I know everyone has accepted that pre-season polls are ridiculous and have no basis for what to expect during the coming season. But I just got done looking at the SB Nation poll here and to the best of my counting abilities they have Texas Tech at 65 behind such power houses as the Troy Trojans (who would have guessed OC Brown was taking a step downward coming to Tech), the Wyoming Cowboys, the Akron Zips, the Dixie State Rebels(maybe a conspiracy by voters to get a school that doesn't exist on the ballot? never heard of these guys), the Duke Blue Devils and about half of the rest of the College Football world. Here is a breakdown of Big 12 teams:

5. Texas

6. Oklahoma

9. Nebraska

38. Baylor

40. Missouri

46. Texas A&M

48. Colorado

57. Oklahoma State

65. Texas Tech

Unranked: Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State.

At some point is has to cross over from unbased conjecture to just plain insanity right?

Sorry if this has already been brought up, there have been a ton of posts to keep up with this week. Feel free to take it down if you are an admin, or post a comment and I'll remove it if this has been discussed previously.

For the love of all things good... Tuberville is spelled with ONE B!!! I understand that it is not a common name, and when he was still just a possible coaching candidate I could understand not committing his name's spelling to memory. But he is our coach now, and whether you like it or not, would you PLEASE make the effort to spell it correctly. I have seen several posts and Seth has mentioned the correct spelling, but even today reading through comments and the like I have seen it spelled Tubberville.

I really am not trying to be a jerk about this at all... and I apologize if I'm coming off as harsh. But it has been long enough now that you should have the spelling of our head coach's name down.

Links for the link police:

Wikipedia

LAJ

ESPN

FWST

DMN

USA Today

I was never fully convinced that Ruff was the man for the job, but I was willing to gladly accept him until I went over to www.tortillaretort.com and read Ded's latest article on Tuberville. He makes several VERY good points. It is definitely worth going over to read it. Here is the link.

I'm still not confident our admin would hire him even if he was willing to accept a salary we could afford because Ruff would gladly accept 1/3 of that amount I'm sure of it. Regardless it's a good read and he makes some good points.

For the record, I <3 Ruff and will cheer as loudly as anyone for him if hired... but I'm now convinced it is not the right hire for Tech.

He also has a good post-mortem on the bowl game here.

1st off, as a side note... I saw one espn's site that Okie St's Cox is suspended from playing in the Cotton Bowl. I'm sure all of you know, but he is their shutdown corner and stud punt returner. I guess this is either good or bad news depending on if you are a root for the conference type guy/gal as discussed in previous posts.

The main point of this post though... Does Potts get the start or Sheffield tomorrow night? I know it is a moot point and Potts got all the starting snaps in practice... but with Ruff/Riley making the calls do they go with Sticks?

Believe me, I'm as pissed/heartbroken as any of you on this site. I believe this firing is the end of a very good thing we had going and our football program will likely suffer for years to come. I'm with most of you in thinking that if no other information is brought forward then the administration has some questions to answer and I'd love to see Meyers go. I don't know that I've ever heard anything good said about him in general.

The reason I'm torn is the athletes. It gets said all the time, "They are still just kids" and it is true. None of them (except Adam obviously) did anything to bring this on. We have some outstanding young men on the team both on and off the field. Baron Batch is a credit to Christian athletes everywhere. Alex Torres has a great story and has become an excellent player even as a freshman. The list is long of great kids and athletes on our roster.

As much as I would love to turn a cold shoulder on the athletic department to show my disgust, I feel just as strongly that these kids have earned my support and fandom. As far as I'm concerned the administration should be shaken up drastically and at least one should lose their job. But I just can't bring myself to claim that I'll never attend another game because the athletes deserve better. Obviously donations to the athletic department are completely different and I would certainly stop any contributions I was making if I were in a position to do so.

On a side note: I was a big fan of Craig James early this year, but he has jumped to the top of my 'tool' list.

I'm sure someone else will write a more in depth summary of this article and you can feel free to delete promote this post Seth to the front page. But I wanted to provide the link for the listing of the all-Big 12 Team and a complete list after the jump:

Find it here.

