SB Nation - Brandon Carter

We're All Americans, But We're Not All All-Americans

Oops Pow Surprise — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:51:28 -0000

by Charlie Neibergall - AP

Iowa's Pat Angerer (43) celebrates with teammates Allen Reisner and Dace Richardson, right, after Iowa blocked a Northern Iowa field goal on the final play. Iowa won 17-16. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

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As is usually the case after a 10-win season, the accolades are beginning to pour in for the Iowa Hawkeye football team. Everyone and their mom has an all-conference or All-American team, but the two that actually matter--Walter Camp and the AP--are now out. And for the 33th year in a row, the unanimous selection for player of the year is Frank Stallone*.

More importantly, the AP named three Hawkeyes to their All-American teams. While nobody made it onto the first team, thanks to Ricky Stanzi's ankle injury--come on, you know if he stays healthy and Iowa goes 11-1 and finishes at #5 or so, even the guys on defense get a little bit more of a bump--both Bryan Bulaga and Pat Angerer made it to the second team, while Tyler Sash made third-team AA as a sophomore. A fine moment for all three players (two of whom, as we insular and provincial types are quick to point out, are native Iowans).

Meanwhile, the Walter Camp Foundation agreed with the AP, naming Bulaga and Angerer to their second team as well and effectively establishing the two as the de facto MVPs of their respective sides of the ball. We have a little beef with each designation, but for wholly different reasons.

First, though Bulaga is by far the best pro prospect on the line as of right now and was utterly dominant in 2008, the reality is that even notwithstanding the 3-week absence as he recovered from thyroid issues, he struggled in 2009. Brandon Graham and O'Brien Schofield manhandled Bulaga. And while those are two very good defensive ends, so was Aaron Maybin, the 11th pick of the 2009 by the Buffalo Bills and Bryan Bulaga's personal prison bitch after Iowa-PSU 2008. There was a substantial dropoff in play by Bulaga in 2009, and voters just didn't notice it when it came time to hand out awards.

Meanwhile, Dace Richardson was actually very good in his return to the line, and he got a fair amount of media attention when mid-season awards were being handed out. Then his ankle was rolled up on against Michigan State, and he disappeared from both the depth chart and voters' attention. But why should he have been punished for an ankle injury while voters looked past Bulaga's absence of a similar length? It's all past reputation, and that's not really fair to guys who come from nowhere and work their butts off--especially in their senior year, where there's no chance for any payoff in the "rewarded in Year X for play in Year X-minus-1" system that's come to be when it comes to honoring offensive linemen.

What this comes down to is that if the AP were to select an Iowa lineman for All-American this season, we'd have preferred it be Dace--though we'll certainly "settle for" Bulaga instead. If both men are playing their last game for Iowa next month, as lots of speculation suggests, then they've both had stellar careers in the black and gold and we wish them well.

On defense, on the other hand, Pat Angerer didn't really establish himself as the most dominant player for that Iowa defense, but that's hardly through any fault of his own. After all, one usually does so by being simply better than his teammates, and the talent level on the Iowa defense this year was both so high and so consistent that it was hard to see Angerer as someone who was the best player on defense. After all, you could always come back with, "well why not Sash? Or Adrian Clayborn? Or Amari Spievey? Or A.J. Edds? Or, hell, Jeremiha Hunter?" We're not saying that Angerer was the 6th best player on the Iowa defense by any means--just that ranking the top 5 or 6 or so would be impossible, because the gaps would be so miniscule that personal preference could easily mean a 3- or 4-spot swing here or there and it wouldn't even be objectionable.

Angerer's accolades, then, come from two areas: 1) his name, which is everything you could ever hope for times infinity; 2) and his stats, which sort of sneak up on you for the same reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph. As mentioned before, he was 5th in the nation in tackles at 11.3 a game. That's pretty outstanding, especially since--as TRE noticed during the season--Angerer's real strength might have been in pass coverage, not run support.

Still, absent game-changing plays, it's somewhat difficult to notice the overall impact a player has on a game. And all of those game-changing plays seemed to happen to other players--most notably Sash and Clayborn, and to a lesser extent Spievey.

Thus we have a weird ambiguity about how we look at Angerer's standing as the most highly-lauded member of the 2009 Iowa defense. It's not that he didn't deserve it--far from it--but with a defense like Iowa's, you could basically pick a name out of a hat and feel relatively confident that you made a good choice. It was that kind of year. Effectively singling out Angerer for praise, then, seems unusual and almost a little unfair. Oh well. There are worse problems to have.

