Navigating the High Seas of Lubbock

For those that aren't aware...they've had a good bit of rain in Lubbock the last few days. So much in fact that Coach Leach decided to break out his pirate ship to view the situation.



Rest assured though that the water will be gone by 6PM tomorrow.

I had some trouble with picture uploading for the SMU sim game. I'll have it up either tonight or tomorrow before the game.

Great ESPN Article on Mike Leach

Really enjoyed this write up on Coach Leach from Mark Schlabach.

Leach, 47, isn't like most of his colleagues in a profession dominated by millionaires and workaholics. He typically reports to the office around 10 a.m. and leaves before 9 p.m. Once Leach returns home, he often stays up until 2 a.m. or later, watching TV programs few others know exist.

"If you're getting to the office at 6 a.m. and getting home at midnight, well, then you're wasting a lot of time," Leach said. "That's just a failure to manage your time. What are you doing in the middle of the day? Are you having a siesta?"

Art Briles to be named Baylor head coach

DMN's Brian Davis is reporting that Baylor is hiring Art Briles as their football coach. The reason I bring this up is because many people have mentioned that Briles would be interested in the Texas Tech job if it was to become available. However, I don't blame him for taking the certain job here rather than waiting around on something uncertain.

I'm speculating here...but I wouldn't put it past Briles to have contacted Leach to find out where he stands on the UCLA and Arkansas job. Remember that Briles didn't make a decision after meeting with Baylor and instead returned to Houston for a day. Like I said...just speculating.

As a random side note...I mentioned to a friend that Briles is going to Baylor and that I hope Leach doesn't leave because we would've just lost our lead candidate. His response, "We'll get Norm Chow in Lubbock if Leach leaves." Nice thought...but it would never happen...

Mike Leach to ????

The rumors about Mike Leach leaving Texas Tech have started up again.  Two schools rumored so far...

Arkansas

UCLA (assuming Dorrell is fired after the USC game this Saturday)

This info is from ESPN Insider so I can't post the article.  However, UCLA was reported by College Football Live today and 103.3 FM in Dallas (ESPN affiliate) mentioned that Arkansas is very interested in Leach.  

In related news, Baylor is rumored to have offered Houston HC (and former Tech RB's coach) Art Briles a contract paying $1.8 mil/year.  However, Michael Murphy of the Houston Chronicle says the Bears have no official offer on the table...yet.

I'm removing the flags from the banner...

I've decided to remove the flags from the banner for now. As we all know, this season essentially comes down to these two games. With both, you're 9-3 and will end up in the Holiday, Gator, or maybe even Cotton Bowl. Win 1, you're likely in the Holiday or Gator (assuming the Gator takes a Big 12 team this year). Win neither game, and you're hoping the Alamo wants a 7-5 team to take on Penn State or Purdue. This quote from Graham Harrell earlier this week sums up the situation:

"We've had a whole year, the whole season just about, to get ready,'' quarterback Graham Harrell said. "It'll be two fun games - get to go down to Austin and then OU, ranked where they are right now, is going to come here the next week, so we're looking forward to the challenge.''

That's it folks. No beating around the bush. Forget about the annual Aggot beating, the blowouts over Conference USA and the ridiculous numbers GH and Crabs put up, and the heartbreaking/depressing/demoralizing losses to Mizzou and Colorado. Win these two games...and the season is a success and momentum is squarely in the corner of Texas Tech heading into 2008. Lose both, and it's the same old story we're used to. The fair weather fans will gripe even louder that Leach is the problem (boy do they not know anything), that Graham is a no-talent whiner (true...but he's also the most prolific QB is Texas schoolboy history), and that the defense is weak (what do you expect when they have to practice against Leach's offense? You can't let them loose in practice or you won't have any receivers on Saturdays). Also, the rumors about Leach leaving for a bigger program will grow even louder...though I suspect that happens regardless of the outcome of the next two games. It's game time kids...get ready! Back with more football stuff later...

Mike Leach said it best...(A&M game thoughts)

(from Saturday's post game press conference)

"I think the energy has picked up," Leach said. "Our team is starting to realize that it takes all the components working together to be a good team."

I can't agree more with this thought. While the offense did a great job making adjustments based what A&M did defensively (and then just flat out imposing their will upon the Aggies) it was again the Tech defense that defined the tone of this game. Once they showed the Ags (and the Tech offense) that they weren't going to be pushed around into another shootout with a Big 12 team, the game was essentially over by the middle of the 2nd quarter. A&M gained just under half of their total yards (42% to be precise) on the first 2 drives. They had two more drives where they moved the ball well but they ended in a missed FG (2nd quarter) and a turnover on downs (4th quarter). Great job offense...but the game balls start and end with the defense.

Yes I actually made it this far without saying anything about MC. I think this picture (from DTN) takes care of that for me:



One other enjoyable quote from Saturday, from DC Ruffin McNeill:

"They probably had a little bit too much to drink," McNeill said, chuckling. "I love our [fans], but they were chanting my name, a big ol' guy? An ol' school, half-bald guy? They must have been talking about a different Ruffin."

