Finally: Michael Crabtree dons a 49er's jersey

This is an excerpt from ESPN (click to view better).

As much as I have been disappointed in this guy, I cannot help but continue to like him and cheer for him, after all, he is a former Texas Tech Red Raider and a rather awesome one at that. My previous disappointment in him was in how he took so long to show up in 49er land to conclude contract negotiations. The Raiders coach, Tom Cable, passed him up in the NFL draft instead taking one Heyward-Bey. Cable, justified his actions by indirectly referring to Crabtree as a pre-madonna, a trouble-maker. That is really stupid of Cable to say or believe especially after his actions with his own coaches. Anyway...because Michael was taking so long to decide if he would accept the 49er's contract, his lack of actions indirectly proved a point in regards to other's accusal that Crabtree had a big head, a bad attitude, that maybe he was a pre-madonna. Well, Crabtree is signed with the 9er's and did settle on a pretty nice contract deal. Did he really get what he wanted? That's for Michael to decide. Going forward, Crabtree will have much to do & much to prove. It seems that his private war with everything that went wrong with the 2009 draft whatever those things were which caused him to drop out of the top 5 and even #8 position is one thing that sport's pundits/media will continue to follow. Crabtree and Heyward-Bey are going to be compared side by side for a long time to come. The proof is in the puddin'...just look at ESPN's write up today on their web site. The Texans won in the end, but the 49er's had several eyes upon them...mainly due to the newest WR from the state of Texas - from the one and only Texas Tech U.  To be continued

Aggies awoke a sleeping giant tonight: beats Tech 52-30

I started out my facebook posting tonight by saying that I was upset by the Texas Tech loss to the A&M Aggies and that I refused to let it bother me going forward. I added that I hope that this awful loss had awaken the Texas Tech football program. Going forward, they (Tech) needs to be better prepped for any opponent. Ranked or unranked, no one can really predict the outcome of any game. Just look at how Alabama narrowly escaped a loss tonight as did Florida. Teams especially need to be mindful of conference opponents because who better than a conference foe to know your playbook and to prepare for you in ways you never saw coming...rankings really don't matter much during conference games.

I won't/can't say much about the A&M V. TECH game because it was not televised, and I don't really feel much like reading articles about it. But one thing for sure is that the sport's channels should regret not airing it like they did in 2002 when no one televised the rivarly game that year. It was also a heckuva game. Many more of the Aggie fans are probably sick that the game did not air since their team came out victorious. I am sure they were thrilled over their victory over the Red Raiders. It was a long time coming, but no one would have predicted it would occur this year - not at THE JONES. Personally, this Red Raider fan is thankful that the game did not air. I would have hated to see my Red Raiders get beaten so badly by the Aggies. I would have probably blown a gasket or worse (lol). Like I said, I won't write much about any of the logisitics behind Tech's loss tonight. All I can say is that it sounds like Tech really needs Steven Sheffield at the QB helm. Taylor Potts seems to bring nothing but choas and uncertainty to the entire team. He was apparently benched in the third qtr after throwing his 3rd pick. Third stringer Seth Doege replaced him but not before chants by Tech fans of "no more Potts! no more Potts!" echoed through-out the stadium. The only thing I will say is that the defense seemed confused by A&M; good work to Mike Sherman and team b/c no other team ever had Tech's defense on the run like that this year. I guess they (d-line) just grew tired of being on the field so much, I really cannot say as they are known for their endurance especially playing in their own backyard, per se. The offense also seemed rattled. So many dropped balls (not like the WR's), so many blocked passes, they (RB's) couldn't get a running game going, and the interceptions that Potts threw just added wood to the proverbial fire tonight. Taylor Potts was the lone change in the Tech's line-up tonight. He got back the QB position solely by default after having to return as QB due to Sheffield's foot injury/surgery. Overall, the way that Tech played - one would think that it was more than just one player that was new to the lineup. It makes this blogger ponder and finally conclude that Taylor is not good for the team. He brings too much negative energy; one can clearly tell that he is not comfortable as the QB and in a weird but seemingly true way, it just throws all the players off balance.

Coach Leach, Tech fans demand better: send him emails to let him know!

