SB Nation - Edward Britton

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.

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 11.18.09

Seth C — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:07:16 -0000

Clogged Pipes: Remember when I said that I was busier than normal this week? I am, and now I've got a clogged kitchen sink. The night before last, I spent a couple hours after work trying to unclog the damned thing and then I called a plumber, who then spent a couple of hours trying to unclog the thing. No dice. Our only options are for the plumber to crawl under the house and cut some pipe to find the clog or use some sort of fancy machine that produces 3,000 p.s.i. of water that will blast any clog a few miles away. Pray for me.

Leach to ________: I refuse to post to any link regarding any coaching vaccancy and Captain Mike Leach. I would love it if Leach just made a statement regarding the fact that he has no interest in __________ University. I understand that all of the "sources close to the program" is mainly B.S. What this really means is that high profile booster at _________ University got drunk, started talking about who he would like and thought that Leach would like it too. There's nothing concrete nor is there any actual quote from said source. Besides this entire situation gave me tremendous tired-head last year and I'm not going to feed the rumors unless there's actually something to report.

Sooners Want Win in Lubbock: LAJ's Don Williams writes that the Sooners would love to get a win in Lubbock. Here's CB Dominique Franks on wanting to play well:

"We haven’t played too well in the past in Lubbock,’’ Franks said. "We know this year also, we haven’t played too good on the road. We want to make sure we go out there and give them our best shot on Saturday.’’

Not the Same Sooners: DT's Adam Coleman writes that this year's version of the Sooners are not the Sooners of previous year, but head coach Mike Leach knows that the Sooners still have talent at every position:

"The biggest thing is they don’t have any serious holes," Tech coach Mike Leach said. "They are a team that would like to have some games back, but they don’t have any serious holes. They have good talent and good coaches. They played together really well last year."

And RT Marlon Winn talks about DT Gerald McCoy:

"Very athletic, very strong, fast around the edges. He can work inside as well, good with his hands and he is always focused," Winn said. "I think he is an awesome athlete really."

Texas Tech Notebook: LAJ's Don Williams writes that WR Jacoby Franks has been demoted to the scout team this week and Williams has this from WR coach Dennis Simmons and where players played in practice yesterday:

Simmons said Lyle Leong divided his time between split end and flanker in Tuesday’s workout, so it was starter Alex Torres and Leong at flanker, and Edward Britton, Leong and Brik Brinker at split end.

Snip

"I fault myself, because they’re a direct reflection of me,’’ Simmons said. "If they’re not playing well, then obviously I’m not doing something right. I need to fix me in order to make sure that they’re fixed. That’s what we’re doing. We’re fixing each other right now.’’

. . . LB Marlon Williams and CB Jamar Wall did not practice yesterday, which means there is a good chance that they will not play on Saturday. If Wall doesn't play, then CB Brent Nickerson will get the start and in place for Williams, you could see LB Brian Duncan move over to the weakside and LB Sam Fehoko to middle linebacker or move S/LB Julius Howard to Williams spot . . . the Baylor vs. Texas Tech game is almost completely sold out . . . DE Brandon Sharpe has been added to the Hendricks Watch List, a post-season award that goes to the nation's top defensive end (huge congrats to Brandon!)

Oklahoma Sooner and Big 12 Links: TulsaWorld's Dave Sittler writes that the Sooners need to be ready for strange happenings in Lubbock . . . NewsOK's Jake Trotter with an extensive OU notebook, including WR Brandon Caleb and OG Brian Simmons should be back for this weekend's game . . . TulsaWorld's Guerin Emig also has a notebook . . .

Its Official on 3 Signings: The official site finally announced that all of the paperwork has been returned on the 3 players who have signed with Pat Knight's Red Raiders.

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win :: New Mexico Lobos Edition

Seth C — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:00:21 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

2 months ago: Texas Tech running back Harrison Jeffers (10) leaps over Houston linebacker C.J. Cavness (40) as he rushes for a first down during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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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 :: New Mexico Lobos Edition.

Reason #1 :: The Proverbial Chip on Shoulder: Jeez, what a week and although I'm not anyone connected with anyone, I'm thinking that this team just might be a little ticked. You guys mentioned it yesterday and I think we all get the feeling that if the team doesn't come out and simply dominate, then if you thought last week was fun on DTN . . . just wait. With that being said, I don't think that happens and I think the Red Raiders will have somewhat of an attitude on Saturday afternoon. And I think we'll know a lot about our Red Raiders and whether or not they have the stomach for the fight.

Reason #2 :: Dominate Statistically: I'll just lump each and every one of the statistical categories into this one reason, rather than spread them out over a few reasons. Long story short, the Lobos are struggling mightily and although the Red Raiders aren't necessarily world-beaters in almost every statistical category. Perhaps the biggest statistical categories that might be germane to handling the Lobos is quite simply the total offense of Texas Tech which is 13th in the nation vs. the New Mexico defense which is 107th in nation. I just don't see how New Mexico scores enough points to keep pace.

