Red Raider Gridiron: Big 12 and Texas Rankings; Checking in on Oklahoma State

I'm going to type this again and hope that I don't jinx anything.  This is a pretty slow morning in terms of Texas Tech news.  Last week when I wrote this Matt Wallerstedt resigned. Just for the record, I'm not complaining. As you know, it's going to be a short week with the game on Thursday night so hang on tight.

What We Waiting to See. The DMN's Chuck Carlton writes about what we know and waiting to see from each of the teams in Texas in the Big 12:

What we're waiting to see: Coach Kliff Kingsbury faces another challenge on par with last season's five-game losing streak. Boone Pickens Stadium is a bad place to go in search of a turnaround. Salvaging a bowl berth might be a moral victory.

Rankings. The San Antonio Express-News ranks the Texas programs and has Texas Tech 5th . . . the Dallas Morning News has a slideshow as to the top teams in Texas and I am opposed to slideshows in general, so I have no idea what Texas Tech is ranked . . . FoxSports David Ubben ranks the Big 12 teams and has Texas Tech 9th:

9. Texas Tech (2-1). Last week: 9. This week: at Oklahoma State. It'll be interesting to see if two weeks of hearing about their failures against Arkansas and having to adjust to a new OC emboldens Tech's defense at all. The whole "us against the world thing" may be cliche, but it can be a powerful motivator at times. Tech's defense could just as likely fall apart, though. The Thursday night date against the Pokes will be fascinating. Meanwhile, Davis Webb and the offense still have to prove they've made any improvement from a year ago.

Behind Enemy Lines. The Tulsa World has quotes from Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy and he says that he can't change his game plan because of a new defensive coordinator (I'm surprised that someone actually asked this question):

"We don't have any tape with him being the coordinator," Gundy said. "So we can only go off the tape that we have and come up with a game plan. There can be 100 different rumors flying around about what they're going to do on defense and that doesn't give us any direction."

And in the NewsOK, Gundy says that the young OSU offensive line is getting better:

"(The OSU offensive line is) getting a little better," Gundy said Thursday. "It's just going to take a while for them to get to where the lines that we've played here in the last three or four years. They're not anywhere near being in the same capacity that those lines were."

And also from the NewsOK, Gundy says that they are working on getting the ball to their most explosive playmaker, Tyreek Hill:

"There was a chance for (Hill) to touch the ball some from an offensive standpoint," Gundy said. "Those are the areas that we need to try and make sure we get him his touches in a game ... We need him to touch the ball. Some games will be more than others. But we'd certainly like it to be at least 20 times per game."