DTN Daily Diatribe | Texas Tech News, Notes and Links | 2011-10-26

I keep waiting for life to slow down a bit.  Everything with Fitsum is great, he's doing really well and he likes to eat.  A lot.  As to other things, my father-in-law was watching my other two dogs (as you may recall, our third dog passed away when we got back from Ethiopia) and our blue-heeler/husky mutt (Blue) tore into terrier mutt (Zoey) and dislocated her hip, which required surgery yesterday.  Zoey is at home and doing well, but Blue is still at my father-in-law's house.  Zoey didn't provoke the attack, she's a sweet-natured dog, but I am wondering if anyone knows anyone that might be able to help.  I want Blue to be a part of our family, but this aggression isn't something that I can have at the house with a new kid and a wife at home trying to separate two dogs.  If anyone knows anyone in the DFW area that could maybe help, I'd appreciate an email (doubletnation AT gmail DOT com).  I was told by one dog trainer that this may be a dominance issue, as they are both females, and may not be able to be trained out of her, but would love any other opinions.

ODDS AND ENDS
Million-dollar bust - The Daily Toreador: News and Alumni association ignored warnings from Red Raider Club, president says - The Daily Toreador: News
Interesting.  Some good reporting from the student newspaper has done some pretty good investigative work.  I won't try to summarize, but here's a summary:

Currently, the lease agreement requires Tech and the alumni association to pay $750,000 a year to lease 1,000 parking spaces and 18 RV spaces, which are used by Tech students during the week and attendees at Red Raider football games on the weekends. Only about one-third of the spaces have been leased. 

The university and the alumni association have lost $440,000 since the deal was signed in December of 2009. They will likely lose an additional $760,000 in the next several years.

The lack of demand, the pricing of parking spots and other shortcomings cited by students — such as location — have resulted in two-thirds of the parking garage not being filled.

TEXAS TECH BASKETBALL
Gillispie welcomes fans to Basketball with Billy - The Daily Toreador: Sports and Fans take opportunity to meet Gillispie, Red Raiders | Red Raiders
From the DT:

"(Gillispie’s) work ethic is unmatched," Hocutt said. "His care, his love and his dedication to the young men he is working with every day is second to no other head coach I’ve ever been around. He’s a proven leader and he wants to be at Texas Tech University."

And from the LAJ:

"We have 10 new guys here," Gillispie said. "They couldn’t care less about trying to win next year. We’re trying to win this year. You won’t hear me make any excuses. We’re going to try to win every game we play starting right now."

Gillispie invited fans at the event to attend any of Tech’s practices this season, and he offered a prediction sure to excite a fan base.

"This is not a show," the coach said. "This is what we do. I guarantee you nobody’s going to play harder. I don’t know when it’s going to be, but we’re going to have some banners in here before it’s all said and done."

LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL
Brown leaves Tech women’s basketball team - The Daily Toreador: Sports
Good luck to Antiesha Brown as she has decided to transfer.

TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL
TTRaiderPower's Channel - YouTube
You can find a ton of the RaiderPower episodes here and although I was only able to watch a little bit last night, here's a portion:

Raider Power 208 - Texas Tech Football (via TTRaiderPower)

So much more, including a ton of football links, after the jump.

Notebook: Tuberville talks Iowa State, injury update - The Daily Toreador: Sports and Red Raiders Football Notebook: Tech might seek waiver for Robertson | Red Raiders
A few things here.  LB Pete Robertson (he was a safety initially) has a shoulder injury that has kept him out of the last four games and may seek a medical hardship for this year rather than waste his redshirt year.  RT Mickey Okafor is going to play this week, as Terry McDaniel filled in for him last week.  C Justin Keown won't practice until maybe Thursday, but still hopes to play this week, although Deveric Gallington will most likely still see snaps at center as well.  LB Blake Dees, DT Donald Langley and WR Darrin Moore all practiced yesterday.  Finally, Tuberville talked a bit about LB Zach Winbush, from the LAJ:

"We’ve got to get him more experience," Tuberville said. "He’s too good an athlete. He’s probably light enough, he should be playing safety, but he’s going to be big enough in the future to play linebacker, so that’s where we’ve got him."