Reason #3 :: Find Batch Early, Often and Late: One of the best stories that came out of last week's loss to Houston was the fact that the running game got back on track. Perhaps the biggest part of that was that Terry McDaniel got the start at left tackle, Chris Olson moved to guard, who looked really good pulling and making blocks down the field. I thought the other advantage that the running game had was that Leach reunited RG Brandon Carter and RT Marlon Winn that looked really good. Unfortunately, the Carter-Winn reunion will take a one week hiatus, but the key will be for Texas Tech to continue what they started. And I don't just mean running the ball early, like last week, but the team needs to continue to run the ball all game long. I'm very excited about seeing round 2 of Baron Batch, Eric Stephens and Harrison Jeffers.

Reason #4 :: Maturation of the Run Defense: It's strange to think that this time last year, the Red Raiders were 32nd in the nation in rush defense, after playing Eastern Washington, Nevada, SMU and Massachusetts. This year, this defenseis 29th in the nation in rush defense after playing two highly explosive offensive teams and there's a lot of credit that should go to the play of MLB Brian Duncan, SLB Bront Bird and WLB Marlon Williams. I think that for a game like Saturday's, where New Mexico has a large back in James Wright, I think you'll see the tremendous value of having a guy like Bird be able to stop the run. New Mexico has struggled to really so much as complete a pass and I could see Ruffin McNeill selling out to stop the run this week.

Reason #5 :: Pushing the Long Ball: I think Taylor Potts is statistically doing just fine in his 4th game of his young career. Potts is currently sitting around 7.56 yards per attempt, which is plenty good, especially for playing 2 top 20 teams, but on Saturday, I'd love to see Potts air it out a bit down the field. Of course, the first part of this is that the Red Raiders will need to give Potts plenty of time in the pocket, which shouldn't be a huge issue, but I'd love to see guys like Lyle Leong, Tramain Swindall and Edward Britton get deep on the New Mexico secondary. These guys are due for huge days.

Keys to the Game, Revisited - UH Edition

NM99 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:41:00 -0000

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

Still feeling the hangover

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The crowd was raucous from the beginning, and without a cell phone, I would have never found the tailgate party I was looking for - it was that crowded around the stadium. A great game atmosphere. I spent 8 years in Houston before moving to DFW. A coworker in my company's Houston office was able to purchase extra tickets as part of his season package to University of Houston games, which he offered to me before the season.

In talking with U of H fans before, during, and after the game, many thought they were over matched on Saturday. And with the exception of the guy who spilled his beer down my wife's back and one slightly obnoxious drunk guy in the row behind us, they were a hospitable crowd. Tip 'o the hat to the U of H fans for being gracious hosts, and kudos to their team for never giving up despite trailing most of the game. This is the reason why we watch college football.

I will never understand why cougars only have 3 fingers.

After losing for the second week in a row, my newest black Texas Tech T-shirt is officially retired from game day wear. Perhaps for this and myriad other reasons, this was a game about missed opportunity. As I sat in the stands Saturday, sweating (literally) out the last few minutes of the game, I couldn't help but think that, should Houston score, we didn't have the play makers for a last second comeback. But this game did not come down to one play or one series. Though we were up at the half, the signs of the bad loss (this one definitely qualifies) littered Tech's play throughout the game. Here are my thoughts on the game as seen from the stands and a look at the Keys to the Game from last week.

I don't know how it was on TV, but watching the game in person was agonizingly frustrating. I had great seats for viewing the game (50 yard line, about a third of the way up). Which is good because in the rush to get down to Houston last week, I forgot to set my DVR. This may be a blessing in disguise, as I'm not sure I could stomach watching that game again.

On offense we did not capitalize on opportunities provided by key stops by the defense, missed field goals and penalties against U of H that kept us alive and in striking distance. For the second game in a row, Edward Britton made his presence known through a personal foul after the play. It occurred on the far side of the field from me, so I couldn't see what happened, but anything that happens after the play is absolutely, 100% uncalled for. I think this is why Britton became the decoy for the rest of the night and never saw Taylor Potts look his direction. Some additional disciplinary action is in order, IMO.

On defense, we seemed out of sorts. The Cougars game play was to run a hurry-up offense. At one point it seemed they were getting plays off every 15-20 seconds. Our defense was caught several times not lined up and out of position, or still trying to make substitutions. I asked Ruff to prove me wrong this week, but I came away disappointed in our scheme and play calling. Continually trying to substitute against the hurry-up offense was unnecessary. The epic TV timeouts and moving of the chains allowed a substitution relatively frequently. I do not understand trying to substitute on 2nd and 3rd down when we are not changing the scheme (e.g. changing from 4-3 to nickle) when in 1 or 2 plays they would either be moving the chains or punting. Were it not for some phenomenal efforts by guys like Colby Whitlock (I swear he single-handedly stopped a play in which NO ONE else was lined up when Houston snapped the ball), Tech would have been in a huge hole.

Offensive Keys

Key #1 - Hold on to the ball. -1 turnover margin. Again. And yet again, this is good for a seven point swing. 2 fumbles lost - one on the first series of the game, and had it not been for a hands to the face penalty (that I missed), there would have been an INT as well. Not to mention at least one other dropped interception and a fumble that we recovered ourselves. We definitely missed on this one again. Eric Stephens fumble was the result of the risk you take in continuing to go hard after the first hit. Sometimes, you break free or pick up a few extra yards. Sometimes you get stripped of the ball as multiple defenders start trying to bring you down. I'll take the effort. As he gains experience at this level, he'll learn to protect the ball more when he is in trouble. The first fumble was a group effort - poor protection by the line, who seemed to still be asleep, and Taylor Potts's statuesque form in the pocket. I am glad he is showing patience and trust in his o-line, but it is OK to step up in the pocket and scramble to buy time on occasion. The offensive line continues to struggle against pressure on the edge.