Full AP All-American teams are after the break.

First team
Offense
	   Quarterback -- Colt McCoy, senior, 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Texas.
	   Running backs -- Toby Gerhart, senior, 6-1, 235, Stanford; Mark Ingram, sophomore, 5-10, 212, Alabama.
	   Tackles -- Russell Okung, senior, 6-5, 301, Oklahoma State; Trent Williams, senior, 6-5, 318, Oklahoma.
	   Guards -- Michael Johnson, senior, 6-6, 305, Alabama; Mike Iupati, senior, 6-6, 330, Idaho.
	   Center -- J.D. Walton, senior, 6-3, 305, Baylor.
	   Tight end -- Aaron Hernandez, junior, 6-2, 250, Florida.
	   Wide receivers -- Golden Tate, junior, 5-11, 195, Notre Dame; Jordan Shipley, senior, 6-0, 190, Texas.
	   All-purpose player -- C.J. Spiller, senior, 5-11, 195, Clemson.
	   Kicker -- Leigh Tiffin, senior, 6-2, 212, Alabama.
Defense
	   Ends -- Jerry Hughes, senior, 6-3, 257, TCU; Derrick Morgan, junior, 6-4, 272, Georgia Tech.
	   Tackles -- Ndamukong Suh, senior, 6-4, 300, Nebraska; Terrence Cody, senior, 6-5, 365, Alabama.
	   Linebackers -- Rolando McClain, junior, 6-4, 258, Alabama; Greg Jones, junior, 6-1, 228, Michigan State; Eric Norwood, senior, 6-1, 252, South Carolina.
	   Cornerbacks -- Joe Haden, junior, 5-11, 190, Florida; Javier Arenas, senior, 5-9, 198, Alabama.
	   Safeties -- Eric Berry, junior, 5-11, 203, Tennessee; Earl Thomas, sophomore, 5-10, 197, Texas.
	   Punter -- Drew Butler, sophomore, 6-2, 201, Georgia.
Second team
	   Quarterback -- Tim Tebow, senior, Florida.
	   Running backs -- Ryan Mathews, junior, Fresno State; Dion Lewis, freshman, Pittsburgh.
	   Tackles -- Bryan Bulaga, junior, Iowa; Chris Marinelli, senior, Stanford.
	   Guards -- Rodney Hudson, junior, Florida State; Mike Pouncey, junior, Florida.
	   Center -- Maurkice Pouncey, junior, Florida.
	   Tight end -- Dennis Pitta, senior, BYU.
	   Wide receivers -- Mardy Gilyard, senior, Cincinnati; Danario Alexander, senior, Missouri.
	   All-purpose player -- James Rodgers, junior, Oregon State.
	   Kicker -- Kai Forbath, junior, UCLA.
Defense
	   Ends -- Von Miller, junior, Texas A&M; Brandon Graham, senior, Michigan.
	   Tackles -- Gerald McCoy, junior, Oklahoma; Jared Odrick, senior, Penn State.
	   Linebackers -- Pat Angerer, senior, Iowa; Brandon Spikes, senior, Florida; Sean Weatherspoon, senior, Missouri.
	   Cornerbacks -- Perrish Cox, senior, Oklahoma State; Kyle Wilson, senior, Boise State.
	   Safeties -- Taylor Mays, senior, Southern California; Rahim Moore, sophomore, UCLA.
	   Punter -- Zoltan Mesko, senior, Michigan.
Third team
Offense
	   Quarterback -- Kellen Moore, sophomore, Boise State
	   Running backs -- LaMichael James, redshirt freshman, Oregon; Jacquizz Rodgers, sophomore, Oregon State.
	   Tackles -- Dennis Landolt, senior, Penn State; Ciron Black, senior, LSU.
	   Guards -- Brandon Carter, senior, Texas Tech; Jeff Byers, senior, Southern California.
	   Center -- Chris Hall, senior, Texas.
	   Tight end -- Dorin Dickerson, senior, Pittsburgh.
	   Wide receivers -- Freddie Barnes, senior, Bowling Green; Demaryius Thomas, junior, Georgia Tech.
	   All-purpose player -- Dexter McCluster, senior, Mississippi.
	   Kicker -- Hunter Lawrence, senior, Texas.
Defense
	   Ends -- Jeremy Beal, junior, Oklahoma; Brandon Sharpe, senior, Texas Tech.
	   Tackles -- Brian Price, junior, UCLA; Dan Williams, senior, Tennessee.
	   Linebackers -- Sergio Kindle, senior, Texas; Cody Grimm, senior, Virginia Tech; Navorro Bowman, junior, Penn State.
	   Cornerbacks -- Brandon Harris, sophomore, Miami; Alterraun Verner, senior, UCLA.
	   Safeties -- Tyler Sash, sophomore, Iowa; Mark Barron, sophomore, Alabama.
	   Punter -- Matt Reagan, senior, Memphis.

