SB Nation - Matthew Williams

Post Game Thoughts :: Oklahoma Sooners Edition

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

by Sue Ogrocki - AP

about 1 month 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.

Post Game Thoughts :: Oklahoma St. Cowboys Edition

Seth C — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:00:39 -0000

by Brody Schmidt - AP

about 1 month ago: Texas Tech's Detron Lewis (17), fends off Oklahoma State's Andre Sexton (20), and Markelle Martin (10), during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Stillwater, Okla. Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. Oklahoma State defeated Texas Tech 24-17. Lewis had 6 receptions for 75 yards in the 24-17 loss to Oklahoma State. (AP Photo/Brody Schmidt)

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SBN Box Score :: Post Game Quotes

The Result :: Not Good Enough: That may be the meme for the entire season, "just not good enough." Every loss is frustrating, but as I watched the game last night I couldn't help but think that the defense played good enough, the offense was slow, but played good enough, etc. There are always plenty of plays during a game to point to that evidence the loss, but I thought the difference in the game was the pick-6 that Sheffield throws that puts Oklahoma St. up by 2 touchdowns. If that doesn't happen, then I'm not sure we're talking about a loss this morning, although it was certainly the motivation that Leach needed to sit Sheffield down for the remainder of the game. That's not to say that I put the loss on Sheffield's shoulders. If the receivers catch a few more passes, I also think the result is a bit different. I will say that the resiliancy of this team is remarkable and my season long meme may not be palatable to most, but my summer-meme will be that this team will be hell on wheels in 2010.

And I don't know if it's just me, and I hate to lose, but the fact that the team gave good effort for the entire game gives me solace. It doesn't make it right, but at the very least, it gives makes me sleep better at night.

The Storylines ::

Sheffield Is Not the Best Ever and Potts Is Not the Worst Ever: I think we've all heard the phrase that the truth is somewhere in the middle between 2 opposing viewpoints and I think this applies to the quarterback situation. I think Tech92 mentioned this earlier in the week (giving credit, but not linking) that Leach is just as confused about the quarterback situation as the fanbase is. Sheffield's 2nd interception for the night, the pick-6, had nothing to do with his ankle and everything to do with making the assumption that this pass that's been there all game was going to get jumped and returned for a touchdown. I'm not pinning the loss on Sheffield and Potts had plenty of moments where he didn't appear to make all of the right decisions, but I think the key here is that both quarterbacks have their pros and cons and as great as Sheffield looked previously, he's not perfect. And to add to that, he's obviously not the same with the ankle injury. I think it's also unfair to Potts not to mention that his spark in the 2nd half, the same type of spark that Sheffield gets credit for, was the reason why Texas Tech as able to come back into the game so quickly. That arm that we've all heard about was on display during that second to last drive. All-in-all, each have their issues and as Captain Mike Leach said after the game, it's more about consistency:

On Taylor Potts and the Texas Tech offense:
"I thought he was OK, but it just wasn’t real dynamic and we turned the ball over and were close to others. Hit a few of our opponents with a couple too many footballs, so I figured we’d put Sheffield in and see how that went and he kind of sparked things. That basically went pretty well other than a turnover when we put them on the two or something. They’re both inconsistent and at some point we’ve got to just be consistent; and be consistent at other positions. We dropped too many balls. We missed some holes at running back. Up front I thought we had great protection at times and then there’d be key times when we weren’t so great."

Sheffield's ankle isn't right, Potts had to come back too quick from a concussion and QB Seth Doege's future looks bright, but just isn't ready this year. What I can say definatively is that there will be an epic quarterback battle in 2010.

Bane of My Existance -- The Running Quarterback: Perhaps "bane of my existance" is a bit harsh, but this is the defensive conundrum that Ruffin McNeill faces is tricky. With the running quarterback, or perhaps the quarterback that can run if necessary, there's not point in putting a defensive lineman as a spy because the QB can out run the lineman. I would also say that right now, I feel the same way about the linebackers at Texas Tech, sans Marlon Williams. He seems like he could keep pace, but even then I'm not completely sold that he could keep pace with a QB. If McNeill brings a safety up then the team runs the risk of giving up a big play over the top, although I'd truly have to wonder if Robinson could hit a receiver in stride more than twice in a game. If McNeill puts 8 players up front, then Gundy goes 4 wide, a linebacker is forced to cover a slot receiver, and we've all seen what that entails. McNeill has always played it safe in the secondary and much of the success that the secondary has had this year and the previous years can be attributed to that philosophy. Bringing up a safety leaves the defense vulnerable, but at the very least it hopefully stops the QB from running. I think the eventual answer is that with the increased speed of the linebackers this option for an offense becomes less and less likely. If McNeill's recruiting trends are any indication, then speed at the linebacker position is a high priority. Right now, it's a question of having the right personnel and that may take at least 1 more season for McNeill to get the guys where he wants them.

Tired Defense: Can I just be the first one to say that I really don't think the defense was really tired. I think this was more of a situation of Oklahoma St. doing what they do really well, which is eat up the clock and run the ball. I really didn't think the defense looked overly taxed the 2nd half, but I did think that the quarterback draw play plagued the Red Raiders, which wasn't a function of a tired defense, but rather not having the personnel. There's a lot of depth on this defense. The announcers (particularly the play-by-play guy) really played up the tired excuse, which I found to be convenient and lazy assumptions. And if the defense is tired, wouldn't the offense be conversely tired too? Perhaps I'm just being a bit sore about the entire thing, but the offense is out there working and I'm waiting for an announcer to be a bit bold and talk about how tired the offense is after going on an 8 minute drive.

Someone Really Asked This Question: I'm not real sure how to respond to this, but it appears that some reporter actually asked Leach if Zac Robinson, who was pretty good running the ball, but was 9-21 for 90 yards and a touchdown if Leach thought Robinson was the best quarterback he's seen.

On if Robinson is the best quarterback he’s seen:
"I think he’s a good one. I wouldn’t go that far, I think he’s a good one. We’ve seen some pretty good ones. The fella from Houston; Texas and so it goes. I’ve liked him from early on. I liked him just back when they had that little deal when they were splitting time between the two of them. I thought he was pretty good then."

