Double-T Nation News:
Corn Nation and I Am The 12th Man have teamed up to discuss why the Missouri offense is so effective and how they are different than Texas Tech. I don't have time to comment on it this morning, other than to tell them that I thought it was tremendous work, but you should go check it out. There's even PowerPoint presentations. Great work.
Kansas Jayhawks - It's Business Time compares the Big 12 to The Office characters:
Oscar Martinez – Texas Tech: Flamboyant yet businesslike. Previous seasons we weren't really sure if the gay/south contender thing was for real, but this season there are no doubts as to the validity of our assumptions.Toby Flenderson - TAMU: Has been absent most of the season so far and no one really noticed. Also has some major injuries, not sure if we will hear from again.
I published this yesterday, but forgot to promote it to the front page, but SB Nation is aggregating all of their playoff baseball blogs onto one page. Pretty cool and a pretty easy way to follow these teams.
Texas Tech Football:
LAJ's Don Williams writes this morning that Texas Tech's goal is not just to have 50,000 fans in attendance, but to sellouts. Texas Tech assistant athletic director Dave Welsh had this to say about the SMU and UMass games:
"Very much shocked on the SMU and UMass games. People were very stunned," said Dave Welsh, Tech assistant athletic director for ticket operations. "I think that’s a great thing, because people would always assume that that’s not going to fill up. Despite our announcements the entire week for UMass that we were sold out, we had people coming in on Saturday when we opened and seemingly were dumbfounded when we told them we had no tickets left. It was like they didn’t believe us."
Briefly, in the Red Raiders Football Notebook, the biggest note is that TE Adrian Reese is on the 70-man travel squad, but there hasn't been an official decision as to whether or not they plan on burning his redshirt this year.
DMN's Brandon George writes about Shannon Wood's running efforts thus far. Here's George and Woods on what happened last year:
"It was tough to play and then not be able to," he said. "It was hard. There ain't no lying about it. But I'm happy with myself. I stuck with it."Leach wasn't playing a mind game last season, when he demoted Woods from starter to third string after the eighth game. Leach said he wasn't happy with Woods' work ethic or his attitude.
In a flash, Woods disappeared. Leach took his starting running back completely off the depth chart, putting him on the scout team. Woods didn't play the last four games. Woods was even sent home early from Florida for disciplinary reasons as Tech was preparing to play Virginia in the Gator Bowl.
"Obviously, my play wasn't like it was," Woods said of last season. "I don't think my mentality on the game has ever changed. I've always wanted to be productive.
"A lot of things with football and [away from] football go on. It depends on how you deal with those things. I felt like I was trying. But this year, it does feel different, maybe because I'm having a lot more fun. This is what football is all about."
DMN's Chuck Carlton goes around the Big 12 and is predicting a 1 point loss to K-State.
FWST's Dwain Price also writes about Shannon Woods journey from one of the best backs in the Big 12 to the scout team. Here's Price and Woods:
"Being on this level, your friends and everybody don’t have time to be like, 'Oh, this isn’t right,’ or 'I don’t like the way this is going,’ " Woods said. "You’ve got to go each week and focus on that team and go play."And when that’s going on, nobody’s worried about what you’re going to do and all that. You’ve just got to deal with it."
With the help of family and friends, Woods finally dealt with it. After adhering to Leach’s rules — along with some hard work and extra hours — Woods is back as Tech’s starting running back.
DT's Alex Ybarra looks at Texas Tech's first road game, focusing on K-State QB Josh Freeman and apparently the Davey O'Brien Foundation is highlighting Texas Tech vs. Kansas State as it's marquee matchup.
Miscellaneous Previews: The Kansas City Star picks Texas Tech in a shutout shootout . . . CFB Fearless Predictions picks Texas Tech by 11 . . .
Neglected Video: KAMC with running backs coach Seth Littrell, watching the game film of K-State (this is pretty good) . . . Fox34's Robert Giovannetti and Chris Level preview the Texas Tech offense vs. the Kansas State Defense . . . Fox34 also looks back to the last time K-State and Texas Tech met, October 15, 2005, and October 30, 2004 . . .