Key #2 - Run. The. Ball. Our running game seemed to find it's legs in this game. With the exception of the goal line stand in the 4th, U of H had nothing to contain Baron Batch, Eric Stephens and Harrison Jeffers, who had 28 combined touches and averaged 6.8 yds/carry. How could is 6.8 yds/carry? Consider that the passing game only netted 7.1 yds/attempt. I like that the staff is getting Jeffers involved. We need to get our best athletes on the field and making plays in any way we can. I understand not lining him up in the backfield alot when we need pass protection, but the reverse option with Jeffers in motion set up least 3 different plays (hand off to Jeffers, Hand off to Batch/Stephens, play action pass) that keeps the defense frozen and could open up some big play opportunities. i was very pleased with our running effort and don't fault Leach for going for the TD. The U of H defensive front was whipped by that point. A TD would have sealed the game and stolen all momentum. Give credit where it's due - U of H made a gutsy stop on defense. I also expect that we witnessed the death of the jumbo set for this season. It has not been effective for us.

Key #3 - No time off. After the first series, the line seemed to wake up and we had some decent run blocking, though as we know U of H is not the strongest team against the run. The success of the second series seemed to lull the offense back to sleep, as we allowed a sack/intentional grounding in the third series. We had a number of dropped passes (starting in the 4th series), and a couple of plays where Potts threw the ball away and for the first time I saw him visabley frustrated. It seemed as if the receivers just didn't want to make the play or were thinking about the run instead of catching the ball first. I actually commented at one point that they were playing as if the ball was wet. The offense still lacks cohesion. I hope that the events of this week and what should be an easy home game will help things to gel, but I am skeptical.

Defense

Key #1 - Limit YAC. Houston had 4 receivers who averaged over 10 yards a catch and each of them caught at least 8 passes. Tyrone Carrier was continually open over the middle and had lots of running room. We continued to play very soft at corner most of the game. Cody Davis had what would have been a great break-up, but a penalty against U of H made it moot. Unfortunately, that was the only one of note, but it is good to see the athleticism in the secondary start to come through. The only reason Keenum managed to complete only 65% was a number of drops and some overthrown balls to wide open receivers. We continued to play soft coverage, even when we desparately needed a stop at the ed of the game, and U of H took advantage.

Key #2 - Force Case Keenum to hold the ball more than 3 seconds. When this happened, Houston floundered. It was not until late in the game that Keenum was able to do any damage with his feet. In generaly, though, Keenum had no trouble finding the open man. Again, very disappointing. See soft coverage above.

Key #3 - Avoid the let down. From the player's perspective, i think Tech did a good job of this until U of H's last drive. Will Ford had a nice pick in which he ripped the ball from the receiver on the ensuing drive after Tech failed to convert the 4th and 1 into a TD, with Houston marching down the field. 4 plays later, in which we failed to run the ball despite our success earlier in the game, the defense was back out on the field and Houston methodically moved the ball 95 yards down the field, with the help of 2 3rd down conversions and a 4th down conversion. Throughout the game, I thought we were ~~hamstrung a bit~~ trying to give the game to them by poor substitution and vanilla defense. For the most part, the players showed a will to win and played hard. I really like this group. McNeill needs to show some trust and unleash them to make plays.

Special Teams

Make them drive the field. This one was 50/50. Our punt coverage was great. Our kick-off coverage stinks worse than the Lubbock stock yards on a hot summer day. Seriously. I also want to give some props to Austin Zouzalik for dropping the hammer in blocking for Stephens on kick returns. Stephens gets the glory, but Zouzalik deserves a ton of credit for allowing him to get past the first man repeatedly.

Overall, the running game was the bright spot and gives me hope going forward. It seems that this is still a team trying to find itself and establish roles. Over the next couple of weeks, I expect that the playmakers will start to emerge and things will start to fall into place. I am not ready to start talking about "next year" yet.

Position Matchups :: Houston Cougars Edition

Seth C — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:01:00 -0000

Position matchups after the jump. [Note by Seth C, 09/22/09 12:10 PM CDT ] I was in a hurry so there may be errors.

	MATCHUP
QB/WR: So I think we have a leader. It's real easy to say that you're the leader of an offense, but the truth of it is that unless something happens where you actually lead the team in some form or fashion it's lip service. Taylor Potts can lead this team. I can't talk enough about the play of the receivers. Honestly, guys like Lyle Leong are supposed to be on the rec team, not leading the team with 5 touchdowns. If the Longhorns can't really contain the Texas Tech receivers, then I really don't see any reason for the Cougars to be able to contain them. It would be nice to see Detron Lewis fully healthy, but Tramain Swindall, Austin Zouzalik, Alexander Torres, Edward Britton, etc., have shown they're capable.	QB/WR vs. DB	DB: A good mix of size and experience returns in the secondary for Houston, starting 2 juniors, a senior and a sophomore. The problem with believing their current group, which all return from last year, is really 34th in the nation isn't an indication that they've arrived. In 2008, this group was 91st in the nation and although there's reason to believe in maturation of this group, the biggest competition has been Northwestern St. and Oklahoma St. There's nothing necessarily wrong with the OSU pass defense, but it's a running offense. Cornerback Jamal Robinson has the team's only interception and are only 6th in C-USA in passes defended with 10. I can't say that I've watched any Houston games this year, but I get the feeling that Houston plays a lot like Texas Tech. Let the offense win the game, the defense should bend, but not break.
RB: Just no production. It's a chicken or the egg argument. Is it the offensive line not opening holes or is it the running backs not making plays? Add to these questions, as to whether not Texas Tech is even giving enough carries to their runners, a paltry 17 a game. In 2008 this group was getting 24 carries a game, and this is a situation where not having even a semblence of a running game is going to catch up with Texas Tech sooner rather than later. Right now, Harrison Jeffers is the odd man out because he's lacking in pass defense (a result of the offensive line having trouble) and Baron Batch isn't quite right yet, whether it be fumbles or just not playing up to his potential. Eric Stephens is certainly exciting, but it's tough to do much with only 4 carries a game.	RB vs. LB Push	LB: Like most teams, this unit is lead by their linebackers, including WLB C.J. Cavness, MLB Marcus McGraw, and SLB Matt Nicholson. Both Nicholson and McGraw had a sack last year, so there's a good chance that you'll see the Cougars blitz every so often, but this year, the team has managed two sacks thus far. McGraw and Cavness lead the team in tackles, while reserve Phillip Steward is third. Not to harp on the rush defense too much more (we'll have to talk about it the next position), but in 2 games the Cougars have given up 175 yards a game. That's probably just fine for a team like Texas Tech where the running game has been deficient, but not likely to work against other teams.
OL: One step forward (Rice), two steps back (Texas). That's how this works right now until Moore can find players that he's comfortable with on the field. I don't know that Moore does much with the starting lineup this week, although I wouldn't put anything past him. I think that Moore's biggest problem is that he's not been able to settle on a guard, and it wouldn't at all surprise me to see Terry McDaniel move to guard, just to plug a hole. Moore doesn't seem entirely happy with Lonnie Edwards or Mickey Okafor. Marlon Winn was embarassed by Sergio Kindle on Saturday and I hope like hell he gave Taylor Potts his own personal Tim Tebow speach on Sunday morning that went something like this, "Never again, Taylor. Never again." Despite all of that, you're still talking about a unit that gave Potts 46 opportunites to give up a pass and 3 sacks to a talented UT defense. They're inexperienced, but they'll be fine.	OL vs. DL	DL:As I keep writing this, I realize something that we've all known, in that Houston and Texas Tech are nearly mirror images of each other, it's just that Leach has had longer to get his guys than Sumlin. With that being said, Houston is pitiful against the run, can't get past the line of scrimmage, and can't sack the quarterback. The defensive line isn't small by any means, and NT Isiah Thompson and DT David Hunter are making tackles, by they are by no means getting behind the line of scrimmage. Defensive end Zeke Riser barely shows up in the stats and Tyrell Graham is by far their best pass rusher. The Cougars get credit for taking advantage of turnovers, not that the DL necessarily created them, but the defense is pretty ragged, even early in the season.
DL: I'm not sure that I should talk about any of these players, lest I jinx one of them. No Rajon Henley, Brandon Sharpe or Ryan Haliburton. Instead, you got a team effort that was somehow able to manage 8 tackles for a loss against Texas alone, and 1 sack. If you have the time, go back and watch the defensive line on Saturday. Yep, they got tired, but this group was tremendously effective. If I would have known that Victor Hunter could get in the backfield like he could, I would have suggested the additional hamburgers quite some time ago. Colby Whitlock, Richard Jones, Chris Perry (is really surprising me) and Victor Hunter spent the better part of Saturday containing a Texas offense that's averaging close to 500 yards a game. If you want to talk about production, thus far, the Texas Tech defense is 27th in the nation in rushing defense, 17th in sacks and 4th in TFL.	DL vs. OL	OL: A relatively young and mobile group of offensive linemen that are able block for Beal, get down the field on the bubble screen and give Keenum plenty of time to get the ball down the field. Again, this was a relatively unheralded group before the season started, but thus far this group is 9th in the nation in sacks allowed and leads a rushing offense that's over 118 yards a game. The edge pass protectors are relatively inexperienced in that LT Jacolby Ashworth is a redshirt freshman and RT Jarve Dean is a JUCO transfer. I'm hoping and praying that someone on Texas Tech's roster can take advantage of his inexperience. The middle group are all returning starters: LG Jordan Shoemaker, C Carl Barnett and RG Chris Thompson.
LB: I'm sorta running out of superlatives for this group. Marlon Williams has completely stepped up his game from 2008 in that he's not just out there, he's making plays. Bront Bird has also turned himself into a playmaker and Brian Duncan, who many thought was Texas Tech's most reliable linebacker heading into the season, may be the 3rd best linebacker on this team right now. It's not necessarily difficult how many plays this group is making when Williams, Bird and Duncan are 1, 2 and 4 in tackles and Williams is 1st on the team in TFL (5), while Bird is 2nd (4).	LB vs. RB	RB: Bryce Beall is a phenom, there's no doubt about that. Beall is the typical Texas Tech running back, but he's in a Cougar jersey. As a freshman last year, Beall was unbelievable, and right now, Beall is averaging 68 yard rushing and 46 receiving. I would kill for that type of production right now. Houston is also getting help from 2 freshman running backs in Charles Sims and Chris Wilson. Sims and Wilson got most of their work done against NW St., but there's no doubt that as the season wears on, Beall is this team's biggest and most talented rushing threat.
DB:Considering the players who have not been available the defensive backfield deserves a lot of credit. After 3 games, this unit is 39th in the country in pass defense and 42nd in pass efficiency defense. We like to complain about the bend-but-don't-break methodology of Ruffin McNeill, but thus far, that has proven to be effecitve. FS Cody Davis is 3rd on the team in tackles with 18 and CB Jamar Wall has been an incredibly effective tackler thus far. And perhaps that last statements sums up this group more than anything else, in that they are sure-handed, they are making plays and they're making tackles. I think that's going to be a little tougher with Houston, although UT spreads the ball around as much as many now a days.	DB vs. QB/WR	QB/WR: The skill positions are as scary as you're probably thinking. Not quite as varied as the Texas Tech offense, the Cougars are led by three main receivers, Charles Sims (also a running back), Tyron Carrier and Patrick Edwards. It isn't just one guy that's leading the team in touchdowns and Beall is the only player with more than 1 touchdown. Case Keenum is just as scary and efficient as you think he is, where he's completing 72% of his passes, has thrown only 1 interception in 2 games and is averaging over 9 yards per passing attempt. I don't know what else to say about this group other than they're really good, Keenum knows how to lead this offense and it will be interesting to see how McNeill deals with the Cougar spread offense.

