I've Moved

I'm proud to announce that this blog has now moved to DoubleTNation. Go see for yourself.

Tuesday Before Oklahoma State

It's hard to focus on football considering the current circumstances regarding Coach Knight, and there's really not too much as far as articles are concerned as most papers are concerned with last night's most recent incident.

Nevertheless, DMN's Tim MacMahon delves into why Tech has lost it's recent half-time leads against UT. Leach believes that it is first downs and yards that win games, not running out the clock by running the ball. Leach goes so far as to say that running the ball can lead to losses more so than trying to throw the ball. Specifically Leach says:

"That's not the only way to maintain a halftime lead," Leach said. "All this crap about you line up tight and run it up the middle, that's a bunch of baloney. Quite frankly, I've seen more teams lose leads that way than sustain them."

Leach still believes that the refs caused the loss against UT, and part of me wants to believe this, however, as I said at that time, there are always times the shoe is on the other foot. Additionally, Leach mentions that the loss to OU was a result of good defense and sustained offense. Overall, really good stuff by MacMahon.

At the LAJ, they also focus on the lack of 3rd down production. Don Williams goes a little bit further and notes that not only does Tech not do well with 3rd down offensively, they are also 76th in the nation at giving up 3rd downs defensively. Once again, I believe that Setencich has done about all he can do and it may not be a bad idea to look elsewhere after season's end. I just don't see the improvement from year to year and there appear to be so many mental mistakes.

Bob Knight and Michael Prince

I love Bob Knight. I always have. As a child I remember that 1987 Indiana national championship team and that was the first year that I really paid attention to sports. After saying that, understand that I am obviously biased, but not because Knight's at Tech, but because I've always appreciated the way that he coaches the game. I really do not believe that Knight intended to hurt Michael Prince, I think he intended to get his attention. In this case, there's a really fine line between violence and trying to lift up someone's chin and it may be nearly impossible for me to make that distinction without offending someone who believes the action was violent. The action itself was direct and hard, but it's not like it was an open fist slap or a shove in the chest. I think people will make their decisions based upon their previously conceived ideas of Knight. Just like any perceptions we have about individuals, we know that those perceptions are based upon some sort of history which we've all filed away in our own personal filing cabinet. For some of you, your filing cabinet may be much bigger than other individuals.

The DMN has an article up and the AP via Yahoo has an article. The LAJ has an article focusing on AD Myers and Michael Prince's parents.

Regarding the game itself, here's the boxscore and a story from the LAJ. It seems like Knight is settling into a rotation that includes, Valentine (remember, he's only 5'-6"), Burgess and Rivzic.

Here's the video and you can make a decision for yourself:

Game Day Thread: Gardner-Webb v. Texas Tech

Go Raiders . . .

Monday Notes

There's little news on football today, the official Texas Tech website has a press-release/notebook of this weekend's game. That's it.

The Tech basketball team has a game against Gardner-Webb, a team from the Atlantic Sun Conference. I've watched a lot of basketball in my day, but I've never heard of Gardner-Webb. Jeff Walker of the LAJ has a nice write-up about tonight's game.

Since this weekend may be the last game for a lot of the seniors, I'll make some sort of effort later this week to grade their performance for their college career.

Texas Tech 79 Sam Houston State 64

In better news, Coach Knight got his 870 career win with a 79 to 64 victory over Sam Houston State. That leaves Coach Knight 10 shy of Dean Smith's record.

A DMN article here, a FWST article here, and the LAJ article (the best of the bunch) here. Without having seen any of these guys play, I have really high hopes for Valentine and Burgess. I really want Rizvic to be our answer in the post.

Texas Tech 24, Oklahoma 34

Turnover, bad bad defense, and an offense that just couldn't find anything in the 2nd half. That's what happened.

Let's go by offense and defense:

• Graham played okay. I thought in the first half he was absolutely incredible. He found open receivers and was able to move the offense down the field efficiently. In the second half, I don't know if it was a little bit of extra pressure or some other coverage quirk that I haven't picked up on, that caused his ineffectiveness. Harrell has played so much better than he did earlier in the season, but Harrell has got to start making his own adjustments at half-time.
  
• The offensive line continues to play well, but it seemed like when we needed to protect Harrell the most that it simply didn't happen. I was very impressed with this unit as a whole for more than a majority of the game. They picked up the blitz, the stunts and just about everything else, but there was that one play in the 2nd half where I believe an OU linebacker came from the extreme corner, and leveled Harrell. I don't think we can blame that on the line as much as we have to credit OU's defense. Harrell was definitely more harried in the 2nd half, but it wasn't enough to cause the offensive meltdown.
• Shannon Woods played really well. When there were holes he found them and really kept the OU defense honest, when he got the ball, but 8 rushes is not enough. Leach has got to feed his running backs a little bit more. I promise, it will help the entire offense. I think that Leach really doesn't trust Woods to create like Henderson did last year. Woods takes what is available, but he just isn't as explosive.
• I thought the wide receivers played well, but there were times that I really wanted them to make plays. Hicks sat out again and I really believed that his presence would be an incredible help to this offense. Filani does not have the true speed to stretch the field against OU and we really lacked that deep threat again. Leach said last week that Harrell made some plays by making those deep passes to Filani, this week, there wasn't that deep threat and OU did a really good job of keeping everything in front of them.
• The special teams were acceptable, but we have got to make our field goals. Granted, we wouldn't have won the game, but missing field goals can kill momentum. There was no wind, just the yips. I would also like to point out that we have got to have a more explosive kick-off return duo. Morris and Woods is good, but why put Woods out there? Why not Britton and Batch. They were incredibly explosive in high school and probably have the potential to break something big.
  
• Penalties. It wasn't the number (7) that hurt us or the yardage (51), but the timing of the offensive penalties. Going from a 42 yard field goal to a 47 yard field goal. Most, if not all of the penalties were on the defensive side of the ball.

Defense:

• Crucial penalties. There seemed to be just too many pass interference penalties. These guys practice against a spread offense, I don't understand how we can be so inept at not committing penalties.
• Big plays. OU is down to their 3rd and 4th string running backs, we know that to do anything they are going to have to throw the ball. I simply do not understand how Johnson can get so wide open. I also completely don't understand how Kelly was left all alone, in single coverage (see any Sweed comments from the UT game) with 20 seconds left in the first half. I really don't understand why, it just doesn't make sense. At some point, players are at fault for not making plays, but we've gotten to a point this year where Setencich has got to take some of the blame for the lack of people even being anywhere close to a wide receiver at the end of a half. It's flippin ridiculous.
  
• The defensive line played well, but you could tell that at the end of the game they were a little gassed. I think that as a group, they are getting better at pressuring the quarterback, which only bodes well for next year.
• The linebackers should simply not show up, because they really don't do anything productive. Their one job would have been to contain the 3rd and 4th string running backs, but Brown running for 41 yards for a touchdown is unacceptable. It's not this particular time that causes worry, it's the fact that it happens time after time, game after game. I literally cannot remember any linebacker making any significant play or tackle. This has got to be a position of concern next year.
• As I said above, the secondary has got to do a better job of keeping guys in front of them. However, the most embarrassing part is the fact that Johnson was be so wide open. I started laughing at that point because it's happened too many times during the season. Someone has completely blown their coverage. The secondary had better figure things out real soon because OSU's Bobby Reid is a much better passer that Thompson and OSU has really been putting some points on the board in recent weeks (sans the UT game). This could be a real offensive show. To give the secondary credit, the interception return by Huffman was a thing of beauty, we don't see enough of that, but it was incredible. We also had an incredible interception, that was taken away because of a roughing the passer penalty.
  

We had this game, if we simply could have done something on the offensive end in the second half. It seems like these past few weeks that Leach has not made the adjustments during half-time that he previously made. The opposing teams are doing a better job of adjusting to Tech and it's really frustrating. I expect the offense to put up a touchdown in the second half, that's not a ridiculous thought.

One other thing, Leach is going to have a really tough decision at the end of the year, and it will be what to do about Setencich. Last year he did an admirable job, but this year, he's kept with guys who can't make plays (i.e. see all of the linebackers, especially Tillman), this team seems to always have a problem with making tackles, and we give up way too many big plays. If Leach wants to continue to keep his job, he may have to find a defensive coordinator who can make his players make the smart play.

Game Day Thread - Texas Tech v. Oklahoma

Go Raiders . . .

I think you'll be able to listen to the game here.

Saturday Morning Preview - Texas Tech v. Oklahoma

Sorry there were no post last night.

Coach Leach really enjoys twisting the knife from last year's loss, and honestly, I think it's funny. I have to believe that we all, no matter which team you root for, can agree on most calls and it wouldn't surprise me if Leach is just trying to stir things up a bit with his comments about last year's Tech v. OU game.

Brian Davis at the DMN has a preview up and predicts an OU victory, 31 - 20.

Don Williams at the LAJ has a nice article and preview of the game.

USA Today mentions that Harrell must handle a top level defense for Tech to win and I agree.

The Chron has a preview up with no prediction on the outcome.

The EN's Tim Griffin predicts an OU 24, Tech 14 game.

Please note the at the Houston Chronicle article mentions that Tech has been bowl eligible for 7 straight years and the San Antonio Express News article claims that Tech has been bowl eligible for 14 years. I guess both are right, but perhaps the Chron article meant to state that Tech has been bowl eligible for the 7 years that Leach has been a head coach.

John Miller of the FWST writes a nice article on Shannon Woods. Leach points out that Woods has been Tech's most consistent performer of the year and I too believe this. Granted, I don't think that Woods is as explosive, but he's still pretty special.

Finally, Tim MacMahon of the DMN writes about Coach Knight, the need for our JUCO players to assimilate fairly quickly and of course, the catching the record.

Thursday Night

Let's get the basketball out of the way first.

Coach Knight talks about how to remedy the USA national team (thanks from TrueHoop).

The DMN has a quick feature and a small article about the upcoming basketball team. MacMahon thinks that Knight won't get his win to break Dean's Smiths record until the regular season begins, and with the addition of 4 JUCO's, he's probably right.

Now onto football.

Hicks is expected to play and although no one has come out and said it or asked Coach Leach if it was his intent all along to keep Hicks out of the Baylor game to make sure he was ready for the OU game, I think it's true.

The LAJ has an excellent Q & A regarding the impressive group of freshman this year. The article also mentions the expansion of the stadium, however, this was the first I've heard about any potential plans for expansion. Don Williams also writes about the excellent job the offensive line has done all year. It's true, overall, I think they've done an excellent job, but that doesn't make me any less worried about OU's defense. I really don't think that Tech has seen a team as big and as fast as OU all year. I keep having flashbacks to the TCU game where it seemed that they just got to the quarterback so much quicker. By the way, this article quickly points out that Harrell has done a much better job of recognizing the blitz and getting rid of the ball so much quicker. He's also done an excellent job of just stepping to one side or another to avoid the rush.

After a couple of days off, Tim MacMahon gets back into the swing of things and has two Tech related articles. The first being about the disparity that OU seems to have against Tech's offense. Leach acknowledges that despite the fact that he was at one time employed by OU, OU does not have any more or less advantage than any other team who has seen Texas Tech for the last 7 years. The second article by Brad Davis focuses on the OU secondary and the rags to riches story for them this year. Obviously, last week, McGee isn't going to test any secondary so it's hard to tell how much they've improved.

ESPN has these numbers on Harrell in the last two games in what appears to be Between The Numbers weekly article: "1,002: While we're on the topic of ridiculous passing numbers, Texas Tech's Graham Harrell apparently has gotten a feel for the Red Raiders' offense. Harrell has thrown for 1,002 yards in the past two games. That's more than Air Force and Navy have thrown for combined all season and equal to Louisiana-Lafayette's season total."

Wednesday Notes

In Elmira, New York, WETM is predicting a Tech victory this weekend 27 - 24, and if you like stats, then you'll love this article. Elmira, New York, for those of you who are curious is located here and the Elmira area doppler radar. Elmira, New York, awesome.

Strange, no articles from the DMN. I guess I should resign myself to the idea that the DMN will only do articles as needed or if they are playing Texas.

The LAJ has the 2007 Texas Tech Red Raider football schedule as we are now playing hated rival Northwestern State. By the way, there's an article about Patrick Allen on texastech.com, but didn't think it was appropriate to link it here.

Travis Cram of the Daily Toreador details the offensive woes the Red Raiders have had in recent past with OU.

Olin Buchanon of Rivals.com believes that the Texas Tech - OU match up is the game of the week and I tend to agree. Although I think it is absolutely delicious the situation that Fran has gotten himself into in College Station. Fran has a lot of pressure to win out and it starts against Nebraska.

The Tulsa World's Dave Sittler has decent perspective about Leach and how he has the reputation to run up the score. Personally, I really think that this is a tired sports argument, you never let up on the pedal during a game, it's just not worth it. There will be days that you're on the other end of the stick, but you try to make sure that this doesn't happen, but you can't tell kids not to play. That seems to be real prohibitive getting players to play hard for you. Although I think it's important not to taunt or show up players, play with class, and I think that Tech did last week, so there shouldn't be any issues.

That's all of the football news for today, unfortunately.

Coach Knight is to receive the 2006 Pete Newell Award, here are the details:

"Knight will accept the award from Pete Newell prior to the start of the Texas Tech-Stanford game, the first game of the 2006 Pete Newell Challenge, which is set for Sunday, Dec. 3, 3:30 p.m., at HP Pavilion in San Jose. In the second game of the 10th-anniversary doubleheader, Nevada, ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press preseason poll, meets Cal."

Wednesday Notes

In Elmira, New York, WETM is predicting a Tech victory this weekend 27 - 24, and if you like stats, then you'll love this article. Elmira, New York, for those of you who are curious is located here and the Elmira area doppler radar. Elmira, New York, awesome.

Strange, no articles from the DMN. I guess I should resign myself to the idea that the DMN will only do articles as needed or if they are playing Texas.

The LAJ has the 2007 Texas Tech Red Raider football schedule as we are now playing hated rival Northwestern State. By the way, there's an article about Patrick Allen on texastech.com, but didn't think it was appropriate to link it here.

Travis Cram of the Daily Toreador details the offensive woes the Red Raiders have had in recent past with OU.

Olin Buchanon of Rivals.com believes that the Texas Tech - OU match up is the game of the week and I tend to agree. Although I think it is absolutely delicious the situation that Fran has gotten himself into in College Station. Fran has a lot of pressure to win out and it starts against Nebraska.

The Tulsa World's Dave Sittler has decent perspective about Leach and how he has the reputation to run up the score. Personally, I really think that this is a tired sports argument, you never let up on the pedal during a game, it's just not worth it. There will be days that you're on the other end of the stick, but you try to make sure that this doesn't happen, but you can't tell kids not to play. That seems to be real prohibitive getting players to play hard for you. Although I think it's important not to taunt or show up players, play with class, and I think that Tech did last week, so there shouldn't be any issues.

That's all of the football news for today, unfortunately.

Coach Knight is to receive the 2006 Pete Newell Award, here are the details:

"Knight will accept the award from Pete Newell prior to the start of the Texas Tech-Stanford game, the first game of the 2006 Pete Newell Challenge, which is set for Sunday, Dec. 3, 3:30 p.m., at HP Pavilion in San Jose. In the second game of the 10th-anniversary doubleheader, Nevada, ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press preseason poll, meets Cal."

Tuesday Before Oklahoma

Tim MacMahon of the DMN and John Miller of the FWST both note that Jarrius Jackson has be reinstated to the team. This is great news for all, but please pay attention to the detail of both articles. The DMN article doesn't have near the detail that the FWST has. So if I had to click on one or the other, then click on the FWST article. by the way, I especially like this quote from Coach (Pat) Knight: "We just decided we had to do something drastic," Knight said. "He loves basketball so much. We thought taking that away from him would get his attention. He could have [reacted negatively], but he took care of business." It's nice to see Jay react positively to a potentially bad situation.

On to football, for two straight days, there are no football articles from the DMN. I guess there's no news.

