This is a rundown of the BCS selection process and where Texas Tech fits into that. Let me start off by stating that it is highly, highly unlikely that Tech can make a BCS bowl at this point. With UT in the top 4 and not in the Big XII championship game, it virtually means "game over" for Texas Tech's BCS hopes.

Read on after the break to find out why

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Post your thoughts and all that here. Some things to think about:

 

• Tech D was dominated up front, a symptom?
• Did Harrell have an off night, or did OU do something on Defense that other teams were unable to do?
• Cotton bowl?

Please keep in mind, this is the situation:

Tech, UT and OU are in a 3-way tie. The tiebreaker is BCS ranking. For TTU to win the South, we simply need OU to lose to OSU next Saturday. OU is rooting for TTU while UT is rooting for OU. We are rooting against OU and really don't care what UT does.

Week 2 of the DTN Roundtable. Read up me hearties.

1) Dez Bryant is the only wide receiver on OSU's roster who has caught a significant number of balls. Should Tech double Bryant? (They do have a legitimate Tight End in Pettigrew who torched us a few times last year)

NM99 - My first reaction was yes, because the only plays I have seen for OSU were the highlight reels. I just reviewed the play by play versus Texas and Mizzou. It seems to me that they are much more dependant on big runs from Hunter (and he gets ALOT). You can't defend everything, but you have to take away as much as possible and make them play with the weaker parts of their offense. Man up on Bryant and force him to beat the man coverage. Our defense did a heck of a job against Texas and KU in man coverage. They are much better passing teams, and McCoy in particular is a better QB. I think we stick with that and force Robinson to make perfect throws if he wants to connect with Bryant. Otherwise we have to bring in a safety, which could concede the run.

Kayakyakr - I'm saying that TTU should man up against Bryant with cover 2 over the top for the first 2 series. If we can stop Hunter with the front 7, then nothing matters: roll over the safety on bryant every play, and play base defense. If not, I would rather give up a few plays on low-percentage throws than lots of plays on runs.

Tech92 - I think Tech should actually stack up to stop the run and maybe roll a safety over the top on Bryant. He is king of the jump ball play, so we may not have much of an answer for that. But if we can make OSU rely on the pass, I like our chances of getting pressure on Robinson and letting our LBs make a play on him when he runs.

Seth C - This makes me nervous. If McNeill moves a safety over to help with Bryant then Pettigrew could have a field day over the middle of the field, not to mention, not having an extra safety to help with the run game. If I had to choose, I'd probably continue to play it fairly conservative since this seems to be working fairly well at this point. Mix up coverages and hope like hell that Bryant doesn't get deep. Bront Bird, Marlon Williams and Brian Duncan are going to have to have huge days either stuffing the run, or helping out in coverage, probably Pettigrew.

djollie111 - That’s a hard decision.  I’m a little wary of complicating the defensive scheme by  game-planning around Bryant.  I think the secondary has improved a lot over the past 2-3 weeks.  However, the corner spot opposite Wall is a liability, as seen in many games.  I think it was Nebrska’s Joe Ganz that went after that side repeatedly, and was successful.  I trust L.A. Reed to put up a better fight against Bryant just because of Reed’s size and athleticism.  If Reed’s in, leave the scheme alone.  If Nickerson’s in, double Bryant.


More after the break...

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I am heading into Lubbock this weekend, kinda a last minute drive. I've been hearing a lot of bad things about scalpers selling counterfeit tickets this year. But in the first place, I've never had to buy a ticket from a scalper and I'm not really sure how you do that in Lubbock. So, what wisdom do you guys have that you could impart upon me? (that I try to get a ticket to get into the game hinges on my friends being able to get into the game as students as well. It shouldn't be as big of a problem this week as it was last week to get in for them, though, right?)

Eric Stephens decommited from Minnesota last night to commit to the Red Raiders. Some stats:

Eric Stephens

Position: RB
Rivals Profile
Scout Profile
ESPN Profile
Ht: 5'8"
Wt: 180 lbs
Forty: 4.5 secs
High School: Timberview (Mansfield, Tx)

Kid has a sick spin move. Check out his video on ESPN. He's not an absolute burner, but runs with a power that is much greater than his size (which gets me excited once he's able to put on some college size).

In case you're counting, that's 6 4 stars, including 5 highschoolers, of the 17 commits in this year's class.

Welcome to Texas Tech, and Git Your Guns Up!

For the first week, I present to you the DTN Roundtable. We got together to answer a set of questions about TTU, football, and our thoughts on it all. Keep in mind that these questions are all reader submitted and I think we'll be doing another next week, so please do ask a new set of questions. Please email questions to roundtable.dtn@gmail.com Questions and answers follow after the break. Read, it's good stuff!

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The Texas Tech special teams have been on the top of a lot of people’s minds lately. It’s a unit that can be characterized in much the same way as one of its focal members: the deep snapper. When it does its job, no one notices, but when things go wrong, well, people start calling for the kicker’s, holder’s and that snapper’s heads. It’s not too out of the question, either. In the last two games, Texas Tech was put on the ropes by a missed extra point in overtime against Nebraska as well as suffering a 3 point swing on a blocked extra point against Texas A&M.

People say that it is unacceptable that a top ten Texas Tech team doesn’t have a solid option for extra points. So what are our options? Read on after the break.

 

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Wrote up some grades for the team and I figured you'd like to read them. I'm classically harsh on the team and hate the bend-don't-break defense but I try to be pretty fair.

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So all that railing that people did on him was for nothing. He'll be playing in the first game.

 

Accordingly, they overlooked a credit and that credit let him reach the time required.

I also want to mention that fanshots need to have a "quick thought" option where we can just post text. I don't have a link and I don't want to get a link so I can't write a fanshot, but there isn't enough here for a fanpost.

Bear with me, this is a rough, in-progress look at the role our running game has played in the past and a question of what role it should play in the future. I feel that we should start with finding out what has worked and what hasn't worked in the running game so we can, as an inconsequential online entity, point out the direction that we feel Mike Leach should take in the further development of the running game. Yes, I say we because I'm hoping for input. Most of my thoughts on the matter are anecdotal (though I suppose I could look up old game footage, I'm not going to do that right this instant), so feel free to correct me and I will adjust.

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