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win :: Texas Longhorns Edition

Seth C — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:00:21 -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 :: Texas Longhorns Edition.

Reason #1 :: Spread Offense: Thus far, Taylor Potts has clearly exhibited what a spread offense means in that he has passed the ball around to 11 different receivers with at least 3 receptions. Yep, the running game is certainly struggling, but that doesn't seem to be something that concerns his head coach Mike Leach. The key for Leach is to have about 150 yards production from the running back position, and the way that Potts worked the underneath receivers last week I think Potts is certainly capable of continuing the trend where every position is a threat. And this is obviously the biggest difference between the Crabtree era where one player dominated the receptions where this year the defense cannot afford to focus on just one receiver. You have three players that have over 100 yards receiving, Lyle Leong (172), Detron Lewis (169) and Tramain Swindall (123), and three other receivers aren't too far behind, Alexander Torres (91), Edward Britton (75) and Austin Zouzalik (69).

Reason #2 :: Strength Up the Middle: We all know about the Texas Tech defense's issues at defensive end and the young secondary, but I shouldn't dismiss the fact the defense up the middle is the strength of the Texas Tech's defense. I don't know that DT Colby Whitlock can have 8 tackles, 2 TFL and a safety, but part of the problem last year was that the defense had trouble getting to McCoy in the second half. This year, there is depth and thus far, Ruffin McNeill is giving time to backup DT's like Victor Hunter and Chris Perry. Even Myles Wade has seen some action late (do not expect Wade to get any time on Saturday), but the Texas Tech defense has a legitimate second unit that can cause problems for the UT offensive line. And the linebacking corp deserves quite a bit of credit as well as Marlon Williams has turned into a versatile player who has managed to be an effective run-stopper, make plays behind the line of scrimmage and is much better against the pass than this time a year ago. Brian Duncan is as solid a middle linebacker in the conference and Bront Bird, despite having limitations in the passing game has grown to be as solid open field tackler and is excellent against the run.

Reason #3 :: Potts is Fearless: A little bit of a reach of a reason, but I think that this is something that Leach teaches his quarterbacks. I cannot know exactly how Taylor Potts is going to react when he throws an interception, cannot complete a tough pass, or doesn't correctly read the defensive coverage. I'd guess that Potts, as well as all Texas Tech quarterbacks are taught that one bad play can affect the outcome of the game as much as just one good play. There's a certain aspect that the quarterback position, must be fearless, and in this case Potts has got to be be somewhat fearless when it comes to completing passes to the sidelines, testing the corners, or completing passes under the middle, testing the linebackers and safeties. Everyone has talked about the fact that Potts is a different quarterback than your typical Texas Tech quarterback in that he can get the ball down the field. Let's see that arm in action and be unafraid to make a mistake.

Reason #4 :: Not So Perfect Texas Offense: Last year the Texas offense was almost near perfect. I cannot remember where I mentioned this, but Colt McCoy averaged an astounding 8.91 yards per attempt in 2008 and in 2009, McCoy is slightly down from last year at 8.6, but it seems improbable that the Longhorns and McCoy could reproduce those 2008 results. Rock M Nation's Bill C. is also noticing that the 2008 offense was too perfect:

Glad to see that my suspicions regarding disproportionate success on Passing Downs is thus far coming to fruition. Texas had a better S&P on Passing Downs than Standard Downs, and that just didn't seem very sustainable. UT has still been better than most in Passing Downs--a 0.730 S&P is nothing terrible, nor was their 0.977 from last week--but it does appear that their offense will suffer at least a bit this season simply because last season was a little too perfect.