Continue reading this post »

You should go read the entire article, but here is my favorite quote from it.

On his first reaction to Welker, the recruit: “Honestly, what did I think when I first saw him? Short and slow. OK, then when I put the film on the first play, there’s play after play after play after play. ‘Oh man, that’s a great play. Oh, that’s a great play. Look at that play. …’ Well this is just a great high school football player. That means a guy that tries really hard but probably can’t make the transition to college. Then we get to this playoff games… When we first started watching, I thought it was a highlight tape. I’m not exaggerating, this is just the best of my recollection… He picks two balls and brings them back for touchdowns. He brought one or two (kicks) backs, had some long punt returns, had like 13 tackles, has 60 yards rushing, and had probably 220 yards receiving. Then, at the end, kicked like a 52-yard field goal to win it. That really happened. I saw it…”

It would seem Wes runs a 4.8 40... show me anyone who's covered him and I'll show you someone who would argue that number.

I'm sure this would be much more amusing if I had taken the time to go listen to it, but here is a link to the transcript of Leach's weekly teleconference today.

Leach had a couple of notable quotes:

Leach being Leach about a neutral field game -

What's your opinion on playing in the Cowboys' new stadium?
ML: "I think it'll be fun. My opinion is that it's fabulous this year, because otherwise we would have gone to Waco. Not so good next year, when the game would have been in Lubbock."

Leach taking up for an old friend -

Should the accounts that have come out of Kansas give coaches pause as to how they treat players?
ML: "Well, I think you try to collect the most effective way to coach your guys. My suspicion is, and nobody truly knows what went on in Kansas, my suspicion is that Mark is in the middle of a witch hunt which is unjustified. Heaven forbid, somebody should ask a guy to pay attention and focus in. For the sake of all his teammates and coaches and everybody else, to pay attention. Well, there are different ways to ask a guy to do that. Sometimes, after you've asked him a number of times, you raise the bar. The interesting thing to me is all this murmuring went from, 'He hit some guy in the face,' To, 'Well, he didn't even touch anybody but he just said mean things to him. The mean man told some player something he didn't want to hear.' Well, there's a mean man in Lubbock that tells people stuff that they don't want to hear, too. it's just part of it."

Leach being Leach when the media gets a little too overzealous with a loaded question (The set him up perfectly to knock one out of the park and he refuses... I think he likes the challenge of coming up with off the wall comments to seemingly legitimate coaching questions) -

If you had to give yourself an alter-ego name, what would it be?
ML: "I don't know, I'm too close to the fire for that. I get plenty of nicknames just in the course of life as it is. I'm going to leave it to those experts who have provided those for years."

Two quotes that stick out:

"Like Nick at Night, except not at night!

In reference to the Nick in the second half when they brought up the nickname again after a 3rd down conversion or some such nice play.

"Just last year he was riding the yellow bus and going to prom, now he's here playing for Tech" - 1st guy

"I was hoping you weren't going to say the magic bus like the Who" - same guy as above quote

I'm just glad the game made it worth sticking around... maybe I should have muted it I guess.

I'm not sure how many of you bother venturing over to www.redraidersports.com since it is a paid site. I occasionally check it out to see the juicy headlines so I know what to expect in the following days from ESPN and Don Williams. They do have one very cool weekly article that is free. I enjoy it anyway. It summarizes how each TTU alum did in the NFL the previous week. Go check out this week's article... Welker and Vasquez are making us proud!

Sorry if this has already been posted before... I stumbled across it a couple weeks ago and am just now getting around to sharing it with you guys.

Don't worry... there is still no clear indication of Sheffield's status, other than he will be suiting up at least.

Depth Chart amongst other random stats and facts. (See page 8)

I would point out that Winn is getting the start at Left Tackle, which is of great concern to me. He is serviceable on the right, but I just don't/can't trust him on the left. I trust Moore to do what's best for the team, but we must be in a really bad way for this to be what's best. Also, Carter is listed as starter at RG and Waddle at RT. Glad we are trying to get the most out of burning his redshirt... I just hope it's not at the expense of another concussion for Potts with Winn on the left.

