SB Nation - Colby Whitlock

Post Game Thoughts :: Oklahoma Sooners Edition

Seth C — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:27:43 -0000

by Sue Ogrocki - AP

25 days ago: Wearing a jersey with the name "Nick", Texas Tech quarterback Taylor Potts passes against Oklahoma in the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach said the name was a nickname. Potts threw for 388 yards and two touchdowns as Texas Tech beat Oklahoma 41-13 on Saturday for its most lopsided win ever over the Sooners. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

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SBN Box Score :: TTU Box Score :: Post Game Quotes : Mike Leach and Players

The Result :: So Sweet: I had not even considered a blowout on the Texas Tech side of the ledger. It seemed to me that such a result was truly inconceivable, considering all of the factors that have caused this season to be somewhat of a disappointment were virtually non-existent for most, if not all of this game. Huge props goes to the Texas Tech defense who just out-hit the Sooner offense on Saturday. I get the feeling that they were not expecting the type of athlete and player that was on the field on Saturday.

And I've probably missed a ton of storylines, so help a brother out and give me your storyline from Saturday's win. Follow me after the jump for storylines on the game, including my crazy theory as to why Leach had a player going in motion for quite a bit of the game.

The Storylines ::

Going in Motion: I really will need to go back and look at the tape of the game, but it seemed to me that the Texas Tech offense was running a receiver in motion quite a bit during the game, except for formations where the Red Raiders had a 2-RB set. Football 101 says that one of the main reasons why you send a man in motion is to give the offense a clue as to whether or not the defense is in zone or man. When Texas Tech wasn't sending a man in motion, I thought that the 2-RB set received quite a bit of burn.

The basic premise here is that I think Leach wanted to make it as easy on QB Taylor Potts as possible. He wanted to make it as easy on "Nick" to make the right decision, which I believe he did, for most of the game. And on 53 attempts, Potts had one interception, all game long he took what the defense gave him, pushed the ball down the field, took some chances and played a helluva game.

And on a personal side, I love the fact that Potts had success against a big opponent. All of the comments about how Potts doesn't celebrate or know how to have fun didn't hold water yesterday as he seemed to be leading the charge. There's no doubt that Potts hasn't been perfect this year, but if you give him some time in the pocket, he can do some things.

Finally, RB Baron Batch had this to say about his quarterback:

"I’ve heard the fans boo him. I’ve heard people say get him out of there,’’ running back Baron Batch said. "It takes a tough, tough, tough person to be able to withstand all that and come out of that on top, and that’s what he’s done. I’m so proud of him for that. I don’t know how I would have responded in that situation. I don’t know how a lot of people would have responded. But he’s shown he’s mentally tough and he has a lot of heart."

O-Line and Running Backs: I don't know how you separate the two, especially in this game. The line certainly had their problems, especially late in the second half where the OU defense were bringing more than what the Texas Tech offense could hold (I think this was just after playing "Jump Around"). But there's no reason to criticize the offensive line this game. Potts was only sacked twice for the entire game and I cannot remember any negative plays for the running backs. There were two plays that stood out to me, which was RB Baron Batch first touchdown. LT Chris Olson had a tremendous block, blowing out the OU defender and the rest of the offensive line, including LG Lonnie Edwards completely caved in the rest of the OU defensive line. Batch walks into the endzone untouched. That play doesn't happen without Olson taking his man out of the play entirely.

The second play is RB Eric Stephen's touchdown that put Texas Tech up 40 to 13 and Stephens ran right between RT Marlon Winn and RG Brandon Carter for an easy score. Winn had this to say after the game about that run:

Asked about what memory he’ll take from senior day, tackle Marlon Winn said, "Just that last drive, that last touchdown. Stephens comes in, and he runs it between me and (guard) Brandon Carter.
"We worked hard for five years, and for that to be the last play in the Jones our senior year, it was amazing. Great thing.’’

Touching Gesture: I feel comfortable enough with you guys to let you know that I almost shed a man tear when it was known that DE Rajon Henley would not be wearing his traditional number, but instead wore #40 in honor of DB Nathan Stone, a walk-on from Lubbock, who worked his way up the depth chart to see significant time early this season. Stone's season ended early with an undiclosed neck injury and although I don't know all of the details, I have heard that Stone is fine, but will never be able to play football again. You could call it a silly gesture, but I take great pride in the type of men that this Texas Tech football program produces. There will always be some bad apples, but there's a ton of solid citizens amongst this group. WR Alexander Torres and DE Brandon Sharpe had this to say about this after the game:

BRANDON SHARPE: That's real nice, you know. Somebody else was supposed to wear Sandy Riley's jersey. But I think it was a late time to ask for it and stuff but it was really an inspiration, you know, just to see him have a heart like that. To share his playing time with another playing on the team. You saw how close we can be, and we are.
ALEX TORRES: Like he said, it's one of those things that it's great to see that out there. And I know Nate appreciates it. It kind of goes to show what a family we are as a team and how much we care about one another to be able to give them a shot to see his jersey out there one last time on Senior Day and everything. I thought it was really uplifting, and I hope Nate appreciated that, which I'm sure he does.

Here's Your Run Stuffing Defense: Seriously. 26 carries and 48 yards. Sure, that figure includes 3 sacks for 30 yards, but son of a gun, that Texas Tech front 7 was simply outstanding. This may have been as well-rounded an effort as you'll see. To say that the front 7 dominated on Saturday would be an understatement. The defensive line did a tremendous job of holding their blocks to allow the linebackers to make tackles, as LB Brian Duncan led the team with 6 tackles and LB Marlon Williams had 5 tackles, including 1 TFL. The pressure that DE's Brandon Sharpe, Daniel Howard and Rajon Henley brought all game was tremendous, although I think that to not give credit to the tackles would be a mistake in this game. DT's Colby Whitlock and Richard Jones played big and I think Jones goes unnoticed sometimes, but he's as solid a defensive tackle that you'll see.

And although the defense will lose these pass-rushers mentioned above, I think it's interesting to see Sharpe talk about the fact that he essentially played one year, and with a little hard work, dedication, he's in a position to break the single-season sack record:

Oh, shoot, it means a lot, you know. I mean, hopefully I can finish up with a little bit more, break it and keep going with it and stuff for these last few games we've got. I hope to have my name sitting here with the sack list and stuff. So the people that's coming in next year are going to look forward to having something to do, something to work for, you know.

Torres Big Day: I've secretly had my doubts as to whether or not WR Alexander Torres could have a big day. Torres finished the day with 10 catches for 163 yards and a touchdown. Torres replaced Crabtree and I've wondered whether or not Torres could effectively replace the play-making ability of Crabtree. And that's an incredibly tough thing to do. I thought during the game that as a fanbase, we certainly give Graham Harrell quiet a bit of credit for the work he did last year, but Harrell also had the luxury of having the absolute best wide receiver in the country for 2 years running. I was trying to remember the last time that I saw a wide-receiver slant for a touchdown, something that Red Raider fans saw so frequently last year. The offense has and will be fine, but there was something special about the offense the past 2 seasons and that's a tough thing to have to remember life before Crabtree. Under previous years, it was guys like Torres who were making big plays out of seemingly nothing. Torres huge 65 yard receiption was all Torres. It was Torres knowing that the defensive back was overplaying the ball, that Torres didn't have anyone behind him and if he could quickly turn the route up field, he'd have a huge play. That's exactly what happened. I'm impressed and surprised that Torres has been a spokesperson for the offensive side of the team for a good part of the season. Leach hand-picks these guys and although Torres is merely a redshirt freshman, he knows exactly what to say:

Yeah, that whole play just happened to be a great check by pots. He gave me a quick route that told me to get my head around real fast. And like I do in practice and Coach Leach preaches all the time, the receivers coach, Lincoln and Dennis preach all the time. Catch the ball, turn and go straight up field. That's all I did. It wasn't really a special play on my part. All I did was do what I've been coached to to do. It was just a great check by Potts being able to see the defense and read that.

Passing Spikes: It was tremendous to see former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes honored the way that he was. The day could not have been better for Dykes and I'm of the opinion that all that Dykes would love to see, whether it's breaking his all-time wins record at Texas Tech or some other significant event, would be for the Red Raiders to win. Dykes is as humble, gracious and conversational as they come and it's a shame that he's not in the limelight more than he is. Dykes probably wants it that way and I can certainly appreciate that. Leach didn't get choked up like he did after the Kansas game, but he knows the importance of Dykes to himself and to the program:

It means a lot. We've kind of hashed over it a little bit. Got the opportunity to see Coach Dykes in the locker room. One of the greatest coaches of all time in my opinion, and who really was instrumental in building this program and being a part of his legacy is a real honor for me.

Defensive Takeaways: I found the statistic that Texas Tech has the nation's longest takeaway streak at 26 (or 28, I can't remember) and it's no coincidence that Ruffin McNeill has been in charge of the defense for 31 games. This is a short storyline, but it's a shout-out to McNeill and the job he's done. I always get the feeling that McNeill knows exactly how he wants to play, but he's got to have the players to do it first. Give him time and I think he's going to be pretty damned good.

The Offensive Co-MVP's :: QB Taylor Potts and RB Baron Batch: You could probably have quite a few candidates and not be wrong for an MVP, but the way that Potts threw the ball (35-53 : 388 yards : 1 INT : 2 TD) and the way that Batch ran and caught the ball (25 carries : 136 yards : 2 TD // 7 receptions : 68 yards) was something special.

The Defensive Co-MVP's :: CB Jamar Wall and DE Brandon Sharpe: The pass defense again looks outstanding and lots of credit goes to both Sharpe for the pressure on the quarterback and for Wall for his pressure on receivers. Sharpe finished with 4 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 1 forced fumble. Wall had 4 tackles, 4 passes-broken-up and 1 interception.

The Special Teams Co-MVP's :: PK Matthew Williams and Donnie Carona: Carona had 8 kickoffs and put 5 of them back for touchbacks. Texas Tech needs more of this because to not even give the offense the ability to return puts the offense in a hole. Williams is going unnoticed, me included, because he's doing his job. They were short field goals, but he made them both, along with his extra points.

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win ::Oklahoma Sooners Edition

Seth C — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:00:21 -0000

This weekly feature considers five reasons why Texas Tech will win and five reasons Texas Tech will lose to each opponent. Related: Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Lose ::Oklahoma Sooners Edition.

Reason #1 :: Desperation: I try hard not to claim that a particular team is any more desperate than the other, but I do believe, or perhaps I hope to believe that the Red Raiders realize the road in front of them. Win on Saturday and your team has quieted quite a few critics, your team becomes bowl eligible and you go into the last game of the season not playing desperate football. I would guess that the Sooners are playing desperate football too, but there's this hopeful thought that the fact that it's the seniors last game, that this team will make it happen.

Reason #2 :: Stopping the Run: I pointed out the other day that the Sooners are highly successful when they run the ball, but when they cannot get the ground game going, the Sooners tend to lose. I'm sure that Jones has the potential to be Texas Tech, but if it were me, I'd make him win the game. If the Red Raiders can stack to stop the run, limiting DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown to the type of yardage that they get in losses, which is about 100 yards a game, then consider that a success. In fact, the stats tell the same story for the Red Raiders. In wins, the defense only gives up 84 yards a game, but in losses, it's 210 yards on the ground. If there was ever a clear statistic to a Texas Tech victory, this might be it.

Reason #3 :: Despite the Offense: Despite all of the issues with the offense, whether it be inconsistent quarterback play, receivers dropping passes, the offensive line ushering defenders to the quarterback or running backs that may not run as hard as we'd like, but you're still talking about the #2 passing offense in the country and the #6 offense overall. I'll certainly grant you that the offense would be significantly better if the quarterbacks cut down all of the turnovers, but that's the key here. Despite certain parts of the offense, it's still getting done. The lowest point total for the year was last week against Oklahoma St. with 17 points. I'd be willing to be quit a bit of money that there's no way that the Sooners could or would really want to pull off the same type of gut-punching drives that the Cowboys did last week. Leach hardly cares about time of possession, but when your down close to 15 minutes to the opponent, you tend to think that if the Red Raiders had the ball more, Texas Tech would have scored.

Reason #4 :: Pressuring Jones: Sometimes when the Red Raiders do well in a certain category, I tend to discount that success and consider it an anomaly. I somewhat feel that way about the fact that the Red Raiders are 2nd in the nation in sacks. Perhaps I discounted the importance of having Brandon Sharpe, who if you recall wasn't available for the Texas game and was a shadow of himself during the Texas A&M game. That's 2 losses that you would think would have been closer had the Red Raiders had Sharpe's contributions. That's not to say that the workman-like effort produced by Daniel Howard isn't wholly appreciated and the pressure by Rajon Henley (1 sack last week) should create some true match-up problems for the Oklahoma offensive line. It's one thing to plan for just one defensive play-maker, but there should be plenty of contributions for Howard, Henley, Colby Whitlock, Richard Jones and possibly Bront Bird on Saturday.

Reason #5 :: Thank You: Edward Britton :: Austin Burns :: Shawn Byrnes :: Brandon Carter :: Ryan Hale :: Rajon Henley :: Daniel Howard :: Victor Hunter :: Richard Jones :: Jake Myatt :: Brent Nickerson :: Sandy Riley :: De'Shon Sanders :: Brandon Sharpe :: Jamar Wall :: Chris Wallace :: Marlon Williams :: Marlon Winn.

Taking a Breath :: Looking Ahead to the Texas Tech Defense of 2010

Seth C — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:00:29 -0000

by Dave Weaver - AP

Nebraska's Chris Brooks (1), is brought down by Texas Tech's Cody Davis, in the second half of their NCAA college football game in Lincoln, Neb., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. Texas Tech beat Nebraska 31-10.(AP Photo/Dave Weaver)

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THE DEFENSE

With the football bye week, DTN is taking this opportunity to look at Texas Tech's offense and defense in 2010. Up today is a look at the 2-deep, the talented players who are on the roster, but have not contributed much this year, the 2010 defensive recruiting class and a look back at the past 5 years recruits and the washout rate of players who were recruited by Texas Tech.

Who Returns (2010 Projected 2-Deep)

POSITION	PLAYER	STATS	YEAR
DE	Ryan Haliburton	6-4/245	SO
	Aundrey Barr	6-3/238	RS FR
	Christopher Knighton	6-3/240	RS FR
	Kerry Hyder	6-3/255	RS FR
DT	Colby Whitlock	6-2/287	SR
	Chris Perry	6-4/300	JR
	Pearlie Graves	6-1/278	RS FR
	Myles Wade	6-2/340	JR
LB	Bront Bird	6-3/240	SR
	Brian Duncan	6-1/240
	Tyrone Sonier	6-2/225	JR
	Sam Fehoko	5-11/220	JR
	Brandon Mahoney	6-2/203	RS FR
	Dion Chidozie	6-1/194	RS FR
CB	LaRon Moore	5-9/200	SR
	Taylor Charbonnet	5-10/175	JR
	D.J. Johnson	6-0/170	SO
	Yashua Williams	6-3/181	RS FR
S	Franklin Mitchem	6-2/198	SR
	Cody Davis	6-2/200	SO
	Brett Dewhurst	6-0/193	JR
	Will Ford	6-1/186	SO

If it's not incredibly clear, the weakness of this team will be at defensive end. I've mentioned this a couple of times and for 2 years straight, Texas Tech is losing quite a bit of production from the defensive end position. The key to all of this is that no one has seen any of these guys play on the collegiate level, other than Haliburton, who has done reasonably well in some spot duty early in the season and filling in for Howard, Sharpe and Henley during the early part of the season when there were so many injuries.

The strength of the defense will be up front with the return of Whitlock and Perry, who should form a formidable front and I think there's plenty of talent behind them in Graves and Wade. Much like Jacob Karam, Graves travels with the team and that's an indication that his personality in infectious and reading the tea leaves, he is going to be a player next year. I'd also mention that I do not see any of these tackles moving to defensive end. Perhaps that changes during the spring, but for the time being, I think this is your 2-deep.

Linebacker also returns 2 of the 3 starters from this year. Marlon Williams has been servicable, but he's been virtually non-existent for the better part of conference play, this past weekend's game excluded. You can expect Sonier to fill Williams spot at WLB. I'm also intrigued by Mahoney and Chidozie, who perhaps represent a change in the type of linebacker that Ruffin McNeill wants, which are projectable athletes who can run. If you see a change in philosophy, I think it starts at linebacker and continues to the secondary.

Jamar Wall will be the only player that needs replacement in the secondary next year and Johnson will have to step up his game during the offseason. I think the staff is enamored with his athletic ability, but you saw against TAMU how athletic ability can only carry you so far, he's got to be better from a technique standpoint as well. Ford should also take a step in the right direction this offseason and I may be in the minority, but I'd like to see more Charbonnet and expect Y. Williams to get some time next year as well. All in all, a pretty experienced group returning next year.

Lots more after the jump.

Don't Sleep On

DT: Britton Barbee (6-2/296; SR) and David Neill (6-5/280; JR)
DE: Jonathan Brydon (6-3/220; SR)
LB: None
CB: Jarvis Phillips (6-0/189; RS FR)
S: Jared Flannel (5-11/167; JR); Aaron Charbonnet (5-11/201; RS FR); Andre McCorkle (6-2/204; JR); Daniel Cobb (6-1/211; RS FR) and Terrance Bullitt (6-3/182; RS FR)

I think the only guys that I'm comfortable stating could make an impact from this group is Cobb and Bullitt, although I like Barbee and Neill from a depth perspective

Recruiting

POSITION	PLAYER	STATS	RR	STARS
DE	Kedrick Dial	6-5/215	5.6	3
DE	Jackson Richards	6-4/245	5.8	4
DT	Coby Coleman	6-3/290	5.7	3
DT	Lawrence Rumph	6-4/270	5.7	3
LB	Zac Winbush	6-2/200	5.5	3
DB	Urell Johnson	6-1/185	5.6	3
DB	Desmond Martin	6-0/173	5.6	3
DB	Russell Polk	5-11/200	5.6	3
DB	Tre'Vante Porter	6-0/185	5.7	3
DB	Brandon Smith	6-1/175	5.6	3
AVERAGE			5.63	3.09

If additional recruits are added, I think it's on the defensive side of the ball, namely at defensive end or linebacker. The one guy that I think could get some burn next year is Rumph, especially with the lack of defensive end. Keep in mind that Rumph was luke-warm when he committed to Texas Tech, so I would not count on his commitment until he's actually signed. I think you could also see Richards make an impact next year and Dial is another player who might make a difference next year. Richards is one of the more higher rated players of the class, he's a mature player and already has the size to play defensive end on the collegiate level. At this point, I'd imagine that it's about technique more than anything else. The sleeper of this group might be Martin, who was highly impressive in his film and possibly Porter.

Recruit Trending

YEAR	AVG. RR	AVG. STARS	WASHOUT RATE
2010	5.63	3.09	-
2009	5.57	3.00	2/15 = 13.33%
2008	5.63	3.13	5/8 = 62.50%
2007	5.47	2.70	2/10 = 20.00%
2006	5.53	2.89	7/19 = 36.84%

Disclaimer: I'm using the Rivals recruiting rankings and each player is assigned an RR number and a star.

To explain again, the Washout Rate are players who either never made it on campus or played only 1 year. As you'll note, the 2008 class was small, only 16 recruits total (keep in mind that there will be some classes that are smaller than others and a staff is typically limited to a certain number of scholarships in relation to the number of players on scholarship) but you had guys like Joey Fowler, McKinner Dixon, Broderick Marshall, Brandon Sesay and Brandon Reid (who could return to Texas Tech after a stint at JUCO) that all never made it at Texas Tech. This was Ruffin's first class officially, but this was also the same year that he replaced Setencich. If you wanted to take a look at the year that McNeill was in place early as the defensive coordinator then it's really the 2009 class that's his first class from start of the recruiting season to signing day. In that 2009 class you only had Romario Cathey who never made it on campus and James Scott, another guy who has gone the JUCO route but has a good chance of returning to Lubbock.