I don't think the Greg Davis is counting on that offense to be as spectacular as it was in 2008, but there was certainly a relaince on that offense and perhaps that's been a part of the Longhorns ever so slight struggles in 2009.

Reason #5 :: Nothing to Lose: I always feel that this is another cop-out of a reason, but the truth of the matter is that all of the pressure is on Texas. They are the team that is expected to continue their march to a National Championship game with Florida. They are the #2 team in the nation and they are the team with the all of the pressure to make a statement in this game. A turnover here and a turnover there can change this game quickly. Just ask Daniel Charbonnet how an interception and a forced fumble changed the complexion of the 2008 game. Yes, that game doesn't happen without Crabtree and Harrell, but there were 8 tackles for a loss in 2008, 4 sacks and an interception that made that happen. Those are the small things that fans tend to forget than made that win even possible. Texas Tech needs to play like they've got nothing to lose, play with some swagger and let the chips fall where they may.

Crunching the Numbers :: Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Texas Longhorns

Seth C — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:00:36 -0000

vs.

Game Information:
Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-0, 0-0) vs. Texas Longhorns (2-0, 0-0)
September 19, 2009 :: 7:00 p.m. CST :: Weather: Austin, TX
TV: ABC :: Radio: Texas Tech :: Game Cast: Fox Sports

CATEGORY	STATISTIC (NCAA RANK, CONF. RANK)	WINNER
TTU Pass Offense vs. UT Pass Defense	456.50 (1, 1) 192.50 (54, 6)
TTU Rush Offense vs. UT Rush Defense	46.00 (114, 12) 93.00 (40, 5)
UT Pass Offense vs. TTU Pass Defense	358.00 (9, 3) 165.50 (37, 3)
UT Rush Offense vs. TTU Rush Defense	195.00 (41, 8) 66.50 (25, 4)
TTU Scoring Offense vs. UT Scoring Defense	46.50 (8, 2) 15.00 (35, 7)
UT Scoring Offense vs. TTU Scoring Defense	50.00 (4, 1) 11.50 (23, 5)

Team Leaders


STATISTIC	TEXAS TECH	TEXAS
Passing	Taylor Potts :: 70-105 : 861 : 9 : 3	Colt McCoy :: 51-76 : 654 : 5 : 2
Rushing	Baron Batch :: 13 : 42 : 1	Vondrell McGee :: 26 : 131 : 1
Receiving	Lyle Leong :: 13 : 172 : 3	Jordan Shipley :: 15 : 241 : 1
Punt Returns	Austin Zouzalik :: 5 : 39 : 0	Jordan Shipley :: 6 : 60 : 0
Kickoff Returns	Edward Britton :: 6 : 151 : 0	D.J. Monroe :: 3 : 152 : 1
Tackles	Marlon Williams :: 16	Blake Gideon & Roddrick Muckelroy :: 10
Sacks	Daniel Howard :: 2.0 : 11	Marcus David, Lamarr Houston, Calvin Howell, Sam Acho & Dustin Earnest :: 1
Tackles for Loss	Marlon Williams :: 5.0 : 14	Lamarr Houston :: 3.0 : 8
Interceptions	Marlon Williams :: 1 : 0 : 0	Nolan Brewster :: 1 : 0 : 0

Five Initial Thoughts

One :: Offense Rules: There's no doubt that the offense rules this game. Each defense has good numbers . . . now, but I think that ends this week.

Two :: UT Rushing: I had to go back and check to make sure I had not made an error in the UT rushing offense as the 195 yards a game is correct, but as mentioned above, it's early. Very early. UT hasn't settled on just one running back, but thus far, a number of guys have stepped up (i.e., no one has really stepped up to make themselves the unquestioned leader). You could see Vondrell McGee, Tre' Newton, D.J. Monroe or Cody Johnson.

Three :: Struggling to Run: After watching Texas Tech and Rice, I know that it's not the running backs that lack talent, it's just a matter of touches. After the game, Leach mentioned that he'd like to have more than the 130 yards or so from the running back position. To have a chance on Saturday, there's got to be some production here.

Four :: Where's Sergio: Having not watched one second of UT football thus far this season, I'd love to know where DE Sergio Kindle has been the first two games. Only 4 tackles for the year, no sacks and only 1 quarterback hurry. I get that he's probably not getting a lot of time and when he's on the field he's getting double-teamed, but I would have thought you'd see more production from Kindle.

Five :: McCoy's "Off" Day: By McCoy's lofty standards, he did have an off day against Wyoming, but the truth of the matter is that McCoy still had a pretty good day. McCoy finished with 7.17 yards per attempt, very good, but not great, and McCoy completed over 63.83% of his passes. Again, not quite his 76.67% from 2008, but still just fine.

