Bleacher Report - Articles by Chase Dunagan

Creature VS Creature: A Longhorn on Texas-Texas Tech

Chase Dunagan — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:59:00 -0400

This a an article written in about the Texas/Texas Tech game from a Longhorn's point of view. If you would like to read about this game from the Point of view of a Red Raider then go here...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/74058-creature-vs-creature-a-red-raider-on-texas-texas-tech

There’s no name for this rivalry game. No clever title. The winning team doesn’t get a golden hat, or a giant axe, or even a little boot. It’s one of the most lopsided rivalries you will ever hear about. But the Texas/Texas Tech game isn’t just about boasting to the nation which team is better. It’s about the younger school trying to prove to the older school that it belongs, and the older school trying to prove to the younger school that it will NEVER belong.

You see, 125 years ago the University of Texas was established. Then, 40 years later, Texas Tech University was founded. In their first ever meeting, in 1928, Texas shut out Tech, 12-0. After that, Texas played Tech sparingly until 1955. Until then Texas had outscored Tech 186-32 in six games.

Then something unexpected happened. Tech beat Texas. The very next year Tech was admitted into the South West Conference after having been denied membership for twenty years. Beating Texas can go a long way in gaining respect.

Texas has dominated the rivalry with an overall record of 43-14. But that is not telling of how close the games usually are. And recently, Tech has loved to play the spoiler to Texas' season.

In 1998, Tech ended Texas’ hopes of a Big 12 South Title. And in 2002 Tech snuck up on No.4 Texas and beat them, keeping Texas out of a BCS bowl and putting them into the Cotton Bowl.

But since 2002, Mack Brown has not lost to Texas Tech, and has beaten them by an average of 48-30.

And this year seems to be no different….

From the perspective of a Texas Longhorn, all I can say is that Texas Tech gets so much undeserved hype every single year for because of their offense. Yet once they play Texas, they are quickly brought down to earth and remember that they will NEVER be part of the elite in college football.

Another important part of the rivalry is of course the fans…

“This is our year.” “This is our year.” That is all I ever hear from Tech fans. I guess they think that one day if they say it enough, it will come true. But college football is not about fairy tales. Just because Tech is the perennial doormat for the Texas Longhorns, does not mean that Tech will beat Texas this year. In fact, it gives an edge to the Longhorns that were on this team in 2006 and came back from a 21-0 first quarter deficit. They KNOW they own the Red Raiders, and Saturday they will prove it once again.

Tech fans are also known for their harsh actions towards opposing fans. The Aggie goalpost incident ring any bells? As a college student I was fortunate enough to attend the 2006 game between Texas and Texas Tech. I was sitting in the Tech section and was surrounded on all sides by Tech fans. Luckily, four of them were my best friends. But as far as I could tell, the usual Tech fan is neither harsh nor moronic. Well, not harsh anyways.

But as for the students… Wow! I think the only reason my friends weren’t booing me as well was because we were not sitting in the student section and hence they were not under the mob mentality that is the Tech student section. They Boo, cuss, and throw stuff at opposing fans. It is pretty intense.

As for games at DKR… well my friend was pleasantly surprised when he attended last year’s game with me and my friends in Austin. No one cussed at him, booed him, threw anything at him or even really spoke to him. Here in Austin we are all pretty chilled. We understand that it is Tech, and we own them. But Tech fans feel the need to earn college football’s respect, and therefore, take it pretty far during the games. (Try to listen to the chants this Saturday).

All in all, this game comes down to who can stop who. Texas Tech has an amazing offense. They can score at will with great receivers, and have two great running backs to keep the defenses honest. But their defense has had some troubles… letting Eastern Washington put 24 on them is a telling story.

Texas on the other hand has an amazing offense that not only gets into the endzone on most occasions, but also chews up the clock while their at it. They have the front runner in the Heisman (McCoy), they have the best receiver in college football right now in Jordan Shipley, and hopefully they will implement Fozzy Whitaker who is a red-shirt freshman and a game breaker at running back.

The Texas defense is stacked and has held, Missouri, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma under their average points per game. With Will Muschamp at the reins, this defense plays like champions week in and week out.

My thoughts are that if Texas can hold Tech to 35 or less, then Texas will win, no doubt.

If Tech scores more than 35 points then it is a tossup because Tech will not be able to hold Texas to under 40 points.

I think Crabtree gets shut down by our defense, just as Inglesias, Maclin, and Bryant were. McCoy has another career day, throwing for 400 yards and running for an additional 75, securing the Heisman trophy.

Texas wins 52-28.

Hook’em Horns!