*Did you know he was in Tombstone, a.k.a. the SINGLE GREATEST MOVIE IN HISTORY? And in a phenomenal scene, to boot.

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 12.16.09

Seth C — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:53:28 -0000

Under Pressure: LAJ's Courtney Linehan writes that the men's basketball team is learning from previous pressure situations, and SF Mike Singletary thinks the team still has something to prove.

"We love to come in and be the spoiler, create upsets, just come in and surprise people," Singletary said. "This year it’s kind of different because we’ve been getting some recognition. We have the same mentality, but we have to come out and show people they’re not better than us."

And Singletary is ready to prove doubters wrong:

He’s heard people claim Tech is overrated. He’s heard it said about No. 23 Washington, which was ranked No. 12 when it lost 99-92 to Tech last month, a game that propelled the Raiders into the polls.

He said it doesn’t change anything.

"If they want to say Washington’s overrated, that we’re overrated, just let them talk," Singletary said. "We’ll prove them wrong."

Big 12 Power Poll: CT's Steve Walentik has his weekly Big 12 Power Poll and the Red Raiders check in at #4:

4. Texas Tech (9-0)
This week: at Wichita State on Saturday
The Red Raiders are off to their best start since opening 12-0 in the 1929-30 season. John Roberson has had a stellar start to the season, averaging 13.6 points and 5.7 assists. But the biggest reason for Tech's improvement has come from its collective effort defensively. Coach Pat Knight's team is holding foes to 63.7 points, a vast improvement over last season.

All-Americans: DE Brandon Sharpe was named to the Sporting News third team All-American team and Sharpe and RG Brandon Carter were also named to the AP's third team All-American team (also see Tall Mike's FanPost).

2010 Heisman Favorites: FoxSports Pete Fiutak runs down a list of Heisman hopefuls for the 2010 season and I'm not sure how some of you will feel about this, but QB Taylor Potts is named as the 18th most likely candidate and joins fellow Big 12'ers: UT's QB Garrett Gilbert at #14 (Gilbert will be good, but I don't think there's any way that he'll be that good as a RS FR); OU's QB Landry Jones at #17 (I'm curious if the OU faithful still believe in Jones); and TAMU's QB Jerrod Johnson at #19 (he should be higher than every one of these players based on what he did in 2009). I think Potts' inclusion is an indication that the mainstream media who probably doesn't follow the program closely and those that do as it appears the quarterback position may be at a crossroads during the offseason (a lot more on this later in the morning).

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 11.25.09

Seth C — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:03:49 -0000

More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

27 days ago: Texas Tech defensive back Jamar Wall, right, reaches in to intercept a pass intended for Oklahoma tight end Trent Ratterree, left, in the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

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Friday Night Isolation: LAJ's Don Williams writes about the routine that the football program goes through each Friday night, which is going to the team hotel. DC Ruffin McNeill likes to isolate the team:

"I think you have to isolate the main core of the team,’’ said McNeill, the Texas Tech defensive coordinator. "They have got to be on the same page and have the same amount of football focus time as a group — as well as the coaches. It keeps us on the same page for a 48-hour period.’’

It was also fairly interesting to see Captain Mike Leach's comments regarding the proposed California legislation to outlaw (I like the word "outlaw") this practice:

"They act like it’s an unreasonable extravagance,’’ Leach said. "What about the burden on student-athletes having to go out there and perform in front of tens of thousands, furthermore, on national TV and not be able to put their best foot forward because they can’t get a good night’s sleep? It’s crazy. It’s crazy to the point I would like to meet the individuals in the Pac-10 that were foolish enough to propose it.’’

Influencing Academics: DT's Jon Vanderlaan writes about how Leach has positively affected the academics since he's been the head coach:

"I’ve got more degrees than I use. Than I know what to do with, really. And at one time more than I could afford," he said. "There’s no question you should have high academics. And there should be no excuse for not graduating people."

Despite the occasional temptation to be territorial between academics and athletics, Leach said, he supports the academic departments because it is another part of the university that enhances the quality of life for the students.

"I think attention to the university in general is very positive," he said. "For example, if someone looks to Tech for engineering or something like that and gets excited for our football team, that helps me. Just like if someone gets excited for the football team and looks at our math department, that helps our math department."

I love that this program graduates players and holds players accountable for their grades. Very proud of that.

Football Notebook: LAJ's Don Williams' notebook has the note that RG Brandon Carter will play in the East-West Shrine Game, which is scheduled for January 23, 2010 in Florida . . . a number of players were honored by being named to the academic All-Big 12 team:

First-team honorees were those with a grade-point average of 3.2 or higher. From Tech, those were linebacker Bront Bird (business major), cornerback Taylor Charbonnet (general business), safety Cody Davis (business), defensive tackle David Neill (human development and family studies), guard Mickey Okafor (pre-dental), tackle Chris Olson (general business), quarterback Taylor Potts (pre-physical therapy), flanker Alex Torres (general business) and inside receiver Austin Zouzalik (general business).

Second-team honorees were those with a GPA between 3.0 and 3.19. From Tech, those were kicker-punter Donnie Carona (general business) and defensive end Brandon Sharpe (human development and family studies).

. . . DC Ruffin McNeill talks about DB Trent Nickerson and LB Chris Wallace each getting a play during Saturday's game against Oklahoma because of their commitment to the team:

"Senior, great leader,’’ McNeill said Tuesday. "Great enthusiast on the sideline. He’s a guy who knew his role on the football team, accepted his role and took it to another level. He always has great support for whoever’s playing on offense, defense or special teams. He’s been a scout-team guy for us and gave us great looks.’’

Baylor Bear and Big 12 Links: Waco Tribune's John Werner writes that the Bears are bowing out earlier than expected, but in grand style at Jerry's World . . . the SAEN looks at the 8 teams that have a shot at playing the Alamo Bowl . . .

First Non-Conference Win on the Road Since 2006: That's all you really need to know. The game looked well in hand for a good part of the first half and second half, but the SFA Lumberjacks came storming back in the second half. This is the sort of game that we would have talked about had Texas Tech lost the game, even if it was close, but with a 1 point win, I don't know that we'll be talking about this game in a month. If this game were a loss, it would be discussed until the end of the season. As far as game-play is concerned, G David Tairu didn't have a huge game, but he did his the 3-pointer that put the game away. There was a point late in the game where Tairu chastised SF Mike Singletary for taking an ill-advised shot late in the game, when Tairu was incredibly open. It's interesting to see that dynamic with Tairu being one of the new guys but feeling comfortable correcting his teammates. Tairu is probably the most fundamentally sound player I've seen for Texas Tech, on both sides of the ball. I'd be completely fine if the offense ran through Tairu as I think he has the makeup to be that sort of player.

The thing that bothers me the most is that I'm not sure that this team has a guy that knows how or wants to set up his teammates. Right now there's a lot of one-on-one and not much offensive flow. I'm struggling as to why this team, which has a core players who have been around for 3 years, can't figure out how to get guys involved. Offensively, this team is frustrating so long as there isn't one guy willing to take the team on their back.

Defensively, there were frustrating points for sure. Singletary and Roberson still have their defensive lapses and I think there was 4 points that Singletary gave up because he simply lost his man under the basket . . . twice. I thought that for the most part, Tairu, PF Darko Cohadarevic, SF D`Walyn Roberts and SF Brad Reese all looked good defensively.

Darko's Big Night: LAJ's Courtney Linehan focuses on Cohadarevic leading this team with 18 points and 3 boards. Here's head coach Pat Knight on his depth and the play of Darko:

"Lew and Corbin, they gave us some good minutes, then Darko got his stuff together on the bench, came back in and played well," Knight said. "I think that’s the best thing, if your kid’s struggling, the bench is almost like brain surgery."

And Darko knows that he must rebound better:

"I should go for boards more," he said. "This should not happen again."

Linehan has a notebook with this quote from PK:

"It’s huge. They say you can’t take anybody lightly on the road, even after you built a big lead you think it’s over, but they’re able to hang on like that," he said. "We got down early, came back, got the lead, got a big lead, let them back in. It will help us prepare for the Big 12."