Post Game Thoughts :: Kansas Jayhawks Edition

Seth C — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:00:28 -0000

SBN Box Score :: TTU Box Score :: Leach Post Game Quotes :: Player Post Game Quotes

The Result :: Decidedly Defensive: This might be something that the entire fanbase might have felt prior to yesterday's game. Everyone was a tad bit jumpy, defensive if you will, regarding the current state of this team. I thought before the game that the defensive MVP would be Ruffn McNeill and that's probably a good place to start. Kansas hasn't been the Kansas of prior years, but they've still be pretty good. The Kansas that Texas Tech beat yesterday was dominated defensively, and you can argue over whether it was Kansas or Texas Tech that did the dominating, but 6 sacks, 8 tackles for a loss, 2 forced fumbles, and 10 pass break-ups isn't a bad afternoon defensively.

Join me after the jump for storylines and MVP's.

The Storylines ::

Leach is Emotional: With Saturday's win over Kansas, Leach tied Spike Dykes for the number of wins at Texas Tech. I never thought I'd see the day where our very Captain Mike Leach showed any emotion at any press gathering, but if you ever thought there was a disconnect between Leach and the man that he replaced then I'd encourage you to watch this video of Leach after this win. Here's the text, but the words on paper don't do Leach's emotion justice:

Well, Spike's, you know, it's funny. I think the young guys don't do maybe as good a job of thanking the older guys as they really ought to. You know, when I was coming up in coaching, Spike's a guy that I always really admired. I think that I learned a lot from Spike like all of us do. Well I just really want to thank him, you know. But, you know, there's no new guys without the old guys. The old guys are what made it happen.

There's not much there with those words, but watching the video along with reading the words, you know that Leach respects Dykes and the things he was able to accomplish at Texas Tech. Leach is a fan of history and his comments lend to the idea that he respects the history of his own company.

Who Is Calling Those Running Plays: An absolutely dominating performance from one RB Baron Batch. I think there's this misconception that the lack of running game is a direct reflection on Leach and his willingness to run versus the quarterbacks checking down into a running play. I think the only thing we do know is that I believe that Leach gives his quarterbacks quite a bit of latitude offensively and if the running game isn't working, it's not always a reflection of Leach not wanting to run the ball. If you look at rushing statistics from 2008, the one constant during the 10 game winning streak was that this team ran for over 100 yards every game. That means two things: the quarterback isn't losing a ton of yards on sacks and the running backs are getting the ball.

If my math is correct, Batch ran 8 times for 7 yards in the first half. Perhaps this is a situation where QB Seth Doege didn't check to the running game in the right situations. Complain all you want about QB Taylor Potts, but there's something to be said for his ability to make the right reads and Batch acknowledged that after the game:

Q. How did it feel to rack up so many touchdowns today on a team that's kind of known for passing?
BARON BATCH: I mean, it's nice, but the touchdowns I score is a reflection of everybody doing what they're supposed to. Receivers blocking down field. Linemen doing a great job blocking the quarterback. You know, Potts did a great job checking into those runs. I don't think many of those, maybe two of the plays that we scored on were called in the huddle. But every other run, pretty much, was checked into. That's a great job by Potts just doing what he's supposed to, and recognizing what they're giving us and being a smart player.

Potts didn't have a great passing game, and we'll get to being a leader later, but I hope like hell you're not one of those people who refuse to give credit to a player for making the right calls and the right reads during a game. I have high hopes for Doege, but to me it was clear that Potts had a better command of the offense on Saturday and I think a big part of that command is repetitions. Doege will have that soon enough, but we might all think about giving Potts some love after previous week criticisms from a fanbase. His recognition of the defense may be the reason Batch rushes for all of those yards and touchdowns.

How to Dominate Defensively: Right now, I'm not sure which defense shows up for each and every game, but if Texas Tech gets the same performance last week, then the game is at the very least quite a bit closer.

Yesterday, the entire unit just looked cohesive, all on the same page. I thought McNeill utilized good stunts, blitzed a few times and was successful, pressured Kansas receivers, etc. Generally speaking, the defensive line was active and it was nice to hear DT Colby Whitlock's name more than once during a game. The hits that KU QB Todd Reesing took were sometimes brutal, especially the hit from DE Daniel Howard that caused the fumble. Rajon Henley stepped up his play. But the true difference maker on Saturday was again DE Brandon Sharpe. More about his play below, but there is a distinct difference when Sharpe plays and opposing offenses have to account for him. Sharpe was ready to move forward after last week:

Q. Did what happened last week have an effect on you guys just from a private standpoint, make you mad? Want to come back out there and show that you were a different team today?
BRANDON SHARPE: Yes, I mean, any time you have a loss you have to just fight back and build yourself back up. You don't just sit there and wander on and pout about it. You just have to beat yourself up, go play hard, and comes in the morning. I just want to thank the D-line and the defense because we all work as a team. We make things happen.

I think the linebackers and secondary need some mention here too. LB Marlon Williams has been relatively quiet for most of conference play. His play early in this game was a big part of this team's success and there was that late hit in the dive for that fumble in the 4th quarter, the 4th down and 1, that caused the ball to squirt down the field. Not a huge play, but Williams was going for the ball all game long. I think you also saw the relative strength of Brian Duncan and his ability to stop the run. Just outstanding from that repsect.

The secondary was huge all game long. There were certainly breakdowns, but the hits that S Cody Davis and S Franklin Mitchem had were big. Those two ran down plays all over the field and it was apparent as Davis had 10 tackles and Mitchem had 8 for the game. And CB Jamar Wall's hit on ~~Kerry Meier~~ Jake Sharp (thanks to kayakyakr) does not require a comment:

Doege vs. Potts: First and foremost, QB Seth Doege was in a tough position. The offensive line was an absolute mess in the first half. The problems he suffered were not always related to his play. Doege certainly wasn't perfect and he missed on more than a few throws, but Doege was under a tremendous amount of pressure for the entire 1st half. Leach isn't throwing anyone under the bus, here's Leach on Doege:

I think that he's -- I think Doege's well ahead of schedule. I think that Doege, you know, the toughest thing is there is this area where experience, you know, meets confidence and all those things. And I think that, you know, the biggest thing is that more reps, you know. I think that you know, practice played real well this week. And I think in the game as it started moving faster, you know, he's a conscientious guy, too. He didn't want to make a mistake. So I think things moved slowly, and our tempo was slower than it should have been.

With that being said, I was shocked to see QB Taylor Potts enter game in the 2nd half. It was painfully obvious that Doege was having a tough go at it, and I think Leach made the right decision. The Texas Tech passing offense only managed 253 yards for the game and Potts averaged a measly 4.9 yards per attempt with 1 interception that he threw behind his receiver. But Potts managed the game and I thought he managed the game well during the second half. Go read the entire post-game quotes from Leach, where he goes on a ramble that will eventually make it's way to some highlight reel, but the point that sometimes gets lost, and I would guess that Leach struggles with this issue as well, is that quarterback is a tough position to master in his offense.

Doege will be fine, but the offense certainly did respond in the 2nd half.

Offensive Line Mess and Eventual Rebound: The offensive line started C Shawn Byrnes, LT Marlon Winn, LG Lonnie Edwards, RG Brandon Carter and RT LaAdrian Waddle. Carter pulls a hamstring on the 2nd play of the game and things get messier. Mickey Okafor took over at right guard and then things started to get messy. It only took Doege getting pounded a couple of times to realize that this wasn't working. Relatively early in the first half, Wynn was moved back to right tackle after getting Doege annihilated and Chris Olson was moved to left tackle and things actually started to settle down. It wasn't until Carter made his way back to right guard that the offensive line truly clicked and the running game picked up. If there's one thing that the offensive line can say is that they persevered. It wasn't always pretty, but at the end of the day, the offense persevered.

The Offensive MVP :: RB Baron Batch: A special and well-deserved MVP for Batch. At the end of the day, Batch finished with 131 yards on 17 carries and 4 touchdowns.

The Defensive MVP :: DE Brandon Sharpe: As mentioned above, the guy is a difference maker and makes things happen defensively.

The Special Teams MVP :: Coverage Units: I think everyone one of these guys that play on this unit deserves some credit. For the day, Kansas averaged 15.2 yars per kickoff return and 0.5 yards per punt return. Not to mention, Texas Tech almost blocked a punt, and looked pretty good doing it. I think we need to see more of this aggressive type of play, but there's no doubt that from a coverage perspective, the special teams were outstanding and really limited the Jayhawks.

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win :: Kansas Jayhawks Edition

Seth C — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:00:44 -0000

More photos » by Mike Fuentes - AP

about 1 month ago: Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege throws in the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game against Texas A&M in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. Doege came off the bench to replace the starter Taylor Potts. Texas A&M won 52 - 30. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

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This weekly feature considers five reasons why Texas Tech will win and five reasons Texas Tech will lose to each opponent. Related: Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Lose :: Kansas Jayhawks Edition.

Reason #1 :: Might Be Motivated: I think Texas Tech fans could collectively hit this reason right out of the park. If this team isn't highly motivated on Saturday afternoon, then I shudder what will happen the rest of the season. I know this is supposed to be 5 reasons why I believe Texas Tech will win, but there better be a whole lot of fire from this club, both offensively and defensively. At this point of the season, it's really not about comments made about players' girlfriends or learning about transitive results in college football, it's about execution on the field. In comparison to last year, this team has really had to pull itself up a number of times, namely because of injuries or a suspension or two, and I'm hoping that this will serve the team well moving forward.

Reason #2 :: Do What You Do Best: I don't know if I need to consider the TAMU game an anomaly or if I need to base my thoughts on the collective whole of the season. For the season, this defense has been pretty good, and prior to last week was 50th in the nation in total defense, but was quickly reletaged to 78th in the nation after last week. Despite only having 1 sack last week, the defense as a unit is still 11th in the nation in total sacks. I know this defensive line can play better and I know that the linebackers can play better. I've seen it with my own two eyes. I can't say that I know any of these players, and this somewhat relates to item 1 above, but I hope like hell that the front 7 took last week's game personally. This is a pride issue with the team. I've seen DT Colby Whitlock dominate a game all by himself. I've seen the defensive end trio of Howard, Henley and Sharpe get in a quarterback's back pocket all day long. All I'm asking is for containment and collapsing the pocket. I've seen it happen many times before, let's see it again.

Reason #3 :: Lean On The Running Playmakers: I would truly appreciate it if someone could just send a memo of this reason to Captain Leach. To wit -- I know that you believe in your quarterbacks and I know that you believe that you can transform just about any human into a NCAA leading passing machine, but I think it might be in your best interest and the best interest of this team if you deferred to certain playmakers on this team who tend rush the football more than pass the football. I'm not at all asking that you abandon what you do best, and we all know that that is, but there's real talent at the running back position. In the second half of the game last week RB Baron Batch had 2 rushing attempts and RB Harrison Jeffers had 1 (please ignore the fact that he fumbled -- a complete fluke). I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned the running game a time or two and even yesterday, well respected DTN reader texastfan made a similar comment about the running game. I think you help out your offensive line and quarterback immensely if you can consistently run the ball.

Reason #4 :: Pressure Receivers: The more I think about it this week, I think I'm starting to understand McNeill's decision to play off of the TAMU receivers last week. McNeill was without his star freshman S Will Ford and reliable S Brett Dewhurst, and it's likely that this pair will also be out this week as well. Despite those two being out, this Texas Tech defense still leads the Big 12 in passes defended. I'm thinking that McNeill knew that he was going to have to play S Julius Howard and CB D.J. Johnson for a good part of Texas Tech's nickel and dime packages and McNeill didn't want to expose the defense to any big plays. I've tended to notice that McNeill is much more conservative at home and without being too critical, I think we can safely say that this failed miserably. This week however, I think McNeill re-thinks his strategy a bit. We know that starting safeties Cody Davis and Franklin Mitchem are completely healthy and we also know that senior CB Brent Nickerson filled in nicely at safety when either Davis or Mitchem were injured. I know that this guy isn't the biggest guy, but he's fast and he's reliable and he's proven himself on special teams, but I'd love for Ruff to give CB Taylor Charbonnet a shot at the other defensive back spot. It's obvious that what happened last week was an abomination, let's think outside the box a bit. I think what you may be dealing with in Nickerson and Charbonnet are two intelligent players that get the system. They may not have the physical ability to play like Johnson, who is physically gifted, but young, and Howard, who has struggled to find a role for much of his career at Texas Tech, but I think they'll play more aggressively and they won't get you beat. That's Ruff's mantra, I'm sure of it and I don't think Charbonnet or Nickerson will let Ruff down.

Reason #5 :: Then Open It Up: I'm not trying to be contradictory, but I have no doubt that once item 3 above is accomplished, it's going to absolutely open up the passing game for QB Seth Doege. Leach mentioned that Doege had good tempo when he came into the game and there's no doubt that the team responded. However, Doege also didn't press, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Doege's longest pass of the night was 20 yards and his yards per attempt was 5.8 for the game. Granted, his receives didn't help him out a whole bunch, but part of Doege's success will be making plays down the field. There's plenty of guys to choose from: Alexander Torres, Tramain Swindall, Detron Lewis, Lyle Leong, Austin Zouzalike, etc. Once Kansas is backed off by the running game, Doege has to test the secondary and not just defer to either wide receiver and/or running back screens. There may be some mistakes made along the way, but playing it too safe isn't going to win this football game.

Matchups :: Texas A&M Aggies Edition

Seth C — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:01:11 -0000

More photos » by Nati Harnik - AP

2 months ago: Texas Tech's Brandon Sharpe (92) swats down a throw by Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee (5), as Nebraska's Ricky Henry (74) and Marcel Jones (78) block Texas Tech's Colby Whitlock (93), in the first half of their NCAA college football game in Lincoln, Neb., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

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Texas A&M Aggies (3-3, 0-2)

vs.

Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-2, 2-1)

Game Information:
Date: October 24, 2009 :: Time: 6:00 p.m. CST :: Weather: Lubbock, TX
TV: None :: Radio: Affiliates :: Game Cast: Fox Sports

The figures next to the team name are, in order, yards per game / national rank / conference rank.

Texas Tech Passing Offense vs. Texas A&M Passing Defense

Texas Tech (413.57 / 2 / 1): Not surprisingly, the Texas Tech offense struggled a bit against Nebraska, but a win is a win, especially when it's on the road against a nationally ranked opponent, and you beat that opponent by 21. QB Steven Sheffield was a manager, and since all indications lean towards Taylor Potts or Seth Doege taking the reins on Saturday, then I'm hoping that he takes the same advice that Leach gave Sheffield:

I wanted him to throw the ball and hit some fat guy in the stands. That didn’t consistently happen. We had a conversation on that.

I do think that Potts is a quality quarterback, and if there's one thing that Leach has consistently been able to do since he's been here is to coach up a quarterback or two. I don't think that's going to stop and although Potts wasn't perfect (again, there is no perfect QB other than St. Tebow) he's still pretty damned good. If it's 3rd string Seth Doege, then I'm concerned about his ability to play on such a high level without so much experience, but I trust Leach. I think it's a testament to the receivers on this team, but each week, we're seeing a different receiver step up and make plays. In fact, after a few weeks of Tramain Swindall leading this team in receiving, Detron Lewis is back on top. And to jazz you just a tad bit more, there's less than 120 yards separating the top 4 receivers. In other words, one great game and you could see Alexander Torres, Lyle Leong, Swindall or Lewis lead this team.

Texas A&M (226.67 / 73 / 6): The Aggies really haven't played a true passing team, except for Arkansas, and TAMU promptly gave up 271 yards and 4 touchdowns. We're going to continue to talk about this until there are a few more conference games to compare, but TAMU has faced Oklahoma St. and Kansas St. thus far in conference play. Not exactly passing teams and it's hard to gauge whether or not the pass defense is truly struggling (73rd in the nation) or if it's going to get worse. I did have the opportunity to watch quite a bit of the OSU game and I thought that the Aggies do have athletes in the secondary, but they're young, and that's a bad combination going into the meat of the Big 12 schedule. A big part of the pass defense success is the outstanding play of Von Miller, who already has 10 sacks, which includes 12.5 tackles for a loss. And aside from Miller, no player has more than 2 sacks for the year, perhaps indicative of the bigger problems at TAMU, there's talent at certain positions, but it's not enough to win a bunch of football games.

Verdict: I'm nervous about this pick, especially if Potts cannot play, but I'll still take Texas Tech.

Texas Tech Rushing Offense vs. Texas A&M Rushing Defense

Texas Tech (70.43 / 118 / 12): It would be easy to say that the Red Raiders ignored the rushing game on Saturday, and there were times that I thought that the line did a good job of creating holes, but 14 rushes between RB Baron Batch and Harrison Jeffers just isn't going to be enough. Again, the rating looks much worse than it probably is, due in part because Potts took so many sacks earlier in the year (he's working on that . . . promise). The loss of LT Terry McDaniel could prove to be a huge loss for this team I don't know if OL coach Moore has many more options other than to start Chris Olson at left tackle. The only other player that's received significant time is Mikey Okafor at right guard, who was later benched in favor of moving Brandon Carter back to the right side.

Texas A&M (166.83 / 88 / 11): There's going to be a similar theme that I have with the Aggies in that I do think there's talent there, but it's young talent. The Aggies have played two teams that feature their running game and gave up 169 yards and 3 touchdowns to Oklahoma St. and 232 yards and 6 touchdowns to Kansas St. The defensive line features 2 freshmen or sophmores and the linebacking corps also has a freshman and sophomore. Garrick Williams and Kyle Mangum are the linebackers who make most of the plays. The Aggies are 37th in the nation in tackles for a loss, but as mentioned above, Miller is responsible for 12.5 of thoese tackles, which means that the Aggies have 1 player truly making plays thus far.

Verdict: Despite the Aggies looking as bad recently been.

Texas A&M Passing Offense vs. Texas Tech Passing Defense

Texas A&M (320.50 / 6 / 3): The skill position players for TAMU are actually fairly talented and for this reason alone, you shouldn't overlook the Aggies. Freshman WR Uzoma Nwachukwu has been tremendous thus far this year while WR's Ryan Tannehill and Howard Morrow each have over 20 catches. TE Jamie McCoy is an offensive threat, with 21 catches for 251 yards. QB Jarrod Johnson has been remarkably good, not Heisman worthy, but he's been pretty good with a horrible offensive line. Johnson isn't as accurate as you might want him to be, but he's still completing 57.8% of of his passes and has 16 touchdowns to only 3 interceptions. As mentioned before, the offensive line has allowed 2.67 sacks a game, which is good for 95h in the nation. That's been Johnson's problem all year, the young offensive line,

Texas Tech (238.57 / 89 / 8): The Texas Tech pass defense has been good, not great and this is something that I keep mentioning, and it's something that's going to have to continue this week, is not to ge beat deep. The pass defense isn't great, but the pass efficiency defense (I really don't know what this is) is at 40th in the nation. In any event, the secondary is also healthy, except that S Will Ford may be out, but there's been enough guys who have seen sufficient reps that I'm not too concerned about losing Ford. The Red Raiders are 8th in the nation in sacks, led by their DE's: Brandon Sharpe (8), Daniel Howard (5) and Rajon Henley (3).

Verdict: I like Johnson, Tannehill and Nwachuksu, but it's the pass blocking that's the problem.

Texas A&M Rushing Offense vs. Texas Tech Rushing Defense

Texas A&M (156.83 / 49 / 5): Prior to this game, I wondered how much the Aggies were actually running the ball, expecting a bit more production from RB's Cyrus Gray and Christine Michael. Both are supposedly heralded, especially Michael, who's had 11 to 14 rushing attempts since the first game. This unit isn't bad, in fact the Aggies are 49th in the nation in rushing offense, which is pretty good, but maybe the point I was trying to make at the beginning, is that why not slow the game down just a tad bit more, in the hopes that the Aggies could hang onto the ball, and chew up some of that time of possession.

Texas Tech (101.86 / 24 / 5): The rush defense has been consistently good all year, and I keep mentioning this point, but the key to a good defense is being able to stop the run. The rush defense is only allowing 3.05 yards a game and despite some rough patches against Texas (135) and Houston (144), the Red Raiders only gave up 70 yards to Nebraska that is averaging 151 yards a game and 116 yards to Kansas St. that is averaging 184 yards a game. DT's Colby Whitlock and Richard Jones aren't showing up in the box score, but coupled with the outstanding and oftentimes overlooked play of the linebackers, this unit is slowly but surely becoming adept at stopping the run. I thought DE Rajon Henley's play last week deserved mention, especially against the run. I thought he was outstanding.

Verdict: I'll take the Red Raiders again.

Matchups :: Nebraska Cornhuskers Edition

Seth C — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:00:55 -0000

Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-2, 1-1)

vs.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-1, 1-0)

Game Information:
October 17, 2009 :: 2:30 p.m. CST :: Weather: Lincoln, NE
TV: FSN :: Radio: Affiliates :: Game Cast: Fox Sports

The figures next to the team name are, in order: yards per game / national rank / conference rank.

Texas Tech Passing Offense vs. Nebraska Passing Defense

Texas Tech (443.50 / 2 / 1): QB Steven Sheffield has been electric in two games for Texas Tech, albeit he's done it against two teams that aren't top 25 teams, like Nebraska. In 1.5 games for the Red Raiders, Sheffield is 53-70 for 780 yards, 11 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Not to be too critical, but Sheffield's interception on Saturday night seemed like a play where Sheffield had determined where he was going to go as the play was snapped. That cannot happen against Nebraska. Tramain Swindall has become this team's playmaker amongst the receivers, averaging 92.8 yards a game and 19.33 yards per catch. The rest of the group is rounding out their roles. I think I mentioned last week that Texas Tech would need at least 1 receiver to step up their game, and right now, Swindall is in a zone. The bigger the threat that Swindall is, the easier it becomes for Detron Lewis, Alexander Torres and Lyle Leong. And this doesn't even take into account Jacoby Franks big night (3 receptions, 99 yards and 1 touchdown) against KSU. Quite simply, there's a lot of receiving threats out there and Sheffield is finding them. There's no doubt that the offensive line has looked better in the last two games, in part because Sheffield's mobility has allowed him additional time, but this unit still leads the conference in sacks allowed at 13 and must play like a cohesive unit. Perhaps the matchup of the night will be RG Brandon Carter and the below-mentioned Suh.

Nebraska (162.60 / 14 / 1): The Cornhusker pass defends begins and ends with DT Ndamukong Suh, who may be the best player in college football right now, and has an unbelievable stat line: 32 tackles (leads team), 5.5 TFL (leads team), 3 sacks (leads team), 7 passes broken up (leads team) and an interception. Suh is an absolute dominate interior defender and to think that Texas Tech's offensive line is going to control Suh to an extent would be wishful thinking. The pass defense is 14th in the nation and have played prolific passing teams such as . . . Missouri, in a rain-storm. In other words, much like Kansas St. last week, the Cornhuskers haven't really played a team that's truly proficient passing the ball other than the Tigers. And to give Nebraska credit, they held Blaine Gabbert to 17-43 for 134 yards and 2 interceptions. I think you'll see a lineup of Prince Amukamara and Alfonzo Dennard at cornerback and Matt O'Hanlon and Larry Asante at safety. Keep in mind that Nebraska has a distinct advantage that other Texas Tech opponents haven't had, which is a dominant player up front. Nebraska has broken up 25 passes during the year and had 17 quarterback hurries. That's 42 pass plays that have been affected by the secondary or the defensive line.

Verdict: This is the strength of the Texas Tech offense and the offense is clicking.

Texas Tech Rushing Offense vs. Nebraska Rushing Defense

Texas Tech (78.00 / 114 / 12): Baby steps. The Red Raiders went from the worst rushing offense in the NCAA to the 114th worst rushing offense, all in one week. But there's progress there to those of us who watch closely. I mentioned after the game on Sunday that the running backs rushed for 182 yards on 21 carries. That's an 8.67 yard per carry average and for a team that's absolutely struggled to garner any sort of run game, the fact that this team has pulled itself up a bit, especially after having such a tough time establishing anything resembling a running game is encouraging. The truth be told though is that the Red Raiders hae steadily improved the rushing game after a somewhat slow start (73 and 60 yards in their first 2 games). It's still tough to be sure what offensive line coach Matt Moore will do, although you would expect that unless something drastic happened, he would settle on the offensive line that would be the most successful against Nebraska, which was to start Lonnie Edwards at LG rather than Chris Olson, who Moore may be figuring will need to give multiple positions a break against the Cornhuskers. The more I think about this idea, the more I like it.

Nebraska (110.80 / 33 / 5): Nebraska is sitting 5th in the conference, although Nebraska has been a team that you could run on (i.e. there's yards to be gained), but the difference is that they are yielding few points on the ground and allowing less than 5 yards a rush. In addition to all-world Suh, the defensive line is rounded out by Barry Turner and Pierre Allen at defensive end and Jared Crick joins Suh up front. I'm not sure how much the linebackers will play on Saturday and would guess that Pelini will adjust with an additional defensive back, which should, in theory, open things up for the Texas Tech running game. When Nebraska is in their base package, I think you'll see Phillip Dillard, Will Compton and Sean Fisher. This is a stout run defense, and last year, I think you might see a defense more focused on the run as Texas Tech and Baron Batch ran for 137 yards on 23 carries and 3 touchdowns.

Verdict: Nebraska, hands down.

Nebraska Passing Offense vs. Texas Tech Passing Defense

Nebraska (236.60 / 44 / 7): I'll be the first to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised by Zac Lee's passing efficiency thus far this year. Lee's been very effective and probably most important to a Pelini offense, he doesn't turn the ball over, with only 3 interceptions this year to 10 touchdowns. Lee's not prolific as his biggest game this year was 340 yards against Arkansas St. A very balanced group of receivers lead the way for Nebraska, including receivers Paul Niles, Curenski Gilleylen, and Chris Brooks. TE Mike McNeill is a receiving threat as he's caught a pass every game thus far this year, but the truth is that the 3 receivers mentioned above are the main threats for Nebraska. Nebraska is 10th in the country in sacks allowed, giving up only 4 all year. Other than RT Marcel Jones, the Nebraska offensive line is a veteran group, including LT Mike Smith, LG Keith Williams, C Jacob Hickman and RG Ricky Henry. We're looking a the short passing game, keeping the Texas Tech offense off of the field and that can be so painful to watch.

Texas Tech (242.50 / 92 / 11): Texas Tech has really struggled here, and this may be an indication that Texas Tech played some proficient passing teams early in Texas and Houston (although the killer game was 316 to New Mexico). Still, this unit has been a little up and down, giving up yards, but not necessarily points. Despite the yardage given up, Texas Tech leads the conference in passes defended, including 33 passes broken up and 4 interceptions. Perhaps part of the reason is that the secondary hasn't been healthy in weeks, as SS Franklin Mitchem was out early in the season, FS Cody Davis was out last week, and LaRon Moore missed almost the entire game last week. This has forced two freshmen, S Will Ford and CB D.J. Johnson to step up their game. Also sitting a-top the conference is Texas Tech (along with Oklahoma) with 18 sacks for the year. Same as the secondary, much of this has been done with players that no on else in the conference would recognize. I've said it before, but it bears repeating, this group isn't as physically gifted as others, but they will out-work out and it seems that this unit gets more sacks late in the game. It's constant pressure.

Verdict: Statistically, I feel like I have to give this to Nebraska.

Nebraska Rushing Offense vs. Texas Tech Rushing Defense

Nebraska (168.00 / 43 / 8): When I first started to look at the numbers, I was surprised that Nebraska was only 8th in the conference in rushing. I was expecting a bit more. RB Roy Helu, Jr. is 13th in the nation in rushing, and was a bit under the weather against Missouri last week. Helu had a monster game against Virginia Tech (169 yards on 28 carries) and that's the sort of thing that bothers me about what Nebraska is capable of on any given night. There's not much behind Helu as true freshman, and DFW guy, Rex Burkhead is seeing the most significant carries behind Helu. Right now, Burkhead is a change of pace sort of back, getting 5 or 6 carries a game, although he's fairly effective.

Texas Tech (107.17 / 28 / 4): I'm shocked by those numbers and I'll keep repeating this and hope that it becomes true, but one of the hallmarks of a team that does well is a good to great rush defense. Much like most other things this early in the season, you can partially blame opponents, but thus far, the Red Raiders have only allowed a little over 100 yards a game. The DT's Colby Whitlock and Richard Jones have quietly been very solid and give plenty of credit to a linebacking corp of Brian Duncan, Bront Bird and Marlon Williams that seem to be getting better game by game. You would think that Duncan and Bird would be tailor made for Nebraska and it will be interesting to see if Whitlock, Jones and Victor Hunter, to an extent, will be able to allow the linebackers to scrape and make plays.

Verdict: Seems strange, but the stats play the winner out here.

Texas Tech Special Teams vs. Nebraska Special Teams

Texas Tech: Freshman P Ryan Erxleben has been a breath of fresh air, handling 14 punts on the year, but being able to pin a few inside the opponents 20 yard line is a nice weapon have, especially in a game that could come down to field position. You'd like to see more consistency from K Donnie Carona kicking off, but he's still 6th in the conference and Matthew Williams hasn't had to kick a lot of field goals, but he has been solid in PAT's (34/35) ending the horror that was 2008. Texas Tech hasn't been spectacular returning punts and tried WR Austin Zouzalik for a number of games, but switched to CB Jamar Wall last week. Wall might be a bit more daring, but Zouzalik is solid. The Red Raiders are 2nd in the conference in kickoff returns, led by true freshman RB Eric Stephens.

Nebraska: P Alex Henry is 6th in the conference in punting. Much like Texas Tech, there's nothing really spectacular there. PK Alex Henery is clutch, making 8 of 9 field goals this year and making all of his PAT's. WR Niles Paul is returning punts, and again, like Texas Tech, aren't lighting the world on fire and as far as kickoff returns, Niles is again, mediocre (59th in the county and 9th in the conference).

Verdict: These teams are about as even as you could be for the most part, with slight advantages in one category over another. PUSH

Keys to the Game - Kansas State Edition

NM99 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:00:22 -0000

Who are we?

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In many respects, I think this year's Texas Tech team is living in the shadow of the 2008 team. A lot of expectations, and everyone wants them to get it done in the same way. Call it the sophomore slump, the little brother syndrome, whatever. Until they find their identity and learn to be their own team, they will continue to live in the shadow of 2008.

Sometimes you have to tear things down to build them up again. The last couple of weeks have been about tearing down. Lets take a look at where the Red Raiders need to start to build, and where they just might find their identity.

I think that the root of everyone's frustration this year lies in the performance of the offense. For the past several years, Tech has lit up the scoreboard. This year, the offense has seemed anemic by comparison. The basis of Leach's offense is to take advantage of the space provided by the defense - get the ball in the hands of one of the skill players in space and let him make a play. In a sense, I think we departed from that a little last year because of the talents of a few individuals allowed Tech to be successful in a more traditional football way - by taking advantage of mismatches in talent and over-powering the other team.

The QB sneak is a perfect example of attempting to overpower the opponent. In theory, the offense, with the line in a traditional hand-on-the-ground stance, is able to take advantage of knowing when the ball will be snapped, gain leverage on the defense, and overpower the defense to move the ball. We do not practice overpowering anyone. We practice taking advantage of what is given. Finding the soft spot in the zone, taking advantage of man coverage on the outside, handing the ball off when the defense drops more than 4 men in coverage.

It is time to get back to the fundamentals of the system.

Offensive Keys

1. Avoid turnovers. They have plagued us so far this year. For the love of God, PLEASE hold onto the ball. We can't continue to beat ourselves. Enough said.

2. Relax and play as a unit. It would be really easy for this group to be distracted and uncomfortable together - new QB, Brandon Carter back in the line-up after a suspension, o-line struggling in general, and receivers struggling in their routes and catching the ball. It's the monkey on their backs, the effect of trying too hard and thinking too much, and one guy trying to do it all. Take some tips from Bull Durham if you have to - wear a garter and breath through your eyelids. Trust yourself and the guy next to you to do his job, and everything will be OK.

my left eyelid is jammed

3. Let Batch and Jeffers lead the charge. As I said in the review of last weeks game, our backfield is where the playmakers are this year. Take advantage of what they give you - check to Baron Batch in the run when the numbers are in our favor. Get the ball to Harrison Jeffers in space and let them make plays. If we rely on these guys to start making some plays, it will help relieve some of the pressure from everyone else and open up other things.

Defensive Keys

1. 3rd and long. Being a primarily a running team, I expect that we will see K-State in 3rd down situations many times on Saturday. They have one of the highest number of 3rd down conversion attempts in the country. They have converted 37%. Tech should be able to get some stops on 3rd down, especially if we can get to 3rd and 5 or more. A lot of 3rd and 2's, and this will turn into a slug-fest on the line, and our defense will be on the field for a long time. This was Nebraska's game plan last year, and we narrowly escaped.

2. Stop the run. Kansas State runs the ball as many times a game as Tech passes it. If we let them keep to their 4 yrd/carry average, they will do it all day and wear us down. 1st down will be especially key so that we can get to 3rd and long (see above). We have to stop the run and force them to pass the ball more. Our d-line has been pretty good so far against the run, but they haven't been tested like this. This game is one where the depth at DT will pay off.

Colby Whitlock - This is your chance

3. Contain Brandon Banks. K-State does not throw the ball much, by Big XII standards (15 receptions/game). But when they do, Banks is their #1 target. He accounts for 30% of their total receptions, yards, and averages more than 12.5 yds/reception. He is small and quick. Think Dexter McCluster of Ol' Miss from last year's Cotton Bowl and try not to have nightmares. KSU is not entirely one-dimensional in receiving, but we don't need to make it easy on them.

Special Teams

Again, coverage is going to be the key. The KSU offense is not terribly efficient yet, and we have the home field. If we force them to go the distance, our bend but don't break strategy will pay off because the Wildcats will stall. The secret lies in the first part: make them go the distance.

WildHorn Part 1: Snap Shots Versus Texas Tech

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:51:17 -0000

More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

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It's probably safe to say that opinions are currently mixed about the WildHorn formation after a successful debut against Texas Tech turned relatively sour against UTEP -- three plays, all inside the 10 yardline, netted a total of -3 yards. However, the formation did pick up 45 yards on four plays against Texas Tech. Ahead, analysis and diagrams of each play from the Texas Tech game.

Play 1: Counter read

The Context

Leading 7-3, the Longhorns look to gain some momentum after two unsuccessful possessions, including a three and out on the last offensive possession. However, the Jordan Shipley punt return gave the Longhorns the lead and the Texas defense just forced a punt after Texas Tech lost field position with the fumble by Taylor Potts that Alex Okafor should have recovered. A holding penalty on the punt return by Shipley moves Texas back to the 41 yardline.

The Play

The Longhorns debut the WildHorn with Chiles as the triggerman and Monroe in the backfield alongside him. Notice that the strongside linebacker (Sam) is lined up in coverage over James Kirkendoll and that both of the safeties are deep. The offensive line will block just as they do in a normal counter play with Ulatoski, the left tackle, and Charlie Tanner, the left guard, pulling. However, this is not a typical counter play, as Chiles will read the unblocked strongside defensive end, highlighted in gray, just like the zone read play that Vince Young made famous at Texas. If the end gets upfield to take Monroe, then Chiles will keep the ball. If he stays at home, then Chiles will give the ball to the speedy running back.

It's also worth pointing out that this may be a play that Texas designed just for the WildHorn, as I can't find any evidence that anyone else in college football runs a counter play with a read designed into it. It's possible that the coaching staff created this play to take advantage of the ability to use a read with it and the fact that it's been the most consistent running play so far this season.

Chiles reads the defensive end as Charlie Tanner pulls to block that end, eventually, while Ulatoski pulls behind him, heading for the Mike backer. Notice that the Mike backer appears to bite hard on the play fake, locked in on DJ Monroe. Kyle Hix is leaving his double-team block to lay some wood on the Will backer.

The defensive end gets far upfield, giving Chiles an easy read on the play -- keep the football. Both the Sam and the Will backers continue to bite hard on the fake to Monroe and the offensive line is executing well at the point of attack.

The two linebackers take themselves out of the play and the strong safety also appears to still be keying on Monroe. The free safety is about to take a bad angle on the apparently faster-than-expected Chiles, who has a beautifully-clean running lane through the middle of the Tech defense.

Realizing his mistake, the strong safety tries to adjust his course, to no avail, as does the free safety. Back behind the line of scrimmage, Monroe senses a big play.

As a result of his bad angle, the free safety can't make the tackle and Chiles is off to the races with open field in front of him:

The Verdict

The Tech defense clearly wasn't ready for the play, as there was no way they could have prepared for it. The Longhorns will probably not get a chance to run the play again without facing all three linebackers in the box, but the offensive line did execute the play well and Chiles made the correct read. Undoubtedly a fantastic start for the formation, which caught the Red Raiders completely by surprise.

Play 2: Zone Read

The Context

Leading 10-3 midway through the second quarter, the Longhorns defense had just forced a three and out by the Tech offense and the Texas offense had just picked up a first down, but had generally stalled throughout the first half with the exception of the long run by Chiles on the first WildHorn play.

The Play

For the second WildHorn play, the Longhorns return to a familiar staple of the offense -- the zone read. Notice that Monroe's placement on the right side of Chiles and on the strong side of the field indicates that the Longhorns will not run the counter read play. Also, Tech has made their first defensive adjustment, bringing the strong safety up into coverage on Shipley in the slot, with the Sam backer moving into the box and the free safety deep in the middle of the field. Once again, Chiles will read the strongside defensive end, handing the ball off if he stays at home. The offensive line will double team at the point of attack, then attempt to get to the second level. Colby Whitlock, certified Longhorn killer, is lined up over the left shoulder of center Chris Hall.

The play never has a chance, as Hall, apparently worried about Whitlock, hikes the ball to the right of Chiles, who has to fall on it to keep possession.

The Verdict

Whitlock may blow the play up anyway, as he uses Hall's step to the left against him, slicing across his right shoulder and into the backfield. However, the rest of the play is set up well and if the defensive end comes hard up field, then Monroe may be able to find a crease behind the block of Charlie Tanner, the left guard heading to the second level to block the Will backer.

In the middle of the field, the zone read play should be a staple of the WildHorn offense. Many defenses have begun to take away the zone read by sending the defensive end after the running back every time, with the Sam backer performing a "scrape exchange" to take the quarterback. The adjustment that the Longhorns appear to have made here is that instead of blocking the Mike backer, left tackle Kyle Hix is going to block that Sam linebacker assigned to the quarterback, leaving the Mike backer to possibly be caught up in the wash if Monroe can hit the whole hard and quickly. The strange aspect of the play is that the left guard, Charlie Tanner, heads downfield to block the Will backer instead of the Mike backer, who would seem to be his assignment, as one of Adam Ulatoski and EBS should be able to get off their double team to take the Will backer. It's possible that Davis adjusted the play to make sure that EBS or Ulatoski had some help on his block.

