5 THINGS WE KNOW ON A FRIDAY: 7/16/10

1.  The looming QB battle between Taylor Potts and Steven Sheffield is the best at that position in the last 40-years for Texas Tech. No two players have fought for the job coming in with as many skins on the wall as these two.  For the record, I think Potts wins the battle but Tech fans can’t lose either way. It should be one of the great stories around the Big 12 and the national media this August, but probably won’t. Too bad for them.

2.  Tiger Woods will never again be the consistent, clear-cut top golfer in the world. He’ll be amongst the best, he’ll have some nice runs at number one, but never again the dominant top golfer. Does that mean he won’t catch Jack? Don’t know…ask me again  at the end of 2011.

3.  The toughest athletes in Lubbock aren’t playing for Texas Tech. They are the Lubbock Firefighter Combat Challenge team. If you’ve never seen this stuff you’ve got to watch it. You can catch them in action in the Hubbbaplex in a few weeks.  They could always use some more financial support so if you’ve got a business in Lubbock and want to help out, do it! Thanks to Carpet Tech for the great support they’re giving these fine representatives of Lubbock. Rumor has it they were going to do a calendar to help raise money, but the City Manager spiked the idea because it might not present a “professional image”. That’s a laugh. Someone downtown lecturing the firefighters about being professional. . .

4. If you knew half of what went on in college football you probably wouldn’t be a fan. Then again, if most folks knew half of what went on at other businesses they might never shop there, eat there or purchase their services. Sometimes ignorance is both bliss and good for business.

5.  Has anyone noticed Gerald Myers is still the Athletic Director at Texas Tech? Just wondering.

Well, I guess winter was just waiting for Texas Tech to wrap-up the regular season before arriving on the South Plains! I must admit that it feels good and gets my blood pumping more for the Christmas season than the recent warm temps. I like seasons.

Speaking of seasons, bowl speculation season is now upon us after Tech’s lackluster win in Arlington over the Baylor Bears last night 20-13.  The stage was all set for Mike Leach and crew to announce their presence with authority for either a Holiday or perhaps even return trip to the Cotton Bowl.  The Tech fans showed up great. The stadium was rocking and even the Texas Tech defense was ready to do its part. The offense on the other hand laid the kind of egg that doesn’t exactly wow bowl reps and TV execs going into December.

Don Williams has a fantastic write-up of this game so we won’t comment on the X’s and O’s much other than to say again this team just doesn’t have the talent and experience this year to not play its best offensively and expect to win much less dominate quality opponents. Luckily it was a beat-up Baylor team last night and not some one else that might have really sent Tech fans into December on a sour note wondering where exactly this program is after the 2009 season.

And that gets us to the end of season battle damage report and trying to figure exactly how to rate this 8-4 team.

I predicted Texas Tech to go 8-4 so I’ve got no problems with the record. I think that’s right on par with the talent level that this team had compared to the teams they were playing. Of course that was all done in August before injuries to Tech and most other Big 12 South teams played a role in how we’d look at each game week-to-week. That’s what will make this season so frustrating for Tech fans. Not the final record, but how the Red Raiders got there.

If I’d told you in August that you’d lose at Houston and get stomped by A&M at home you’d think Tech was missing out on a bowl for the first time since Bill Clinton was President. If I’d told you Tech would smoke Oklahoma in Lubbock and dominate Nebraska in Lincoln you’d probably be making plans for a BCS trip.

The inconsistency of the season, mainly because of injuries to Taylor Potts at QB, numerous offensive line issues, twitter-gate and Facebook-scandal, the emergence of a split fan-base over Potts vs. Steven Sheffield and a defense that could look great and weak all on one drive drove Tech fans to drinking. Thankfully because of the vote last May by Lubbockites it was a short trip this fall!

Fair or not many fans will look at 2009 as a season of missed opportunity. You got to face Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor all with-out their biggest weapons and you played an A&M team that no one thought could stay on the field with you and you came away with a 2-2 record out of that bunch.

The Houston game for many was decided not by plays on the field but by game-management and decision making on the sidelines by the Lead Pirate. How different might the season had been for Texas Tech had there been no 4th and one debacle and instead Tech takes the points and wins the game? Is there a Brandon Carter post-game melt-down that leads to a suspension and perhaps contributed to Potts getting waylaid by New Mexico? Does Twitter and Facebook-gate ever happen? Does Sticks even see the field other than mop-up duty after that? Does the Tech team team play with greater confidence after a Houston win and sweeps into the A&M game on a massive high playing for BCS hopes? I won’t even get into the ramifications of the cheap money-grab of moving the Texas game up and what it may have cost the program in the final analysis.