Not any other ground breaking surprises on the chart. Looks like we are back to the full deck of starters from the beginning of the year on D, which has been reported several times already throughout this week.

Honorable mention: Pronunciation Chart... Doege - DAY-gie. I don't know how to say gie any more than I do Doege... maybe it's just ignorance on this West Texan's part. And to Tramain Swinall's parents for naming him such that both first and last have to be listed on the pronunciation chart.

News Channel 11 online has this list of options for following the game tomorrow. Sounds like the audio with Tech announcers can be streamed from there online. Also note that they will be providing pre-game and halftime streaming video. Cool of them to do this for the fans even though they aren't allowed to stream the game (stupid Big 12 is ruining my life).

I guess this way we can maybe catch a glimpse of TP's new helmet (as per Chris Level) during warmup haha.

'Who are you, and what have you done with Tim Griffin?'

Second-half Outlook: Texas Tech

No matter how it turns out, the Red Raiders will have played better than they anticipated and should have a chance at back-to-back double-digit seasons for the first time in school history if they can win the bowl.

I am not typically Tim Griffin's biggest fan. The same could be said for his feelings toward TTU more often than not. But this article paints a very bright future for us.

I know he is just a Big 12 blogger, but it is nice to get a little love from the mainstream media... especially media associated with ESPN.

I'm just as bummed as the next guy that the game isn't televised on TV Saturday. I think it would be a better option than several of the Big 12 matchups that got air time. But is it really worth camping out for?!?! I know it's fun to have an excuse to camp out outside the stadium and hang out with friends... but starting today may be a little overboard.

As per Chris Levels Twitter stream: Camping.

Also, he has this to say:

Fairly juicy rumor on RedRaiderSports.com about a wideout quitting the team. Trying to track it down now. If it's true it's not surprising.

Do we know how trust worthy he is? I haven't ever heard of him until this last week or so when someone else linked his twitter. Obviously I'm assuming that the tent picture isn't made up... but he seems to have a constant stream of updates about TTU football and I was wondering if it is worth checking in on regularly or a waste of time.

I have seen several comments on the various post-game threads about wishing we had not played UT early this year... and to some extent I agree. But there are a few things we should take into consideration before we call for Meyers' resignation.

1. If we had not played UT early our guys would not be as matured (especially the young ones). They would have played one less game because that would have been a bye week, and they would not have played the level of competition that turns a boy into a man so to speak.

2. On the assumption that the Kindle hit was the precursor to all Potts' problems, he would have led us into Nebraska.

3. This also takes into account the if and buts about UH... but if we had won that game also I see us walking into Lincoln with a big head and losing that game regardless of QB.

4. Look at it from Meyers' point of view for a minute... We lost our two star offensive players and a number of key contributors on the defense. UT returned virtually everyone except Orakpo and were predicted by everyone and their dog to run the table in a VERY dominating fashion. (Obviously half way into the season they are looking vulnerable, but at the time they were supposed to be God's gift to college football this season). So if I were in that spot and really thought our team had a chance to 'reload' instead of 'rebuild' I would still play UT early because NOONE was supposed to have any chance at all of beating them this year and our game was in Austin. In about 3-4 weeks when high ranked teams start getting beat and dropping in the rankings more than teams with early losses we'll spark up the conversation about how much better an early loss is than a late loss. With that in mind I can't blame Meyers for (possibly) being savvy enough to put us early in the season against a UT team that even my grandmother picked to run the table this year. I know you'll say you have to have faith that our team can win... but UT was bringing back a perfect storm similar to TTU in '08 except with UT caliber expectations. With that said, I feel fairly sure that Meyers' decision was completely financially based with little to no regard for our football team/Leach... but at the time the decision was made, I would have done the exact same thing. It's easy to look back now and say we should have played them late and Meyers clearly has no faith in our team... but consider the information at the time. That kind of thing is always a roll of the dice. If things ended up how they are and we played late and won that would be awesome... but if they were playing to potential it would amount to a late loss. I'm just getting redundant now so I'm going to move on... I think you get the point.

