I have noticed a lot of doom and gloom posts over our disappointing WIN at South Alabama last Saturday, and some criticism has been thrown on Skip's coaching. So to put his tenure here in perspective, I'd like to hear your best/worst moments/games/decisions while here at Tech.
So, WHAT ARE YOUR BEST and/or WORST Moments of the Holtz Era (or as a Tech fan, if you'd like)
I'll list my Top 10 worst games:
1. 2013 Tulane: My first season as a member of the Tech Alumni, and I drove 1100 miles to see Tech win its first ever game against the only FBS team we have not beat in the state. My senior year (2012) I enjoyed one of Tech's most exciting years, and though Tech was reputed to have lost a lot, I still expected us to beat Tulame before I went overseas to attend my Graduate studies starting in October. NOPE, just my trip felt wasted and Tech lost for the 9th time in 9 tries against Tulame.
2. 2014 NWST: My first game as a Tech fan where we lost to a lower division, i.e. FCS, school in their "super bowl", and even worse that program was in state and a former rival. 5 TOs, with 4 in the 2nd half, did us in, and while this loss likely helped us concentrate, it also likely kept us from double digit wins.
3. 2013 Kansas: We snapped the worst BCS-AQ programs's 2-3 year loss streak with 2-3 TOs in the red zone to lose by a FG... enough said...
4. 2014 ODU: Like the NWST game listed above, this game kept us from double-digit wins, and likely these two kept us from being ranked. It definitely kept the Conference Champ game away from Ruston. Like the Tulane game, this was the only regular season game I was able to attend that year, now working in DC. Even after the NWST game, 2014 felt special and we were rolling. We had defeated 4-5 eventual bowl teams by obscene margins, and we felt ODU would be a cakewalk. That loss was embarrassing to a 1st year/transitioning FCS startup program. I'm still looking forward to a rematch so we can get packback...
5. 2015 SoMiss: We had a 2-game winning streak vs. SoMiss, we were @home on Senior Day, we had like 6-9 future draft players starting (Butler, Dixon, Driskell, TTaylor, Henderson, Woods, etc.), we were the favorites the win the west and had only lost to WKU by 3, and we were supposed to be excited about the rivalry in Dixie. Nope, while unable to attend the game, everything I've read was that the team was flat, the crowds small (somewhat understandable on Thanksgiving break), and So Miss was SO MUCH MORE EXCITED to play that game than us. The game was somewhat close, but in the 2nd half we gave up 6 of 7 TOs, and collapsed, with the Defense becoming too "tight" trying to help compensate for the Offense...
6. 2016 SoMiss: We had one of the best offenses (yet one of the worst defenses) in the country, headlined by the best two WR's in the country. We had locked-up the West division crown, and while many fans remained skeptical of Ryan Higgins' skill throughout the season (MTSU game, I'm looking at you...), his ability to protect the FB and get the ball to his playmakers for YAC made him statistically very good. SoMiss needed to win this game to reach bowl eligibility, and TTaylor and XWoods were quoted by the Newsstar as hoping to get revenge on SoMiss for the embarrassment from 2015. These quotes ended up being bulletin board material for SoMiss, they stopped us like few other teams could that year with 5 TOs (except in the 4th Q's like vs WKU & MTSU), and likely gave WKU a blueprint to stop us in the conference championship game. Just like in 2014, we were embarrassed, and lost the chance to host the conference championship game due to an end of the season WTF game.
7. 2017 UAB: UAB did not have football for TWO years. Yes, they were given crazy amounts of handicaps by the NCAA (e.g. freeze eligibility from 2014 if transfer), but still, they did not have an FBS football for two years. I chose this game as my wedding day because I KNEW TECH WOULD NOT LOSE TO UAB, and heck, I'd hoped God would bless Tech along with me. I had a great day, but that hurt as a fan, and I'll admit my fandom kind of died until I went to the bowl game last year (still visited homecoming, to see another close loss). This loss may have deflated the team and led to some of the other 1-pt/OT loss games...
8. 2017 SoMiss: WE HAD THE GAME WON, yet gave up a FG w/1:23 to go in the 4th, then gave up an Onside Kick, and gave up a TD w/:31 to go, and lost in 2OT. Yet another terrible day last year
9. 2014 & 2016 Conference Championship games, 2017 UNT game, 2016 MTSU game: These are games in conference that I wish we could have won, but didn't, in order of best to worst.
2014 conference championship game sucked in that we didn't have 5-6 starters (most on D) due to academic problems, Sokol had an injured shoulder, and only just lost in the final minutes. Proud of our team, but squandered opportunities (2nd game I was able to make that year, 3rd loss in 3 games I'd seen in person as an alumnus).
2016 conference championship was just a defensive collapse in that game, with XWoods being our only real play maker in the secondary. Baker deserved to have lost his job after that performance (I'm glad he's turned it around). I can still hear the commentators complaining about both teams' defenses.
2017 North Texas game we played ok, but I feel we SHOULD HAVE WON that game, but allowed yet another team to win a 1 point win vs. us...
2016 MTSU game probably occurred due to Henderson's injury, but like the near loss against MTSU, their ~20 point comeback SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED.