No, 8-4 in a rebuilding year is nothing to sneeze at and Tech fans should be impressed with how hard the Lead Pirate worked to keep things together through a year of odd occurences the likes we haven’t seen in his tenure in Lubbock. Had Tech “won the ones they were supposed to and lost the ones the were supposed to” this year most fans would be pretty pleased waking up today knowing it is either Holiday or Alamo Bowl for the Red Raiders.

As it is though, many will look back and wonder what might have been. That’s human nature. That’s college football.

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The Lead Pirate admitted Monday that he shouldn’t have taken Taylor Potts out of the game Saturday night in Stillwater during his Monday presser. 

Don Williams has the nice write-up that puts the comments into context, something most media places don’t bother to do any more.

The real story now becomes who gets the nod this week against OU. In my view Steven Sheffield just isn’t healed enough to bring his best qualities to the field, namely his mobility and ability to move the pocket and throw on the run. Because of that I think Potts is the best option. The Pirate needs to trust his gut and swing his QB Selector Sword better than he has lately. It is odd to see Leach waffle like this over the QB spot, something he’s never done in the past.

The move against OSU was one of panic, the move to decide who starts against OU won’t have to be born of such circumstance. Leach has plenty of time to decide and judging from his comments who ever you see start will be who you see finish. I’m hoping that is Potts, but I’ve got a funny feeling Tech fans will have something to talk about come Saturday morning when the starters trot out on the field.

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Ruffin McNeill couldn’t get his defense off the field and Mike Leach couldn’t figure out which QB to put on the field Saturday night in Stillwater. In between Oklahoma State proved they were stronger, tougher, faster and just a slightly better football team than the Red Raiders as they won 24-17 to extend the home team’s winning streak to eight games in this Big 12 series.

On a night when Texas Tech couldn’t find much of anything on offense and no stops on defense the big story may very well end up being Next Week. Next Week as in who will be you’re QB. To be sure, Leach panicked in the first half when he pulled Taylor Potts. It has become more and more obvious that the Lead Pirate wants anyone other than Potts out there and only went back to him late when it was obvious Steven Sheffield couldn’t play and might end up injured if he stayed out there. Even ABC analyst Craig James, father of Tech WR Adam James, was getting more and more adamant that Sticks didn’t need to be out there playing. Finally Leach heeded the call and put Potts back in. Too late. Would Tech have won if Potts had stayed out there? Will never know. I would however have liked to have seen him have the chance. Back to that in a minute.

Ruff’s bunch hung in there for a while tonight but it was more of the same from the A&M game when they got blown off the ball, laid back with the LB’s and couldn’t get a stop when needed as OSU pounded and pounded the ball at the Red Raiders. It was ironic that it played out like this tonight considering it was here in Stillwater two years ago that Lyle Setencich lost his job and Ruff got promoted. One of the complaints against Lyle was a bend but don’t break defensive scheme, a scheme many attributed to Leach’s directive to not give up quick scores. Tonight it was throwback night as the Tech defense bled to death by paper cuts. No big plays given up and no chance to get the offense back out there. Sounds familiar.

You can’t just say it was the defense tonight and you can’t lay it all on an offense that doesn’t have a leader because the Lead Pirate won’t let it have one. This was a program loss tonight.

All of this points though to the uncomfortable truth that OSU is a better team this year. Tech fans won’t want to hear it. In fact it may be the toughest thing for a fan to hear, that they’re team isn’t good enough. You always want to blame someone, anyone for a loss. A coach’s call. A players bad performance. An officials call. Anything. Tonight though, OSU proved that in 2009 they’re better. Ouch.

The A-J’s Don Williams has the initial game report.

Here’s their Notebook section as well.

The Tulsa World is also chiming in tonight.

Now, back to Sticks, Potts and Leach.

What an odd love triangle. . .

I’ll stand by what I’ve said all along and that is that Leach should have stood by Potts much more publicly after his injury. I think he pulled him far to early tonight in a panic move and it is a tribute to Potts that he had the maturity to keep his head in the game and nearly save his 2.5 million dollar a year coach’s butt tonight. Potts has taken more “garbage” this year from fans and others mainly because he hasn’t been supported by his coach. That bothers me.

I think we now know why Leach didn’t change QB’s at all during the previous years at Tech. It is becoming apparent this year that he may not have a solid grasp on how to handle having two QB’s. If you are a young coach out there and you want a primer on how to ruin a QB and how to compromise his ability to lead, just watch how Leach has handled Taylor Potts this year. I don’t know what and I don’t know why and I don’t pretend to have inside information, but there must be more than meets the eye between those two now. The TV cameras caught a nice exchange in the first half when Potts came to the sidelines before being benched. Potts was animated and Leach was not even looking at him. . . who knows. All I know is that something isn’t right.