I Need a Tylenol: 10 Things That Gave Me a Headache in Week 3

Chase Dunagan — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:03:31 -0400

My name is Chase, and I need anger management. It is only three weeks into the college football season and I think I might have a hernia on my left abdomen. I don’t have a six pack, so this might be a good thing. People might think it’s an ab! Wishful thinking.

Anyways, I’ve decided that instead of keeping my rants inside of me and waiting to be justified in the next week of football, I’ll instead let them out and hopefully annoy and/or upset some of you readers.

If anyone is in agreement with what I say, then you too are crazy and should seek mental help. College football is an addiction, and it needs to be treated as such.

Here are the 10 things that pissed me off this college football weekend.

1. Kirk Herbstreit

It only took 27 minutes into the Ohio State-USC game before Mr. Buckeye himself started touting this year's USC team as quite possibly the best USC team that Pete Carroll has coached in his eight years in Los Angeles.

Hey, I’ve got an idea! Why doesn’t ESPN make a special about how this year's USC team would match up against the greatest teams of all time BEFORE the season is over?

What? They did that three years ago? And Texas beat them in the National Championship?

Well, did they do a special about Texas being the best team of all-time after they won? No? Oh well, they were probably just busy...

2. Ohio State

None of USC’s greatness would be warranted if “The” Ohio State University would have even put the ball in the end-zone. Just once! Is it that hard?

Thank you OSU, for making USC’s defense look like the Steel Curtain. FYI to Jim Tressel. If your team falls apart after losing your No. 1 running back, then you didn’t have a good team in the first place.

3. Hurricane Ike

Because of this tropical disturbance turned horrible, my aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends who live in the southeastern part of Texas were terrorized this Saturday. They were forced to evacuate and leave their homes in the hands of Mother Nature.

Mother was apparently not happy and decided to destroy my uncle’s seaside house. Thankfully, he left his house before the storm hit, but he must now live in a hotel until he can rebuild and restart his life there.

Not only did this affect me personally, but on another, less important note, the Texas vs. Arkansas game was postponed until two weeks from yesterday. I go to school in order to get season tickets for really cheap (seriously). This week was a waste of my time.

Now I have to wait a whole other week until I can see my Longhorns do to Rice what Ike did to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Hopefully everyone’s families in that area are safe and sound.

4. The Oklahoma Sooners

Talk about class! Did anyone catch the beginning of the Washington and OU game? How about the part where the OU football players blocked the entrance to the field when the Washington players were trying to run out of the tunnel right before kickoff!

To add insult to injury, the rest of the game was dominated by OU, and there were many personal fouls called on both teams, including an OU player pancaking a Washington player very late after a false start penalty.

Washington struck back the next play by taking the offender out of the game in their own way. Hey, you mess with the bull, you get the horns.

I WISH OU would try that crap against TEXAS! A path would be cleared out of that tunnel. I guarantee it!

5. KARMA

Gamecocks, guys, you were one play away from tying or even beating the Georgia Bulldogs and fulfilling my preseason prediction!

Why? Why did your running back have to jump for the end-zone from five yards out!? Why did he have to fumble it and let the Bulldogs recover and squeak away with a win? Why?

I know why. KARMA! This is what Steve Spurrier gets for all those years at Florida where he ran up the score on all those SEC teams, and especially Georgia. Karma’s a *****.

6. Penn State

I like Penn State. But I don’t like to see a good guy like Greg Robinson get beat down like he has been for the last three years now. So today I was rooting against Penn State.

But it didn’t matter. Not even Jim Brown in his prime could help out this Syracuse team. Greg Robinson, take a word from Bowling for Soup and “Come Back to Texas.”

7. UCLA

Thank you UCLA, for making BYU look like they just had a flashback to the 1980s.

8. East Carolina

East Carolina, I made it a point to tell all my friends that you were a legit team. You would wipe the floor with BYU and deserved to play in a BCS game if you even had one loss. And how do you repay me? You scrape by Tulane by four points. BYU better not lose to Wyoming next week…

9. Notre Dame

This should probably be aimed at the media, but if Notre Dame ends up in the Top 25 on Monday after beating a lowly Michigan team, I might pull a Vince Young. (It’s okay, I’m a Texas fan, I can say that.)

10. Mississippi State fans

Two words. Cow Bell. I will never, EVER, watch another MSU game that is played at MSU. EVER. I need a Tylenol.

I’ll be back next week to tell you what I’m pissed off at. Read if you must.

Three Teams That Will Disappoint Their Fans in 2008

Chase Dunagan — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:00:43 -0400

The nature of the college football off-season is unlike any other. With eight months separating the National Championship game from the kick-off of the 2008 season, there is more than enough time for every fan of every team to get excited about the upcoming season.

