In lieu of links, DTN asks five questions.
1. HAVE YOU SEEN ENOUGH OF DC WILLIS TO KNOW IF YOU THINK HE SHOULD BE TEXAS TECH'S DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR? | In yesterday's post-practice press conference, DC James Willis echoed much of the same thing that Tuberville said after the game, which was that the players have not given up and they're giving good effort. Here's the non-transcript:
DC James Willis: Did not execute, kids did not give up, OU was just a very good team. Give up big play, players start to have doubts. Goes back to execution and right technique. The positives are that young and inexperienced guys getting some experience. No players are quitting. As a team, defense and community we have to play better. We see what our weaknesses and deficiencies are, we just have to get better each week. OU did what they did best, had some formations that out-leveraged TTU, did a good job of running the football. Need to get more guys to the ball, and sometimes was untouched in the secondary. It always boils down to the lineman.
Last week, Willis was named the coordinator of the week by Rivals with the win against Missouri, while this week, it was much of what we've come to expect with the defense, i.e. giving up lots of points and lots of big plays. I normally fall somewhere on the middle of things like this, in that Willis did have a fantastic game-plan against Missouri and we were all praising Willis and the players, but this week, it was more of what we've seen all year. I'm not ready to make a judgment on Willis or OC Neal Brown (more on him later), but I think a lot of you are. Have you seen enough of DC Willis to know if you want him to be the defensive coordinator or do you need to see more?
2. HAVE YOU SEEN ENOUGH OF OC BROWN TO KNOW IF YOU THINK HE SHOULD BE TEXAS TECH'S OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR? | OC Neal Brown had some interesting things to say yesterday afternoon, including taking some of the blame for the poor play-calling for the second half, but continued with the thought that the team is resilient. Here's OC Brown:
OC Neal Brown: Resilient bunch. First time that we've had it handed to us. They were positive, this isn't where we want to be, where the players want to be. We think we've got three games left and that's how we're thinking about it. We really stressed the opening drive this week. Had gimmick play to get into the endzone. The second drive, we have a missed assignment on 2nd down, two missed assignments on 3rd down. The first half was a half of missed opportunities, had 47 plays, controlled the clock. The two 4th downs hurt us. We knew we were going to have to convert on 4th downs and it was a downer going into halftime. Did some things in the second half to keep the defense fresh. I probably didn't call a very good game in the second half, I'll take as much blame as anybody on that. We're really thin on the defense, it's not pressure. I thought the defense played well in the second half. If convert some of those 4th downs, we could have some points. On the first 4th down, I'll take the blame, they played cover-2, and called a play with Lyle and Detron, the DE didn't rush and just batted down the ball. On the 2nd 4th down, it was play-action, the running back didn't make a block and receiver didn't run the right route.
So now we get OC Brown admitting that he had a bad half of football, and you get the same question with DC Willis. You can compare the stats, 2009 and 2010, or you can just judge with your own eyes, are you ready to make a judgment on OC Brown after 10 games or do you feel like you need more time?
3. ARE YOU READY FOR DOEGE? | LAJ's Don Williams had a short notebook yesterday, and OC Brown essentially said that QB Seth Doege would be the guy leading the offense next year:
"He’s ready," Brown said. "He can go out and win football games for us. He’s been playing behind those two seniors, but he’s a kid that’s ready to play and if his number was called he’d be very productive. I think he’s done a good job preparing himself every week."
I'm thinking that we'll still have a full quarterback competition in the spring, and last spring game, here's how the two players performed and my write-up of the offense:
Seth Doege : 47-68 (69.11%) : 1 INT : 530 Yards (7.79 YPA): 5 TD
Jacob Karam : 23-34 (67.64%) : 326 Yards (9.58 YPA): 3 TD
So, are you ready for some Doege?
4. ANYONE GOING TO THE MEN'S BASKETBALL GAME IN DENTON ON TUESDAY NIGHT? | Look at me wildly waving my hands and trying to distract you . . . the men's basketball team is undefeated right now. This is an incredibly cheap statement because it's one game. But I don't care. Woooot! You can read DT's Tommy Magelssen write-up after the game, and that article includes a photo of SF Jaye Crockett doing something that we haven't seen many Texas Tech basketball players do, which is rise above the rim and dunk it hard. Real hard (you can watch video from KLBK here and from the DT here). The team plays it's second game of the year in Denton on Tuesday. I'm thinking about trying to make the game since this is the only game in the DFW area this year? Anyone else going?
I also wanted to point out the article from LAJ's Courtney Linehan on the 2011 recruiting class, 5 players committed and 5 high school players. This is good news and although PK mentions that he'll try to help the post in 2012 with JUCO players, signing 5 high school players is a step in the right direction.
5. DO YOU HAVE ANY TEXAS TECH HOLIDAY GIFT GIVING IDEAS? | It's about that time to start thinking about the holidays and I thought it might be a good idea to find out if there's a Texas Tech related gift that you've received that love or if there's something that you're asking for this year that the rest of the class might like.
Miscellaneous: LAJ's report card from Sunday . . . per NewsJournal's Rick Kretzschmar, Longview's QB and Texas Tech commit at receiver or the defense, LaDarrin Robertson, beat Belton 52-28 (Belton has Texas commit QB David Ash, one of the more highly rated quarterbacks in the state) . . . per FWST's Dwain Price, congrats to East Carolina head coach Ruffin McNeill, who became bowl eligible on Saturday. I'll always be happy for Ruffin and Lincoln Riley when they experience success. I'm happy for them. And for those of you who don't know about Dwain Price, he's probably the most even reporter in my estimation that covers Texas Tech as he also wrote this about HC Tuberville:
Then again, I never thought it was fair to Tuberville and his players to be asked to pick up where Leach left off. Usually, a new coach is given time to get his own recruits in town, and to get his players adjusted to his new system and to his way of doing things.
Fair or not, Tuberville doesn't have that luxury. EVERYBODY expects him to win now.
The Team Leach folks will say karma has struck at Tech for the way the administration ousted Leach. Firing him one day before he was to receive an automatic $800,000 bonus?
As they say, you know who don't like ugly.
Tuberville is left to put the pieces together on what's left of the Raiders. And he will get it turned around.
It may not be this year, or it may be this year. But he will get it turned around.
. . . thank goodness, KSL.com is reporting that Weber St. had to rely on their backup quarterback to beat the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks. I'll take any advantage I can get . . .
Questions are after the jump to make it easier for you to comment, as well as a fan-confidence poll, which I'm sure will break records.
1. HAVE YOU SEEN ENOUGH OF DC WILLIS TO KNOW IF YOU THINK HE SHOULD BE TEXAS TECH'S DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR?
2. HAVE YOU SEEN ENOUGH OF OC BROWN TO KNOW IF YOU THINK HE SHOULD BE TEXAS TECH'S OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR?
3. ARE YOU READY FOR DOEGE?
4. ANYONE GOING TO THE MEN'S BASKETBALL GAME IN DENTON ON TUESDAY NIGHT?
5. DO YOU HAVE ANY TEXAS TECH HOLIDAY GIFT GIVING IDEAS?