Rebuilding: Am I a bad fan if I've resigned myself to think that the 2010 version of Texas Tech is going to be much better than the 2009 version? Of course, I'd love to see this team finish with 2 wins to finish out the year and I think that playing well is a spring-board to the next season, but I think this team next year will be much more prepared to battle for a Big 12 Championship. Other than the defensive end position, almost every position returns a starter or player with significant playing time. The rough spots that this team has encountered and battled back from, which include early suspensions, numerous injuries to key positions, quarterbacck uncertainty, etc. But this team is pretty damned close I think to something really special next year. I'm going to enjoy what's going on now, but I think this year, as tough as it's been will serve the team well next year.

The Offensive MVP :: WR Detron Lewis: He showed how special he can be and physically he's a dominant player, or perhaps has the ability to be a dominant player. I'd love to see Lewis get the ball 3 or 4 more times during a game in open space.

The Defensive MVP :: CB Jamar Wall: For the hit alone, he gave the offense at the very least an opportunity to score in the last 2 minutes. Wall sacrificed his body on that hit on Zac Robinson for the team. I'm going to remember that play for a long time. Wall did give up a touchdown, but I think he was sure that the help would be there in plenty of time, which it was, but Franklin Mitchem just didn't make the play.

The Special Teams MVP :: PR Austin Zouzalik: We finally saw a little bit of breakout from Zouzalik, and although Zouzalik has been solid most of the year, he's been quiet. Not to mention, Matthew Williams going 1-2 and Ryan Erxleben having to punt 4 times, for a 43 yard average, although good, didn't necessarily inspire me.

Post Game Thoughts :: Nebraska Cornhuskers Edition

Seth C — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:56:27 -0000

More photos » by Nati Harnik - AP

2 months ago: Texas Tech's Daniel Howard, center, with teammates LaRon Moore, left, and Bront Bird, carries the ball for a touchdown against Nebraska in the first half of their NCAA college football game in Lincoln, Neb., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. Texas Tech beat Nebraska 31-10.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

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

The Result :: Not What I Expected: I'll be honest, I thought that the Nebraska offense would show up just a bit and that never happened. You can certainly credit the Texas Tech defense, as this group made plays all day long, but the Nebraska offense needs some help. In terms of the offense, I never expected Nebraska to out-gain the Red Raiders (259 to 285), again, credit needs to go to that Nebraska defensive line that was simply unbelievable. The offensive line continues to be decimated by injury and will need to improve moving forward, but they held it together, especially when I thought that the Red Raiders needed a touchdown to secure the win. Taking 5:00 minutes off the clock.

Let's get to the storylines and the MVP's after the jump.

The Storylines ::

Making Big Plays: The very first drive was a microcosm of the entire game. QB Steven Sheffield completed 18 yards worth of passes to WR Alexander Torres and then bad things started to happen. A false start and Sheffield taking a sack led Texas Tech to have to make a play on 3rd and 13. Sheffield completes one of the highlight catches of my life to WR Lyle Leong for 34 yards. The Red Raiders now have a first down and Sheffield promptly gets sacked for 10 yards and Texas Tech then faces a 3rd and 17 only to have WR Detron Lewis catch a pass for 22 yards. What looked to be a simple screen pass to RB Baron Batch sealed the drive (his skip into the endzone reminded me a bit of Eric Morris - shoutout) as the Nebraska defenders just could get around to catching Batch get to the pylon.

This team faced adversity almost the entire game, or at least it looked that way from where I was watching the game, but responded at just about each and every call. It may have been the offense at times, it may have been the defense at times, and it may have been the special teams at times.

At the end of the day, this team is a team of hard-working individuals and they are a team . . . collectively, they work together.

This was probably expressed better than I've ever seen this before in LAJ's Don Williams post-game discussion with defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill:

"One night during fall camp,’’ defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said, "(running back) Baron Batch got up and he says, ‘We had some great players last year — Graham Harrell, Michael Crabtree, Louis Vasquez, Brandon Williams. This year, it’s more about the Double-T — what’s on our chest and not necessarily the names on our back. Nothing against those guys. We love those guys. But this team is more worried about not letting the other guy down.’’
The Raiders are working all the angles.

The last couple of weeks, they’ve voted on captains based on what have you done for me lately?

This week, you watch, they’re going to elect a sideline captain.

"If you participated in sports, having your teammates cheer for you is a big, big deal, and we make a big deal out of it,’’ McNeill said. "Our kids take pride in it. We travel some guys right now who, they know they’re not going to play one second. They know their job is to come, go through pre-game and cheer the team on.’’

So McNeill’s eyes lit up when I asked if that means he’s going to arrange a vote for a sideline captain.

"That’s a good idea,’’ he said. "I’m going to take it to the boss.’’

Who would be some leading candidates? McNeill mentioned players such as true freshmen Pearlie Graves and Jacob Karam and veteran backups such as Britton Barbee and Brik Brinker.

I've noticed Karam and Barbee being involved on the sidelines, which is a surprise since Barbee has seen little to no time this year and Karam can be expected not to see a snap all year. But I have no doubt that these guys love their school, and despite not participating, they may be this team's biggest cheerleaders and there's something about that sort of attitude that makes me love this team even more.

Dominating Defense: As mentioned above, Nebraska had their own problems on offense, but to simply point to that would not be fair to the Texas Tech defensive unit. Ruffin McNeill and his unit kept Nebraska to 70 yards rushing and 215 yards passing. When the game was still relatively close the Red Raider defense allowed only 37 yards in their first 4 possessions (one of those being the fumble return for a touchdown). The next possession was Nebraska's best possession as they drove 11 plays and 74 yards, only to be limited to a field goal. With first and goal from the Texas Tech 10 yard line, Nebraska could only manage 3 plays to get to the Texas Tech 4 yard line. Perhaps this was a situation where the defense was a bit tired, but truthfully, limiting Nebraska to a field goal on their first 5 possessions is success.

This is a successful day: 5 tackles for a loss (all being sacks), 1 fumble return for a touchdown, 1 interception, and 7 pass break-ups. That's making plays all over the field. From the defensive line that was able to pressure QB Zac Lee to the defensive backs that were able to cause 7 Nebraska incompletions to a return for the touchdown.

DE's Brandon Sharpe and Rajon Henley (we'll get to D. Howard below) were huge yesterday and I still go back to the ideal that Sharpe, Henley and Howard may not be the most talented bunch, but they'll sure as hell out-work you. And for those of you who complain about McNeill not blitzing and being creative enough, I'd suggest that you watch Howard for the game as he was all over the place prior to the snap in the Joker position and the defensive line as a whole did a tremendous job of creating a pocket and containing Lee. Howard was instrumental in ensuring that there were few gaps for Lee to run after the ball was snapped. McNeill deserves a ton of credit for turning around a defense in such a short period of time after Setencich was let go. That's not to say that this Texas Tech defense has arrived, but I do think it's appropriate to say that this defense is leaps and bounds better than where it was in 2007.

