Double-T Nation News:
I'm going to dispense with the offensive and defensive drive charts, unless there is a public outcry for me to continue doing them. They take forever (okay, really only 3 or 4 hours) and I'm not sure that you guys actually read them, which is fine. Some days chickens, some days feathers. I can't win them all. I figure if you guys want to comment on any particular drives, you can use the animated drive chart.
I will be doing a fancy report card, so expect that later in the morning.
Texas Tech Football:
The Texas Tech Red Raiders beat the SMU Mustangs 43-7 (boxscore). In the Texas Tech Post Game Quotes, Captain Leach had quite a bit of praise for the defense:
"Defensively I couldn't be happier. We talked about seeing how good we can be and we are going to take some things from this game and learn and improve defensively. We're going to see where our efforts take us. I was proud of our kids out there. Daniel Charbonnet did some great things, he is a very versatile player. Darcel McBath looked really good. He just exploded downhill and made things happen. McKinner Dixon just went out there and really looked good today, and it has been a long time coming. There were times when he looked unstoppable and he needs to keep doing that. The defensive front set the tempo defensively."
Also, for those of you who think the defense played okay, according to Ruffin McNeill, in the locker room, they have higher expectations too:
"I think it's a work in progress. We have higher expectations in the locker room then everyone else does. We want to improve each week and daily as a group and individuals. We took a little more of a step to where we can be, but were not even close to where we expect to be."
And my offensive player of the game, Baron Batch (I'm so happy for this guy):
"God is good, he is. You know, it's great to get out there and get tired in a game and know how it feels like to almost cramp up. I had a blast; it was a lot of fun. I feel like I'm getting better every day, especially in the game situations. I'm just seeing things a bit better and feel like the game is slowing down for me."
Finally, SMU head coach June Jones had this to say about the Texas Tech defense:
"They played very conservatively, they've just got good team speed and they do a good job in their scheme. And if you can play us in a 4-1 defense and we can't run the ball, you're going to have a problem."
Jones is right, Texas Tech essentially lined up in a 4-3 all night, I'm trying to remember a time where the defense rushed more than 4, and if the Red Raiders did, it wasn't a bunch. Very vanilla and the defense still did a pretty good job of stopping SMU.
LAJ's Don Williams writes his game story and Captain Leach doesn't sound satisfied with the play of the offense, despite putting up 43 points (should have been 50):
There’ll be some yards, and they did some explosive things," Leach said. "But until we get this ironed out, we’re just getting by with those guys. Numbers can be deceiving. What’s deceiving about it is we’re not doing our best."Crabtree, who turns 21 today, had three big-play TDs. Ones from 23 and 47 yards helped Tech (3-0) build a 22-0 halftime lead, followed by a 50-yard strike to begin the second half.
Leach said he has a senior quarterback aiming passes and said he’s watching Harrell "throw the ball short and out of bounds all the time." He ripped the receivers for dropping balls and being too easily knocked off their routes.
"What we’ve done (on offense), quite honestly, for 21/2 games I don’t consider acceptable," Leach said. "I don’t know at what point they think we arrived. This group of quarterbacks and receivers, we haven’t done anything impressive. I don’t think it’s impressive at all other than some numbers inflated by some explosiveness and the efforts of others."
It's comforting to know that Captain Leach sees the same things you see, Harrell is off, for whatever reason, and the receivers did miss quite a few catches. As long as he sees it, I'm okay. I believe it will be corrected.
LAJ's Adam Zuvanich also writes how the running game is bolstered by Baron Batch. Leach talks about the running game:
"It didn’t really surprise any of us, I don’t think," said Leach, who also credited the run blocking of Tech’s offensive line. "They’ve all complemented each other, so we kind of expected that."
Williams then opines about how nice it's been to be able to rely on the defense. Here's Williams with who gets the credit:
If you want the reason for McNeill’s bunch being able to rise up in over-and-over fashion, look to the front four, where nine guys are getting regular playing time. That means four starters aren’t getting drained.Through the first three games, Tech has been able to take out the starting front four and sub in a full second group - McKinner Dixon, Richard Jones, Brandon Sesay and Sandy Riley - and not get burned. The Raiders have been able to save a talented pass rusher such as Daniel Howard mostly for specialty duty, allowing him to enter and play sic-em from "Jet" fronts and the team’s "Joker" standup rush spot, the latter from which he got a sack Saturday.
DMN's Bobbi Roquimore writes a game story, again focusing on Leach not being impressed with the offense. Here's the Captain:
"Numbers can be deceiving, and what's deceiving about it is we're not doing our best," Leach said. "Just because you get big numbers doesn't mean that you measured up, did the best you could, competed with yourself and had a winning effort as far as what you could do."We're in for a long year."
Was it that bad? Honestly, though, I'm glad Leach expects perfection.
Roquimore also quite a bit more on PlainsCapital Bank's $1 million donation. Here's Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance:
"This will give us another full floor of suites and another full floor of stadium club seats," he said. "That's been a very popular thing. We're sold out in both the suites and seats."The stadium expansion fundraising effort was announced Aug. 7. Hance said he's been working hard to secure the additional $5 million so that Tech can start construction immediately following the 2008 season.
"We're proud that we're almost there," he added. "We're at 80 percent of what we need and we plan to have the rest of it by the end of November."