Official Announcements: It's official, although it seems like this scenario has played out quite a bit over the last few weeks. Northwestern will travel to Dallas to take on Texas Tech in the TicketCity Bowl. Both Northwestern and Texas Tech have official announcements. Here's statements from both head coaches, Tommy Tuberville and Pat Fitzgerald:
Tuberville: "I am so proud of this team and group of seniors for getting us to the postseason," said Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville. "When you come to play football at Texas Tech, you expect to go to a bowl game and we are thrilled to accept the invitation from Tom Starr and the Ticket City Bowl selection committee. Northwestern is a well coached football team and I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Fitzgerald. We are honored to be part of this game and to be able to play in front of our great fans in the Dallas/Fort Worth area."
Fitzgerald: "We're extremely proud of our football program, which is making a third consecutive bowl trip," said Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald. "We're proud to represent the Big Ten for a second straight year on New Year's Day, and do it against Texas Tech, a tremendous opponent from the Big 12 Conference. I'm thrilled for our 12 seniors, who have the opportunity to help us win a bowl game and become the winningest senior class in our program's modern era."
Around the Interwebs: I didn't have time to answer all the questions, but Northwestern blog Lake The Posts sent me a handful of questions and was able to answer five or so in anticipation of last night's announcement. Go check it out.
LAJ's Don Williams looks at some Northwestern facts, figures and players (meh) and Williams writes about Texas Tech's acceptance. CB LaRon Moore is excited to play:
"There isn’t any disappointment for us," senior cornerback LaRon Moore said. "We’re used to playing there, and we know the field and things like that. Every time we’ve been there, we’ve had a good turnout with fans and things like that, so it’s going to feel like another home game for us."
FWST's Dwain Price also writes about how the team is excited and LB Brian Duncan (from Louisiana) is excited the game is in Dallas:
"It will give a chance to everybody to come and it will give my family a chance to come," linebacker/defensive end Brian Duncan said. "It is great because it is a shorter distance, so of course our Lubbock fans can most definitely come.
"Just the fact that it's in Texas is really good."
DT's Mike Graham and Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein also have articles on the game.
Video and other good-good after the jump.
Finding Some Video: The official site has some video of LB Brian Duncan and WR Lyle Leong, but the video won't work for me (this happens more times than not on this website, but I'm curious if this happens for everyone else). Luckily, RP.com's Travis Cram has video by Leong and Tuberville (by phone, I assume he's recruiting?):
Proud of Auburn: FWST's Dwain Price also talked with Tuberville about Auburn (Just to remind everyone Price may be the best beat-writer for Texas Tech in that he calls it like he sees it, thought Leach did a fantastic job while at Texas Tech, Leach was screwed and thinks Tuberville will win at Texas Tech.) and Tuberville said that he's proud of how the team has played and complimented the current Auburn coaching staff:
"A lot of those guys I had the opportunity to go out and meet their parents and talk them into coming to Auburn and be part of that program there," Tuberville said of this year's Tigers. "Obviously when you've had a season like they've had -- undefeated, and won an SEC championship and an opportunity to play for the national championship -- that's huge.
"I've watched them on film and they have played hard all year, and they've had a lot of injuries. I've talked to several players on their team this year that's been injured, that's had season-ending injuries, that had surgery, and visited with them. They been very good leaders for their team, even though they've been injured."
I'm sure I've made myself clear about how it doesn't bother me for Tuberville to talk about Auburn and it's understandable to think that he's proud of the guys that he had relationships with before being let go. That seems understandable. Also, let's keep in mind that these quotes usually show up when Price is writing the article (i.e. I think Price is the one asking the questions).