Captain Mike Leach acknowledged the defense in his post-game thoughts:

On if the defensive performance on the day ranks high in his career coaching at Texas Tech: "I think so. I think it does for a couple reasons, and I think one reason it does is because, like I said, when things weren't really going our way, we were losing yards on offense as quick as we were gaining them for a period of time out there, and our defense just stepped up over and over. We tested them in about every way we could. Bad field position, good return on the punt or the kickoff, offense gets a three and out, then another three and out, when you think of this defense when you've got to make it happen, they just kept stepping up. I thought it was a real credit to our D-line, which is a real quick unit. Really I thought both D-lines had a pretty big day."

Offensive Line Woes: When LT Terry McDaniel went down with an apparent knee injury I became incredibly nervous. McDaniel has been a steadying influence along the offensive lines and you guys talked about it in the game-day and post-game threads. Perhaps all of the injuries and suspension along the offensive lines create a situation where this unit will be much better off in 2010 as guys have to pick each other up, but as woeful as Nebraska was on offense in the 1st half, the Texas Tech offense wasn't good in the 2nd half, sans 1 drive. Other than the touchdown drive, Texas Tech managed only 46 yards on 5 drives and time of possession of only 4:22 in the 3rd quarter. Credit the Nebraska pressure defense that rattled Sheffield early and often in the second half. For the day, Nebraska had 8 quarterback hurries and 5 sacks for the day, in addition to 13 tackles for a loss. Whether or not the offensive line wasn't 100% or not, this must change and I'm sure that OL coach Moore will address this issue during the week.

The Nebraska defense looked a lot like the Texas Tech defense in that they rushed their front 4 almost all day. The biggest difference between what I saw against Nebraska and what Oklahoma did against Texas, was that the Sooners were stunting and blitzing all over the place. I don't know that this line will see another line as talented and strong as Nebraksa, but OU is going to be incredibly tough.

Leach Thoughts: I'm guessing that Leach was in a good mood after yesterday's win and it showed in some of his comments after the game. There's really no point to any of this other than to highlight some of the more quotable portions.

When Leach was asked about how whether there was any doubt the team would respond in the second half, he had this to say about his defense:

"We have blackshirts there at Texas Tech too. Every one of our guys is wearing a black shirt underneath their pads. I'm proud to say the blackshirts won this one."

I'm not sure if Leach knew before the game that Pelini gave out the blackshirts to 13 of his defensive players yesterday, but if he did, then this was both smart and thoughtful way to convey to his team that they play pretty damned good defense too.

When asked about Sheffield's performance and some of the pressure he faced on Saturday:

"He got a lot of pressure,’’ Leach said. "He generated some for himself, too. There were a couple of them where he’d go back there and run in a circle, run in a circle and look up and then there’s two guys there. I wasn’t real cranked about that. 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.’’

What percentage of college coaches use the word "cranked"?

When asked about whether or not it was important to score on Texas Tech's first possession, Leach launches into a bit about Sheffield and the money quote is at the end:

"I think it's really important, and I think (Sheffield) was really instrumental in that. I think he does a great job just with the whole team. He is one of our captains this week. He was really instrumental in having all of our guys excited to play. Then he went over there and kind of put his money where his mouth is or whatever. That's basically one of the worst cliches I've used in a long time, I'm usually better at making them up."

Kickoff Woes: No one takes more special teams grief than K Donnie Carona, and I'd be more than happy to learn that the short kickoffs were part of the game play, but for the game, Carona only averaged 54 yards a kickoff. That's about kicking it off to the 15 to 20 yard line. I'm surprised that Special Teams coach Russell has been so forgiving of Carona and it took one punt for Carona to get the boot as the punter, but field position is a big part of the game and I'd really just like to see Carona be more consistent.

Contrarian MVP's :: Due to the strange nature of this game, I thought that this week's MVP's should be a little different too.

The Offensive MVP :: DE Daniel Howard: The conventional offensive MVP would have been WR Detron Lewis, who had 5 catches for 100 yards or Steven Sheffield for leading the Red Raiders to a win on the road against a ranked opponent. But these are contrarian MVP's. Howard had the longest play of the game, 82 yards, returning a fumble and putting Texas Tech ahead for the game. Who would have thought that Howard's play would have been the one to put Nebraska away for he game, but it was.

The Defensive Co-MVP's :: FS Franklin Mitchem and SS Cody Davis: The convention defensive MVP would have to be DE Brandon Sharpe, who had 7 tackles, 4 sacks and broke up 1 pass. Incredible game, just absolutely incredible. But the contrarian MVP goes to the two safety-mates in Davis and Mitchem. I thought Mitchem's support in and around the line of scrimmage was absolutely tremendous, and then to top it off, he snagged an interception. Davis' hit on that 3rd down that caused the Nebraska player to drop a sure catch was tremendous. That kid can play. One last thing about Mitchem and Davis, and someone please tell me if I'm wrong, but has Texas Tech been burned deep thus far this year? It's a testament to DB coach Mainord, but it's also a testament to the guys in the program.

The Special Teams MVP :: SS Brett Dewhurst: In addition to getting a ton of playing time as the nickel and dime defensive back, he also had 4 special teams tackles for the day. A convention MVP would have been K Matthew Williams, who hit a field goal for 32 yards and all of his extra points, or P Ryan Erxleben, who has no idea he's a freshman, punting in a hostile environment.

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

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win // Rice Owls Edition

Seth C — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:00:34 -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 // Rice Owls Edition.

Reason #1 :: Correctable Mistakes: It makes little sense for me to give one of the reasons that Texas Tech will lose and somehow have a related reason why Texas Tech will win. Well, the nice thing about quite a few of those mistakes is that they are correctable. From Leach's post-game comments the aggressive defensive play doesn't seem to bother him much, but the one thing that Texas Tech can control are the 3 false start and 2 illegal formation penalties. Those are correctable mistakes with nothing more than a little concentration. The Potts interceptions are also mistakes that can be fixed, or at the very least limited. Potts first interception occurred on UND own 13 yardline and the second interception on the UND 15 yard line. There's two places that a quarterback doesn't want to throw an interception. Inside his own 20 yard line and inside the opponent 20 yard line. Becoming efficient in this offense doesn't happen overnight and we're all reminded by the fact that Graham Harrell completed 19 of 46 passes against Nevada in his second game of the 2008 campaign (Leach mentioned this earlier in the week). All was forgotten because of what happened the rest of the year, but the key is that quarterbacks in this offense can and will have bad games, but it's all about limiting your mistakes.