. . . PF Corbin Ray returned after suffering a concussion in a pre-season scrimmage . . . Darko takes some of the blame on himself for trying to post-up too much rather than screen for teammates:

"After I hit the 17-foot jumper, I thought for a second, they’re not guarding me. Then after I got the post move under them they fouled me and I realized they cannot guard me low because I’m technically sound. I realized I’ve got to post up. Later on I got lost a little bit, I posted up too much, and the coaches wanted me to down screen away, down screen, flare screen to get other guys open, but I got caught up in posting up too much. I can take the blame for them catching up our 15-point lead because of that."

Post Game Thoughts :: Oklahoma Sooners Edition

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

by Sue Ogrocki - AP

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

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

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

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

The Storylines ::

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win ::Oklahoma Sooners Edition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win :: Oklahoma St. Cowboys Edition

Seth C — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:00:42 -0000

by Mike Fuentes - AP

about 1 month ago: Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach talks with his team in the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Texas A&M in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

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

Reason #1 :: Bye Week Rest: It's rare that a team gets a entire week to get healthy this late in the year. I can't be totally sure, but perhaps this season more than others, the team needed a break. I do not want to try to exaggerate the strain of a collegiate football player and his studies, but I'm sure it's not easy. Couple that with the fact that there's a certain level of focus that's required each and every week (some weeks more than other -- ahem). There's no doubt that the actual time away from the field helped heal those nagging injuries that kept out Brett Dewhurst, Will Ford, Brandon Carter, and getting Steven Sheffield back to a point where he's practicing with the team. And hopefully this week, the team is anxious and excited to get back on the field. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or somesuch. All I know is that there's no excuse for this team not to be 100% ready to play on Saturday.

Reason #2 :: Deferring to the Run: After the Kansas game, there was quite a bit of credit given to QB Taylor Potts making the right call at the line of scrimmage to simply give the ball to RB Baron Batch for huge gains and essentially breaking that game open. I think it was great to see the team give credit where credit was due, and if there was any situation where the team may have suffered some discension amongst it's players, I got the feeling that the team rallied for Potts. If there was ever a case where the entire offense must work together in order to make the right calls and reads, it was the 2nd half against Kansas. If one part of that process fails, then the plays don't happen, the blocks do not get blocked and the offense forces plays where it's not necessary. I don't think anyone could have guessed that the arrival of Potts in the 2nd half of the Kansas may have been the seminal moment where the team decided to come together, but I'd be pretty happy if it was.

Reason #3 :: Wearing Them Down: I'm going out on a limb here, but this is an optimistic look, right? In any event, one of the biggest issues that this team has had all year is the health of the defensive line, in particular the defensive ends. If it's not one of the 3 of Daniel Howard, Brandon Sharpe or Rajon Henley, it's sometimes been 2 of them. But this week, all 3 players are healthy, along with LB Bront Bird, who will and could see plenty of time in the hybrid/joker position, you've got at the very least an opportunity to wear down the Cowboys offensive line. I haven't watched enough Oklahoma St. football to know if they've faced 3 very solid pass rushers in the Texas Tech trio. I've said it 100 times on DTN, but this group may not make an immediate impact, but I think that at some point they'll out-work the OSU offensive line. I'm hoping like hell that there's still a bit of chip on their shoulder for the TAMU performance and they constantly work and force OSU into some mistakes.

Reason #4 :: Big Time Playmakers: The Oklahoma St. team seems to me to be a bunch of grinders, which can be both blessing and a curse. The Cowboys were robbed of the two offensive players that were going to be difference makers for them this year, although it appears that RB Kendall Hunter is becoming more healthy by the minute. The thing about both units is that I don't think that there's a player on either side of the ball, sans Okung, who I think can dominate a game or who scares the piss out of me from a big play perspective. If you make a comparison with the Texas Tech offense or defnese, I think you could make the case that the Texas Tech offense has a handful of potential playmakers and the defense has their stalwarts as well. That's not to say that the Cowboys don't have players that can't or won't make play, but with the loss of Bryant and the loss of Hunter for most of the year, I think the OSU offense has lacked a certain punch and that lack of punch has me feeling confident.