Prediction after prediction, fans see and hear what the most educated experts have to say about their squad, and some fans of perennial bottom feeders see that their team is picked to win the conference or challenge for a BCS bowl birth.

Even fans of teams with rich traditions see that their alma mater is primed for a championship run. While most of the college football community sees these teams in a glass half full manner, I am here to bring these fans back to earth and probably become one of America's most hated men in the process.

So here we go.... Three teams that wll dissapoint their fans in 2008

Kansas

I hate to be the one to tell this to you Jayhawk fans, but you're headed back to mediocrity in 2008. Oh, I wasn't the only one to tell you that? Then why do I still see you ranked in everybody's top 15?

Kansas is a team that surprised even the most gifted sports analysts. They ran through the 2007 season like the Oklahoma Sooners of 2003. It seemed as if the Jayhawks failed to play a decent team all year, until they got to Missouri.

Well, looks can be deceiving, but they’re not here. Kansas only played two ranked teams all year, Missouri and VA Tech, and went 1-1 in those games. Kansas was fortunate enough not to have to face Oklahoma, Texas, or Texas Tech from the Big 12 South division. In 2008, Kansas must face all three.

With nine returning starters on defense, many believe the Kansas D will pick up right where they left off (fourth in the nation in scoring). But I think the loss of Aqib Talib, who was a superstar at Kansas, is too much to just replace by Chris Harris or Kendrick Harper.

And as already mentioned, playing potent offenses like Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech should show the nation what kind of defense the Jayhawks really have.

My Prediction: Kansas will run through the first five game on their schedule, even beating a good South Florida team, only to fall off big time in the latter part of the season. I see them losing four of their final seven games. I think Colorado will pull the upset, and losses to Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri will send Kansas fans to the Alamo Bowl.

Texas Tech

Oh no. That’s what you’re all thinking. “He did NOT just go there.” I did.

Texas Tech is BY FAR the most trendy pick of the off-season. A bunch of returning starters on offense, and a good defense that has only gotten better with the additions of JUCO transfers and a year of maturity. Well I say hogwash!

If you’re a fan of the Big 12, you know that year after year Texas Tech is touted as “the team that will surprise this season!” But year after year Tech under performs and loses to teams far inferior to them.

In 2004, the Red Raiders had a solid year where they only lost to the big three, Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M. Oh yeah, they lost to New Mexico, a team that lost to anyone with a pulse in 2004.

In 2005, Tech had an amazing year. They beat OU, and went to the Cotton Bowl. But a loss to Oklahoma State late in the season cost them a chance to play in a BCS bowl. Oklahoma State’s only conference win that season was against Tech.

In 2006, Tech scored a total of nine points in losses to TCU and Colorado. Colorado was 2-10 that year.

And last year, Texas Tech somehow managed to lose to Colorado (6-7) at home. And that defense that was "good" last year, gave up a total of 202 points in the last six games of their season, including 59 points from an average Texas offense.

The only team not to score at least 31 points in their last six games? Baylor, who scored 7. Even if that defense got better, that’s like saying Shaquille O’Neal got better at free throws. So what?

This year people will be ready for Crabtree, and this year Tech will perform like they always do…. Disappointingly.

My Prediction: Texas Tech will be good, real good. But not good enough, and not BCS caliber. I see them losing to Oklahoma, Texas, and possibly A&M (the Aggies have to win sometime). Tech goes to the Holiday Bowl.

Georgia

OK, this was hard for me to do because I think that Georgia is a great football team. I just think that there is too much for them to overcome to win it all, and anything less will be considered a failure this year, with all this hype.

All I can say is, the schedule resembles a Roman phalanx. I don’t see how a team can get through that without a cut or bruise, if not being fully impaled. All battle terminology aside, I think Florida is going to beat Georgia due to the fact that Georgia is 3-15 in thier last 18 meetings, and they embarrassed Florida greatly with their little riot in the end zone after a touchdown.

You would have thought they had just won the Superbowl. It was distasteful and should have been dealt with, but the SEC never handed out any punishments. Good move SEC, I hope Florida does that to Georgia this year. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a fight broke out, and it cost a couple of college athletes their scholarships. Good role model the SEC President is.

If not Florida, I think Auburn or Tennessee will do the job.

My Prediction: Georgia still wins the SEC Championship, but with one or two losses, it’s not enough to make it to the National Championship game, since there will be two undefeated teams. Georgia goes to the Sugar Bowl.

Side note: If there are not any undefeated teams, Georgia should seriously get the nod over a one loss Ohio State or one loss West Virginia.

There you go. I’m sure many you hate me now. But please feel free to leave a comment, nice or mean, it’s all welcome.