Reason #2 :: Defensive Front Seven: Universally, this was by far the best producing unit of the day on Saturday and I'm expecting nothing but improvement from this group each and every game. As this group gets more and more time, especially some of the backups, the more comfortable I become. Aside from a very long UND drive, the defensive front held up their part of the bargain on Saturday. Whether it was the outstanding linebacker play or the defensive tackles who didn't make a bunch of plays or the defensive ends who brought pressure most of the day. I'm hoping that we can look forward to more of this the entire season. There's talent there, and there's even talent there that's not starting.

Reason #3 :: Running Opportunity: 295 yards. That's the total number of yards that Rice gave up on the ground last week against UAB. Of those 295 yards, 194 was done by the talented UAB quarterback Joe Webb. Of course you're asking if this can really be a reason why Texas Tech can win considering the paltry performance last week against UND. This isn't just a reason why Texas Tech can win, it is the reason Texas Tech must win. It's absolutely imperative that the running game get on some sort of track, especially before the Longhorns come calling. Rember that it wasn't too long ago that the Red Raiders ran for a meager 79.31 yards a game which was good for only 8 wins in 2006. That can not and should not happen again.

Reason #4 :: Varied Receiving Threats: Leach mentioned during his Monday press briefing and said that the true definition of a balanced offense isn't necessarily a run vs. pass ratio, but how many offensive players can get their hands on the ball with the ability to do something. Last week against UND, the Red Raiders had 10 receivers catch at least one pass. That's what Leach ultimately wants, is an offense where the defense has no idea where the ball is going to go and that each receiver is a true threat to catch the ball.

Reason #5 :: Improved Special Teams: There was a lot of good with the special teams (please forget the fake punt) against UND and credit goes to new special teams coach Eric Russell who decided on CB Jamar Wall, 1 punt return for 17 yards, and IR Austin Zouzalik, 3 punt returns for 33 yards, for a very effective punt return duo. Exclusively used WR Edward Britton returning kickoffs to the tune of 4 for 115 yards, an average of 28.75 yards a return. Kicker Matthew Williams was 5 for 5 on extra points, plus a field goal good for 32 yard field goal. And to top it all off, the guy that took the most heat last year, K/P Donnie Carona had one punt, good for 40 yards, and kicked off 7 different times and 4 touchbacks. For those of you who don't do math in your head (i.e., me) that's a 57.14% rate, which by far leads the Big 12. That is a huge weapon and I'm tickled that Russell is getting tremendous use out of a guy who struggled to find a place on this team last year due to his field goal woes.

Drive Chart :: North Dakota 13, Texas Tech 38

Seth C — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:08:19 -0000

Participation

Offense

Starters: LT Chris Olson, LG Brandon Carter, C Shawn Byrnes, RG Mickey Okafor, RT Marlon Winn, QB Taylor Potts, RB Baron Batch, IR Adam James, IR Detron Lewis, WR Edward Britton, WR Alexander Torres. Reserves: IR Cornelius Douglas, IR Austin Zouzalik, WR Jacoby Franks, RB Harrison Jeffers, WR Lyle Leong, RB Eric Stephens, RB Aaron Crawford, RT Joe King, RG Devric Gallington, LT Terry McDaniel, LG Lonnie Edwards.

Defense

Starters: DE Rajon Henley, DT Richard Jones, NT Colby Whitlock, DE Brandon Sharpe, SLB Bront Bird, MLB Brian Duncan, WLB Marlon Williams, CB Jamar Wall, FS Cody Davis, SS Franklin Mitchem, CB LaRon Moore. Reserves: S Will Ford, S Julius Howard, S Jared Flannel, CB Taylor Charbonnet, S Brett Dewhurst, WLB Blake Collier, CB Nathan Stone, MLB Sam Fehoko, S Daniel Cobb, SLB Tyrone Sonier, DE Sandy Riley, DE Ryan Haliburton, NT Victor Hunter, DE Daniel Howard, DT David Neil, DT Chris Perry.

Drive Chart Texas Tech Offense

Texas Tech Drive 1

What Went Right: 10 of Texas Tech's 40 rushing yards came from this drive, while Taylor Potts completed passes to Detron Lewis, Lyel leong, Austin Zouzalik and Adam James. Batch finished up the drive with a 3 yard touchdown

What Went Wrong: Not much. Only one incomplete pass to Britton

Texas Tech Drive 2

What Went Right: This drive was about to fall flat but was kept alive with a UND facemask. Potts then had a 14 yard completion to Alexander Torres and Potts rushed 1 yard for the touchdown.

What Went Wrong: Looks like some end-arounds and fancy running plays rather than straight ahead rushing. Potts also missed on 3 pass attempts.

Texas Tech Drive 3

What Went Right: Started nicely with a 15 yard completion to Harrison Jeffers and another pass completion to Lewis for 21 yards.

What Went Wrong: Potts first interception of the day while inside the UND 20 yard line. That's either 6 or 3 points that get taken off the board because of Potts mistake.

Texas Tech Drive 4

What Went Right: Potts gets back on track with a nice 6 play 74 yard drive. Completes passes to Torres, Britton, Cornelius Douglas, and Lewis gets the touchdown.

What Went Wrong: Nothing, other than an incomplete pass to Jacoby Franks.

Texas Tech Drive 5

What Went Right: Started great with completions to Torres for 9 and Lewis for 14 yards. Then things fall apart

What Went Wrong: After those 2 completions Potts gets sacked, fumbles the ball and Marlon Winn recovers. Perhaps Potts is a little gun-shy or is wanting to do too much. Remember that Texas Tech is again on the UND 26, within field goal distance, and Potts throws his 2nd INT of the day on 3rd down and 15. It's the end of the half, but there's 3 or 6 more points not on the board although Texas Tech was primed to score.

Texas Tech Drive 6

What Went Right: Nothing.

What Went Wrong: A Matt Goetz false start and this is a whopping 3 play drive for 1 yard. Carona punts and Nathan Stone recovers a fumble giving Texas Tech the ball back.

