I was reading what Raider1992 and PlanoJeff said in Tech92's poll post.  I can understand where people's resentment towards Mike Leach is coming from.  I see your point of view.  But I think everyone is starting to underestimate just what kind of job Mike Leach has done at Texas Tech.  It seems that everyone here is taking for granted just what kind of success Texas Tech is enjoying right now.  Before Mike Leach came here, Texas Tech was looked at as a joke nationally.  Heck, until this year Texas Tech was still a joke nationally, just a joke that scared people sometimes.   Now Texas Tech is a legitimate program that people respect.  We forget just exactly how much of a joke Texas Tech was looked upon nationally until these past few years.  Nobody in the nation cared about Texas Tech, and if you were to bring them up, people would laugh or not care.  They might possibly have said they never even knew Texas Tech existed. 

What Leach has done at Tech is nothing short of extraordinary.  He has taken a program that has very little history to build on, and also been disrespected and taken it to a level where it can now compete with the big boys.   I mean, Texas Tech  as a program has been pretty much a non-bcs team playing in a BCS conference.  Leach made Texas Tech respectable, and into a real BCS program.  Mack Brown and Bob Stoops have done great jobs at their respective schools, but it is a lot easier to have success at Texas and Oklahoma as they have always been perennial powerhouses with loads of history.  Taking Texas Tech to the brink of the BCS, and earning a share of the Big 12 South is in my mind equal to if not almost better than taking Texas or Oklahoma to the BCS or winning a national championship. Bob Stoops and Mack Brown earned their contracts by winning championships; Leach taking Tech to the brink of the BCS was basically our national championship.   

Give Leach a new contract and I'm sure he will get us a real championship sooner rather than later.

I have only been a member of Double T Nation since about week 3 or 4 of the football season, but I have noticed there isn't much talk at all about the Lady Raiders on here, which is unfortunate.  On other Big XII blogs, I have seen some of them do actually talk about their women's basketball teams.

Today our Lady Raiders defeated Texas at home 65-62.  The Longhorns were the 8th ranked team in the country coming into the game.  I am a sophomore student at Tech and attended the game.  It was a great game, and I was happy to see that their was a GREAT crowd at the game today.  I have really enjoyed the great crowds we've had at basketball games lately, starting with the TCU game. Anyways, the game was awesome.  We fell behind early, 13-4.  The Lady Raiders stormed back though to take the lead going into halftime.  Starting off the 2nd half, they went on a run and got ahead by as much as 11.  Much like the football game though, Texas came back and tied the game with about 20 seconds left.  Just like the football game, the Lady Raiders took the lead on a layup by Dominic Seals with about 6-7 seconds left.  The Longhorns committed an offensive foul and we won the game 65-62.  It was awesome.

Also, we have now beaten the Longhorns three straight times in notable sporting events.  We won last season in men's basketball, this season in football, and now in women's basketball.  Let's hope the struggling men's team can beat Texas next weekend!!!

As we all know, the media still doesn't respect us, which is how we like it :) .  Here's an article on espn.com by Mark Schlabach that pretty much sums everything we all know up.  Good to see one guy out there in Connecticut that's willing to give us some well-earned respect!

 http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/notebook?page=notebook/onthemark1117&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1

GO TECH! 75 word minimum ok there it is

I've never posted anything on here before but I have been visiting this site and reading everything all season long.  I would just like to comment on all this hoopla about the texas d-line possibl causing trouble for our o-line.  I concede that Orapko is an outstanding player and will be a first round pick in the NFL draft.  However, Chris Long was a superior player and was the 2nd overall pick in the draft this year...I personally think he was a better player than Orapko is. Yet, last year in the Gator Bowl our offensive line, which is virtually the same, made him a NONFACTOR.  I really can't see the UT d-line making much noise in this game, our offense will be okay as long as they don't make stupid mistakes and let the pressure of the game affect them, which I think Leach has and will make sure of.