A Coach That Understands

Taking a moment to table the talk about next year's coach at Tennessee, let me applaud Leach for smart coaching.

It was pretty clear from the start of the game that OU was firing on all cylinders while Tech looked out of sorts.  Given just how potent OU can be on offense and what would turn out to be an off night for the overmatched Tech defense, Leach was absolutely correct to try for all those fourth downs and that onside kick.  He risked the short field, obviously, but he gave his team a better chance at the win by doing so.

Had Leach played safe and punted one all the 4th-down attempts, the score would likely have been a couple touchdowns closer.  (OU would have had a longer field to consume before scoring.)  Something in the neighborhood of 49-14 wouldn't look quite so bad in the morning, but Leach didn't play to minimize the damage.

I wish more coaches had that understanding in the game and would throw everything they could to winning the game.  If they would, football would be far more entertaining, and that's saying something for the nation's most popular sport.

You have a terrific team, and one to be proud of for a long time.