Texas Tech Drive 7

What Went Right: Potts completes passes to Britton (15), Leong (11) and Britton (6) again.

What Went Wrong: Terry McDaniel holds on first down and this is the last you see of McDaniel for the game. Potts pulls Texas Tech out of the whole and gets Texas Tech to the North Dakota 3 yard line on 4th down, but a jump-ball pass to Detron Lewis falls flat. Again, this is the 3rd drive for Texas Tech inside the UND 20 yard line and no points are on the board.

Texas Tech Drive 8

What Went Right: This is the infamous 4 down on the North Dakota 1 yard line with Potts scoring on the 4th down play. In between then, Potts completes passes to Franks (4), two to Jeffers (24 and 5) and Lyle Leong (8).

What Went Wrong: It takes Texas Tech 4 times to score from UND's 1 yard line.

Texas Tech Drive 9

What Went Right: A nice 19 yard completion to Detron Lewis.

What Went Wrong: Potts' 3rd and final interception of the day.

Texas Tech Drive 10

What Went Right: The return of RB Baron Batch. Batch touches the ball 4 times in this 10 play drive that ended in a Matthew Williams field goal. Also included was a pass to Leong for 28 yards and a 13 yard run from Batch.

What Went Wrong: Texas Tech was driving down the field nicely, but a false start penalty stalled the drive and this is the 4th drive of the day that ended in the UND 20 yard line, although Mike Leach did finally go for the field goal.

Texas Tech Drive 11

What Went Right: Potts completions to Torres for 12 yards and an 18 yard touchdown pass to Adam James.

What Went Wrong: Nothing.

Drive Chart Texas Tech Defense

North Dakota Drive 1

What Went Right: A three and out is always a good outcome. Tackles by Brian Duncan, Jamar Wall and Rajon Henley with blocked punt by Edward Britton.

What Went Wrong: Nothing.

North Dakota Drive 2

What Went Right: Not much, other than the defense finally holding from their own 22 yard line and allowing a 39 yard field goal. Lots of little gains for UND including a big 13 yard 3rd down completion from Jake Landry.

What Went Wrong: How about two personal foul penalties, the 1st one on Marlon Williams and the 2nd one to some unknown player. That's 30 gifted yards to UND

North Dakota Drive 3

What Went Right: 3 plays and 4 yards, thanks to a UND illegal formation penalty.

What Went Wrong: Nothing.

North Dakota Drive 4

What Went Right: Too much yardage given up here including 1 pass for 18 yards and 2 for 10 yards. UND's kicker made a 52 yard field goal, so this wasn't a situation where the defense just gave up a ton of yards. Only 45 to be exact.

What Went Wrong: A 9 yard pass interference penalty by Julius Howard kept the drive alive.

North Dakota Drive 5

What Went Right: End of half.

What Went Wrong: End of half.

North Dakota Drive 6

What Went Right: Another 3 and out, 3 plays 8 yards.

What Went Wrong: Nothing.

North Dakota Drive 7

What Went Right: And another 3 and out, 3 plays 9 yards.

What Went Wrong: Nothing.

North Dakota Drive 8

What Went Right: Not much.

What Went Wrong: 13 plays and 80 yards, with a 9 yard rushing touchdown from UND and a roughing the passer penaltty that gave the ball to UND on the Texas Tech 9 yard line. Too many small completions in the soft underbellly of the Texas Tech defense.

North Dakota Drive 9

What Went Right: Not quite a 3 and out, but a 5 play, 13 yard drive led to another UND punt.

What Went Wrong: Not much, other than a 13 yard pass given up by Cody Davis.

North Dakota Drive 10

What Went Right: A 3 and out, but a Daniel Howard sack led to a 3 play, -7 yard drive.

What Went Wrong: Nothing.

North Dakota Drive 11

What Went Right: This was the end of the game and Sam Fehoko made two tackles. The clock ended this drive.

What Went Wrong: Nothing really and it was nice to see Fehoko make two stops for little yardage.

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe // 08.31.09

Seth C — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:09:19 -0000

Odds and Ends

It's Almost Here: That's right, we're down to game-week, which means that those of you who have been around for a while will know to expect from me, but for those of you who don't, then here's a brief rundown:

Monday: --
Tuesday: A statistical comparison of Texas Tech and their oppponent.
Wednesday: Five reasons Texas Tech will win.
Thursday: Five reasons Texas Tech will lose.
Friday: Prediction time.
Saturday: Open game day thread.
Sunday: Report cards or some other game wrap-up.

I think you'll also be pleasantly surprised with additional content from the DTN co-authors, but we're still working out details and schedules for those. In any event, the season is almost here. I've been working my rear off all weekend to work on some tables, content and things to help the website.

Ticket Selling FanPost: I mentioned this last week and I forgot to do it, but let's try and keep all ticket selling relegated to this weekly FanPost. If I ever forget to post this in a given week, feel free to do it yourself. As mentioned last week, no ticket brokers and this is not a place to make money. If you want to make money, go to Craigslist or some other site. This is here to help out your fellow Red Raiders.

Texas Tech Football

Olson Works to be Left Tackle: LAJ's Don Williams features LT hopeful Chris Olson, who is battling with Terry McDaniel for this final offensive line spot. Here's Olson on how he his role with the team:

"I guess it’s because I know all the positions pretty well,’’ Olson said last week. "I know the offense, the blocking schemes, for the most part pretty perfectly. I think that helps a lot. He knows that I’ll know what I’m doing, whether or not I’ve been practicing there. I guess I just have the technique for it, have the body type. I’m not really sure.’’

And offensive line coach Matt Moore seems to be in awe of what Olson can do:

"It’s unbelievable what that kid can do,’’ Moore said. "To be able to play left tackle all camp, then the backup center gets hurt, and you’re going to be the second-team center, but they go against the first-team defense all the time. But he makes all the calls and had like one bad snap. The kid’s so versatile.’’

Snip

"You just don’t have guys like that that can play every position on the line and play them as well as he plays them,’’ Moore said one day last spring. "He’s smart. He’s relaxed. He doesn’t panic. He understands the game. He’s really good at changing his stance — that’s the hardest thing in going from the right side to the left side. I think when it’s all said and done, he’s going to end up starting somewhere.’’

Captains Named: Per the official website, the following players have been named as a captain for this 2009 squad: QB Taylor Potts, LG Brandon Carter, DE Rajon Henley and CB Jamar Wall. Congrats to these four players.

Texas Tech Football Notebook: LAJ's Don Williams has news that that special teams coach Eric Russell has not decided between sophomore P/K Donnie Carona and freshman P Ryan Erxleben for the punting job:

"I don’t know who it is yet,’’ Russell said after the team’s Sunday night workout at Jones AT&T Stadium. "They both still have some issues that are concerning to me. At the same time, they both hit the ball decently. It’s more operation time and fundamentals and mechanics, and they’re both kind of running out of time.’’

. . . but that the kicking job is set with walk-on phenom, K Matthew Williams . . . IR Austin Zouzalik is getting a closer look at returning both punts and kickoffs (I think this is a fantastic idea) . . . the depth chart for kickoff returner is Zouzalik with IR Detron Lewis and the second unit is RB Eric Stephens and CB Jamar Wall, while the punt returner is still up in the air . . .

The Fighting Sioux: I've had a tough time keeping up with North Dakota because their local paper requires that you sign into the newspaper in order to read their stories. That's quite alright. In any event, the UND Fighting Sioux official site has some good content (video, news, and notes) that I'll try to continue to link this week.

High Price of Tickets: LAJ's Don Williams has a piece on the high price of ticket renewals and required contributions to the Red Raider Club and before we all get too worked up over the required contribution to the Red Raider Club, this is standard operating procedure at quite a few schools. Nevertheless, a good read.

Potts Highlighted: The Orlando Sentinel highlights QB Taylor Potts, along with the below-mentioned Houston QB Case Keenum, as one of five quarterbacks to watch, not named McCoy, Bradford and Tebow:

Buzz: Potts takes over for Graham Harrell in the ridiculously pass-happy Texas Tech offensive scheme. If he is anywhere near Harrell, he will put up big numbers. Last season, Harrell led the nation in passing and passing yards (5,111), and the Red Raiders ranked No. 4 in total offense. Coach Mike Leach says the 6-5, 218-pound Potts has a better arm than Harrell. We'll see how the junior develops this season.

Big 12 Links: NewsOK on five games that will shape the 2009 season . . .

Scouting the Enemy: NY Times blog The Quad talks with former Houston Cougars QB David Klingler on current QB Case Keenum and his bright future . . .

Five Things // Improving the Special Teams

Seth C — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:00:20 -0000

Five Things is a handful (i.e., five) of thoughts about a single topic. Hopefully, discussion ensues.

Improving the Special Teams

To say that special teams has largely been ignored by the Captain would be an understatement. Clay McGuire was the special teams coach last year and did so without any sort of experience. When running backs coach Seth Littrell left for Arizona, Leach moved McGuire to running backs coach, the position he played at Texas Tech, and hired Louisiana Tech's special teams coach Eric Russell.

The point of this exercise is to take a look at where the special teams was last year and Russell's La. Tech teams from 2008 and 2007 as well as 2006, the year before he arrived at La. Tech (Russell was previously at North Texas).

Since I haven't seen a lick of La. Tech football in the last two years, I would think the argument could be made as to whether La. Tech's success at special teams is based on scheme or the players, and for the sake of this post, we'll give credit to Russell for the scheme since I do not have an opinion as to the types of players at La. Tech.

1: Punt Returns

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Punt Return	9.90 (1 TD)	12.97 (3 TD)	13.92 (0 TD)	5.00 (0 TD)
Punt Return Allowed	11.93 (2 TD)	6.00 (1 TD)	7.53 (0 TD)	9.25 (0 TD)

This is fairly significant and it doesn't take any type of specialized degree to note that prior to Russell's arrival in 2006, La. Tech was simply woeful at both punt return and punt returns allowed. Things changed fairly quickly, and if there's one thing that I'm hoping with Russell's arrival, is that the Red Raiders can and will improve in both of these categories.

The key here in punt returns is who will actually be returning those punts for Texas Tech. In previous years, Leach has opted for the safe and reliable option, in Eric Morris and Danny Amendola. Both guys weren't necessarily game-breakers, but were incredibly reliable. It will be interesting to see if Russell opts for a similar player. Perhaps Austin Zouzalik or Cornelius Douglas are a couple of options.

Additionally, I'm interested to see what Russell does in terms of coverage, and I think all of these stats are something that I'm going to want to watch all season long, but this appears to be something that Russell can remedy fairly quickly. How happy would you guys be to see the allowed yards to dip under 10 and hover closer to Russell's marks at La. Tech of 6.00 and 7.53 per return?

2: Kickoff Returns

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Kickoff Return	22.20 (0 TD)	23.42 (1 TD)	23.13 (1 TD)	21.70 (1 TD)
Kickoff Return Allowed	21.00 (0 TD)	18.09 (0 TD)	23.73 (1 TD)	21.33 (1 TD)

Slight improvement on Russell's part, although allowing less than 20 yards a kickoff return in 2008 is significant. In fact, in 2008 La. Tech ranked 8th in the nation so a few yards makes a difference in being a highly ranked unit and being middle of the pack, like Texas Tech at 59th in the nation. It's certainly not a stretch to think that Russell will have a somewhat significant impact here as well especially in terms of coverage.

La. Tech was also highly ranked in terms of kickoff returns, coming in at 17th in the nation last year. Again, this is something where a few yards makes a big difference as La. Tech ranked 17th in the nation in punt returns, while Texas Tech ranked 39th. Again, not bad, but not great either. Jamar Wall (20) returned a majority of kickoffs last year, followed by Detron Lewis (8) and LaRon Moore (7), and I've always thought that this is a perfect opportunity to get a guy like Harrison Jeffers some touches. I've always preferred a bigger return man, especially in kickoffs and if Jeffers could get two or three touches a game from kickoffs alone could be a real positive in his overall development.

3: Punting

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Punting	35.65	40.49	41.30	38.18

This is one of those stats (much like any kicker related statistic) that you could probably say is related to the actual player rather than the coach, but since we're giving credit to Russell for the sake of this post, there's obviously some room for improvement here. La. Tech didn't light the world on fire last year in punting, coming in at 42nd in the nation, but at least the Bulldogs didn't find themselves at 118th. Yep, Jonathan LaCour, who exhibited a fairly strong leg his freshman year, had a sophomore slump in 2008 as he punted for a net average of less than 30 yards a game. Wind or no wind, that's unacceptable and I don't know how much Russell is going to be able to improve LaCour, but he is doing one thing that Leach didn't do last year, which is give LaCour a little competition. This spring, Donnie Carona, who has had mixed success (yes, I'm putting this lightly) at kicking, tried his leg at punting and although it may not mean anything during the course of the season, it might. LaCour probably needed someone to push him a bit and here's hoping that Carona can. I'd also love to see if Russell can get LaCour over any mental hump that he might have had, perhaps teaching him a little better technique.