So, now what happens?

You’ve got OU left who just pulverized an A&M team that manhandled you at home and a Baylor team that is already home for the holidays. You may or may not have Sticks available after watching him get hammered around tonight and you may or may not have a locker room split between your two QB’s. You also have a fan-base that is wondering exactly who is supposed to be running this team on the field. Fun.

Some of the challenges for this team are because of outside challenges. Most I think are coming from within. We’ll see how they respond next Saturday at 11:30.

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Thank God the open date has passed for the Red Raiders. Now we can move on to real stories again like whether Steven Sheffield will get to play QB for Texas Tech against OSU. The Lead Pirate got the internet fans going crazy yesterday when he said to the media that Sticks will try and get some reps in practice this week. Don’t read too much into that though. There’s a long way to go from taking a few reps to getting the start on the road at # 17 OSU. Tech fans need to remember that Taylor Potts was “medically cleared” to play at Nebraska but there was no way Leach and crew really wanted to throw him back out there. Same goes for Sticks this week. You got him if you desperately need him but you really have to hope and expect Potts to be the guy that gets it done Saturday.

The best attribute Sticks brings to the field is his ability to move and create inside and out of the pocket. You really can’t expect him to have all of that mobility back this week. It is unfair to him and the team to put him back out there when he can’t be the best he can be. I can’t see Leach doing that to his team, just like he didn’t do it with Potts earlier this year.

The more interesting question what happens next Saturday against OU IF Tech can go get the upset win on the road with Potts at QB. Does Leach stay with the hot-hand or does he bench Potts and go back to Sticks? If you thought there was a controversy before, wait til you see the fan-base howling about that call, either way it goes. We haven’t seen a fan-base more divided over a QB call in Lubbock since the 1970′s. Oh well, it does give folks something to talk about besides health care reform, so that’s a good thing.

Don Williams told us on The Show tonight and then finally talked the boys at the A-J into putting his story on the web that Texas Tech QB Steven “Sticks” Sheffield is most likely out for the Oklahoma State game. This shouldn’t come as as  shock to most folks that have been paying attention since the injury to his foot at Nebraska. I’m hoping Sticks will get to play in the OU game, but depending on who you talk to and on what day it is really up in the air that he makes it back for that last home game.

All of that begs the question of whether it is worth it to throw him back out there this season at all?

Mike Leach will trumpet the “game-day decision” line a few more times between now and OSU and that’s cool, ’cause that’s how Big Time Programs do it. Everyone knows the score anyhow though. It is time that the Lead Pirate throws his full support behind Taylor Potts at QB publicly and for all to see, Tech players included.

Much was made this year when Texas Tech players came out after Potts injury and publicly supported Sticks at a Monday newser. No shock. They were merely echoing what they were getting from their coaches. The players are smart enough to take their cues on what to say from Leach and staff and it was apparent that staff wasn’t throwing any roses Potts’ way after what Sheffield did in the UNM game. Fair enough.

The fans also picked up on the lack of institutional support for Potts and that in no small way led to many of them booing Potts and chanting “No More Potts” during the A&M loss. Pirate see, Pirate do.

Now it is time to make a choice and it looks like the choice has been foisted on Leach. If you want to win a big road game in the Big 12 South you’re most likely gonna have to do it with a guy that hasn’t exactly had the complete and full support of the team, fan base and maybe even coaches since the Houston game.

That has to change.

When Mike Leach gets done spreading the gospel of Tech in Bristol and beyond he can come back home and be a prophet in his own land and tell the masses how Taylor Potts is going to deliver a win in Stillwater. Seriously, it’s the least he can do for a guy that took one for the team. Literally. As in a brain inury. Remember?

For now we’ll wait for the off-week to drag on, but if the Captain wants to lead he’s got a Taylor-made issue waiting for him in Lubbock.

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After all this time, do we finally know the true identity of the 2009 Texas Tech Football Team? After beating back Kansas 42-21 thanks to a late defensive surge and a rediscovery of the running game, do we finally have the true ID of this year’s Tech team.

After an afternoon of odd game-management decisions by the Lead Pirate, pulling a QB, staggering around offensively and putting another crowd to sleep, the Red Raiders of 2009 showed up. Those Red Raiders run the ball. They play smash-mouth defense led by a front that harasses the QB at will and then takes delight in the occasional penalty for crossing the line. The Red Raiders of 2009 are everything Mike Leach’s teams haven’t been in the past. They’re hard-nosed.