I've been working on a deeper look into Graham's passing numbers in my (likely futile) attempt to more accurately project his end of season statistics. I should be finished with it this afternoon unless these storms knock out the power for a bit.

Ramblings on the Iowa State game...

Well I made it home from Lubbock just before 10PM on Sunday night...so you can imagine that my mind wasn't on writing about the game just yet. Yesterday about the only thing Tech/A&M related was the Vick Em shirt incident...and I started to post it multiple times but decided (along with many others in TT blog land) that it's received enough publicity and continuing to publish it would do no good. Then last night...we were all witness to this:

So now that the dust has settled here in my world...and I can write on my thoughts from Saturday. To preface this...we only stayed for just a bit beyond halftime before going back to tailgate and watch Florida/LSU so I didn't see anything beyond the first drives of the 2nd half...though we did listen to much of the game until the starters came out. I'll just write this out in bullet points...

- When was the last time the general consensus was that the defense outplayed the offense? It was very refreshing to see in person the changes I had read were taking place the last few weeks. On a consistent basis, receivers were hit when they caught the ball. The thing that excited me the most was our defense started gang tackling and actually driving guys backwards on multiple occassions. I'm hard pressed to think of a time when we've seen that level of aggression and drive from the defense under the former regime.

- While the last few years have been a bit different...the offense has re-established the Coach Leach standard of "We expect to score every time we have the ball" and it is almost a letdown for fans when the offense has to punt. I know it's hard to believe...but it's reality that teams do punt sometimes!

- Michael Crabtree continues to impress everybody who sees him. For me this week, it was his explosiveness the first few steps after catching a ball. I don't know why, but he always seems to find a way to get yards after the catch. My motto when Crabtree catches a pass is, "It's like Christmas 10 times a game. Every time he gets the ball you better be ready for a surprise!"

- After all of the new uni combinations we've seen this year, the red/red was kind of a letdown for homecoming. I'm still holding out for a red/black combo of some kind so maybe we'll see it against A&M this Saturday!

- If you get bored in the next few days and want to read a lot of things that don't make too much sense...head on over to the TexAgs forums to see what things they have come up with this time around. My favorite comments are when they talk about Tech being some barren, flatland. I'm sorry...but since when did College Station become a booming metropolis with rolling hills???

With all the talk about MC and his charge towards the NCAA record books...many are overlooking the phenomenal numbers the Graham Harrell is putting up. Right now, his numbers are superior to what Kingsbury did in 02 and on pace with what Symons did in 03. We'll look more into this later...

Apology, Depression, and "good news"

Apology
First off I want to apologize on not getting anything else posted last week. I wrote everything that I wanted to post...but could never find free internet near the blackjack tables for some reason. It's crazy I tell ya. Then I get home yesterday and my internet is down (and still was this morning). As far as my picks...I did have Tech winning 52-42 and the Bears beating the Cows 24-19. The Tech pick was an honest pick...the Bears pick was reverse psychology. I'm heading back to Vegas again this Thursday night (for a wedding) so I won't make this game...but I will get a Tech preview posted. Unfortunately...it doesn't look like the directional louisiana (no I won't capitalize the L) game will be on TV...and I don't want to spend time researching a 1-AA team so you'll just get some thoughts on Tech and a discussion on what it will take for them to win by X points on Saturday.

Depression
Saturday afternoon...sitting at the Bellagio sports book and watching Tech and Okie Lite trade TD's in the first half. Thoughts...Crabs is getting better every week...wow our defense blows...do we know how to tackle??? or blitz???...wow...what a great catch by MC...nice job getting two quick scores before the end of the half. Then we head down to Mandalay Bay to catch the 2nd half since we were going to a show after the game. Well 90 minutes of walking and trying to find a taxi and food later...I'm still hungry...still haven't found a TV...and I'm listening to the end of game updates on my cell from a friend. Upon hearing of the dropped TD pass...I turned to the girl and said, "Well...there goes the national championship." I then proceeded to drink 17 spiked fruity red drinks during the show...well not really...but maybe it would've made me feel better.

"Good News"
I think I'm the last TT fan site to post this...but Lyle Setencich is gone as the Def Coordinator. While he "officially" resigned...this quote from the LAJ sure makes it sound like Leach initiated the departure:

Tech athletic director Gerald Myers said head coach Mike Leach moved to make the change.
"Mike told me early this morning that he was going to talk to Lyle today about this,’’ Myers said. "Mike did initiate it and felt he needed to talk to Lyle about it, and so that’s what transpired. … I think they just decided that a change needed to be made on defense."

I'm surprised that Leach is willing to pull the trigger mid-season and had resigned myself to watching one of Tech's best passing attacks in recent memory be hampered by a weak defense. Now I'm not saying that changing the DC will create overnight improvement on defense...but early indications are that McNeill is willing to blitz, stunt, and mix up coverages on a regular basis, something that Lyle would never do. If he does that, then the burden will be on the players to step up, be aggressive, and perform on Saturdays. They'll have two "warmup" games against NW la and Iowa State before the Aggots come to town October 13th for their next "statement game" so it will be a few weeks before any real judgements can be made. That doesn't mean we won't try to make them though!