Reason #5 :: Tough Losses at Home: Oklahoma St. has had a rough go at it at home against ranked teams this year. The 2 OSU losses were to both Houston and Texas. You'd think that perhaps this trend is to say that OSU doesn't want to lose at home again, but perhaps the truth of the matter might be that OSU might not be as tough at home as other Big 12 opponents. Obviously, these 2 losses were to 2 very talented teams, the Red Raiders can certainly attest to that, but OSU lost 3 fumbles and threw another interception against Houston and had 1 lost fumble and 4 interceptions against Texas. Not surprisingly, OSU lost 2 of the 3 games where the Cowboys had a negative turnover margin (the lone win was against Grambling). Perhaps most of all, the worrisome part for Pokes is that in those big games, you've got to value the ball and every possession. I'm not completely convinced that Oklahoma St. has figured this out.

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 11.08.09

Seth C — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:17:55 -0000

Pretty Please: I'm going to be gone all day, and I'd just ask you guys to do me one favor. Please do not post premium content. I'm not going to be near a computer for most of the day and evening and this would make my life infinitely better. If a kid de-commits or plays another sport at another school and it's made it to the public arena, then feel free to discuss, over-react, type out "OMG!!!" a bunch, etc. In fact, I'll give someone $1 million DTN Bucks for the first person to find the information without relying on a subscription based service (Disclaimer: DTN Bucks is not U.S. legal tender or legal tender anywhere and is completely worthless).

Back at Practice: LAJ's Don Williams writes that things were a little rusty, but the Red Raiders are getting more healthy. Here's Williams:

The open week, as it is designed to do, might have helped the Red Raiders heal. Offensive guard Brandon Carter and defensive backs Will Ford and Brett Dewhurst, all battling injuries lately, were in pads at the end of Saturday’s workout.

Quarterback Steven Sheffield remains out with a broken left foot and isn’t likely to return before the Nov. 21 home finale against Oklahoma, if then.

And Captain Mike Leach is going to start focusing on fundamentals:

"The biggest thing is just figure out what’s the most advantageous for your team, and so it wasn’t a real struggle,’’ he said. "Now we just want focus on fundamentals and being sharp at the little things.’’

Second Closed Scrimmage: LAJ's Courtney Linehan writes about how the team has already had one closed scrimmage against Arizona St. and will have a second closed scrimmage against New Mexico St. today. Head coach Pat Knight let his players just play against the Sun Devils and is going to have a more structured approach to today's scrimmage:

"We’ll treat it like a game so they get used to what they’re going to have to go through next week from a scouting standpoint," Knight said. "But I wanted one game where they just went in on their own against a good opponent to see how they can handle themselves."

And the staff hopes to utilize the scrimmages to improve the team:

About one fourth of the game looked good on both ends of the court. During the other three quarters, however, Knight saw some regression.

"For the rest they went back to some bad habits they had from last year or high school or junior college," he said. "It was good. It gives us a week of tape to really get on them."

Using that tape as a teaching tool led to several good practice sessions last week. Today the coaching staff will reassess the team’s progress based on its improvements during the last seven days.

Post Game Thoughts :: Kansas Jayhawks Edition

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

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

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

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

The Storylines ::

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matchups :: Texas A&M Aggies Edition

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

More photos » by Nati Harnik - AP

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

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

vs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verdict: Despite the Aggies looking as bad recently been.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verdict: I'll take the Red Raiders again.

Q&A With Double T Nation - Insight Into The Texas Tech Red Raiders

Jon Johnston — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:19:41 -0000

More photos » by Donna McWilliam - AP

Brandon Carter, freak, will be between Ndamukong Suh and Tech quarterbacks. Tattoos and face paint can't help him in that regard, but the battle between the two will be one to watch!

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Tech seems like a hard team to gauge. They've had some internal struggles, two losses in a row to ranked teams and a quarterback change.

Instead of insinuating and grasping, it's easiest to ask people who know the answers. In this case, that would be Seth at Double T Nation, our SB Nation Texas Tech site. He joins us for a blogger Q&A.

It's hard to gauge what's going on at Tech. It seemed like things were coming apart after the loss to Houston, Twittergate and Brandon Carter's suspension. Where is this team right now?

There may not be a team that deals with drama better than Texas Tech. In regards to RG Brandon Carter's suspension, he wasn't suspended because he was on Twitter, he was suspended for what happened after the Houston game (i.e. being angry, very angry, about the loss). I thought LB Marlon Williams' tweet was inappropriate (i.e., why is he here waiting on Leach for practice), but it turns out that practice was canceled so really it's not that big of a deal.

