Double-T Nation News:
Rain, rain, go away.
For all of you out in Lubbock, I hope you've dried out and you've all stayed safe.
When I watched the news last night, a large portion of the west side of Hurricane Ike would be headed for my small town that I live in right around game-time, but now, at least according to StormPulse, maybe not (I'm about 1/2 a hour east of Dallas), which would probably render my dish useless.
In any event my petty concerns are nothing compared to those who may lose their lives or homes and my thoughts are with all of those in Houston, Galveston and everywhere else that's affected by Hurricane Ike.
Thank you Plains Capital Bank, who donated $1 million for the East side expansion of Jones AT&T Stadium.
Texas Tech Football:
Check out all of DTN's previews of the SMU game from earlier this week.
LAJ's Don Williams has a funny feature on Rajon Henley and Brandon Williams, roommates, along with Adrian Reese, like to goof on each other and sound like two good guys. Go read the whole thing, it's funny and you get to know two good Red Raiders. I thought this quote from Ruffin McNeill was a pretty funny visual:
"I always talk about how I can whoop both of them with one hand," McNeill said. "But one of them sets me up and the other one hides, and then he’ll come out of nowhere and they’ll grab me. You can never catch one of them by himself, because they’re never by themselves."
LAJ's Don Williams also has an update on the field:
Firefighters arrived at the waterlogged field at about 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jones said, where water measured 2 feet deep at the edges of the turf. Overall, Jones estimated 800,000 gallons of rain water accumulated overnight on the field.Within five hours, firefighters had cleared the rainwater from the field. Fifteen members of the department used two fire trucks to vacuum water into hoses and on to the city’s drainage system, where it’ll wind up in Yellowhouse Canyon, the mayor said.
A restored Tech pumping system finished the job, Jones said.
Williams also previews today's game and thought this quote by Captain leach about his quarterback, Graham Harrell, was interesting:
"I thought he tried to make too much happen," Leach said. "He’s real motivated, works real hard. I think sometimes he tries to be too sharp. He needs to not worry about trying to make too much happen - just let the game come to you."
Perhaps this is in reference to Harrell trying to get the ball down the field on those out patterns? So I guess it was Harrell who was making those decisions to go deep, be perfect, when it just wasn't there? My theory earlier this week, that Leach & Co. game-planned it that way, may not be accurate as it appears that Leach is saying that it was Harrell who was trying to make too much happen. Leson learned: take what the defense gives you.
The LAJ also has their preview articles, a good way to spend a Saturday morning:
FWST's Dwain Price says what a lot of you say, that so far there's been nothing special about Texas Tech's two wins. Here's Captain Leach on the team still trying to figure it out:
"If you just look around the country today, everybody’s trying to put some pieces together and shape it up and do stuff when they can," Leach said. "Some teams win, some teams lose, but everybody is battling through just like they always do the first three games."
Leach echos those thoughts again about trying to make too much happen:
"The offensive line kept doing their job [against Nevada], they were patient enough and pretty soon the quarterback and receivers got in sync and started doing their things with a little more precision," Leach said. "A lot of times out there on offense, we try to make too much happen, and we’re our own worst enemy, and we need to just start making routine plays."