The Discussion: LAJ's Adam Zuvanich asked about the discussion from Saturday, which is, in the 4th quarter against Colorado on the 12 yard line QB Taylor Potts threw a fade to Detron Lewis, who had one-on-one coverage against Colorado's CB Jalil Brown. The ball was severely underthrown and on the cornerback side of the field and not the endzone side of the field and Brown intercepted the pass. The radio announcers said that a discussion occurred between head coach Tommy Tuberville, offensive coordinator Neal Brown and Potts. Per Zuvanich, a run play was called and Potts checked into a pass. I don't necessarily disagree with Potts passing the ball in that situation and more times that not, he throws a pretty good fade route (I think that this may have gotten caught up in the wind because if there's one thing that Potts can do, is throw a fade).
Here's Tuberville:
"I hear run, and I'm trying to find out who called the pass," Tuberville said. "I didn't realize he was able to tag that, in other words, be able to check out of it.
"(Potts) did the right thing. They had it stacked up, so he did the right thing. ... He just didn't get enough air under it."
And here's OC Brown:
"Why it looked bad is because at the end of every series, I'll go out and meet Potts on the way back, because if I have something to tell him, I'll tell him right now," Brown said after practice on Sunday. "And when I walked out there, Tubbs was out there, and he just wanted to know what play it was. It wasn't any big deal or anything."
First thing. When Zuvanich transcribed the quote, he shortened Tuberville's name to "Tubbs". This somewhat drives me crazy, but there's only one "b" in Tuberville. It should be Tubs, not Crockett and Tubbs.
Back to football, this seems plausible, but it also should tell you that Brown is calling the offense, not Tuberville, and although Brown said that he wanted to take some decision-making from the quarterback, the quarterback still has the ability to check plays.
Colorado Leftovers: Every Monday, Tuberville announces his players of the game and LAJ's Don Williams says that RT Mickey Okafor, CB Jarvis Phillips and K Matthew Williams made the cut. Also of note, DB Sawyer Vest and TE Tony Trahan were named as the scout team players of the week. Hat-tip to TechCuz for some video from the Colorado website. They show one play from 3 different angles, but it's highlights and about 10 minutes worth of video. S/CB Tre' Porter had a rough game and missed a bunch of tackles. And that RB Aaron Crawford touchdown was zone blocking (I think) at it's finest. Crawford could have walked into the endzone. LAJ's Don Williams also has a report card from the game and Tuberville's three positives and three negatives. FWST's Dwain Price asked OC Neal Brown about whether or not having the wind at their backs against Colorado was a big deal and apparently it was (would love to hear from BTech and oldschoolraider if the wind was really that bad).
Talkin' Aggies: LAJ's Don Williams transcribes some of the questions and answers from Tuberville's press conference. Tuberville talks about the Aggies and their quarterback decisions, the running game, switching up IR Alexander Torres and WR Detron Lewis, beating Baylor and someone asked him about Auburn. And yes, I know that everyone will poke fun of Tuberville for talking about Auburn, but how about someone figuring out which reporter asked about Auburn. One other note, SAEN's Brent Zwerneman writes that TAMU QB Jerrod Johnson admits that he's a bit irritated by the quarterback situation. DT's Mike Graham writes that the offense continues to hope to right it's ship against Texas A&M and LAJ's Adam Zuvanich writes that Texas Tech is playing pretty good away from home. As an aside, the Daily Toreador updated the look of their website and I think it looks much better. Official Seth C approval.
I Learn a New Word . . . Again: SB Nation's Spencer Hall has this weeks College Football Alphabetical and this week it's "n" for "Nonpareil" (here's the definition):
N is for Nonpareil. Texas Tech wins by a field goal against Colorado. Tuberville looks at the scoreboard. Neither team has scored over thirty points, and his kicker walks victorious off the field. At last, Texas Tech played the perfect game and played it his way. All was right with the world. It wasn't 3-2, mind you: no, it would be years before he could install the right mix of defensive tenacity and offensive paralysis, the slamming run game that kept going no matter how few yards it gained, the noodle-armed quarterbacks he would recruit to hand off 40 to 50 times a game, the punter, oh the sweet punters...it would all come together. But a field goal was a start, he thought: it was a start.*
*Key reading point for the Redbird Reading Group: Tommy Tuberville's goal in life is to win games by field goals. It is what drives him, and all that scoring at Texas Tech just made him nervous.
Wonderful. I had never thought of Tuberville as a bite-sized piece of chocolate with sugar on top, but I think it works. Also, Hall discusses Arizona St. getting their rears handed to them at home by California and I'm calling my shot now, Leach to Arizona St.
Player Profiles and Red-Black Series: The official site continues to profile players, as RHP/DH Aaron Corwin and OF/INF Barrett Barnes (KWash's favorite player). This is also their practice time before the season begins in February and they are having inter-squad scrimmages. The Red Team won on Sunday and the Black Team won on Monday. We need to get RdrPwr out there for a scouting report (and yes, he knows his baseball).