Has the transition period from football to basketball begun?

Is it time to start winding down from football and looking to the new 2004-05 season for the Bulldogs and Lady Techsters?

The answer is a personal preference, whether apathy or frustration.

I can tell you, however, that it's NOT time to forget the next three games for Bulldog football. These games are extremely important.

Tech is playing host to Tulsa in Independence Stadium this weekend, and a win would keep the bowl hopes on a respirator.

Following that game, the Dawgs are traveling to the "Smurf Turf" to take on arguably one of the best non-BCS teams this year in the Boise State Broncos.

Mark my words: this game is bigger than the Fresno State, UTEP and all our other games this season combined.

A Bulldog win would break the nation's longest active winning streak in the NCAA of 19 games. The Broncos have also won 24 straight games at home and 23 straight WAC contests.

And to end the season, we travel to Reliant Stadium in Houston to face the Rice Owls, a team that not only beat us 49-14 last season but embarrassed us by rushing for a total of 672 yards.

Any loss will pull the plug on any hopes of playing in December for a bowl -- an accomplishment considered foreign to Tech football, unfortunately.

And now, sitting at 4-5, who thought we'd be here? After losing King McCown, who thought we'd be here?

I am ashamed to say that I pegged this team to have a losing season back in January. I didn't even give them a chance.

Now, after nine games and a roller coaster of emotions, the Bulldogs are probably not where they wanted to be.

It was easy to mark a loss by Miami, Tennessee and Auburn (not that I enjoyed it), but it REALLY hurt to mark one by UTEP and Hawaii. After believing and beating Fresno State, those losses have seemingly nullified such a miraculous victory.

It hurts. Even as a fan, you wonder how different it would be if those two losses were wins.

UTEP had a good quarterback, but the Bulldogs were still in the game even after terrible officiating.

We were down a measly three points in the fourth quarter before the Miners let loose.

And yes, Timmy Chang broke Ty Detmer's all-time passing yards record, but a stat you don't often hear about is that he also holds the all-time interception record. That means he's not necessarily the best quarterback to ever grace the college gridiron.

So, yes, those losses hurt. But the fact that hurts the most is that we lost to three teams we were supposed to lose to, upset one that was supposed to beat us and lost to two that we could have won.

Now, at 4-5, it would be easy to give up on our Bulldogs.

I know I wasn't alone in assuming that we would have a losing campaign. But, as of Nov. 11, with three games left, and a miracle, the Bulldogs could extend their season to December.

A feat few thought possible last year.

However, Tech is in position to make a run for a bowl with Moats paving the road.

Good luck, Bulldogs.

Make us proud.

Kyle Roberts is a junior journalism major from Ruston and serves as associate sports editor for The Tech Talk.