4: Kickoff

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Kickoff	65.22 (27.08% TB)	62.32 (7.69% TB)	-	-

You'll note that these statistics only go back to 2007 and if there's one thing that Donnie Carona did right last year, it was kickoffs. He may not have been great at getting it through the upright, but he was good at getting it to the endzone, putting a little over 27% of his kickoffs back for touchbacks. Although we were going to give credit to Russell alone, this is very much a single player type of statistic. Either the kicker does, or does not kick it a long ways and if Carona can do anything, it's kick it a long ways.

5: Place Kicking

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Field Goals	7/13 (53.8%)	14/28 (50.0%)	12/21 (57.1%)	8/12 (66.7%)
Extra Points	70/76 (92.1%)	38/40 (95.0%)	25/26 (96.2%)	30/31 (96.8%)

As bad as the field goal kicking was last year, it was at least on par with what Russell was previously doing at La. Tech. Anyone who watched Texas Tech last year knew that Donnie Carona (4/9; 44%) was kicking the ball too low last year on field goals, giving opponents the ability to block his field goals relatively easily. Walk-on Matt Williams (2/3; 67%) was better, but really didn't have many opportunities. I have no idea how Russell is going to solve this problem, although something to keep in mind is that Texas Tech did signa preferred walk-on in Blinn CC kicker Brad Hicks. I haven't been able to find much on statistics on Hicks, but he did make 11 field goals last year and 52 extra points. As far as Carona is concerned, I think this is all mental and technique. If he could just have a little success, I think he's fine and I hope that Russell is what can get him back on track.

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe // 06.03.09

Seth C — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:14:53 -0000

Texas Tech Football

McKinner Dixon Arrested in Nacogdoches

Yesterday morning, I ran across this post from EDBS regarding defensive tackle Lavunce Askew, who was at one time considering Texas Tech

EDSBS " Archive " FULMER CUPDATE: ARKANSAS ATHLETIC STEALS LAPTOP
The same could be said for Arkansas defensive tackle Lavunce Askew, arrested for taking a laptop with teammate linebacker Matt Marshall. Marshall and Askew allegedly took the items from an unnamed complainant in the middle of the night. Marshall was seen returning the iPhone the following morning.Then this happened:

Askew pulled up while police were questioning Marshall, had the laptop and admitted to taking it, according to the report. He said he was going to use it for school. Askew was placed under arrest.

I thought to myself that Texas Tech may have dodged an unintentional bullet, but then someone posted a comment (I can't remember where it is, which is why I'm not linking it) regarding Texas Tech's very own DE McKinner Dixon being arrested for essentially having an open container and driving without insurance. As DTN's resident defense attorney, Plano Jeff, points out that this is a nothing charge, class C misdemeanors.

I don't think it's the charges that are the problem with Dixon, but rather it's the location. I can't remember where Mike Leach said this, but I think whenever Leach suspended Dixon, he made a reference that Dixon's problem was that he always had an excuse about not being able to get back to Lubbock from Nacogdoches. I'm guessing here, but I get the feeling that it may not be Dixon's actions in Lubbock that are the problem, where he has no distractions, but rather it is the distractions in Nacogdoches that are the problem. The charges may be nothing, but I get the feeling that Dixon's actions speak volumes about where he is with this team.

Taylor Potts Will Throw the Ball

For those worried about the Texas Tech offense (this makes no sense to me), apparently AthlonSports.com isn't worried at all as they believe that Taylor Potts is going to be the 4th best fantasy quarterback this year. Feel free to worry about a bunch of other things with this team, but not the offense.

I thought it was interesting to note that Houston's Case Keenum is the top ranked fantasy signal-caller. That's going to be a scary game.

Neglected, Audio, Video and Photos

Fox34 looks back at last year's UMass game as well as kicker Matt Williams being the 21st most important Red Raider.

Texas Tech Basketball

Pat Knight on Tech Talk

Pat Knight was on the first hour of Tech Talk and he was an open book. PK talked about focusing on the defense this year and takes the blame for focusing so much on the offense last year (I've already written about this, scheduled to post next week). Pat also talks about all of the cheating that's going on in college basketball and notes that coaches aren't afraid of the penalty and believes that the cheating will continue. PK explains that the reason he doesn't cheat is that he doesn't want a player having control over him (which I totally agree) and thinks that something drastic needs to happen (i.e. losing your job, death penalty, etc.). I think he also heard PK say that if he finds out a player is on "the take" on any level, he doesn't recruit them, which explains why you don't see Texas Tech have the #1 class and PK says that if that's what you want to see then he just needs $200,000 and some used cars and he can have the #1 class.

I feel like I have this conversation with myself all of the time, but there's something to be said about having a coach who absolutely refuses to play the recruiting game. Pat mentioned that all of the stories regarding cheating was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what really goes on in the world of college recruiting.

There are schools that pay the recruiting services, which you are really buying admission to the AAU team (BTW, this makes me sick).

Texas Tech doesn't do it.

How about the Illini AD admitting that the issues with Derrick Rose were known (not sure what was known, but they were).

Texas Tech doesn't do it.

Pat Knight isn't a perfect coach, there's no doubt about that. Even in this short interview on Tech Talk, he admitted that he focused too much on offense last year, but he's making changes. PK is brutally honest, sometimes to a fault. Sometimes he says exactly what he thinks which provides plenty of opportunity for him to firmly plant his foot inside his mouth.

But, Pat Knight is not a cheater.

Texas Tech Saturday Morning Notes - Oklahoma Game Day Edition

Seth C — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:33:08 -0000

Double-T Nation News:

A couple of blog notes go at the top. I probably haven't mentioned it enough, but go visit the Tortilla Retort for lots of good Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma talk. Dr. Saturday, a.k.a. Matt Hinton, deconstructs Oklahoma's chances of pressuring Graham Harrell. Go read the whole thing, it's that good. And last, but certainly not least, Bill Connelly, from Rock M Nation, wrote a very statistical based preview of today's game for Football Outsiders that fascinates me, despite my limited ability to add numbers.

