Hey Cyclone fans, Raider here (sorry for the long post)

[Al_4_State]

I fully get why the average Iowa State fan is very confident they will beat Tech. Last year was a complete disaster for Tech and Iowa State came in and took it too us. If I was a casual Iowa State fan I would be expecting close to the exact same thing or better at home this year.

If I'm a more football savvy Iowa State fan I look past the Tech opponents and look at how Tech has looked on film. On film the talent level of this Tech team really overwhelms you. Tech is the only team in the country who has a top 10 offense and a top 10 defense, and they have a higher sagarin SOS than ranked Florida State or TCU.

You don't have to take my word for it, and you can laugh it off if you want, but Texas Tech is a really good team this year. Iowa State is going to have to play mistake free football and get a couple of takeaways. Which is very possible as we know from the OSU game last year. Either way, I'm just excited to finally see how Tech's starters stack up in Big 12 competition this year.

And a savvy Texas Tech fan would realize that ISU has played, and played well, against the conference's toughest OOC slate.

[Cyclophile1]

The first one was OK. The rest of the TTarmy is going to start a rivalry around here.

There is cheering for your team. There is drinking excessive amounts of Kool-Aid, and then there is Texas Tech delusion. Your stats mean nothing. In 2 weeks, you get your first chance at the big time. If you win, bring the big talk. When you lose, drop by for the fallout while we move on to someone who's done something recently.

TTech has some pride. I get that. I understand TTech has done very well under the crazy man the last decade and even before were pretty darn good under *****. The desire is never as far away as the reality, particularly if you have tasted ten or twelve straight bowls with some top15 finishes. However, this is not the same program under Tubby as they are used to, so let's just play the game. I don't mind the banter, because Iowa State needs some teams to hate on the schedule in the new Big12.

I don't think Tubs has TTech back to that level where little ol' ISU is just going to concede the game, so we'll just have to go ahead and play the game, mmkay?

[Al_4_State]

Given the competition that TT has played, I'm not sure why any TT fan would be confident of victory over ISU. ISU has a pretty stout, underrated defense.

On the other hand, given where ISU's offense is, I'm not sure why any ISU fan would be declaring certain victory any Big 12 opponent. WIU is a cupcake, and ISU's offense did not look good in that game. The recurring theme in the commentary from Heft and Bruns (with Bruns being much more direct) regarding the offense was bad _________ (read, decision, turnover, mistake, etc.) That's not the kind of thing you should be hearing when playing a cupcake.

Regardless of how good the defense is, unless Wally and the defense are going to start doing the scoring as well, the offense still has to score some points in order to win a game. I'm just hoping that CPR and the Offensive coaching staff can get the offense rolling soon (i.e. by the next game).

I'm just not "getting" the hand ringing over our offense. We've scored 38, 9, and 37 points. Last year, against a similar slate we scored (counting regulation) 20, 24, and 27. Our yardage has increased, and our QB has gone from completing 53% of his passes to completing 70% of his passes. We've run the ball pretty well. We have a lot of room for improvement, but we have a rookie OC who is still learning. There's a lot of progress being made, and it seems clear to me that we're looking sharper on that end than we have previously under Rhoads. We've moved the ball in every game we've played, and were 3 plays away from clearing 30 points in every game.

We're also going up against a defense that we've absolutely embarassed the past 2 seasons, with less effective offenses.

[ttuadvisor]

And a savvy Texas Tech fan would realize that ISU has played, and played well, against the conference's toughest OOC slate.

There's no doubt that ISU has played the conference's toughest OOC slate to date, and I think the media hasn't given ya'll enough credit for the victories. I might be "delusional" but I think Texas Tech is a little better than Tulsa and Iowa, and both those games came down to late 4th quarter interceptions by Iowa State to seal the victory.

I think most Tech fans really like and respect Coach Rhoads and what he's done at Iowa State, but feel like we're a much improved team this year. We have two weeks to debate who will win and none of what we say has any impact on the results on the field. Gotta love College Football!

[State43]

Holy crap, Nevada had almost 700 yards on NWS. Maybe they are world beaters too.

[klamath632]

So tired of "we respect Coach Rhodes" (by the way, it is spelled RHOADS!!) followed by "we're still going to pound the **** out of you."

Good luck in two weeks, and shut the **** up already.

[NATEizKING]

12 days to go and this thread is already epic hate.

[UNIGuy4Cy]

There's no doubt that ISU has played the conference's toughest OOC slate to date, and I think the media hasn't given ya'll enough credit for the victories. I might be "delusional" but I think Texas Tech is a little better than Tulsa and Iowa, and both those games came down to late 4th quarter interceptions by Iowa State to seal the victory.

I think most Tech fans really like and respect Coach Rhoads and what he's done at Iowa State, but feel like we're a much improved team this year. We have two weeks to debate who will win and none of what we say has any impact on the results on the field. Gotta love College Football!

Where are you improved? You have a good quarterback but outside of that where is this giant leap of talent from last year? I mean you have kicked two of your best linebackers off the team in Cobb and Hubert.

[State43]

But they have this guy at linebacker who is all big 12 according to Tech fans.

[ttuadvisor]

Where are you improved? You have a good quarterback but outside of that where is this giant leap of talent from last year? I mean you have kicked two of your best linebackers off the team in Cobb and Hubert.

Cobb and Hubert didn't even start until the injuries piled up last year. There is no chance they would have started this year. Our biggest improvement has come on the defensive line which was decimated by injuries last year. Tech has the most returning OL starts in the conference according to Phil Steele, so we feel good about our cohesiveness and communication up front and fortunately don't have to play any linemen with torn ACL's last year.

Tech started two true freshman at LB last season and have now brought in a MLB from JUCO who started first day of fall camp. We don't have any Jake or A.J.'s on our roster like you guys, but when you start an all true freshmen LB core last year, anything is an improvement. We're playing 7 4* recruits at WR and our TE is a monster. I think we're improved at every position except for CB. We're still inexperienced and don't have great depth there.

[Baffan]

There's no doubt that ISU has played the conference's toughest OOC slate to date, and I think the media hasn't given ya'll enough credit for the victories. I might be "delusional" but I think Texas Tech is a little better than Tulsa and Iowa, and both those games came down to late 4th quarter interceptions by Iowa State to seal the victory.

I think most Tech fans really like and respect Coach Rhoads and what he's done at Iowa State, but feel like we're a much improved team this year. We have two weeks to debate who will win and none of what we say has any impact on the results on the field. Gotta love College Football!

I'll give you the Iowa game interception but I'm not sure how beating Tulsa by more than one score shows that an interception sealed the deal for the game. I also doubt you will hear many on here claiming Tech is any worse than Tulsa or Iowa, what has been said is that Tech is unproven against a comparable team.

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Cobb and Hubert didn't even start until the injuries piled up last year. There is no chance they would have started this year. Our biggest improvement has come on the defensive line which was decimated by injuries last year. Tech has the most returning OL starts in the conference according to Phil Steele, so we feel good about our cohesiveness and communication up front and fortunately don't have to play any linemen with torn ACL's last year.

Tech started two true freshman at LB last season and have now brought in a MLB from JUCO who started first day of fall camp. We don't have any Jake or A.J.'s on our roster like you guys, but when you start an all true freshmen LB core last year, anything is an improvement. We're playing 7 4* recruits at WR and our TE is a monster. I think we're improved at every position except for CB. We're still inexperienced and don't have great depth there.

Not a bad argument until this point. Just cause they have stars out of high school does not make them good at the college level. Your team had more stars at most positions last year and how did that help you in a 41-7 rout?

[NickTheGreat]

And a savvy Texas Tech fan would realize that ISU has played, and played well, against the conference's toughest OOC slate.

I think it's pretty clear that theres no Savvy Tech fans around here

[RedRaider42]

Where are you improved? You have a good quarterback but outside of that where is this giant leap of talent from last year? I mean you have kicked two of your best linebackers off the team in Cobb and Hubert.

We are VASTLY improved at WR this season as opposed to last season. Our best RB is back (A&M destroyed his knee last year) and we've got a very solid #2 back behind him. Our QB has made a lot of progression from his first season as starter to his second.

Defensively, our defensive line looks much better as well. Our run defense looks MUCH better this season. For example, last year Texas State racked up 256 rushing yards on us at our place. This season they only rushed for 129 yards against us at their place. Another comparison could be our games against UNM where our total yards allowed went from 337 to 127 this season. Certainly, we have played some weaker teams, but our D looks MUCH better this year. A big reason for that is switching from last year's 4-2-5 alignment to a standard (re: more familiar) 4-3 alignment. Our biggest weakness from the first three games is our pass D, so if Jantz is able to pick us apart, it could be another high scoring game.

[MNCyGuy]

There's no doubt that ISU has played the conference's toughest OOC slate to date, and I think the media hasn't given ya'll enough credit for the victories. I might be "delusional" but I think Texas Tech is a little better than Tulsa and Iowa, and both those games came down to late 4th quarter interceptions by Iowa State to seal the victory.

I think most Tech fans really like and respect Coach Rhoads and what he's done at Iowa State, but feel like we're a much improved team this year. We have two weeks to debate who will win and none of what we say has any impact on the results on the field. Gotta love College Football!

From where I sat that Tulsa game was never really in doubt after the 1st quarter. Maybe the interception was what officially sealed the deal, but you can't compare it to Iowa.