The Morning After: A walk of shame back through the haze of another gut-wrenching defeat for Texas Tech football in Lubbock
It’s a tradition on the South Plains.
The Panhandle South Plains Fair, the cotton getting stripped, and Texas Tech Red Raider Football losing in a variety of Shakespearean-like ways, this time to Kansas State 25-24. The latest setback stings even more with leads of 14-0 and 24-10 in the first half weren’t built on to drop the Red Raiders to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in conference play.
The so-called stacking of success hasn’t happened in conference play since the 2018 season and there have been only two different winning streaks under Matt Wells since the start of the 2019 season. On paper Wells should have had success in Lubbock by now. As much as the positive change in the culture of the program that has occurred under Wells can’t be ignored, the 13-17 record is an albatross.
Going into the last third of a make or break season with potentially four ranked opponents gives this writer, and many observers, little hope for a winning season. Questionable in game decisions and the lack of a killer instinct have stunted any program growth in Lubbock and just stacked the losses on top of another.
Like Waylon once sang, “We need a change.”
Remedies for The Morning After
It’s less than a week before Halloween, or Reformation Day for you Protestants out there, and we all could use a pick me up after that nightmare loss in Lubbock on Saturday. Here are my recommendations to close out the weekend.
1.) It’s never too early for Egg Nog. Have a glass to better absorb the agony of defeat.
2.) Go visit your local barbecue joint. The Texas Monthly list of best barbecue joints in the Lone Star State is great, but like any list of that nature it’s truly incomplete. Go see your neighborhood barbecue restaurant and enjoy the cuisine of Texas.
3.) Build a fire in your backyard. If you don’t a fire pit then find a friend who has one. Talk with them. Listen to them. Much of our problems can be solved with a fire pit, a cold beverage, and friends.
Allen Corbin writes for The Raiderland. A longtime Lubbock resident now hiking the trails of Utah.