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Send an Email. There was a brawl before the game against UTEP, but from what I could tell, it involved UTEP fans. Some guy from San Antonio, someone I've never heard of, Roy Bragg, had a blog post making all sorts of disparaging remarks against Texas Tech fans and since most sites are in the business of visits and hits and people rubbing their hands together when those hits and visits happen whether they people visiting for good things or out of anger or spite. I won't link to it, but if you did want to send an email to the President & Publisher, John C. McKeon, the Senior Vice President & Editor, Mike Leary, the Managing Editor, Jamie Stockwell, and the Executive Digital Media Producer, Cory Heikkila, here are their email addresses:
jmckeon@express-news.net, mleary@express-news.net, JStockwell@express-news.net, CHeikkila@mysanantonio.com
If you wanted to send an email, I might suggest something like this:
To Whom It May Concern,
Roy Bragg published a blog post titled "Yawn. Just another riot around a Texas Tech game" and made many assumptions about Texas Tech fans that are completely inaccurate. The actual story and video that was published was reported by Mr. Bragg as being Texas Tech fans being involved with the fight, but from actually viewing the video, appears to involve entirely UTEP fans. As an aside, by writing this email, we don't believe that all UTEP fans are bad fans, there are a handful of great fans, but this appeared to be an isolated incident and a majority of UTEP fans are terrific individuals. Back to Mr. Bragg, in addition to not actually publishing the truth, something that newspapers are supposed to do, it appears that Mr. Bragg's university affiliation, Texas A&M, may have had more to do with the reason as to why he wrote the blog post than anything else.
Knowing a thing or two about the internet and visits and hits, I don't have much control, but I can choose on what I will or will not click when reading about things and I will not be clicking on any articles from the San Antonio Express News until Mr. Bragg issues a sincere apology. You should know that this is a collective effort among a handful of Texas Tech fans and we know that Mr. Bragg's articles doesn't reflect the normally fine work at the San Antonio Express-News.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME HERE
This way, we're accomplishing two things here. We're letting his bosses know that he's a terrible writer and we're not giving them what they want, which is eyeballs. And this actually stinks because I do like to link to Tim Griffin at the SAEN, but I'll be doing my part too by not linking to any SAEN stories.
Presser. DoubleTFaitfhful will be around a bit later to discuss the press conference thoughts, but I really thought that QB Davis Webb said the right things and I liked that he took responsibility about playing better. It's amazing or frustrating for me to see people upset at Kingsbury and Webb for admitting that they aren't playing well and that they haven't played their best game. Some fans appear to be tired of Kingsbury advocating patience that this team can be better or Webb being hones that he can play better. This reminded me of a few years back when folks would get mad at Tuberville for saying that "this team isn't very good" or something similar to that. It's almost as if the coaches and players can't win. Of course, I also realize that it's the internet and people will pretty much get mad or angry about anything, which makes the internet an amazing wonderful place.
In any event, I liked this from Webb:
There are a lot of things I can't control. Only thing I've got to do is make sure this offense gets the ball and moves to the end zone. I can't worry about what the defense does. Can't worry about what's going on officially-wise, I can't worry about what's going on in the stands or what's going on my Twitter account. All I can worry about is getting the ball in the end zone. I'm not doing a good job of that in the first two weeks, and I'm really motivated for week three because I feel like we have a chance to do that.
Webb is a long ways from being perfect. Aren't we all. I still think he's got it in him and he'll be better as the year progresses, but I have a hard time believing in players and thinking that players will pan out more than declaring with a few games that they are busts. It's the eternal optimist in me.
Status on Richards and Levi. The long and short of it is that both NG Jackson Richards and NG Rika Levi are day-to-day in terms of their injury status and they'll have to work through the week to see where they are at. The LAJ noted from DC Matt Wallerstedt, that this resulted in Keland McElrath starting and we could end up seeing a shuffle along the defensive line a bit:
"He did well," Wallerstedt said. "Then when we went to the big package or personnel group, he went to the 3-technique (defensive tackle), so he's playing both for us. I felt like he was the best noseguard prospect for us."
It appears McElrath could stay in the starting lineup.
Wallerstedt said he'd like to get away from using Demetrius Alston at defensive tackle, where he's started the first two games. Alston's is more suited for defensive end, Wallerstedt said. That could open a spot for McElrath when Richards and Levi return.
Number Change. One other note from yesterday is that there was a number change of some of the players, due to two #13's being on the field for a punt return, from the article linked above:
Those switching are linebacker Andre Ross from No. 2 to No. 36, receiver Cameron Batson from No. 13 to No. 80, cornerback Jah'Shawn Johnson from No. 14 to No. 29 and linebacker Sam Atoe from No. 21 to No. 25. Each had an offensive or defensive counterpart wearing the same number.
Arkansas Has Size at Offensive Line. The LAJ writes about how Arkansas has some significant size along the offensive line and that Texas Tech will have to play sound defense to keep Arkansas in check:
"We're going to do whatever we can to stop the run," Red Raiders defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt said. "We've committed to a lot of guys in the box. There's no secret in what we're doing. We'll have to scratch where we itch."
He added that the Red Raiders (2-0) focused on recruiting bigger defensive linemen last year in an effort to clog opponents' running lanes. One of those linemen, 348-pounder Rika Levi, is uncertain for Saturday after injuring a knee five plays into the season.
This places more pressure on Texas Tech's front seven - or eight or, possibly, nine - with Arkansas's 1,604-pound starting offensive line looming. The group, which averages 320.8 pounds, would be the NFL's third largest offensive line behind Denver's and San Diego's.