Play 3: Counter Read

The Context

A 33-yard return coming out of halftime gave the Longhorns good field position for the first drive of the second half, leading 10-3. A McCoy pass to Chiles converted a 3rd and 7, giving the Longhorns a first down at midfield.

The Play

The play clearly sets up as the counter read, as evidenced by Monroe's positioning to the left of Chiles on the weak side of the field. As per their earlier defensive adjustment, Tech now has all three backers in the box, with the strong safety moving up into coverage on Kirkendoll in the slot and the free safety moving back deep into the middle of the field.

Tech is also making the same adjustment that they would probably normally make against the zone read, except reversed -- instead of taking the running back, the defensive end stays at home, taking the quarterback, while the Sam backer "scrape exchanges," taking the running back heading to the edge. Chiles makes the correct read of handing off the ball to Monroe, who only has to beat the Sam backer to the edge and receive a good block from Kirkendoll on the strong safety to break a big play.

Monroe sees the corner, wants the corner, knows he can beat the linebacker to the corner. However, whether he will be able to make it depends on the block of James Kirkendoll on the strong safety. If Kirkendoll can keep his feet moving and seal the defender to the inside, Monroe can take the corner and then it just depends on Shipley's block on the cornerback and if the free safety can come over and make a play.

I'm not positive, but I imagine that Kirkendoll is simply trying to block his defender and the coaches don't care which way he turns him, just as long as he gives Monroe a chance to make a cut. ideally, though, Kirkendoll seals his defender to the inside, but he probably doesn't know that because he can't see the pursuing Sam backer. Either way, Kirkendoll needs to move the safety quickly in one direction or the other so that Monroe can cut off of him.

However, the Tech strong safety does his job by keeping his outside shoulder free and forcing Monroe to cut back inside of him, where the pursuit of the linebacker will bring him down.

The Verdict

The play ends up netting five yards, which certainly makes it successful. Chiles made the correct read and Kirkendoll did make his block on the edge and the Tech adjustment to the long run by Chiles doesn't help them a whole lot -- the play still has a strong chance of success. In fact, teams might be better off keeping the Sam backer somewhere in between his positioning on the first and third plays so he can take away the running back. It's possible that defensive coordinators won't want to take the linebacker out of the box and, therefore, out of the play if the quarterback keeps it, but they can essentially dictate whether the quarterback does or not by the play of the strongside end.

There are some possible adjustments to this play that would help the Longhorns. The first adjustment is using Malcolm Williams in the slot position in the WildHorn formation -- it wouldn't tip off opposing offenses about using the WildHorn when he comes into the game and even if Kirkendoll has to come out, the Longhorns still generally have to substitute to get Monroe into the game and can go five wide with that personnel group, so any personnel grouping designed by the defense to stop the run first and foremost has to face that possibility. The reason for putting Williams into the game is his blocking ability -- instead of having a 5-11, 180 pounder blocking a larger strong safety, the physical mismatch in favor of the opposing team would turn into a physical mismatch favoring the 6-3, 220-pound Williams.

The second adjustment involves the blocking scheme for the play. The idea behind the zone read play is that the offense leaves a defensive end (or, in the case of the midline option, a defensive tackle) unblocked, then reads him so that the player can never make the right decision. Option football, pure and simple. As mentioned earlier, scraping a linebacker helps defend the play. The strange thing about the counter read play is that the defensive end is optioned off early, then blocked by the pulling guard later, while the tackle follows and tries to pick up a linebacker, which has little chance of actually happening.

The problem is that the scraping linebacker can, in the case of the this play, get outside and defend the running back without really worrying about being blocked, as the pulling tackle has essentially no chance and neither does the pulling guard. Instead, the Longhorns could shift their blocking up front by having the playside tackle block the scraping backer instead of blocking the Mike backer. Then, instead of pulling outside, the other tackle could head inside to block the Mike backer, since the current timing of the play makes the tackle almost useless.

Another option is to move EBS to the strongside of the field, where he would be responsible for the Sam backer and then just keep the pulling tackle at home blocking the weakside end.

The combined speed of Monroe and Chiles will continue to make the counter read play dangerous for opponents and it should remain successful as long as the offensive line can block up front, but the key to the play is whether the Sam backer can get to Monroe in time to essentially take him out of the play consistently -- he is essentially on an island.

Play 4: Reverse Pass

The Context

In the back and forth second half, the Longhorns struck first after halftime, but the Red Raiders replied with a touchdown of their own. Leach, ever the risk taker, tried for an onside kick after the Tech touchdown, but the Longhorns recovered with good field position at the Tech 47 after an offsides penalty, leading 17-10 and hoping to regain the momentum.

The Play

Texas lines up with Monroe to the right of Chiles on the strong side of the formation, meaning that the play is likely the same zone read play Texas tried to run early in the game when the poor snap from Hall caused a fumble. Just like the first play the Longhorns ran in the formation, the two safeties are deep, with the Sam backer lined up in coverage on Kirkendoll in the slot.

However, the Red Raider defense shifts just before the snap, moving the Sam backer into the box and bringing the strong safety up into coverage on Kirkendoll, with the free safety moving into the deep middle of the field. At the start, the play looks just like the zone read -- the right tackle leaves the strongside end unblocked, while Monroe takes the hand off.

As McCoy heads into motion on the reverse, all three Tech linebackers bite on the run, pursuing Monroe down the line of scrimmage. Notice that the strong safety has his eyes in the backfield as well, while Kirkendoll heads inside faking the block or a slant.

The defensive end bites on Monroe's run to the edge, while Chiles gets in position to block him when he eventually reads the play. Monroe tosses the ball to McCoy, who already sees Kirkendoll, the primary receiver on the play, plant his foot to accelerate to the outside.

Before taking more than a step or two with the ball, McCoy looks downfield for Kirkendoll ready to pass the ball, but the strong safety has come up in run support, while the defensive end still hasn't reacted to McCoy having the ball. Kirkendoll heads into the flat wide open while Shipley clears out the cornerback on that side of the field.

McCoy completes the pass on the run to the wide-open Kirkendoll, who has plenty of open field in front of him if McCoy puts the ball on target. Kirkendoll has only the cornerback to beat.

Unfortunately, McCoy's issue overthrowing his receivers manifests itself on this play, so even though Kirkendoll catches the ball for an 11-yard gain, had McCoy delivered the pass accurately, Kirkendoll would have gained more yardage and broken a big play as long he can make the first man msis and if Shipley can block the free safety.

The Verdict

This is an excellent, well-designed play that fooled the entire Texas Tech defense. Concerned about the speed of Monroe, all three linebackers bit on the play, as well as the unblocked strongside defensive end. The strong safety, concerned about McCoy on the reverse, bit on the run and left Kirkendoll wide open. The play may even work as a reverse, as McCoy probably could have picked up yards on the run if Chiles can get a solid block on the strong safety. Even if most of the defense hadn't been fooled, Kirkendoll's double move should get him open the great percentage of the time on the play.

Clearly, the Longhorns will have to at least threaten other teams with the prospect of the pass or they will find eight players in the box. Having Chiles or McCoy throw the football operates as a perfect constraint play to keep the defense honest. With the resources defenses will have to commit to stopping the running game, a difficult proposition with the speed of the two playres in the backfield, defending any passes Texas wants to run is not going to be easy.

Post Game Thoughts :: New Mexico Lobos Edition

Seth C — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:34:06 -0000

SBN Box Score :: TTU Box Score :: Post Game Quotes

The Result :: Interesting: There were so many stories within the story of the game yesterday. I found myself thinking about what I was going to write this morning a number of times. The quarterback play, the injuries, the crappy announcing team and referees, the lack of defensive effort, etc. Of course you'd prefer to have the word describing the result more something along the lines of "dominating" or "crushing", but that just wasn't the case.

But in a number of ways, you could consider a 49-28 win over New Mexico, after losing 4 players to injuries, not playing with 2 other starters because of injuries, and losing the turnover battle 5-2 is a bit of a surprise.

Texas Tech won, despite the turnovers and despite the injuries.

You take those situations and you've got a recipe for a really, really bad loss, but at the end of the day, Texas Tech was the superior team and although I'm probably going to catch a lot of flack for this, I think the same result would have happened whether it was Sheffield or Potts in at quarterback. New Mexico could only muster spurts of defensive line pressure and Texas Tech had just lost Byrnes, and earlier in the week, I thought I had read something to the effect of almost any player can get injured, but not Byrnes. Keown played better as the game progressed, but that hit on Potts is the reason why the center position is such a big deal.

The Storylines ::

Quarterback Play: As mentioned above, I think that QB Taylor Potts would have rallied. I know, there's a lot of people who think that Potts has been terrible all year. I just don't think that's true and it's an easy statement to make now, after throwing two interceptions, but let's just pull the reins a bit. The first interception, to Zouzalik, was one where either Potts or Zouzalik got the play wrong. You could see Potts looking towards Zouzalik and motioning that he was expecting Zouzalik inside rather than to make the cut outside. Mis-communication happens in football and no one knows, unless they called the play, what happened. The second interception was simply a beautiful play by NM's Nathan Enriquez. Potts had delivered the ball over the top between a cornerback and safety before and tried it again, this time, Enriquez made a great play. That's football.

At the end of the day, Potts still had a 9.34 yards per attempt average, which is just tremendous and he was getting the ball down the field. Of course, Potts' first pass play helps that average, but I thought Potts was making a concerted effort to get the ball down the field in the second quarter, and that's either one of two things happening. That's the coaching staff telling him that there's opportunity down the field or that's Potts taking the initiative. I've got no problem with either one and let's not forget that WR Edward Britton dropped a sure touchdown in the middle of the field. Even the crappy FSN broadcasters noticed that.

And Steven Sheffield was electric. Absolutely electric. There was a certain energy to him and his ability to avoid the rush when the offensive line struggled was nice. Leading his team to 4 straight touchdown drives was spectacular. Sheffield put the game away quickly and was reminiscent of Potts performance in the second half of the Rice game. There's a lot to like about Sheffield and he seems to be a confident and smart quarterback.