10. 2015 Kansas ST, 2016 Arkansas, 2017 SoCar: 3 Money 5 teams we lost to after surrendering late leads, with the first us taking them to 3OT. If only we had beaten these three...
So, WHAT ARE YOUR BEST and/or WORST Moments of the Holtz Era (or as a Tech fan, if you'd like)
I'll list my Top 10 worst games:
1. 2013 Tulane: My first season as a member of the Tech Alumni, and I drove 1100 miles to see Tech win its first ever game against the only FBS team we have not beat in the state. My senior year (2012) I enjoyed one of Tech's most exciting years, and though Tech was reputed to have lost a lot, I still expected us to beat Tulame before I went overseas to attend my Graduate studies starting in October. NOPE, just my trip felt wasted and Tech lost for the 9th time in 9 tries against Tulame.
2. 2014 NWST: My first game as a Tech fan where we lost to a lower division, i.e. FCS, school in their "super bowl", and even worse that program was in state and a former rival. 5 TOs, with 4 in the 2nd half, did us in, and while this loss likely helped us concentrate, it also likely kept us from double digit wins.
3. 2013 Kansas: We snapped the worst BCS-AQ programs's 2-3 year loss streak with 2-3 TOs in the red zone to lose by a FG... enough said...
4. 2014 ODU: Like the NWST game listed above, this game kept us from double-digit wins, and likely these two kept us from being ranked. It definitely kept the Conference Champ game away from Ruston. Like the Tulane game, this was the only regular season game I was able to attend that year, now working in DC. Even after the NWST game, 2014 felt special and we were rolling. We had defeated 4-5 eventual bowl teams by obscene margins, and we felt ODU would be a cakewalk. That loss was embarrassing to a 1st year/transitioning FCS startup program. I'm still looking forward to a rematch so we can get packback...
5. 2015 SoMiss: We had a 2-game winning streak vs. SoMiss, we were @home on Senior Day, we had like 6-9 future draft players starting (Butler, Dixon, Driskell, TTaylor, Henderson, Woods, etc.), we were the favorites the win the west and had only lost to WKU by 3, and we were supposed to be excited about the rivalry in Dixie. Nope, while unable to attend the game, everything I've read was that the team was flat, the crowds small (somewhat understandable on Thanksgiving break), and So Miss was SO MUCH MORE EXCITED to play that game than us. The game was somewhat close, but in the 2nd half we gave up 6 of 7 TOs, and collapsed, with the Defense becoming too "tight" trying to help compensate for the Offense...
6. 2016 SoMiss: We had one of the best offenses (yet one of the worst defenses) in the country, headlined by the best two WR's in the country. We had locked-up the West division crown, and while many fans remained skeptical of Ryan Higgins' skill throughout the season (MTSU game, I'm looking at you...), his ability to protect the FB and get the ball to his playmakers for YAC made him statistically very good. SoMiss needed to win this game to reach bowl eligibility, and TTaylor and XWoods were quoted by the Newsstar as hoping to get revenge on SoMiss for the embarrassment from 2015. These quotes ended up being bulletin board material for SoMiss, they stopped us like few other teams could that year with 5 TOs (except in the 4th Q's like vs WKU & MTSU), and likely gave WKU a blueprint to stop us in the conference championship game. Just like in 2014, we were embarrassed, and lost the chance to host the conference championship game due to an end of the season WTF game.
7. 2017 UAB: UAB did not have football for TWO years. Yes, they were given crazy amounts of handicaps by the NCAA (e.g. freeze eligibility from 2014 if transfer), but still, they did not have an FBS football for two years. I chose this game as my wedding day because I KNEW TECH WOULD NOT LOSE TO UAB, and heck, I'd hoped God would bless Tech along with me. I had a great day, but that hurt as a fan, and I'll admit my fandom kind of died until I went to the bowl game last year (still visited homecoming, to see another close loss). This loss may have deflated the team and led to some of the other 1-pt/OT loss games...
8. 2017 SoMiss: WE HAD THE GAME WON, yet gave up a FG w/1:23 to go in the 4th, then gave up an Onside Kick, and gave up a TD w/:31 to go, and lost in 2OT. Yet another terrible day last year
9. 2014 & 2016 Conference Championship games, 2017 UNT game, 2016 MTSU game: These are games in conference that I wish we could have won, but didn't, in order of best to worst.
2014 conference championship game sucked in that we didn't have 5-6 starters (most on D) due to academic problems, Sokol had an injured shoulder, and only just lost in the final minutes. Proud of our team, but squandered opportunities (2nd game I was able to make that year, 3rd loss in 3 games I'd seen in person as an alumnus).
2016 conference championship was just a defensive collapse in that game, with XWoods being our only real play maker in the secondary. Baker deserved to have lost his job after that performance (I'm glad he's turned it around). I can still hear the commentators complaining about both teams' defenses.
2017 North Texas game we played ok, but I feel we SHOULD HAVE WON that game, but allowed yet another team to win a 1 point win vs. us...
2016 MTSU game probably occurred due to Henderson's injury, but like the near loss against MTSU, their ~20 point comeback SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED.
10. 2015 Kansas ST, 2016 Arkansas, 2017 SoCar: 3 Money 5 teams we lost to after surrendering late leads, with the first us taking them to 3OT. If only we had beaten these three...
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