The blogosphere has erupted (and when I say erupted, I mean two prominent bloggers wrote about it) with talk of Harrell passing for 6,000 yards. Starting off with ESPN's Big 12 Blogger Tim Griffin who took notice of a Captain Leach line about throwing for a few more yards (which by the way was asked on DTN long before) and Griffin says this:
The Texas Tech program under Leach has obviously produced the biggest passing numbers in college football history. And that's why I'm thinking that having the first passer to toss for 6,000 yards would be kind of Leach's "man on the moon" moment that would truly provide his program with some kind of historical permanence.
Dr. Saturday is concerned about Harrell's right arm and what it would take to reach that lofty goal:
It's not very likely he'll improve on a tremendous 71.8 completion percentage, either, meaning Harrell will either have to throw more (hang around longer in lopsided blowouts, maybe?) or get more out of each throw -- if his total number of attempts is the same (he threw up 713 passes last year, almost 55 per game), Harrell's average would have to improve from 8.0 yards per pass last year to 8.4 to reach 6,000 yards. That's within reason, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Granted, I think it's neat and fun to talk about reaching lofty statistical goals, and perhaps this is a case of me being numb to outrageous passing yards or gaudy offensive numbers, but at this point, I only care about one number, which is the total number of wins. Please don't doubt my alliegences because I love Captain Leach's Air Raid offense, it makes for incredibly entertaining football, but I think I've moved on a bit from being fascinated with huge numbers to being focused on just winning.
I know, how very high-minded of DTN, but as a fan I think I've reached that tipping point of appreciating the offensive numbers and the means to a hopeful end, which is just winning on Saturday.