But Sheffield also struggled as well. I mentioned a few weeks ago that a quarterback doesn't want to throw an interception inside their own 20 yard line and inside the opponent 20 yard line. Sheffield's only interception of the day was into triple coverage and that ball just shouldn't have been thrown. As well as the offense had been playing, there was no reason to throw that ball and that pass turned into a quick 7 points for New Mexico and pumped life into a team that was getting their head handed to them in the second half. The very next drive, Sheffield is handed the ball at the Texas Tech 48 as the defense turned the ball over on downs and it was a quick 3 and out and then had 3 more drives where he couldn't score including a fumble. Not perfect quarterback play.

Even Sheffield was critical of his play (I love that he's this aware of his deficiencies and Potts acknowledges his deficiencies too):

I think what I did well is I started good. And I brought tempo to the offense. I got everybody excited to play. And, um, as far as my overall performance, I don't know. I'd give it a B, B- or something, because I did a lot of stupid things and I didn't need to do them. And I created my own pressure a few times. That fumble, not having two hands on the ball was just stupid. And, you know, we just stalled three drives in a row when we shouldn't have, you know. And we have more ability than that. And we can play better than that and we should have just scored on the drive like we did on the first three. It's something they am going to need to work on and, you know, it's -- even though, you know, like I said it's a lot like practice, when it comes to game time, I mean, like both my calfs right now have cramped and I don't know why. I mean, maybe I didn't drink enough water. That never happens before. Usually because I stand on the sideline.
But I got to work on little things like that and not try to make too much happen and just make the routine play every time.

The quarterback controversy is something that every team faces.

The grass is always greener on the other side.

I have no idea what Leach & Co. are going to do, but what we do know about Leach is that he's not afraid to tell you like it is about the play of his team, especially quarterback play. Traditionally, Leach has stuck with the starter, even if it's Graham Harrell getting benched for a series or two in 2006. I think Leach prides himself on picking the best quarterback for his team and he saw something in Potts to believe that he's the guy from the start of the season. Thus far this season, Leach has been entirely supportive of Potts in just about every manner, even going so far as to praise Potts after the two losses the last 2 weeks.

I trust Leach's evaluation more than mine and I don't think that you can yo-yo quarterbacks. Once you find a guy, you've got to stick with him and I've never asked Leach that, but I think Leach feels the same way, although he's prone to talk about benching, he knows that the quarterback position is a maturation process.

I'll support any player that the staff believes can lead this team. Whether it be Potts or Sheffield, and as great as Sheffield was on Saturday afternoon, I don't think you're going to see a systematic dissection of a defense like Graham Harrell did in 2008 against teams like Kansas and Kansas St. This team is going to have to work for it, no matter who is at quarterback.

Injuries, Injuries, Injuries: Just a start: QB Taylor Potts, C Shawn Byrnes, FS Cody Davis, DE Daniel Howard and DB Nathan Stone. LAJ's Don Williams reported that Potts and Stone were admitted to the hospital last night. I'm throwing some good mojo the entire group's way and hope they all recover quickly. We're really not going to know the status of the injuries for the rest of the week and the worst part about all of this is that these injuries are at the worst positions. Losing Byrnes on an offensive line that's starting a two redshirt freshmen in LT Terry McDaniel and RG Mickey Okafor was really tough. Losing Davis at free safety when the starting strong safety was also already out with an injury. I though FS Brent Nickerson played much better in the second half, but I thought his first half was pretty bad and allowed way too many easy and open completions over the middle of the field. He did improve as the game continued. Losing Howard at defensive end, a position previously depleted with injuries. Howard has been the most consistent defensive end of the group, although I thought Brandon Sharpe eventually wore down the New Mexico defense and you like to see that. I think I'd still prefer to have Howard starting and his injury leaves this team awfully thin at this position. We've already talked about the loss of Potts. CB Nathan Stone is a special teams ace and I think the special teams needs all the help they can get right now.

Stopping Third and Fourth Downs: New Mexico was 6-20 on third downs and 3-6 on fourth downs. I found myself quite frustrated at the play of the defense on those critical downs. You can somewhat accept the 6-20 on third downs, but I thought early in the game, New Mexico was getting too many third down conversions, completing 5 of 11 in the first half and only 1 of 9 in the second. That seemed to keep the Lobos in the game, along with the turnovers. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I'm not entirely convinced that the lack of defensive pressure is all Ruffin McNeill. I think he and Leach work on a collective game-plan for the week, and if they both feel that the team can be conservative, then that's how they roll. It seems that the 61 yard touchdown pass late in the game (with only 0:46 left int he game) was the first time all year that the Texas Tech defense has been burned deep. That's by design, I'm almost certain of that. We'll talk about the defensive pressure, or lack thereof, in the next section, but this is a concern moving forward, especially if the two starters are out with injury.

Defensive Pressure: We've talked about the third down conversions, but the most glaring part about the defensive play was the fact that New Mexico, a team that was averaging 262 of total offense prior to yesterday, amassed 431 yards of total offense. I thought the defense was uninspired in the first half and it showed from the beginning. New Mexico's first drive was 10 plays for 47 yards and I think this set the tone. New Mexico missed a field goal on that drive, but there were wide gaps in the defensive line and there seemed to be little to no containment of the quarterback. I was fully expecting Colby Whitlock to dominate the middle, or at least draw a significant number of defenders to make it easier on the other defensive linemen and that just didn't happen.

New Mexico had 91 plays. That's right, 91 plays.

I understand the give, but don't break methodology of defense, but yesterday's performance was tough to watch.

But there were glimpses of good things on defense. S Will Ford is still a work in progress on pass coverage, but I thought that the 2 times that McNeill sent Ford on a safety blitz, they were successful. I'd like to see this a few more times and from some other positions.

There were a ton of reserves that got into the game, which I thought was good from a standpoint that this team is going to have to be deep, especially with all of the injuries.

DT Myles Wade might need to see more time with the regular unit. He may not be completely ready, but when he was in the game I tried to key on his play and he's disruptive. He is a wrecking ball of a player and there was one play where Wade drew a double-team and still helped make the tackle. Of course the announcing crew attributed the tackle to Adell Duckett (sarcasm). Not only that, you can see Wade's strength as he gets a good push against the offensive line.

Perhaps this is just me increasing expectations, but I'm expecting more out of the linebackers. I want and need to see those guys make more plays at or near the line of scrimmage, rather than down the field 5 or 6 yards.

Jeffers Has Attitude: Seemed like every time RB Harrison Jeffers touched the ball, he was looking for the endzone. Not only that, it seems as if he runs with a perpetual chip on his shoulder. Almost angry that he's not getting the ball. There's good and bad to that, but there's no denying that he's got talent. For the day, Jeffers finished with 8 rushes for 31 yards and 3 touchdowns, but also had 5 catches for 90 yards and another touchdown.

Receiving Concern: Already mentioned the Britton drop, and otherwise, he was quiet. That's the problem. Britton is supposed to be this team's deep threat and despite the fact that Britton has tremendous potential, he hasn't been able to put it all together. I also have this prevailing thought that as solid as Alexander Torres is, what he is not is a threat to get the ball down the field. I'm sure that the coaching staff doesn't need my help, but there's been something not right about the offense, but I haven't quite been able to put my finger on it.

It's a little bit the offensive line, it's a little bit the running backs, it's a little bit the quarterback and it's a little bit the receivers.

And it's not so much that the receivers are bad, but perhaps they're misplaced. As much complaining as fans do about the quarterback situation, I think there's some deserved criticism to the receivers as well. Britton hasn't played up to his potential, Torres cannot get the ball deep as the other outside receiving threat. Perhaps this team needs to make Tramain Swindall the primary option as he has the most big-play potential.

Locksley is Confused: So New Mexico wants to kick on-sides kick after on-sides kick, in the hopes of getting the score respectable, but then after the game he says this:

The smile was because they scored a touchdown with two seconds left. That means they’ve got a lot of respect for us, in my opinion. They had a chance to take a kneel and Mike’s (Leach) got to coach his team the way he coaches his team and I’ve got to coach mine but for them to score a touchdown there at the end, in my mind, it looks like he had a lot of respect for the Lobos and the fight we have.

Ummmm, no. Sorry Mike, that's just not the case. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Locksley wanted to score, despite Texas Tech was running out third-team reserves and then he wants to say that the reason Texas Tech scored is because Texas Tech has respect for New Mexico? I don't think so. Locksley is trying to put a good spin on things here and that's understandable, but if he really believes this and it's not just coach-speak, then he's going to have a very short tenure at New Mexico. Locksley attempted 3 on-sides kicks in the 4th quarter alone and then he wants Texas Tech to take a knee. I don't think so. I'll say this a few different ways.

If you play with fire, you're going to get burned.

If you play with the bull, you're going to get the horns.

Awful Announcing and Awful Officiating: Would it be too big of a deal for the announcing crew to pick up a roster a day or two before the game and get familiar with the players? I could count on two hands where they both were clueless as to certain players making plays and mis-identified players. I shudder to think how many New Mexico players were mis-identified.

The officiating was awful as well and I typically don't comment on officiating. Just awful on so many levels.

The Offensive Co-MVP's :: RB Harrison Jeffers, WR Tramain Swindall and QB Steven Sheffield: The outcome of the game was truly dependent on Jeffers turning the corner and getting outside, Swindall making huge plays after the catch and Sheffield turning it on in the second half.

The Defensive Co-MVP's :: CB LaRon Moore and CB Jamar Wall: I really wanted to just give this to Wall, who forced a fumble, recovered it, broke up 2 passes and had 6 tackles, one of those going for a loss. Moore deserves credit too as he also had 6 tackles, 1 fumble recover and broke up 1 pass. I didn't think anyone along the line deserved this honor and I thought the cornerbacks had pretty good days.

The Special Teams MVP :: Ryan Erxleben: I think there's problems when for two games straight, the MVP is the punter. Erxleben had 4 punts total, and of those 4, 3 were inside the 20 yard line.