Texas Tech Monday Morning Notes - Alligators and Ninjas Edition

by Seth C on Oct 1, 2007 6:16 AM CDT in Football Comment 1 comment

DTN News:

That's right, it's an alligators and ninjas edition of morning notes. It might stay that way for the time being too. Coach Ruffin McNeill:

"There were mine fields and bombs on the left, there were hungry alligators from [Hurricane] Katrina's storm on the right, and there were like 10-12 Ninjas taking those masks to cover your eyes, and they had two swords... and the only way I could go was straight ahead," McNeill said. "If I looked to the left, I might get blown up and if I looked to the right, one of the Katrina alligators might bite me.

"And if I turned around, those guys looked really mean behind that mask and were throwing those swords at me."

Texas Tech Football:

LAJ's Don Williams focuses this morning on the defense's performance from Saturday night. Coach Leach believed that the team prepared well:

"I thought it started with a good week of practice," Leach said, "and then I think it continued through the course of the game. ... Significant portions of the game, I thought we played with emotion on all sides of the ball simultaneously, which really I think it's important to develop that skill."

I'm glad he's happy with the win, but this week, there's a more legitimate opponent in Iowa State (I'm not sure how true of a statement that actually is, but ISU is a Big 12 school). But Coach Leach understands that every game is vital to the future success of this program and was not at all a surprise to Coach Leach:

"The only thing surprising would be if there's no surprises,'' he said. "(Upsets) happen every single year. There's going to be more to come. There's probably a game or two or three more than there is some Saturdays, but that happens every year. ... That's why it's so important for us to play with emotion as a team simultaneously and in particular on defense, because that's the type of game it is.

In Don's Tech Football Notes he mentions that Tillmans off-the-field discretion (I haven't seen where this incident has been disclosed) will not cost him the starting strong-side linebacker position. Damnit.

Williams also mentions that guard Brandon Carter was walking under his own power yesterday. That's good news, but I wouldn't be opposed to Carter sitting out this week to get completely healthy.

Big 12 Football:

SAEN's Tim Griffin review's the Conference's 10 Days of Hell . . . Tim also checks in with his Big 12 Football Notebook . . . and Tim's Big 12 Football Review/Preview . . . FWST's Wendell Barnhouse delves into the nation's best college football rivalries . . .

Around the Big 12 Blogosphere:

Oklahoma State only manages 39 against Sam Houston State, 39-3. I hate OSU.
Iowa State (Clone Chronicles) loses to Nebraska (Corn Nation, MidWest Coast Bias, and Double Extra Point), 35-17. The Cyclones out-gained Nebraska, 415-369.
Texas (Burnt Orange Nation, 40 Acre Sports and Gabriel's Horn)is upset, at home by Kansas State(Bring on the Cats), 41-21.
Oklahoma (Crimson and Cream Machine)loses to Colorado (Buffs.tv) on a last second field-goal, 27-24 .
Bear Meat (Bear Meat) loses a heart-breaker to hated Soldier (Aggie Sports Blog and The 12th Manchild), 34-10.
Missouri (Every True Son and Mizzou Sanity)and Kansas (Rock Chalk Talk and Phog Blog) had byes this week.

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Comments

I'm glad to hear

that 4 or 5 of the guys that I would have played on defense played this weekend. My wish list includes: Sam Fehoko, Tyrone Sonier, Blake Collier, Marlin Williams, and Julius Howard (any guy named Julius just sounds like a hitting LB).

At DE I'd like to see Brandon Williams and Sandy Riley more. I think they can be aggressive and get to the ball better than Ratliff or Howard. Maybe Brandon Sharpe will get well enough to start playing?

At DT I still like Rajon Henley and Richard Jones to start. Whitlock hasn't been what I thought he would be and Agoucha is still a red-shirt.

I hope these front 7 keep turning up the intensity each week, because nationally, Tech is still under the radar and in the big 12 we're still not getting any respect. I admit we haven't played stellar teams, but they're coming so we need to be ready.

As a side note. I got the joy of rubbing the UT fans noses in their own feces after their drubbing by K state saturday. When I got back to work it was the predictable "get Colt Mccoy out of there" talk, and there seemed to be no diminution in the arrogance. After talking to a co-worker about the game I told him to not look past Tech because that may have been why UT lost to K state. His response was "we'll look past Tech", because we aren't going to be a problem for UT. I kept silent and thought to myself, good, keep that attitude and November 10 we'll see where that gets you. Even when pounded by an unranked team, they still drip with arrogance. Maybe that's why the whole country hates them?

by CoachT on Oct 1, 2007 6:25 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs