Double-T Nation News:
Does anyone else find it strange how Texas Tech has evolved over the offseason? At the beginning of the offseason hype, Texas Tech was pegged as a preseason favorite, and were/are, for the most part media darlings over the long course of the summer. In fact, ESPN ranks the Red Raiders as the #12 team heading into the season. Now, it seems somewhat fashionable for prognosticators to bad-mouth Texas Tech, all wanting to be on the side who says that Texas Tech isn't all that great.
Now, Captain Leach has attempted to introduce a little bit of humility to the team, taking Eric Morris, Daniel Charbonnet and Jamar Wall to the Big 12 Media Day. Leach is all about sending messages, and this instance is no different. Without a doubt we are going to see Leach address why we're not seeing Graham Harrell, Michael Crabtree and Louis Vasquez (perhaps even Rylan Reed) represent Texas Tech, and there's no doubt in my mind that he's wanting these guys to understand that it's not about them, it's about the team.
Heading in to the pre-season hype machine that is the Big 12 Media Day, Captain Leach probably felt that this team needed a dose of, "it's not about any individual, it's about the team", and I can't fault him for that. I've often thought that it must be incredibly difficult for a coach to reign in college football player egos, most of them probably think that they know everything (I know I did at that age), but sometimes guys need to be knocked down a peg or two, someone has got to let them know that this year has got to be about the team and not any one individual.
I can't wait for Monday to roll around so we can see what Captain Leach has to say about his team and I would imagine that we'll receive a healthy dose of team unity from the players attending the Big 12 Media Day.
Okay, I think I've figured this out a bit, we have DTN's profile, again, please feel free to join in as a friend (I'm up to 12 - Woooot!) and the DTN group. Thinking about this a little last night, it dawned on me that Facebook will be a great way to organize a DTN day at one of the games, or at the very least figure out where we can find a few cold ones before the game, talk a little football, etc.
Texas Tech Football:
RRS.com is running down the Key Red Raiders and today they are on #18, Rajon Henley. A good read this morning.
ESPN's Tim Griffin ranks the Big 12 non-conference schedules, and predictably, Texas Tech ranked last:
12. Texas Tech: The Red Raiders' game against Tulsa fell through at the last minute when Golden Hurricane coach Todd Graham opted to take a late pass. That forced Tech to add Division I-AA Massachusetts at the last minute. Look for the Red Raiders to post pinball numbers against Division I-AA Eastern Washington in the opener. Previous Tech teams have struggled in games like the one against Nevada, but that shouldn't matter to this team. And the game against SMU might be the first six-hour regulation game in college football history, considering all the passing that will be going on by the two teams.
Realistically, this is a pretty crappy non-conference schedule and I think we can all appreciate the fact that Griffin acknowledges the Tulsa/Eastern Washington fiasco, but it's still a bad schedule. I do think that some of DTN's readers will rest a little better knowing that Griffin gets the situation that Texas Tech was in, but ultimately, it isn't good.
I haven't had time to really even take a look at this, but the Spread Offense is taking a look at defending the Spread Offense Passing Attack.