Odds and Ends
Seriously: This is related to football, but is this really a story? I'm a pretty sensitive guy and I'd like to say that I'm fairly self-aware, but would there ever be a cover that could be created that was appropriate? I mean you're talking about a caricature laying a beat-down on another caricature. Let's move on to football.
Texas Tech Football
19th Commitment: I don't have time to do a full write-up this morning, but the Red Raiders received their 19th commitment late yesterday, James Madison (Dallas, TX) offensive lineman Javius Townsend. For now, please see the ESPN (with film) Rivals and Scout profiles. I'm trusting the ESPN profile here in that they list him at 6-2/300 and that he's better suited to play guard in college than tackle, although Townsend is playing left tackle in high school. He does move really well for a big guy and he's just looking to block someone the entire play.
Rice in Focus: LAJ's Don Williams writes that the Red Raiders are not looking past the Rice Owls to the Texas game and OG Brandon Carter says that Rice is the focus:
"I don’t really think anybody’s focusing on Texas right now,’’ Tech guard Brandon Carter said. "We have a game this week. Rice has a good team and, really, we go out there every day like it’s the biggest game of the year.
"We practice hard, and we don’t take any reps for granted. I think the whole team sees it like that. The coaching staff does a good job of making sure we don’t look past anybody.’’
And QB Taylor Potts agrees:
"We’re not thinking about week three right now,’’ quarterback Taylor Potts said. "We’re thinking about the Rice game. Right now, I’m thinking about what we’re going to do to be able to beat Rice and be real good this week. We’ve got to have a great week of execution this week in practice. I think we all know that, and I think that’ll happen this week.’’
Player are Tired . . . Already: TWAHSB.com's Ryan Hyatt notes that some of the players complained about being tired during Saturday's game:
Mike Leach also cringed a little yesterday when he heard his players talking about fatigue and conditioning during the Monday presser. The Lead Pirate sent a message to his defense saying they needed to, "Cowboy Up and get off the field" if they were tired. The Pirate added that he had no sympathy for 18 and 19 year-olds that couldn’t go hard for 57 plays. Classic Pirate.
Bennie Wylie will probably ensure this week that no Tech players feel like they aren’t ready for Rice if I were wondering . . .
And the direct quote from Saturday (LAJ's Don Williams):
"Well, they’re just going to have to cowboy up a little bit and play 57 plays,’’ Leach said with a chuckle. "You know, God forbid a football player should have to go out and play 57 plays at the ripe old age of 18 to 22. Now isn’t that something? I don’t want to hear anything about being tired.’’
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
Texas Tech Somewhere Between 23 and 35: SI's Andy Staples and CFN are ranking teams and the Red Raiders are ranked #23 by Staples and #35 by CFN. That seems to be a good indication of folks, and I would include myself in this group, who just can't get a handle on this year's squad. The UND game had too many mixed signals.
Rice Links: There's only one link on the Owls today and the Chron's Jeffrey Martin features OL Keshawn Carrington, who folks have told that he needs to be a model. Here's Carrington's bio, I'll let you decide for yourself.
Big 12 Links: AOL Fanhouse's Terrance Harris has some Big 12 notes . . . NewsOK's Jake Trotter on the Sooners picking up the pieces after losing to BYU and TE Jermaine Gresham . . .
Neglected Audio and Video: KCBD's Pete Christy had a one-on-one with Captain Mike Leach . . . Fox34 with offensive highlights from Saturday's win: