Taking Blame, I: It seems as if there's some questions as to whether or not Captain Mike Leach took any blame for the loss and in his post-game press conference (pdf) he put the blame of the loss squarely on the staff and last night, Leach talked with the sportacular NewsChannel 11's Pete Christy where Leach again blamed the staff (the video is after the jump) for not getting through the players ready for the game. Leach has plenty of faults, and to be quite honest, there isn't a coach alive who is perfect. I would imagine that Florida fans or Texas fans are critical of their coaches as well, but to say that Leach is not taking responsibility for last week's loss is simply inaccurate.
Taking Blame, II: LAJ's Don Williams (there is a video that starts when you click on the page, so turn down your speakers) talked with DC Ruffin McNeill who also takes responsibility for the loss and readily accepts blame from the defensive side of the ball:
"I tell you what’s frustrating is when I feel like I let coach (Mike) Leach down. That’s frustrating to me. That’s the first person I don’t want to let down is coach Leach. I take full responsibility for one-third of this whole deal, and I didn’t uphold my one-third. The biggest thing is I let coach Leach down and the staff and the kids.’’
That's fairly telling, but McNeill remains optimistic:
"We just have to learn from this game as a player and as a coach,’’ McNeill said. "Learn from history. We can’t do it over, but we can learn from it. I tell you what, today was one of the best Tuesday practices we’ve had, to be honest. We haven’t had any bad practices. We didn’t have bad practices last week, really. We had good practices every day, but it was a good practice today. So the kids have bounced back and so have we.’’
LB Bront Bird says that the team just didn't do what they were supposed to do on so many levels:
"We did everything you’re not supposed to do,’’ Bird said. "We didn’t have low pads. We didn’t use our hands well. We didn’t get off blocks. That hurt us. A&M played a wonderful game, and we didn’t rise to the challenge.’’
Again, this staff is accepting responsibility and the players are accepting responsibility. And I'm also going to assume that taking responsibility is fine, but we also want McNeill to show me the baby.
Notebook: LAJ's Don Williams has an injury update and it appears that S Will Ford and S Brett Dewhurst are still not practicing. Both Ford and Dewhurst have been really good this year and not having them against Kansas will be tough.
Torres Big Play: DT's Adam Coleman features WR Alexander Torres, who is making his mark on opposing defenses and his teammates. WR coach Simmons loves what Torres brings to the team:
"I love having guys that you can depend on," Simmons said. "In college coaching, really our job is no different than a manager at any fast food restaurant. You’re gonna depend on 18-19-and 20-year-old guys for your livelihood, to make your living. When you got guys like him that you can count on, it makes life a lot easier from our standpoint."
And Captain Leach believes that Torres is the most consistent receiver on the team:
"Most consistent receiver we have right now, most consistent receiver we have," Tech coach Mike Leach said. "We have several guys doing some good things, but if we were to say who is our best receiver, right now it is Alex Torres."
Mangino - Lighten Up On Leach: KansasCity.com's Brady McCollough writes that Kansas Jayhawks coach Mark Mangino comes to the defense in his former colleague, Mike Leach, as Leach is being criticized for his comments yesterday:
"There’s pretty girls everywhere," KU coach Mark Mangino said. "Tech’s got their share, KU has their share. We’re partial. We think KU has the best. I think you can have fun with it. That’s what Mike is trying to do."
Snip
"Mike’s the type of guy, he speaks what he’s thinking," Mangino said. "To some degree, I think it’s good. You can’t accuse him of being a hypocrite. He tells it like it is."
Texas Tech Links: TR's dedfischer has his post-morten from the TAMU game . . . TWAHS.com's Ryan Hyatt wonders if Spike Dykes had coached in a different era . . .
Kansas Jayhawk Links: KUsports.com's Dugan Arnett thinks that RB Jake Sharp is back on track . . . RRS.com's Joe Yeager dives into the numbers with KU and TTU . . .
Trabtree Highlights: For those of you who don't know why I refer to Michael Crabtree as Michael Trabtree, it's a bit of a call-back to a DFW radio station, The Ticket, specifically BAD Radio, and the proliferation of this piece of audio from Deion Sanders during the NFL draft where he says, "Oh, a phong is ringing," proclaims the very living Gil Brandt as the, "late Gil Brandt," and "Michael Trabtree." To make up for all of that, he's Trabtree's highlights from his NFL debut:
Michael Crabtree NFL Debut Highlights (via PurdueVIDS)
Additional promised video after the jump.
Neglected Video: NewsChannel 11's Pete Christy:
Fox34 on the thought that QB Seth Doege will start: