Texas Tech and thei 2010 Scheudle Controvery
Ron Blancarte
Tech "released" their schedule yesterday. And here is what they put out:
Sept 4 - SMU Oct 23 - at Colorado
Sept 11 - at New Mexico Oct 30 - at Texas A&M
Sept 18 - Texas Nov 6 - Missouri
Oct 2 - at Iowa St Nov 13 - at Oklahoma
Oct 9 - Baylor (in Dallas) Nov 20 - Weber St
Oct 16 - Oklahoma St Nov 27 � Houston
Couple of small problems there. Can you see them? How about if I post this:
Sept 4 - at Rice Oct 23 - Iowa St
Sept 11 - Wyoming Oct 30 - Baylor
Sept 18 - UCLA Nov 6 - at Kansas State
Sept 25 - Florida Atlantic Nov 13 - Oklahoma St
Oct 2 - Oklahoma (Dallas) Nov 20 - at Texas Tech
Oct 16 - at Nebraska Nov 25/26- Texas A&M
and this:
Sept 4 - Baylor
Sept 11 - at SMU
Sept 18 - at Texas Tech
Those are Texas' and TCU's 2010 schedules (TCU doesn't have their conference
schedule or extra game finalized yet) that they have tentatively announced. The
key dates: Sept 18 and Nov 20.
First off, this wasn't, hey look their future schedule was posted and people
jumped on it. They had a release AND a press conference!!!
http://www.texastech.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/111109aab.html
Anyway, this caught a lot of people unaware. First off, Mack Brown was asked
about it yesterday. He gave a standard party line "it's a possibility" etc. But
from reports, he was clearly surprised by the questions, etc. TCU, not so much.
Word is their AD is not happy about the dodge and they are running the line that
they are unaware.
So the real story? Unknown. But of course, there are a lot of rumors. Here is
what is going around as part of the thinking:
- One thing is for sure, Tech jumped the gun on this release. The fact
that Texas and TCU was caught unaware and/or mad points that out.
There is a rumor that ESPN/ABC made a request that Tech took down the
schedule (more on that in a bit).
THOUGHTS: Tech wants to play big boy. But this move just shows they have a long
way to go. One thing about the big boys schools, they are media savvy. Texas
would never make a misstep like this (certainly not in football). They would
make sure that the i's were dotted and the t's crossed before making this
announcement. Tech just showed they are still in the kiddie pool, and worse, it
just turned yellow. Gerald Myers already has whipped out the "unofficial" card:
http://www.star-telegram.com/college_sports/story/1755731.html
While both TCU and Texas leave Tech to twist in the wind (TCU said nothing,
Texas' comment was the savvy that I was talking about).
- Rumor is that because ESPN/ABC has pulled decent ratings for
Texas/Tech the last few years. There is talk that they want to give
it a go again. The thought is that because things are not yet
finalized, ESPN/ABC asked Tech to pull this because it is way early in
the process. The game for this year was not announced until February.
THOUGHTS: Look, 2008 was a game to be remembered, for good or bad reasons,
depending on which side you were on. But it is doubtful that the future games
will resonate with any sort of the same magic. 2008 was good because Tech put
together a team that could compete AND were ranked highly. But Tech doesn't do
this consistently, unlike OUsucks right now. Plus, this puts Tech in the role
of a rival to Texas (and said as much in their press release), and they just
aren't. Big boon in 2008, but ABC/ESPN, let it go, until Tech gets back to
prominence, you are beating a dead horse. More importantly, you more than
likely slotting a bad game in a prime slot.
- More on this rumor, which seems to have legs. One thing about it is
that the rumor is that the real hiccup is that Texas is still in the
process of flipping around the schedule. The athletic dept knows that
dropping the UCLA game would not go over well with the fans (with all
the talk of our schedule this year), so they can't afford to drop the
game (plus it would be a nice 2011 road game/vacation). Currently
UCLA has this schedule for 2010:
Sept 4 - at Kansas St Oct 23 - at Oregon
Sept 11 - Houston Oct 30 - Arizona
Sept 18 - at Texas Nov 6 - Oregon State
Oct 2 - Washington St Nov 13 - at Washington
Oct 9 - at California Nov 21 - at Arizona St
Oct 16 - Stanford Dec 4 - USC
The word is Texas is asking to move the Texas/UCLA game back a week
(flipping the UCLA bye week), and then bump FAU back to Nov 20,
because they don't have a conference schedule setup yet. It really
works out for UCLA, because it gives them a week more to prepare for
us, though they do lose the rest week before Pac-10 play starts.
