Double-T Nation News:

Sometime this week, DTN passed 500,000 page views. The last time I mentioned DTN's stats, we had just passed 200,000 unique visitors and now DTN is inching up on 300,000 unique visitors.  I should also mention that DTN had it's best month evah in September, despite a painfully slow bye week.

The long and short of it is that the DTN community is growing by leaps and bounds and I cannot thank you enough for your continued support.

DTN was mentioned in NY Times college sports blog, The Quad in their preview of Texas Tech vs. Kansas State. Their preview does mention that the announcing crew is Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham and Jack Arute, which is fine by me. I like listening to Ron Franklin.

Texas Tech Football:

LAJ's Don Williams says that it is rare that K-State open at home in the Big 12, while Texas Tech hasn't had an open date since 2004. Captain Leach thinks that this team got better over the bye week:

"I thought we got better in the off week," Leach said Thursday, "and then I thought we (practiced) well this week. We had pretty good preparation. Now we just need to keep it rolling."

Meanwhile, safety Darcel McBath remembers the last time Texas Tech was ranked so high:

"I know last time we were ranked this high, we went and dropped a bomb against Texas my freshman year," safety Darcel McBath said. "I don’t remember how high we were ranked, but we kind of took it in too much, were reading too many newspaper articles. I’m going to make sure it doesn’t happen this year."

Williams also mentions that they key matchups will be KSU receiver Brandon Banks, who will line up in the slot, and Ruffin McNeill will have a decision to make as to the type of coverage, straight-up or nickel; while KSU will have to look to defend the renewed Texas Tech running game.

LAJ's Adam Zuvanich says that the key to a K-State win is stopping Texas Tech's offense. Texas Tech offensive line coach Matt Moore says the KSU defense is getting better:

"Every week, you can tell they’re getting a little better at their scheme - figuring out what to do and how to do it and what gaps to be in, all that stuff," Tech offensive line coach Matt Moore said. "They’re definitely improving every week. They’re by far the best defense we’ve seen so far, the most athletic."

Also check out LAJ's Three Keys to Victory (pdf).

Miscellaneous Articles:

• Joe Duarte's Big 12 Notebook, focusing on the Texas Tech running game

  "It’s all the better that we’re running the ball as well as we are now so that it really gives some people some problems," Leach said. "We don’t care what (defenses) do. We just want to recognize it."

• FWST previews the Big 12 games

  Tech averages 45.8 points per game. The Red Raiders are also ranked No. 1 in the country in total offense (572.8 ypg) and first in passing offense (426.2 ypg). WR Michael Crabtree leads the team with 29 catches for 457 yards and six touchdowns, and Detron Lewis has 21 catches for 326 yards and a TD. K-State QB Josh Freeman has passed for 276.2 yards per game and 11 touchdowns.

• Kansas City Star says the key is to stop the Texas Tech offense

  "If we keep them off the field, I think we’ll be pretty successful," K-State junior wide receiver Brandon Banks said. "We need to move the ball and win the time of possession. If we do that, we’ll have a pretty good shot."

• [Note by Seth C, 10/04/08 8:06 AM CDT ] Added:  SAEN's Mike Finger on Texas Tech's low profile

"I actually look forward to hail," Leach said, standing in front of a Doppler radar screen. "But my favorite weather happens to be when it rains mud. Dust comes through, rain on top of it, it rains mud."

Why is Leach so enamored with such an unpopular phenomenon? He didn't give his reasons, but it might be because with so much blowing around, it's easy to hide.

Perhaps no team has become more adept at sneaking unnoticed through the college football landscape than Leach's Red Raiders, who might be the most underappreciated and least-hyped No. 7 team in the history of the national polls.