Without reading further, do you know what and when was described as “Era of Good Feelings.”?
Give up? Here’s the Wikipedia description. “The Era of Good Feelings” marked a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812.
This week, hearing the good feelings of Texas fans and sports writers and commentators ranging from Kirk Bohls to Joel Klatt, I thought, we are in a time of good feelings about Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Football team. The phrase “Era of Good Feelings” was specifically what came to my mind. I knew the phrase from somewhere, so I used the Google machine to research it and voila there it was. I think I learned it in my sixth-grade history class. Sixth grade was one of my favorite years. Avid readers of this blog know this, but I digress.
It’s been a while since good feelings have surrounded Texas Football.
In August of 1998 a few weeks before Mack Brown’s debut, I ran into and old fraternity brother Mike Barragan. He remarked ironically something to the affect that there sure is a positive vibe about Mack Brown, but we haven’t played a game.
In this current era of the positive vibe, Texas has beaten two teams with about 10% of UT money and resources and played a tantalizingly close game against Nick Saban’s Alabama dynasty. I might be the only Texas fan who took that close loss with a grain of salt. But I’m always the cynic.
The Texas Tech game this afternoon in Lubbock presents Sarkisian and his Longhorns a chance to validate this current era of good feelings. It’s the first road game of the year for Texas and the sellout crowd will be loud and hostile. Texas has won six in a row in Lubbock, the last loss was that game that we don’t talk about here. So, if we’re to believe that this 2022 version of Texas is better than past teams the Horns should roll against this Tech turnover machine. Two Texas Tech quarterbacks have combined for seven interceptions, (two of them pick sixes).
Tech’s defense has been statistically good giving up only 294 yards a game but are really kind of a paper tiger when you consider their opponents so far: Murray State an FCS team, Houston a 1-2 team that is sputtering on offense and North Carolina State, the 12th ranked team in the country attributable mostly to their defense which is 16th in the country giving up only 12 points per game.
So, it’s put up or shut up time for Steve Sarkisian and his Longhorns. Sarkisian hasn’t been shy this past year about touting this team’s leadership and culture. If he’s right about that, combined with Texas’s overwhelming advantage in talent and depth versus Texas Tech, his team should take the tortilla flinging crowd out of the game early and cruise to a 34-16 win.
Lose, and this era of good feelings could be the shortest era on record.
Follow up
Last week I mentioned that I was getting the feeling that Quinn Ewers would start the Tech game. Now I’m thinking the news that Ewers has practiced this week and is making the trip to Lubbock might just be a feint by Sarkisian to make the Texas Tech coaches think a little more about game planning. We’ll see.
Hook ‘Em,
W.E.
Willie Earl’s Song of the Week
The Boz. Reminds me of hanging out at the Sig Ep house in the fall of 1976
