Texas Tech Sunay Morning Notes - Started Out As A Lightning Strike Edition
by Seth C on Sep 7, 2008 6:43 AM CDT
in Texas Tech News, Notes and Links
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Double-T Nation News:
If one picture epitomizes Texas Tech's 35-19 win over Nevada, this just might be it. Yes, that's right, the Texas Tech defense knocking people off of the ball and backwards. Victor Hunter, you are a run stopping machine.
There's no doubt that the defense gave up some yards, but at the end of the day, it was the defense that created turnovers, made plays, and for me, was pretty inspiring.
One other thought before getting to the articles. As ugly as last night's game was, the spread was only 10. Texas Tech beat Nevada by 16, which is a pretty healthy margin and typically doesn't happen on the road. I feel like I've been making excuses for this team for two weeks straight now regarding their poor performance in certain aspects of the games, but the bottom line is that Texas Tech won, they beat the spread, handily, and the team goes home with a "W". That ain't bad.
Texas Tech Football:
There's only one article from the LAJ this morning regarding last night's win. I suppose I'm up too early after going to be at 11:30 p.m. There may be more later, but I'll post those tomorrow. In any event, this article is a recap of the game with some notes near the end that were of interest to me. Vasquez suited up, but didn't play a down against Nevada. If there's a reason why the Texas Tech line struggled, we need look no further. Also, Blake Collier suffered an injury and spent the second half in shorts. You also have similar recaps from Dwain Price of the FWST (Dwain always writes about Texas Tech, rain or shine, so show him a little support) and the DMN.
We have a wealth of articles from Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin, who was in Reno, and hopefully came away a big winner. Up first Tim looks at Graham Harrell's slow start and improved second half. Here's Harrell:
"During the first half we were sloppy and just out of rhythm," Harrell said. "After halftime, we still weren't in a great rhythm, but we did start playing better. And we were able to come out with the win."Snip
"We just had a miscommunication earlier," Harrell said. "It just seemed like we were a little off all night. We missed some opportunities and it was frustrating. But we knew we could get it if we tried again."
Tim, Harrell and Leach also compare last night's game to the TCU game in Ft. Worth (I was at that game). Smaller, but incredibly quick defenders flying around the ball, putting pressure on Harrell, getting hit more times that he'd like to admit, but they point out that Harrell didn't cave:
"The first part of that game reminded me a little bit of that," Harrell said. "I was a little bit off. But we came out of it and they couldn't stop us much down the stretch in the fourth quarter. That was good to see."
Up next, Leach says that he regrets the numerous gambles throughout the game. Here's the Captain:
"I thought I gambled stupid and it was just dumb," Leach said. "Being in Reno, I guess I got the bug. I was stuck in a hotel where you don't have any clocks and they were pumping oxygen in there. I thought it was my lucky day, we won the game."
By the way, the lone/first commentor in Tim's story really believes that Leach is blaming this on the hotels and says that it's Leach's arrogance. Well, yeah, that's sort of the point, isn't it? Anyway, what's completely fascinating to me is Captain Leach's self-awareness immediately after the game, but seems to lack that same self-awareness during the game. I'm wondering if he just can't help himself, or is it that he has no faith in his special teams? LaCour shanked a punt badly in the 2nd quarter and that was the last time he saw the field. Same goes for Caronoa. Had a field goal blocked in the 2nd quarter and never saw the field. If you're asking me, that's the problem, he doesn't trust his punter or his kicker.
Last, but certainly not least, the Texas Tech defense gets a ton of credit for their play Saturday night. Here's Texas Tech sophomore linebacker Bront Bird, who finished the day with 14 tackles, on the crowd acknowledging the defense after the game:
"It was kind of cool to hear that," Tech linebacker Bront Bird said. "It was a team victory and our offense stepped up when we needed them to. But it was neat to hear our fans chanting for the defense. I've never heard that anywhere I've played."
As Tim correctly points out, Captain Leach had a unique way of describing the transformation of this defense:
"They started out as a lightning strike, became a beetle and then became an ape," he said. "Now, I hope they don't evolve too far because they may lose their edge."I thought they were pretty good [Saturday]. They need to play smarter, but if you subtract five big plays, it was a huge performance. It was one of the most dominant performances in the country this week."
I'm not sure that I would call 488 yards "dominant", but the defense was HUGE on third downs (3 of 16), had 4 sacks on mobile quarterback, and 8 tackles for a loss. Those types of statistics didn't happen last year.
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I wish Leach
would punt and kick field goals less. There’s a statistical argument for going for it more, that coaches don’t go for it on 4th down enough, available here. And in that the punter and kicker are both in the doghouse with Leach, and I think we should be going for it in all but the most absurd situations, ie., 4th and 8 or longer in our own territory.
Unless Graham Harrell plays like he did last night, in which case I’d never go for it.
I think Leach
resigned himself to this in the 2nd half, and I get the feeling that he’ll do the same against SMU, a team he feels like he should throttle.
Go Raiders . . .
Hmmm
I guess I don’t see how Leach could think the defense played a solid game. Yes, they kept them out of the endzone numerous times and for that they get credit for showing character. But Nevada’s run average and total yards are a bad thing…and the passing yards were pretty impressive as well, for a team that doesn’t pass. The stories I’ve read online today in various outlets seem to think Tech played well, so maybe I’m missing something – or my expectations on what a complete game are could be out of whack. I’m willing to give that a thought.
I’ll be at the SMU game, so I’ll have a better feel for how the flow of the game is going, but I sure wish Leach would adjust in-game based on what’s playing out in front of him.
In the end, it’s a win and they all count. It speaks fairly well that the offense and Harrell could be so completely out of tune that they still put up 28 pts (7 came on a punt return, as we know). I was happy to see Crabtree get involved in the deep game.
The offense as a whole probably isn’t feeling very confident about what they’ve done through two games – as I am not either. But if we can get it tuned up against the Ponies and UMass, that will give them a nice boost heading into conference.
My final thought on this team is that the jury is still out. I’m not impressed with the offense, and I don’t think the defense is much better than years past. The biggest issue seems to be the kicking game as we have had a few kicks blocked and missed already this year. Trilica is, and will be, sorely missed in this version of the Red Raiders.
Poor Defense again
Seth you are an eternal optimist. Happy as I am that the raiders got a W on the road. Giving up 480 odd yards to a less than stellar offense (including 220 or more rushing) is not a “dominant” performance by the defense as captain Leach would like to call it. Looking at offensive numbers that other teams have been piling up (OK state had 699 yards of offense against Houston; Kansas just looked unstoppable not to mention Texas and Oklahoma), this defensive performance is not good enough in my opinion to battle some of our BigXII opponents. I don’t think the defense is much different from the one that finished last season and it’s certainly not fixed yet (thought we have more talent this time around)
Defense
It isn’t going to turn a complete 180 in a year, but I agree with you that Nevada shouldn’t have had that many yards. However, Nevada caught some good breaks from our mistakes. Look at their opening drive in the second half. Should have been a 3 and out, but a penalty gave them the ball back. I think the D is only going to get better as the year goes on. This weeks game should challenge our secondary and hopefully Ruff can get the right personell in there. BTW any news or LA Reed?
I've been thinking this
for a while. Just as the UT defense isn’t going to turn around in 1 year with Muschamp, neither is the TT defense going to be exactly what we want after 1 offseason.
Go Raiders . . .
I tend to agree with Seth
While no one is saying we have the defense of LSU, I think they played well. The first thing the D has to do against an option offense is not over-play. That means the option will move the ball some. After that they have to make sure tackles to prevent it from getting out of hand, which they did. They used the sideline well and stuffed the run up the middle. The thing that matters in the end is the scoreboard. They kept a good offense out of the end-zone until the end of the game when it was a 2 possession game. Trading touchdowns for field goals is nothing to be ashamed of.
Part of the descrepency in yards was the poor performance by the Tech O, leaving the D on the field. Had the offense been clicking even marginally better, I think the Nevada production would have been in the toilet.
Guilty as charged
although I’ve tried to be realistic, although I also said that I wasn’t sure that 480 yards was a “dominant” performance, but big plays were made and that’s something that’s been missing from this defense for a while.
Go Raiders . . .
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