Texas Two Step
Welcome to Lubbock Texas, the year is 2013, the hot summer has waned, and fall is just around the corner. Football is king, and the stars could not have aligned any better for a football romance. Their style was similar yet different. Their swagger was undeniable, and they displayed some of the best football that West Texas will have seen for quite some time.
Kliff Kingsbury had just arrived to Texas Tech by way of Texas A&M after playing a significant part in aiding Heisman winner Johnny Manziel in 2012. He was 33 years old at the time. Making him the second-youngest head coach in all of college football. 10.5 million over five years with full creative control of the team’s uniforms seems arbitrary looking back, but man, the energy in Lubbock immediately changed.
Tom Tuberville was the previous coach for the Red Raiders, and I do not need to waste any time giving my opinions on Tuberville. I can disclose that I found a Tom Tuberville autographed football lying behind a dumpster one afternoon in Lubbock as I was walking home from class. The universe used this as a metaphor for how fans felt about Tuberville’s coaching, hot garbage.
Fast forward to early September of 2013, and Baker Mayfield, a true-freshmen walk-on, was set to be the first walk-on to ever start a college football game after the current quarterback at Tech, Michael Brewer, was injured.
Baker went on to throw for 413 yards and four touchdowns in a win against SMU that fall day, but the relationship with Mayfield and Texas Tech would only last a short while, but those few months were the best memories of my time at Texas Tech.
The unmatched energy, charisma, and arrogance made it impossible for students to want to be anywhere else but Jones AT&T Stadium on Saturdays, but unfortunately, we would only see five games with Baker at the helm.
After an injury, Davis Webb, also a freshman, was given the nod as a starter. Sidelining Baker did not go over well with fans, and if anything, it was more confusing as to why Kingsbury wouldn’t go with the guy that helped him get to a 5–0 start.
Later reports suggested that Texas Tech did not have a scholarship for Mayfield moving forward, and this is where the story gets interesting.
Kingsbury asked Mayfield to show a recruit around Texas Tech that had already committed. This recruit was Patrick Mahomes, a Tyler, Texas baseball standout who played basketball and football at Whitehouse High School in East Texas.
It is hard to believe that Mahomes only had three scholarship offers back in High School, and on top of that, he turned down the MLB to be a quarterback at Texas Tech.
November 1, 2014; it was a warm 77 degrees in Lubbock as the Red Raiders set to take on the Texas Longhorns. Patrick Mahomes first start, the energy and excitement still stick with me to this day.
As I was sitting in the student section, I had a relatively clear view of the game. The momentum looked to be in Tech’s favor until Mahomes ran an option play where he was knocked into another dimension by a Texas DB. The entire stadium felt the hit on Mahomes, as Kliff removed him immediately.
That was Mahomes introduction to Tech football, and I can clearly remember sitting there thinking, “this kid isn’t ready.” I scratch my head at that now because he was ready. Mahomes and Mayfield were born ready.
The most outstanding college football, in my opinion, happened in Lubbock, Texas, on the night of October 22, 2016. The script was a writer’s dream; Mayfield was returning to Lubbock, fans had their T-shirts that said “traitor” across the chest with an outline of Oklahoma’s state in the background. Being an Oklahoman myself, I just saw so much irony in the situation.
The amount of offense put up in this game was unmatched. Any time both teams put up 854 yards a piece in any competitive setting is absurd. The Sooners were the first team in history to have a 500-yard passer, 200 yard-yard rusher, and a 200-yard receiver in the same game. Mayfield, Mixon, and Westbrook had enough talent that night, but Mahomes and company fell short.
After the game, Lincoln Riley had suggested that it wouldn’t have mattered what defensive schemes anyone drew up that warm October night; nobody was going to stop these two quarterbacks.
Sunday, January 17, 2021, the two Big 12 Quarterbacks will meet in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs at 2:05 in Kansas City. I am expecting this to be “The Shootout: Part 2.”
The energy will be unmatched; as a fan, I am confident I will have goosebumps. This game could prove to be one of the biggest games of these young stars’ careers. Sure Mahomes already has a ring. The former Heisman winner is still searching, but we shouldn’t think for a second that there isn’t some sense of psychological warfare going on between these two rivals because Mahomes knows that he cannot lose to Mayfield.
Conversely, Mayfield is thinking the same thing; the fact that it is “win or go home” with these two Quarterbacks, in particular, is a godsend for the media. The storylines have been recycled repeatedly by this time. Now it is time to stop the chatter and finish this in between the lines. This game will be the most fantastic game of 2021, no doubt in my mind.
Watch out; there’s about to be a “Texas Two-Step” in Kansas City.