And from the DT, head coach Tommy Tuberville says that the team must focus on Iowa St.:

"We’ve got to get our heads out of the clouds," he said, "and get our minds on what we’re getting ready to face. We’re facing a hungry team."

Native Oklahomans relish upset | Red Raiders
Texas Tech players from Oklahoma like beating Oklahoma.

CFI: West Virginia not Tuberville's first choice - Dallas Colleges Blog - ESPN Dallas
Comments from Tuberville about West Virginia not being his first choice to add to the Big 12 and apparently he was asked his opinion from the athletic department:

"I don’t know. The jury’s going to still be out on that. It’s hard to get to West Virginia. Man, I don’t know whether these people realize … because you’ve got to go to Pittsburgh and then you’ve got an hour and a half ride to Morgantown. It’s a great place. It’s just an excellent college town and they play very good football. I’ve coached many games there. It’s a heck of an atmosphere. "

"The travel for basketball, baseball, everybody involved is a little different. I thought it would be Louisville. I thought they would be a better fit for the situation for the Big 12. West Virginia’s going to be great. It’s just the distance and travel is going to be different for everybody and just being able to get there and for fans to get in and out. But it’s a great school a lot of tradition …"

"It’s a good fit for football. Whether it fits everybody else, I don’t know."

"(Tech officials) asked me and I told them either one’s fine. It’s just the logistics for football are going to be a lot better because you only have to go one time every two years. "

Superman LSU, Spiderman Stanford lead comic book Power Rankings - Andy Staples - SI.com
I am a comic book nerd, or at least I used to be, and SI.com's Andy Staples ranks his top 25 teams using comic book heroes and villains:

Gambit: In honor of the return of the Riverboat Gambler to the national conversation, Texas Tech gets Gambit, the Cajun X-Man who can charge objects (in his case, usually playing cards) with explosive energy. Coach Tommy Tuberville's Red Raiders certainly looked explosive on offense against Oklahoma, racing to a 31-7 lead by early in the third quarter in Norman. Texas Tech also did what no one else had this season: disrupt Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones. Losses to Texas A&M and Kansas State probably already have eliminated Texas Tech from the Big 12 title race, but a Nov. 12 matchup with Oklahoma State in Lubbock could allow the Red Raiders to muddy the picture a little more.
Last game: Beat Oklahoma, 41-38
Next game: Saturday vs. Iowa State

Best of Times, Worst of Times: Tommy Tuberville, winning friends and influencing people - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF Blog - Yahoo! Sports
Hinton keeps saying that the offense is watered down, I'm not sure what that means.  Yes, the offense isn't the passing team that it used to be, but still pretty darned effective and right now, QB Seth Doege has more passing attempts than anyone else in the country.  Anyway, here's Hinton:

Tommy Tuberville. Tubs has spent the better part of two years at Texas Tech toiling in the long, unforgettable shadow of his swashbuckling predecessor, much of it based on the simple fact that Tuberville is not, nor ever will be, Mike Leach. He was the guy who watered down the offense that had defined the Raiders to the rest of the country and hadn't won any games worth writing home about. Suddenly, in the span of a few lightning-delayed hours, he's the guy whose offense put the ball in the air 53 times in the upset of the year.

Go Cyclones - It’s up to Barnett to get more from offense
Catch up on the Cyclones!

BlogPoll Top 25, Week 9: LSU, Alabama Maintain Dominance - SBNation.com
Woot!  Texas Tech makes their first appearance in the BlogPoll Top 25.

Big 12 Power Poll: Week Eight - Turfburner
Beck with his weekly Big 12 rankings.

Rivals.com College Football - Heisman Watch: A contender in any language
Doege with a little bit of Heisman consideration.