One of the greatest lies ever told to me was that all lies are bad.  Since I’ve relied solely on box scores, first hand reports, and few highlights for my homework, I won’t pretend that I know this team very well yet.  Radio broadcast of the Red Raiders is scarce in the Southern Rockies, but 18″ risers eased my concerns of uncovered spreads being reported via 21st century morse code,  the chicanerous act of texting.

Offense

Based on this information, I’ve come to my own conclusions.  I’m not going to lie to myself here and say everything is going to be alright without Marlon Winn on the field in Austin.  Holding him out of the 2nd half for precautionary reasons is a win.  Our OL is somewhat of a mess without him.   Mickey Okafor looked like a rhino stomping out a forest fire on the Batch 3 yard TD.  Most of the rest I’ve turned up is uninspiring, although Olson looked solid in some highlight clips.  We might be alright with Olson/Carter/Byrnes/Okafor/Winn.   I’m not sure what I would say to Terry McDaniel or Joe King, if either one of them asked if the dress they were wearing made them look fat.  I’m also not sure what I would say if they asked me if I thought they were ready for Sergio Kindle or Sam Acho in 2 weeks.  Olson gives us somewhat of a chance to stay in front of Kindle and chip with a RB, if necessary.  Winn should be fine.

Continuity has a direct relationship with success or failure in the run game.  Not a whole lot of grass churned by the backfield personnel in this game, and some of that can be pinned on Winn’s abscence.  I sincerely hope Leach learned Harrison Jeffers might be worth getting a minimum 5 or 6 more touches  a game over the next few weeks.  I think Houston on the road will be a much tougher matchup than initially anticipated, not to mention the Longhorns.  We might be well served to confront them with as many things to defend as possible.

Defense

All the research I’ve done, seems to reveal that we dominated North Dakota appropriately on this side of the ball.  That doesn’t really surprise as not only do we have some talent in places, much of it is seasoned.  Guys like Whitlock, Henley, and Jones have all at one time or another faced the very best college football has to offer.  This defense will live and die by these 3, and it was nice to hear the slim-downed Henley notched a sack and brought some consistent heat.  I think he’ll thrive at SDE, especially in the run game where he was a little undersized to be holding up in the middle.  Daniel Howard could serve as a viable option in pass rush based on effort level alone.  This appears to be our A-Team, and while they’ll be mocked by many outsiders this year, they’re still one of the better units I’ve seen Tech roll with in the last 25 years. 

With regards to the back 7, it’s probably a little tough to say based on North Dakota.  I doubt they could outrun us, so I would imagine they looked fairly fast on the field with relative in mind. 

Special Teams

While they weren’t flawless, I’m liking me some Eric Russell.  Lots of nice returns and touchbacks.  This will keep us from getting beat somewhere along the way.