Post-Game Thoughts :: Rice 10, Texas Tech 55

Seth C — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:56:05 -0000

via spotted.lubbockonline.com

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Box Score :: SB Nation Coverage :: College Football on SB Nation

This was an incredibly quick trip to Lubbock. I ended up leaving, somewhat on a whim, and returned by noon (DFW) on Sunday. I made the trip for one reason and one reason only, in that listening to two games on the radio just wasn't going to cut it for me. I felt that I needed to see some things with my own eyes, especially before Texas next week. I was hoping for and did see quite a bit of improvement from last week to this week and there's definitely more positives coming from last night's game that against North Dakota. With that being said, Rice is the same team that lost to UAB, who just lost to SMU, 33-35. In other words, we can be excited that some things have been ironed out, but neither UND or Rice are very good and this was the expected result.

Lots of small things to talk about.

The Offense

Yes, Potts was really working the underneath stuff and there seemed to be quite a few short passes than last week, but especially in the second half, Potts worked the ball down the field and his arm allowed him to complete passes over the middle that most Texas Tech quarterbacks would not be able to complete. Potts squeezed the ball in to coverage, which can be incredibly dangerous, but he's got all of the confidence in the world in his arm.But I think this is part of the maturation process of our quarterback. And despite working most of the stuff underneath, he still had 8 yards per attempt for the game. Potts didn't throw an interception, but Rice did drop at least 1, but on the other side of things, Potts did throw the ball away on one play in the 2nd half. It's going to be a give-and-take. And as far as that maturation process is concerned, after the game, on the 4th and 2 from the Rice 2 yard line, Potts made the call to go for it, and here's what he said after the game:

That was a dumb call on me really. You check what you see. That was just a dumb call by me. Looking back on it, I should have thrown a fade to Jacoby there on the outside, but I didn't. That's that. But that was just a dumb call by me.

That's two weeks in a row that Potts has acknowledged a mistake he made in the game and as perfect as well all want him to be, it's going to take time. With that being said, we have a quarterback that's willing to take responsibility for his actions. I like that.

The line looked much better and the insertion of Lonnie Edwards for Mickey Okafor probably has something to do with that. Not seeing what transpired last week the line looked solid. Plenty solid to handle Texas. It still bothers me to no end that the running game hasn't gotten on track and that should have happened this week. At some point, I think every Texas Tech quarterback has to figure it out on their own that checking down to run the ball can be a good thing. Back to the line, I think the experience factor with Edwards is what caused Moore to make the move. And this isn't a knock on Okafor, who needs to continue to work on his strength and quickness, but with Edwards to left guard, Brandon Carter moved back to his right guard position, and Chris Olson and Marlon Winn remained at the tackles. I liked the fact that Moore was willing to make this change early in the season and as stated above, the line will be plenty good against Texas, bu the key will be whether they can figure out how to fix the running game in one week, but it starts with more than 13 carries for the game.

There's no doubt that Baron Batch is back. He played like he had something to prove last night. He was putting his head down, moving the pile and running with wreckless abandon. Harrison Jeffers and Eric Stephens are freaking electric. I don't know what else to say about the runners themselves. They are talented and there's three of them. Somoeone needs to figure out how to get them the ball.

I had pegged Tramain Swindall as one of my guys this season. I thought that from what I saw last year, he was going to be an incredibly talented receiver for Texas Tech. A week 1 benching and things seem to have changed dramatically for Swindall. Think about 6 catches for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns. Lyle Leong deserves praise too and he should have first billing here because he's not the guy that got suspended, but he dropped a pass last night (I'm pretty sure of it) and I was shocked. It's probably going to be the only pass he drops all year. And speaking of drops, Edward Britton missed a gimmie in a flea-flicker and there were groans in the crowd, justifiably so, but the key that everyone needs to keep in mind is that Britton does something that no one else does. Stretch the field. Yes, there are players than can do this, but experience still counts and despite Britton's frustrations he's incredibly important to this team. You hate the drops, but he's a big piece of this team, including being an incredible blocker. And to top it off, all of this was done without Detron Lewis for a good chunk of the game. There were 13 different receivers who caught a Potts pass yesterday, Austin Zouzalik caught his first touchdown pass on a beautiful fake inside and a pass zinged right where Potts knew that Zouzalik would be.

You saw quite a bit of the jumbo set with Ryan Hale and Adam James, with mixed results. When Texas Tech did run out of this set, there was success, but those opportunities were few and far between.

The Defense

The defensive line was really good. Yes, Rice did manage to move the ball some, but the line allowed a net of -60 yards on the ground. Yep, some of those are sacks, but the defense was all about trying to make things happen, and the entire defensive unit improved on those things that needed improving from last week (forcing turnovers, quarterback pressure, and pass deflects). Brandon Sharpe was featured in the morning paper and he delivered big time. An early injury to Rajon Henley (which does not appear to be serious) left a depleted defensive end unit of Daniel Howard, Sharpe and a good chunk coming from Bront Bird and Ryan Haliburton later in the game. Howard and Sharpe were relentless all night and those two were the big reasons for the 6 sacks on the night. That group was relentless and that was without Henley who was pretty good last week. Colby Whitlock and Richard Jones gave their usual effort up front and although Victor Hunter and Chris Perry do an admirable job as theh second unit, there is a drop-off. I do think that David Neil and Ryan Haliburton are going to be contributors by the end of the season, especially Haliburton. He can play and I was wrong about him during the spring. In fact it would benefit this program tremendously if Haliburton played more than he does. With the eventual loss of Henley, Howard and Sharpe there's going to need to be someone who has playing experience.