THOUGHTS: Again, I don't like the move, but Texas has shown for TV, especially
prime TV slots, they will do anything. Since it appears that the move must
happen, then they better do what they can to keep UCLA on the schedule, because
that isn't just a game that Texas fans want, but one that our schedule NEEDS!!
- TCU: This is where the problem will lie now, and might end this whole
thing here and now. I have a suspicion that TCU is genuinely pissed
by this move. 1. TCU is returning a lot of this team, next year, and
they want to make a run at the BCS and maybe more. The Tech game is
the only thing that would give their schedule any sort of credibility.
They still have an open date, but there is no way they can get a major
conference team in there this late in the game. 2. TCU has to feel
like the little guy being told what to do by the big guy. This is
probably what has them even more pissed.
THOUGHTS: I have a feeling that TCU won't let anything fly that doesn't include
Tech on their schedule for 2010. Can they stop the move? I don't know, but I
guarantee you that if there is signed paper that documents a TCU/Tech game in
2010, they are playing in 2010, no matter what the cost. This probably has
little effect on Texas, because if this is a hiccup, then we will make sure we
have both angles covered (Tech/UCLA/FAU switchero or not).
I find this all pretty funny. In terms of Tech the school, you already get my
feelings on this. Tech fans seem to not completely "get it". 1. they seem to
think they carry weight in these deals, and they don't. 2. they seem to think
they can get away with not having TCU on their schedule, and they can, but all
you have to do is look at Ok State to see what a school of their caliber is
thought about (2 losses and fringe top 20). 3. They are already licking their
chops on this game, which it is way to early to do.
I wonder how this all turns out ...
Phil
TAKETHISOUT---.blancarte.com> wrote:
> I don't know if you guys have heard this or not, but it turns out that Texas
> Tech "released" their schedule yesterday. And here is what they put out:
> Sept 4 - SMU Oct 23 - at Colorado
> Sept 11 - at New Mexico Oct 30 - at Texas A&M
> Sept 18 - Texas Nov 6 - Missouri
> Oct 2 - at Iowa St Nov 13 - at Oklahoma
> Oct 9 - Baylor (in Dallas) Nov 20 - Weber St
> Oct 16 - Oklahoma St Nov 27 – Houston
>
> Couple of small problems there. Can you see them? How about if I post this:
> Sept 4 - at Rice Oct 23 - Iowa St
> Sept 11 - Wyoming Oct 30 - Baylor
> Sept 18 - UCLA Nov 6 - at Kansas State
> Sept 25 - Florida Atlantic Nov 13 - Oklahoma St
> Oct 2 - Oklahoma (Dallas) Nov 20 - at Texas Tech
> Oct 16 - at Nebraska Nov 25/26- Texas A&M
>
> and this:
> Sept 4 - Baylor
> Sept 11 - at SMU
> Sept 18 - at Texas Tech
>
> Those are Texas' and TCU's 2010 schedules (TCU doesn't have their conference
> schedule or extra game finalized yet) that they have tentatively announced. The
> key dates: Sept 18 and Nov 20.
>
> First off, this wasn't, hey look their future schedule was posted and people
It's interesting. I would love to have a copy of their game contracts
to see what the buyout would cost Tech.
As far as moving the game, I was for it this year because I thought it
played to our advantage. For next year, I don't like it. Texas will
be a younger team that I expect will improve as the season goes
along. I generally prefer the conference games happen later in the
year.
Being on TV is cool, but I think Texas should look out for itself
right now and the way I see it, playing Tech later in the season works
better for us in 2010.