RaiderATX

Good game Bulls!

Hey Bulls, it's been a lot of fun engaging in a bit of banter with you guys. It's time to get into the details of what our respective teams are really up against. I want to offer up some analysis my favorite blog Staking the Plains puts together prior to each game. Not a deep dive by any means, but gives some perspective. Stats alone, Bulls best Red Raiders....

Birmingham Bowl Prep: South Florida Passing Offense vs. Texas Tech Passing Defense

Birmingham Bowl Prep: South Florida Rushing Offense vs. Texas Tech Rushing Defense

Birmingham Bowl Prep: Texas Tech Passing Offense vs. South Florida Passing Defense

Birmingham Bowl Prep: Texas Tech Rush Offense vs. South Florida Rush Defense

Let’s Talk About Stats: South Florida vs. Texas Tech

Underdogs gonna get ya! GOOOOO TECH!!!

4 hours ago, charsibb said:

You have any intel on why the B12 sent you guys to play us and WVU to play in Dallas? REALLY should have been t'other way 'round, given your alumni base and our history with WVU.

No Intel. It's a head scratcher. If you just look at our records, 6-6 Tech is a match for 6-6 Utah, and 7-5 WVU and 9-2 USF are closer together. Their reasoning I do not understand.

3 hours ago, Mission9 said:

You really cannot be thin skinned and survive over here.  In fact, the Bulls fans are  more abrasive against one another than they are towards the fans  of other programs who wander in here.  The moderators are very fair here.  

That's my bad, I was goofing around, but my delivery must have been off. Good jokes shouldn't have to be explained, but let's do it anyway.

I said: 

I was just having fun, and now you make it personal. Is there no moderator in this place?  (I was replying to a moderator, thats the joke. It's  irony or satire, I don't know the difference but do know there is humor in there, somewhere)

IT'S GO TIME: (that's a reference from a funny moment from the show Seinfeld, picture Lloyd Bridges jumping out of his chair to challenge you to a weight lifting competition, aka, "feats of strength", kinda funny, eh?)

-I've never even heard of Alabama BBQ. (This dismissive line is just some banter, some teasing, I'm playing along with the moderators trash talking, it's fun, it's funny)

-If Alabama BBQ was a division 1 defense, they'd be ranked below Texas Techs defense. (Now this is just straight up ridiculous, me comparing football to slowly smoked meats. I also dissed my own team's defense in the process; it's self deprecating humor. I'm making a self sacrificing joke so people laugh. It's non threatening, great way to break tension, if anything my sacrifice should be applauded)

-I bet Alabama BBQ requires sauce. TEXAS MEATS CAN STAND ON THEIR OWN (this was a diss followed by a fact, no joke here, good Texas brisket does not require sauce, the seasoning and meat should be more than sufficient)

Yeah (you can ignore this, it's a snarky comment to what someone said to me earlier. It's better left alone)

So there you have it.   I - stink - at - jokes

Going forward I'll write, "***Jokes Approaching***" before I dive into a joke. For example:

***Jokes Approaching*** A horse walks into a bar, the bartender says to the horse, "Why the long face?" 

3 minutes ago, Triple B said:

 

The moderators are all non paying attention dumbasses .... and my apologies if my observation offended but reality can be a ***** sometimes.

You've been a moderator this whole time, and yet you've said nothing to prevent this thread from going to a foul foul place. 

Texas BBQ is sacred. You can say our D stinks, that our special teams was pitiful, and that Patrick Mahomes will never lead an NFL team out of a tunnel, but don't drag the good name of Texas BBQ through the mud. Especially don't compare it to Alabama "BBQ", whatever that is. 

5 minutes ago, Triple B said:

Alabama BBQ > Texas BBQ ...

I was just having fun, and now you make it personal. Is there no moderator in this place?

IT'S GO TIME:

-I've never even heard of Alabama BBQ. 

-If Alabama BBQ was a division 1 defense, they'd be ranked below Texas Techs defense.

