Texas Tech Football
The Spotlight Shifts: The spotlight is firmly on Texas Tech vs. Texas as there are more articles on this game than I can link this morning. There's no question in my mind that this is an important game for both teams for a number of reasons, including the fact that it's a conference game, it's an early game for the Longhorns who could use a resume booster as their fan base looks towards the national championship game (and I'm all about this type of attitude, assuming the Longhorns win), and it's the first road game for QB Taylor Potts, who has been at home the past two weeks, but that's Player of the Week Taylor Potts to you. And for those of you who don't remember why the Red Raiders moved up this game, it's all explained here by LAJ's Don Williams where your Captain Mike Leach considered a number of factors in signing off on this game:
"The school’s got a duty to help do the wise thing," he said. "You can get money on the front end, short term, but if it weakens the team overall — then all of a sudden they take a couple more losses that they wouldn’t have or they don’t go to as good a bowl as they might or they miss going to a bowl — you impact a lot of things.
"You impact recruiting. You impact your team’s performance that year. You impact your team’s performance the next year perhaps through recruiting. You impact the mentality of your team as far as their ability to be successful. You may impact their chances once they get to conference, and then ultimately you may impact the chances of how well (a school) can sell seats and market their program."
Weekly Interview Controversy: This week, per LAJ's Don Williams, rather than QB Taylor Potts, RG Brandon Carter, CB Jamar Wall and DE Rajon Henley in the interview room on Monday, you got DS Austin Burns and CB Taylor Charbonnet. So is this a big deal or is this Leach just being Leach (it even made the news in Oklahoma)? Both, it's not a big deal and it is Leach being Leach, and I don't think this is sending any sort of message to the team or the fans or to anyone else any more than Leach just likes to stir the pot a bit. Leach's rationale:
"I just figured you got tired of them,’’ Leach told the assembled media. "If you’re not tired of them, I’ll bring them back next week. I mean, they’re fun, but I’m around them all the time; I get tired of them.’’
Snip
On whether Leach was trying to keep down distractions for more high-profile players: "Your guess is as good as mine. I’m as surprised as you are. Austin Bu-u-u-r-r-n-n-s? Who?’’
And what would a Leach press conference be without a little bit of a dig as to whether or not he thought that Texas S Blake Gideon was going to catch that interception in 2008:
"I didn’t think he’d catch it, for one,’’ Leach said. "For another, it’s always interesting to me that they highlight that one, because I could probably rattle off 10 other things that would have allowed us to win by more. So I don’t see it as particularly significant.’’
Texas Tech Focused: FWST's Dwain Price writes that the Red Raiders are focused on the Longhorns and QB Taylor Potts watched Texas QB Colt McCoy in high school:
"I watched him through high school because he played right down the road from us," Potts said. "I saw a lot of him in high school, so it’s going to be fun to play him."
Red Raider Blogs: Tortilla Retort has some thoughts on the game against Rice (here and here) and I think we're all on the same page . . . Raiderade's Ayleein has some thoughts on Saturday's win . . . RRS.com's Paul Lowery ranks the top 5 Red Raider newsmakers of the week . . .
Texas Longhorn Links: BC's Scipio Tex takes a look at this week's matchups . . . Statesman's Kirk Bohls wonders why DE Sergio Kindle is struggling, if he is struggling . . . DMN's Chuck Carlton writes that Texas head coach Mack Brown wants QB Colt McCoy to relax and have fun . . . the Statesman's Suzanne Halliburton writes that no one is forgetting the 2008 Texas vs. Texas Tech game . . . Orangeblood.com's Chip Brown with some notes . . . CT's Dave Matter with a good Big 12 notebook with a look at the Big 12's big game . . . ESPN's Mark Schlabach praises QB Taylor Potts for his game against Rice and mentions the big games this week, including Texas Tech vs. Texas . . . DMN ranks the top five wins for both Texas and Texas Tech . . .
Neglected Audio and Video: Fox34 with highlights from the game:
Texas Tech Basketball
New Commit: LAJ's Courtney Linehan (the LAJ must have a new writer -- congrats!) talks with the newest Texas Tech commit, SG Jamel Outler, and his father Willie says that Jamel isn't a finished product:
"He needs to work on being willing to go ahead and let that shot go early," Willie said. "Sometimes I accuse him of doing two moves in a situation when he was at a good spot on the floor. I tell him to just raise up and shoot the ball."
And Outler likes head coach Pat Knight:
"He was a player, so he knows what we go through as players," Jamel said. "He’s real down to earth, laid back. He acts like himself, even when he’s recruiting. He’s straightforward."