I'm posting the basketball notes, yes there's a game today, in a FanPost and I'll also be posting an open game day thread and preview later today, probably around lunch. The game is not on television.

Texas Tech Football:

LAJ's Don Williams profiles offensive guard Brandon Carter and how he gets fired up for each game and here's Carter on why he does the makeup and the hair:

"I think (some) thought that I was just kind of being an individual," Carter said. "They thought it showed individualism and not much as a team player, which was the total opposite of what I was trying to do. It gets me hyped, and it gets other players hyped. That’s why I do it. I don’t do it to stand out above others or keep the focus on me."

And offensive line coach Matt Moore told Carter that if he was going to do it, he had better be good:

"I think (some) thought that I was just kind of being an individual," Carter said. "They thought it showed individualism and not much as a team player, which was the total opposite of what I was trying to do. It gets me hyped, and it gets other players hyped. That’s why I do it. I don’t do it to stand out above others or keep the focus on me."
Tech line coach Matt Moore, when he was hired in the spring of 2007, talked Carter into toning down his look at the beginning of last season. It’s not that Carter’s style clashed with the new coach’s.

"He and I had a talk coming into his sophomore season," Moore said. "I just told him, the way people are, that if you’re going to call attention to yourself, you’d better be really, really good. You know, let’s back off until you start playing real good, and then as you start playing good, you can start doing what you want. So that’s kind of been his reward."

Also from the LAJ, Adam Zuvanich writes that the Sooners are looking for a win, not revenge and Jeff Walker talks with Bob Knight about this football team:

"Tech’s season starts because Gerald Myers hired Leach," Knight said. "That’s the most important thing to this season. That’s No. 1 because they wanted to hire (Rich) Rodriguez, the committee did, and Gerald fought (because) they wanted to start the whole search all over again. Gerald really fought that and he won and they hired Leach."
Snip

"The reason why Leach was such a good choice is because he did not play a conventional brand of football," Knight said. "He wasn’t going to bring that to Texas Tech. He wasn’t going to try and be Oklahoma or Texas, Texas A&M and Nebraska or anybody playing the way they play. He was going to do something different. That’s what his game was, and it was so ideally suited to this school in this geographic location in terms of recruiting that you could have spent five years and you wouldn’t have found anybody equal to Leach as a choice."

Lots of quotes about Graham Harrell, Ruffin McNeill, and some other items. It's a good read, check it out.

Also from Williams, he talks with Mike Leach about what this team does well:

"They play together, and they’re the most coachable group," he said Thursday. "So they’ve been able to develop quicker, respond to adversity quicker, because as a unit they’re more committed in their various jobs and roles, and the other thing is they’re the most coachable. They respond as a unit."

The New York Times just can't get enough of Texas Tech, as Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans profile quarterback Graham Harrell and receiver Michael Crabtree. Again, read the whole thing. Thamel and Evans also had a blog post on The Quad quoting Captain Leach on their personalities:

"They have this huge mutual respect. They’re very connected. They’re both literally at each other’s disposal anytime the other needs anything. They know how valuable they are to each other. They run in a little different groups. Part of it is because Graham is older than Michael. It’s nothing to see the two of them coming together and talking as they’re going onto or coming off the field. They definitely are two people that recognize their roles on the team as a whole, but then also they’re a value individually to each other. Graham is significantly more outgoing than Michael. Michael is kind of shy and kind of quiet. There’s usually kind of a crowd around Graham. He’s not flashy, but he’s one of those guys that typically has people around him. People tend to follow him. Michael’s got a little bit of loner in him."

DMN's Brandon George previews the matchups between Texas Tech and Oklahoma and Chuck Carlton writes that everything is on the line for Texas Tech:

Everything was supposed to be different for the Texas Tech football program this season.
This was high Tech, the 2.0 version of what Mike Leach had built, all the offensive wizardry complemented by a mature core.

So far, the Red Raiders have met every expectation. They have avoided the inexplicable stumbles of the past, refused to believe their press clippings, run the ball better than they ever have in the Leach era and discovered defense.

DMN's Kate Hairopoulos profiles kicker Matt Williams and thought this exchange between Williams and special teams coach Clay McGuire was pretty good:

And to think ... as Williams and special teams coach Clay McGuire walked up from practice on the Jones AT&T Stadium turf the week of the Texas game, they passed Raiderville, the tent city where students camp out before big home games.
"If you hadn't won the contest, you'd probably be camped out here," McGuire marveled.

"Yeah, Coach," Williams told him. "I had plans to do it."

The USA Today featured Texas Tech and our quirky coach yesterday, in an article written by Steve Wieberg and if you've never heard Leach's story on recruiting Graham Harrell, here it is:

During a recruiting visit with Harrell, Leach pulled out his cellphone and a deck of cards, asked Harrell to pick a card and then called a friend identified by the coach as the Wizard.
At the other end, the Wizard identified the card.

"And then he sat down and started doing some card tricks for me," Harrell recalls. "And he started telling stories — about his life, about what he's researched, about pirates. One story leads to the next.

"I think my dad asked him how he got into coaching with a law degree or something, and that led to the story about him moving to Finland. Then World War II. And then, somehow, he related it to some World War II navy, which led him to pirates.

"I don't know if he has it memorized or if his train of thought is that all-over-the-road sometimes," Harrell says. "But that's just the way he is. He's interesting."

Harrell, a record-setting passer at Ennis (Texas) High School, where he played for his father, Sam, was highly amused. But what ultimately sold him on Texas Tech was Leach's offense.

The whole thing is pretty good, if you've got the time.

The SAEN looks at all of the Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma matchups and Mike Finger writes that this is the end for one of these two teams:

Bob Stoops can prove he hasn't forgotten everything he once knew about winning big games. Sam Bradford, just now shaking off the grogginess from his last up-close meeting with a Texas Tech defender, can prove he can finish an evening against the Red Raiders standing upright. And Mike Leach, who began his Big 12 reign of eccentricity here nine years ago, can prove once and for all he's more than just Stoops' old wacky sidekick.
With armada-loads of hype and the world's most popular pirate descending upon Oklahoma, the stage is set for one form of breakthrough or another. And while it's yet to be determined whose story will be the subject of tonight's version of The Gangplank Redemption, it's certain that one team's national championship hopes will get busy living, and the other's will get busy dying.

That's what is so great about tonight.

And also what's so wrong about it.