Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma State: Game Time, TV, Streaming, Radio & Morning Links

Date: September 25, 2014
Time: 6:30 pm CST
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders
Bad Guys: Oklahoma State Cowboys
Location: Boone Pickens Stadium | Stillwater, OK
Weather: High of 87, low of 63, am clouds
TV/Stream: ESPN
Radio/Stream: Broadcast Affiliates and TuneIn App

Odds. Oklahoma State opened as 14 point favorites and it's pretty much stayed that way through the week, although it has dipped half a point in a couple of books.

Good Journalism vs. Not So Good Journalism. Up first, you have Sports Illustrated's Lindsay Schnell who writes a fantastic piece about Kingsbury and how he grew up, and then you have NewsOK's Berry Trammel who tries to compare Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury to Anna Kournikova.  I'll let you choose on which one you want to click.  There's really nothing better in the media for #hottakes than inept comparisons to grab headlines and declare what a person will be or will not be with about a year on the job.

Smith's Rapid Rise. ESPN has a look at Mike Smith's rapid rise through the coaching ranks, much like Kingsbury, and that Smith worked as much as anyone to be successful:

But Smith made some important friends during his stint with the Ravens. After a stint as a grad assistant at Hawaii in 2009, he landed an internship with the New York Jets and reunited with Ryan.

This was grunt work at its finest: up to 20 hours a day of helping with game plans and meetings for little pay and less recognition. He stayed in the townhouse of the Jets' DC back then, Mike Pettine, who's now the Cleveland Browns' head coach. Smith made a big impression, especially for his work to help revive linebacker Aaron Maybin's career.

"It's like the ‘it' factor with coaches," Pettine told the New York Daily News in 2011. "You either have it or you don't. And he's got it."

Oklahoma State Lapping Texas Tech. LAJ's Don Williams writes that Oklahoma State has lapped Texas Tech as a program, pointing towards the coaching inconsistency at Texas Tech over the last five years vs. the Cowboys having Gundy in charge since 2005. I always tend to forget that Gundy lost 12 of his first 16 conference games, but he did, and OSU stuck with him:

Pickens dropped the $165 million in 2005, which coincided with alumnus Mike Gundy's return as head coach. OSU stuck with Gundy when he lost 12 of his first 16 conference games. The patience has been rewarded the last six years with six seasons in a row of winning records in the Big 12, three 10-win campaigns, two nine-win seasons and a conference title.

That's given Gundy cachet to cross the border and raid Texas in a manner that might meet even Barry Switzer's approval. Oklahoma State has 66 Texans on its roster. Of the 55 players listed on the current depth chart - a two-deep and three at some positions - 18 of 29 on offense and 15 of 26 on defense went to Texas high schools.

Oh, and the recruiting.  Give it time folks.

The LAJ also has match-up article and tale of the tape.

Miscellaneous. SB Nation's The Acrostical for week 4 . . . FoxSports David Ubben predicts week 5 including tonights game . . . DMN's Chuck Carton writes about how Texas Tech's struggles aren't exclusive to the defense, and focuses on Davis Webb's struggles (the reason I'm putting this here is that I feel like we've read about this for the better part of the week, but I agree with Carlton's sentiments in that Webb has to be much better) . . . this is a really terrific piece on Vershon Moore, who is the cousin of former Texas Tech footballer LaRon Moore (and LaRon is the defensive backs coach at this college, Washburn), who was given a second chance after spending 2 years in prison for aggravated bank robbery . . . Oklahoma State's cornerback Kevin Peterson has a no-fly-zone in Cowboy secondary . . . Dave Campbell's Texas Football has updated their top 150 players . . . the Tulsa World writes that this game is defining moment of Oklahoma State and what the Cowboys are as a program . . .