I understand everyone is just saying if we had the choice to make now, knowing what we do, that we should have played them late... and I agree with that for sure. But don't hang Leach or Meyers or any other powers that be out to dry because of their past decisions on this.

Granted, there are a couple of other reasons I wouldn't mind seeing Meyers gone... just for the record.

I had a friend say he was going to watch the game online to which I naturally responded... 'you can't do that, idiot'. But just to satisfy my curiosity I googled 'watch rice football' and this was the first link that came up. I have never used CBS sports online so I'm not sure how valid the link they give is. Has anyone used this streaming service with them before? A little closer to time I'll get on my wife's PC instead of my linux box to see if I can get it up and running.

Kayakyar or London, you guys want to throw this up on the main feed so that if there is any trouble getting it working we can get a comment thread going to troubleshoot it. Or just so we can get some feedback on if anyone has used the CBS sports site before to stream games.

Go check out the picture for this article. Looks to be a picture from mop-up duty last year. I still support Potts as our QB and think he will excel once he has gotten into the rhythm of starting QB. Obviously there are things that must be worked on and polished as with any first year starter. This goes for all of the other new starters this year as well.

Also, I think polls are pretty cool... Maybe we can get a petition going to ask Leach to grow facial hair until Potts throws his next interception, be great light-hearted motivation for TP.

This is a fairly obvious observation... but I'm going to make it anyway. 1st, I was not able to be at the game or even listen to it on the radio because I was at a wedding on Saturday evening. My statements below are based on the analysis from the guys here at DTN, which I highly regard.

In the last couple of weeks before the opener against North Dakota I saw several articles about Moore's O-line philosophy and how he is trying to implement more speed than strength. That is the primary comparison that has been made between last year's squad and this year's. Overall they are weaker, but faster. From what I've heard about how the running game Saturday this may not be the best trade off. I realize that even a faster line than last year should still be strong enough to get a push against ND. I have also seen the articles that mention the younger guys were just making mistakes like mis-steps and pad level etc. These are things that can be addressed in the film room easily. I will be anxiously keeping an eye on this line throughout the season to see if they execute well and are still overpowered. I like Moore in general, but I'd hate to see him take something as important as the O-line in the wrong direction.

Obviously there is no need to over-react after the first game of the year, especially with the young guys. This game has simply prompted me to keep a little closer eye on these guys. I got spoiled last year not even having to worry about the quality of the run blocking.

Thoughts?

So I'm sure this has been discussed at length, but I don't remember seeing anything recently about it. I just googled the stadium expansion and according to that the new seating is set to be done in time for the A&M game. It was sort of ambiguous as to whether or not the east side modifications would be complete though.

Thanks to ttured.blogspot for posting so many pictures of the current construction... I'm stoked to see them working on it, but can't imagine how the east side building would be expected to be up by the end of the season even. I'm sure if I did some more digging I could find some sort of official statement on all of this, but I thought I would throw it out there and see if any of you guys know off the top of your head.

Sorry if this has already been posted. I skimmed the recent content and didn't see it, but I have been out of town for a few days so I haven't been able to keep up with every post like normal.

This is a quick, interesting read. Just some speculation in the North Title hunt for the coming season that focuses on the importance of their games against TTU. I'm not sure where the author got his info, but this is kind of an interesting stat if it is true:

A loss to Texas Tech cost NU appearances in the Big 12 championship game in 2005 and 2008. In fact, no Big 12 North team has ever won the division in a season where they lost to the Red Raiders.

I'm not sure if anyone has already linked this or not, but the Big 12 Track Championships are being hosted here in Lubbock this weekend. The first 2 days are already done obviously, but there is a day full of finals tomorrow. I heard from someone that it only costs $7 to get in. Go cheer on our runners/'fielders'.

If there is a certain event that tickles your fancy there is a schedule here.