Wait, hold on, the FWST has a notebook by John Miller with a couple of interesting notes, especially this quote about Harrell and his past three week performance: "During that span, Harrell has thrown for 1,370 yards on 108-of-154 passing with 13 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He's rebounded nicely from a mid-season slump to move up in the record books." Think about this, that's a season for some quarterbacks and as I said after the Baylor game it seems like things are slowing down for him the game is coming to him. Obviously, it will be a huge test for him against OU as he probably hasn't seen a defense like theirs all year. It will be an incredibly interesting match-up.

What's the perfect motivation for the other Tech wide receivers to step it up these last two games? How about being mentioned in USA Today yesterday and in SI today. Filani, Johnson and Hicks are all auditioning for jobs next year and right now, despite my displeasure with a number of Filani's drops earlier in the year, he's leading the pack.

Don Williams of the LAJ wrote a notebook with some good quotes from Coach Leach, but this one is my favorite. When asked about the fact that the last few opponents against OU haven't thrown the ball he had this to say: "They slam into one another,'' Tech coach Mike Leach said. "I'm not going to lie to you: I said, "Geez, I wish somebody would throw the ball so I could see how this looks, so I could draw some comparisons or something."

He's right, it would be nice to see how OU might play a team like Tech, but the best they'll have to go on is from last year. The problem with that is there is entirely new personnel, which means that a team can do different things.

The LAJ notebook also mentions that the OSU v. Texas Tech game will not be televised. Road trip to Lubbock?

Don also has a really nice write-up about OU being very motivated to play this year.

Monday Notes

We'll start with the somewhat fun items of the day. Joel Filani was nominated as the USA Today player of the week for week 10, with 8 catches for 212 yards and 3 touchdowns. The EN believes that the tortilla toss as the 11th best Big XII tradition, but notes that students have been removing bleacher seats and passing it around the stadium. That doesn't sound real constructive.

My favorite stat of the Baylor game: 6 penalties for 60 yards. Such a significant improvement over previous games, especially the UT game, where the personal fouls and other assorted penalties killed Texas Tech.

Don Williams writes a really nice article about the road ahead, a particularly difficult road. With OU on the road this week and a greatly improving OSU at home next week, the task seems daunting to have a winning record at the end of the year. We had folks from the Insight Bowl and the Independence Bowl on hand for the Baylor-Tech game, and it's a nice thought that we're being considered, but it should be far from everyone's mind. Interesting quote from Filani about how Baylor decided to cover Tech:

Filani said the Bears' cover-two and cover-three schemes made him think he could have a good game. "We knew the middle of the field and also the outside corners would be kind of open,'' he said, "so we just tried to take advantage of that. Also, Shannon ran the ball well, so that opened things up for everybody.''

The one item that I haven't seen mentioned, although that doesn't mean that I haven't missed it was that despite Hicks was held out of last weeks game, perhaps Leach thought that he should take the chance that Hicks would not be missed against Baylor, and that we would certainly need him against OU. OU's defense will cause several problems this weekend, not to mention the fact that OU will be seeking revenge for last year's game. The other part that really worries me is the fact that OU has the potential to run all over Tech and Tech did not get much practice against the run against Baylor. Leach had to take his chances, let's hope that he was right about that.

I hope everyone saw he half-time interview with Coach Leach where he was asked about the fact that Harrell has so many attempts in the first half and whether or not he was worried about Harrell's arm falling off. I will not get the quote even close to being right, but it was something to the effect of, "I didn't know he had thrown so many times. I guess we'll have to watch out for that in the second half. Have a happy half-time." Genius. Pure Genius.

Saturday Morning Roundup

We have a couple of offerings from the DMN, Tim MacMahon writes that Baylor tried to give Harrell multiple reads by switching up coverage throughout the game. Leach noted that Harrell made the right decision and audibles time after time. It's really slowing down for this kid, at least against Baylor, we'll see against OU. The notebook doesn't have any earth-shattering news.

The FWST's John Miller has a nice write-up on the game, where Leach admists that it was the big plays that won the game for Texas Tech.

I'm still away from home, so more to come later.