Don Williams has the solid write-up here for those that missed Ron Franklin and Ed Cunningham grasping for straws on how to call this game. Hard to call it was because for the most part it strayed from the script for either team lately. Kansas never got their vaunted passing game under way thanks in no small part to Ruffin’s bunch and Seth Doege, getting his first start for Tech tried in vain to operate Leach’s offense behind a patchwork line minus Brandon Carter after the third play of the game.

More D. W. thoughts on the game.

Defense and bad game management decided the first half. Tech’s defense and Barron Batch decided the second half.

Speaking of the second half, welcome back Taylor Potts at QB. Remember him, Tech fans? The guy you booed and chanted, “No more Potts” about last week helped win you a game this week. It is a good thing he has a head injury. It probably made it easier to forget the fickle nature of the fans he was rewarding this week after last weeks bush-league treatment by a horde of anonymous souls. That the Lead Pirate had to go back to him shows how desperate he was for the win. Leach has done less defending of Potts this year than the Republican Party has of the latest Health Care Bill in Congress.  But put him back out there he did, and win  Potts did. Of course the credit will go everywhere else, but that is a subject for later.

For now, the big story is who these Red Raiders are. They’re tough. They’ve bounced back from the brink of a season on the edge and won. They don’t mind getting down and dirty. They’re everything but finesse this year. The question now becomes will the Pirate embrace the run-first for the better nature of who this team is? Steven Sheffield may or may not be back for the OSU game. I’m betting not. With Sticks Tech has looked like the old Leachian Tech, playing fast and loose with good tempo and blitzkrieg offense. Without him Tech needs to get physical like today.

Leach has an off-week minus a day of glad-handing and back-slapping at ESPN to redefine and retool this squad for the the final few games. If I’m Leach I’m backing Potts to the hilt and giving this team every reason to believe he is the man and can get it done; let alone giving the fan-base a reason to back the guy I think will be called upon to win in Stillwater and get Tech to a better bowl.

Leach has a chance here to do some things he hasn’t had to do in his tenure at Tech. He can rebuild a QB’s confidence and he can recharge a fan-base that was as BLAH as it has been in a longtime this past week. He’s got plenty of time between now and Stillwater. Less Fat Little Girlfriend talk and more frank talk about football will go along way for some Tech fans. We’ll see what happens after that.

In the meantime, Tech fans can enjoy a win that I don’t think would have happened five years ago. This Tech team showed again that they have a higher expectation of themselves and that they’re battled tested. Winning games on days you don’t have your best stuff are signs of a program on the rise. Five years ago, this team would have lost. Today, they’re getting to enjoy some time off knowing they can win when it gets ugly, even if the ugly is most of their own doing.

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What Happened?

I’m not just talking about what happened Saturday night with Texas A&M’s smashing of Texas Tech. I’m talking about what has happened since November 9, 2008. That was the day after Texas Tech ascended to the rarefied air of being 10-0 on the season and in the national spotlight after beating Texas and OSU in consecutive weeks at home. At that moment Tech had won 12 straight games going back to the end of 2007. Since that moment the Red Raiders are 6-5 in their last 11 games.

What changed?

The short answer would be nothing and everything. You played pretty much the same level of competition in the previous 12 games as the past 11.  Something has changed mentally around this program since then and it is hard to figure out just what it is.

The Lead Pirate has gone for being on 60 Minutes to just trying to find one QB that can play for 60 minutes. After avoiding injuries and controversy over who should be the trigger-man in his offense for the first nine years all that has changed this year.

After the fans’ chants of, “No More Potts” Saturday night and Mike Leach talking confidently about Seth Doege after the game you have to wonder if Tech is about to start their third QB of the year. That is of course if Doege can play as he got knocked around pretty good and was limping late in the game.

I hate to say it but I think that Potts has lost the confidence of his team, who couldn’t say enough after the New Mexico game about how they wanted Steven Sheffield out there, the coaches, fans and even himself. Rarely does it turn this quickly, but you just get the feeling it isn’t going to work out for Potts this year for a variety of reasons. Potts looked slow and “stature-like” said Leach and he was right. Of course he could have said that about his offensive linemen and defensive front, and they aren’t trying to play through a concussion! I just have to wonder if Potts is trying to come back too soon.

Back to our original thought though which is, what happened? Was the 12-game run a fluke? Did it happen because of a great, rare talent like Michael Crabtree just making crazy plays at home against Nebraska and Texas to artificially elevate the program briefly? Was Tech ever really top-ten material?

I don’t know.

I do know that for some Tech fans they’re having a hard time understanding how it can go from so good to so, well, so average so quickly.

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