-I bet Alabama BBQ requires sauce. TEXAS MEATS CAN STAND ON THEIR OWN

Yeah

9 minutes ago, Mama_Bull said:

RaiderATX, Do you know, or can you find out, how many tickets were sold by your school for our bowl game?

We have only sold about 1,200 directly through USF.

Returning to the same bowl in back  to back years negatively impacted our sales.

 

 

Hey Mama, I have not seen any reports on ticket sales. I expect we sell about the same as you guys; not much.

Happy to go bowling, happy to be playing a good team in USF, but it's about 983 miles from Lubbock, and 638 miles from our alumni hub of Dallas. Since Birmingham isn't a destination city, I just don't see anyone making the trip, unless they live in a nearby state.

31 minutes ago, Gat-Rat Bull said:

But still not an impressive win.

Yeah, you don't get the opportunity for those when you fail your auditions.

1 hour ago, Gat-Rat Bull said:

Unfortunately, our bowl opponent this year will not do anything to change this.

Actually, this is funny, 

we are ranked 66, right in the middle of division 1 football, which you and I know isn't great. Yet, we would be your best win... By 22 freaking spots! Your best win was against the #88 team Temple. Every single one of your 9 wins was against teams in the bottom 1/3 (excluding Temple who was 2 spots away from the bottom 1/3). So although it won't be impressive, it will be a significant improvement of your resume.

Data from AthlonSports 

1) Texas Tech

2) 41-37

3) Flowers

4) MVS

5) 455

Tech will be able to keep the inside closed off from running backs and inside receiving, goal line stops will lead to a few field goals. Flowers should run all over us, MVS will make our corners look stupid, but as mentioned, will get tied up at the goal line.

Tech will finally have a complete game. 

12 minutes ago, goldenbrahm1996 said:

We never had a game with Texas Tech scheduled...no idea where you got that from. And the Umass game got cancelled 3 weeks into the season because of Hurricane Irma. You're just confused, stupid, or ignorant. Good possibility it's a combo of all three. 

Maybe I give your fans too much credit:

Btw, you're an angry lil man aren't you?

15 minutes ago, goldenbrahm1996 said:

No I just don't think you can count. The two I'm talking about are obviously the same two that the other poster was talking about. Not that hard to follow...They cancelled because they scheduled a home and home with us when we were god awful a few years ago. They got the home game at their place, and then when they were faced with traveling to play a vastly improved G5 team, they realized they didn't have anything to gain by it and they bought the game out So they could play another cupcake game at home. To be specific, Michigan St completely bought the game out, Wisconsin just moved it back until 2019.

Easy buddy, I'm not trying to ruffle your feathers. You're reading too much into my text. 

From this Topic thread, I counted Michigan State, Wisconsin, Texas Tech, and UMass who have cancelled on you. When I said limited observations, I meant I just know from what I've read at thebullspen.com, and those 4 have been mentioned as teams that have cancelled on you.

I really only care enough to get into the details  about why TTU cancelled, but I can't find anything. And don't say we were scared to play you, bc we have had and will have worthy OOC opponents annually.

11 minutes ago, Bausfkid said:

Schedules take shape 7-10 years out.  I didn't ask you to justify TT results this year.  The last 4 decades TT has done nothing on the gridiron.  CML's last year (08) TT made some noise. Outside of that year your football results are as desolate as the geographic landscape of your school.  TT could not have won the AAC this year or the last 3 years for that matter.  My post on your results is not meant to be a put down, more of a realistic view of your performance. 

Hey 07, 08, and 09 were all great years for our team in a very competitive conference at the time. 

Beyond the Mike Leach years it's been tough, I'm not going to justify our performance, that's not my intention. I know we aren't world beaters, I never said we were. Yet we've actually beat some worthy opponents, and more than half our schedule is pretty good teams.

I, like you, want to provide a more realistic view of your team; you beat no one with a pulse and that 9-2 record is very misleading. I too have won championships in beginner mode.

1 minute ago, goldenbrahm1996 said:

Well when you're supposed to play both Michigan State and Wisconsin at home and they bail at the last second, there's not much else you can do other than schedule the likes of San Jose St and Stonybrook

How do you guys have so many teams canceling on you. This brings the total to four from my limited observations. Yeah, that's gotta be frustrating.

