect to

see Kingsbury calling a draw play.

Follow Louis Ojeda Jr. on Twitter

@LouisOjedaJr