I'm tired of talking about this, and maybe I just need to stop, but Bront Bird should not be covering slot receivers. This isn't Bird's fault, and he gives 100% effort every play, but he gets picked on by opposing coaches and players because he just can't keep pace with those quicker players. Bird is a really good linebacker when playing the run and he was more than decent rushing the passer, although he needs to develop a few more moves, but making plays in coverage is not one of them. And that's not to say that Bird is incompetent, but whenever Bird was in the game and covering the slot receiver, Rice seemed to find the open receiver, but when McNeill switched to a Daniel Cobb or Brent Dewhurst rather than Bird, the defense was that much more effective. Bird's a tough guy to place for McNeill because he does give maximum effort, but he's also limited on what he can do well.

I don't have many things to say about the other linebackers other than Brian Duncan can sometimes be plagued by the same thing that Bird does in that he's not great in coverage, but he's still really good. Marlon Williams also played very well and although he was credited with the sack, Howard and he were there at the same time.

The biggest difference between this week and last week was the pass-breakups. LaRon Moore had the hit of the day, de-cleating a Rice receiver. This is something that I didn't get to visualize last week, but the secondary is a hard-hitting group. They're not the biggest, but they will hit you and I think this type of thinking is becoming infectious because Moore and Wall are hitting receivers. D.J. Johnson is going to move into Wall's starting job next year. He was tested almost the entire last series by Rice and he stepped-up. He is long and rangy and can do things that Moore and Wall cannot do, but he is good. Will Ford seemed to be all over the field, although he didn't really show up much in the box score.

Kayakyakr's Week 2 Report Card

kayakyakr — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:24:40 -0000

Muuuuuch better game this week. I mean, all aspects of the game were improved. Read after the jump for my grades. (writing this on the road this week, so, nothing too fancy)

Offense
QB: I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Potts wasn't the most improved player on the field this week. I'll get to who was a bit later. Still, great improvement from the first week. 7 TDs, 450 yards, no ints. He started the game hot, got on a cold streak, throwing behind his receivers, but got everything fixed at halftime and came out firing. My only gripe is that he was 63% overall, though his WR's didn't help. I grade Potts as an A. Sticks was good in his series as well.
RB: So this was a better, more complete game by the RB's. Batch was a blocking machine, though he only averaged 3 yards per carry. Jeffers had the longest carry of the night at 16 yards and a good 4.6 yard average. 4 carries just isn't enough to let this guy get going, though. Stephens had 3 carries with a 5.7 yard average. The entire unit only produced 52 yards on the ground, but another 4 catches, 82 yards and a touchdown. B- for the entire unit, with an A for Stephens. He had a great game and Torres' personal foul stole a return TD for him. Electric.
WR: Mixed opinions on the performance of the WR's tonight. Detron pulled up lame with some sort of hamstring thing and if he's out for any length of time (read: next week), we're in a bit of trouble. Still, he dropped a big pass, sadly. Britton, he was dropful today, and we really need more out of him, especially when he's able to get as open as he does. On the other hand, Swindall and Leong had great games, over 100 yards each. Zouzalik is the real deal as well. Torres had a productive day but I seem to remember him dropping a few too. Unit score B-, though I'll give Swindall and Leong A's as well.
OL: This was the most improved unit of the night. We were more effective on the ground (even if we barely had many more yards), and 0 sacks and I only remember 2 hurries. They weren't perfect and I think they will need to be next week for us to beat UT, but that was a solid B+ night.

Defense
DL: 7 sacks. 7 Sacks! What a day for the defensive line. They got a bit lose in the 2nd, getting gashed for a few 5+ yard runs, but it was a solid A effort. The big news for us is how hurt is Ra'Jon Henley. It seems like they were going to be trying to get him back on the field and then decided against that and booted him. Hopefully that's a good sign.
LB: Fair B night for this team. I mean, as a unit they were involved in a lot of tackles, got our interception, and their fair share of sacks. Problem is, we still got beat up pretty bad in the short passing game.
DB: I really don't know how I can grade them yet. Neither team we played tried the deep ball regularly. Their longest pass was a 27 yarder on a broken play. We either make a stop right away after a short pass or give em an easy first down. Is a B- a fair grade for this unit? Franklin Mitchem was all over the place and was laying the wood very well.

Special Teams
As someone remarked in the game thread, we're just going to have to put up with something going wrong with our special teams. Today was penalties (calling back a 92 yard kickoff return) and a missed XP and Field Goal. Carona was great on kickoffs and our return team is great (I say Stephens and Zouzalik are the most dangerous pair and Zou and Stephens for punt returns). Stephens is just too dangerous to not have him on the field.

I promise, I'll work on my format for this next week (though you'd have to wait until Sunday) if you guys want a bit better a readable report card, eh?

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.

SB Nation - Edward Britton

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win ::Oklahoma Sooners Edition

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 11.18.09

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win :: New Mexico Lobos Edition

Keys to the Game, Revisited - UH Edition

Position Matchups :: Houston Cougars Edition

MATCHUP

QB/WR vs. DB

RB vs. LB

Push

OL vs. DL

DL vs. OL

LB vs. RB

DB vs. QB/WR