29 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Do your research first. We had P5 teams scheduled but they bought us out. Funny how the P5 is scared to play the good teams. It’s also funny when half of the P5 is not very good and only have that classification because of longevity and not merit. 

"Do your research first"? That's what the above is; i researched who you played and you played one of the weakest schedules out there. Your out of conference SOS was the worst in the league. Playing us would have only bumped you maybe 20-30 spots, still at the bottom. You only schedule one decent team for your OOC, us, and we cancelled on you. But what about the other two teams you had scheduled? They were chumps.

I've tried to find out why we cancelled our out of conference with USF, but Ive found nothing mentioning it (I do vaguely remember us canceling though). Nonetheless we still put together a top tier OOC schedule, ranking 41 of 130.

"Scared"? C'mon we signed up to play ASU and UH for our OOC, two great teams at the time our schools agreed on the matchups. Next year we have UH again and Ole Miss. Next year you have Georgia Tech and Illinois, not so impressive eh? Maybe you guys are the ones too scared to face some competition, hurt that chance of a 10 win season.

On 12/18/2017 at 9:01 AM, Bausfkid said:

TT is an also-ran on their best day.  Their program has done nothing for the last 40+ years with the exception of Leach's last year. 

Go enjoy the Bulls victory and the Birmingham nightlife!

Go Bulls!

What did the Bulls do this year? As I mentioned elsewhere, "I feel USF's 9-2 record looks great at first glance, but upon further review, the Bulls accomplished little. You had the worst out of conference SOS, ranked at 130 of 130 (TTU at 41). Your in conference SOS was ranked 76 (TTU at 33). You beat all your cupcakes, but when it came down to playing teams with a winning record you were oh so close. The resume is lacking anything impressive.

Yeah Tech has a 6-6 record, another rough season for us. We did have 2-3 of those oh so close games too (WVU, OSU, KState). But I think where we best USF is we actually beat some worthy opponents, something USF can't say. Our wins against UH, ASU, and Texas are certainly better than anyone you beat this year; one of them even beat you.

Fortune favors the bold, and signing up for the easiest out of conference schedule gets you nothing. You are stuck taking us fat little girlfriends to the dance."

23 hours ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Talk about fan apathy. Has anyone visited TT 247 board. Absolutely nothing about the Birmingham Bowl. Even FSU has some discussion about their game and season. These guys have nothing. Hope their players are of the same frame of mind and don't really care. 

Go to StakingThePlains.com that's where a fairly healthy Tech fan base huddles.

19 hours ago, slick1ru2 said:

That’s a program that is lucky it’s in a power conference.

Don't understand your reasoning. We are fortunate that our donors and politicians played the right cards 20 or so years ago, to get us into the Big 12 over other schools, thus allowing us to be considered part of the Power 5. To say we haven't played our part all these years in being competitive at the Power 5 level is not so. During the First 10 years of the big 12 we have averaged the third best team of what was the golden years of our conference's existence. We've always been a top 5 offense in the country, aside from this year. Lately, in our down years we've been selecting strong out of conference games going 1 and 1 with Arkansas, ASU, and UH. We've had pretty high highs, but the lows are only just mediocre in the context of the 130 division 1 teams.

This idea that you think less of us bc we 6-6 is weak. We are in a stretch of down years, just as USF has had their down years (2011-2014 not exactly sure). We feel we are heading the right direction though. Made great improvements on the D side. 6-6 is rough. This year would have been much more successful if our field goal kicker wasnt injured, we were 45% on FGs using the backup kicker, and if 1sr round draft pick QB Pat Mahomes stuck around. Just like you guys, we lost a couple close ones. We also won a couple close ones. The 6-6 record could just as easily been 9-3 or 3-9 for us. Sometimes it's the wind, the refs, or an ill timed injury, but these arent even issues if your team just played better.  We beat ASU and both Texas and UH on the road. Who did you actually beat that is noteworthy? What happened this season for Tech fans to be thinking, clearly USF is the better team. 