As it turns out, giving 18 to 22 year old kids a place to voice any and every concern might not be such a good idea. If the team was in any sort of disarray, it was after the Houston loss and the lackluster first half against New Mexico. There's the thought that QB Taylor Potts still wasn't right after the hit against UT and his rough play was a result of that. In steps 6'4" and all 180 pounds QB Steven Sheffield who seems to have captured the attention of this team and has been lights out against New Mexico and Kansas State. The ship has been righted, at least for now.

Potts or Sheffield? or Both?

I like both. Potts has taken quite a bit of criticism because he's thrown some interceptions, and he hasn't been perfect, but I do not believe that his performances against Texas and Houston were the reasons Texas Tech lost. Did he play perfectly those games, certainly not, but he wasn't the sole reason for either of those losses. Potts still has a 2:1 TD to INT ratio and was part of the team was at the top of the nation in passing. I think Potts' struggles have been exaggerated a bit and I try to keep in mind that he's a 20 or 21 year old kid who got the crap knocked out of him and wasn't quite the same since.

With Sheffield at the helm, he's been absolutely electric and the team seems to have responded to his energy. The last two games, Sheffield has been near perfect, sans a couple of interceptions, one in each game. Sheffield is a bit more mobile and more likely to dodge pressure. Sheffield's arm isn't quite as strong as Potts, but he can still make all of the throws required by this offense. If I had to pick a starter for the Nebraska game, I'd go with the hot-hand in Sheffield. If I had to pick a quarterback who I think who has the better chance to lead the program going forward, I'd pick Potts. Sheffield's been great but he hasn't been tested . . . yet.

What receivers should Husker fans be watching?

All of them? Seriously, it's somewhat ridiculous to see so many receivers step up each game.

Tramain Swindall has consistently been this team's leading receiver and averaging almost 20 YPC, which is ridiculous in this offense. Detron Lewis was expected to replace Crabtree in some respects, but Swindall's been electric, and Lewis has been a tad injured and reliable, but hasn't really had a break-out game.

Alexander Torres has proven to be a very reliable receiver outside, he won't beat you deep, but he'll catch just about anything thrown his way and he's pretty strong. Lyle Leong has been relatively quite since his 3 touchdown performance against Rice, but he's still a threat.

Nebraska will still need to account for the running backs who have been really good catching the ball out of the backfield (Harrison Jeffers is averaging 10.5 YPC and Baron Batch is averaging 8.87 YPC).

Tech has been exceptional at home, horrible on the road. 2008: 4 for 5 in road games last year (losses - OU); 2007: 3 for 6 (Oklahoma St., Missouri and Texas); 2006: 3 for 6 (TCU, Colorado, and OU). Can you explain such a huge discrepancy?

I think programs that are struggling to break-through to an upper tier of the football elite tend to do this for a period of time. Last year was an exception, and I think that most teams that make it to middling bowl games tend to follow the same path that Texas Tech has (i.e. win the non-conference home games + beat the crappy teams on the road = bowl game).

I'm not sure I can explain it other than it's tough to win on the road and for a program trying to make that jump, I think it just comes down to having better players and that happens over time. And for the record I think a Texas and OU would have worse road game records if they didn't have a neutral game at the Cotton Bowl. I went to Norman last year and cannot imagine what that town would be if Texas were to ever roll into town and the same thought goes for Austin.

Last year's game was weird in that Nebraska held the ball for around 40 minutes. We don't have the same ball control passing offense we had last year (although we're working on it). Where should Nebraska attack if we're going to be successful on offense?

Even if Nebraska doesn't have the same type of offense, I think I'd stick with a similar plan of just taking what the defense will give you. Texas Tech defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill has had quite a bit of success relying on his offense to outscore the defense, and I've always thought that Leach and McNeill discuss prior to the game how creative he needs to be to be successful on defense.

Some games, McNeill will stunt and blitz more than others. Surprisingly, Texas Tech leads the conference in sacks, this after losing their top guys in Brandon Williams and McKinner Dixon. Most of that success is due to out-working opponents and I think the Cornhuskers would be wise emphasize the quick passing game. Nebraska will have success running the ball against Texas Tech and I think that the key will be if the Texas Tech offense can score quickly, taking Nebraska out of what they might do best.