On 12/4/2017 at 10:55 PM, Mama_Bull said:

This Looks to be is some of the bowl gear for TT fans.

Red Raider Outfitter is offering three unique, exclusive shirts celebrating Texas Tech's Birmingham Bowl matchup versus South Florida. First up is the "Battle at Historic Legion Field" dueling helmets shirt. 

• Red Raider Outfitter exclusive

• Dueling helmets graphic on the back

• Texas Tech graphic on the front

• FINAL DESIGN PENDING CLC APPROVAL

• CLASSIC FIT: Traditional cut - neither fitted or generous

• T-Shirt and Long Sleeve available

• 100% Pre-Shrunk Cotton

• Machine wash cold

• *CLICK HERE TO ORDER*

 

 

 

I would like to hear from our one TT poster on how many of their fans he thinks will show up for this game.

Last year, we seemed to bring nearly as many fans to this bowl as South Carolina did , which was pretty amazing considering that they are much closer to Birmingham and the game is held in SEC territory.

TT is much further away and we are a G5 team, so I really don't expect their fans to out number or out yell us. LOL

If USF was playing in Texas or nearby, we definitely would pack the house. This location, with this bowl, at this stadium, and on that date is just not worth a trip. I'd be surprised by a decent Tech turnout. 

Most of us could care less about who we are playing, we are a team who has been trying to right our ship the past couple seasons, we just wanted a bowl game. We are all kinda surprised by the selection: this bowl? This city? Why?  It makes little sense. 

We typically travel well, but I just think this time it may be too much trouble for our fan base to attend. 

15 hours ago, MMW said:

Welcome traveler.  Are you here to to learn about South Florida University?

 

Absolutely, I enjoy hearing what the other team has to say!

I won't be going to the game. I have a 8.5 month pregnant wife I can't abandon.

Lol, perhaps I should have added Red to my username; RedRaiderATX. As in Texas Tech Red Raider from Austin, TX. 

My presence will be a temporary stay. I'm just here to interact with our opponent. I'm friendly enough.

Looking forward to chatting with you Bulls!

As for the "tard" reference to my school, I haven't heard that one, but I do appreciate it not being said to my face. 

I thought I'd chime in to give you Bulls some perspective from an actual level headed Raider. Additionally, head to StakingthePlains.com or reddit.com/cfb/ to interact with Red Raiders who are closer to the mean of sensible fan bases.

From what I've gathered at those mentioned forums is that we:

-are thankful to be in any bowl game but we recognize this one does kinda stink

-that USF is going to be a challenge but we favor ourselves slightly because of bias

A number of us watched USF play their last game. What an epic game! We saw two dynamic teams play. There are a bunch of athletes on your team. Kinda wish you guys and Houston joined the Big 12.

I haven't dove down on the team stats yet, I'm waiting for Staking the Plains to do theirs, but I'm imaging stats wise our two teams will be closer than you think.

The past 17 years are divided in half, one being the Leach years and the other being post Leach years. Leach years we beat OU every other year, beat A&M 67% of the time, and had a top 5 offense most years with a middle of the road defense. 

Post Leach has been sad times, constantly rebuilding. One thing that never really changed was a great offense. This is the first year I can remember where it seems we don't score at will, but all years prior high scoring was the norm.  However the offense is probably better than most. Young oline, struggling run game, yet we have receivers that any team would want. The receivers are fantastic. I think you'll also find that there are two or three games we could have won if we had a kicker who could make a field goal.

The defense post Leach has been bottom of the barrel. Didn't help that we kept losing our defense coordinators year after year.  Something like 6-7 DC have come through in the past 8 years. The current one has reached a milestone bc he has been around our team going 3 years, it Houston's old coach. It's starting to show as we are no longer bottom of the barrel defense but middle of the pack maybe slightly less. Nonetheless the D has kept us in games. Lots of turnovers have been created this year. The defense is on the ups.

If we go by # of wins, USF has the advantage. If you go by quality wins Tech has the advantage. Yet I don't think either of us have any impressive wins. Maybe Tech winning on the road against UH, but I do realize UH was a different team.