Well, Tech, whatcha gonna do?!! Only 4 more games left in conference play. Your record is 5-3, with two conference losses. The games left will not be easy by any means. You still lack the Kansas Jayhawks next week then a bye week which is much needed. Then you go to Stillwater to play the OK St Cowboys, followed by OU the next week in Lubbock. Then the regular season ends in Big D at Cowboys Stadium where you play the Baylor Bears. I always say never to count out the Bears. Not sure what Tech coaches/players have to say about tonight's loss, not sure I want to even hear it. After all, at the end of the day, it is just semantics. And I would rather see (not hear) how they make those "much needed" changes and adapt going forward.
As for me I strongly believe that Tech will rebound and end the season on a winning note. I am certain Tech plays in a bowl game again, but maybe one of lesser importance/pay-off. This season is nothing close to last years, but things look promising as Steven Sheffield returns hopefully by the time Tech plays OK St and through-out the remaining season this year. Then we have him returning next year as he is just a Junior. Who knows, maybe Tech can get him red-shirted due to his injury and lack of play this season so he qualifies to return to Tech as a 6th year Senior. Texas Tech is resilient and will prevail, we all just have to believe. But so do the Red Raiders so by all means, let's challenge them to do so.

Follow the link & click on "submit a question to Coach Leach"...

http://www.texastech.com/sports/m-footbl/text-m-footbl-body.html
...instead of asking a foolish, obsolete question as fans tend to do week in and week out, let's instead demand the best from Coach, from all of the coaches and from the entire team!

To show the football world what we (Tech fans) know IS a much better team than the one that showed up during tonight's game!

Bad news for Texas Tech RE: Quarterback, Steven Sheffield

Per ESPN & an article in Rivals Online, it appears that Steven Sheffield's (Sticks) already hurt ankle has worsened thus needing some kind of surgery this past Sunday. He will be out for an undetermined amount of games...that means Taylor Potts is back at the QB position starting this week's Aggie game. Let's hope Potts has learned some things from watching Sheffield.

Reasons for Tech fans not to panic:

1) Tech can win the A&M game with Potts b-c the Aggies are not very threatening & the game is in Lubbock

2) Tech can also win the Kansas game with Potts b-c the Jayhawks are not as good as Tech, the game is in Lubbock

3) Tech is bye after the Kansas game which gives Sticks time to return for the OK State game in Stillwater

4) OU comes to Lubbock to play and the Red Raiders are out for serious payback after last year's humiliating loss to the sooners. Tech can score quicker than OU this year and our defense is awesome; Tech can lay a whoopin' on OU this time around. No matter if Jones or "cry baby" Bradford are the QB, Tech can win this one. "OU - who?"

So just let Potts play in the A&M Aggie game and maybe even the Kansas Jayhawk's game to allow Stick's ankle to heal for the tougher games.

Let's not forget the final game of the regular season V. Baylor in "Big - D" at the new Cowboys Stadium. Can't overlook the Bears. They also lost their great QB to a season ending injury, but they always show up ready to play.

Whatever happens, Tech moves onward and upward with continued victories.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=rotowire-exasechtevenheffield&prov=rotowire&type=fantasy

Texas Tech sees its first AP ranking of 2009!!!

My beloved Texas Tech Red Raiders finally broke the college football polls today. They made the AP Poll ranked at #21***USA Today at #24***the Harris Poll at # 22***Yahoo fans voted Tech at #20***!

I waited for the minute the polls for week #8 came out this Sunday afternoon, then I posted stories/opinions on my other sport's blogs & Facebook then I decided to send a text regarding Tech being #21 to my family, the ones I knew would appreciate knowing about it. They probably think I am crazy for not being too ecstatic over Tech's ranking at #21. There are several reasons why I get so upset that Tech did not get a much better ranking (15, 16 or 17) this week, and why I am so vocal and why I write about it on my other sport's blogs. I will write about the reasons following this post.

But for now, Congratulations to our Texas Tech Red Raiders for being #21 and keep winning!!!

The college football polls: are they getting too political?

The 2009 college football polls finally get it right for week #8...some of them did anyway. The AP Poll ranked Tech #21 but this blogger strongly disagrees with that ranking and says Tech should have been # 15th, 16th or 17th.
Last year Tech suffered some ups and downs. The team saw themselves ranked #12 as 2008 began, then they earned # 2 spot during week # 11 and kept it as such for weeks # 12 & 13. Then came the awful nightmare of a game versus OU (the one I am not so sure Coach Leach may not have "given away"; the very game when he lost his manhood to his former boss, Bob Stoops) then Tech fell to the # 7th spot, that was week # 14. Tech then remained at # 7 thru weeks # 15 & # 16. Rankings by the end of the regular season (post season) had Tech ranked as such: BCS @ #7, AP @ #12, USA Today @ #12, Harris @ #8.
My "beef" this season is why Tech was dissed by the polls and began 2009 not even ranked. Many sport's pundits (idiots) said it was due to Tech's loss in the Cotton Bowl to Ole Miss. Well, as much as I hated Tech losing that game, they lost to a very formidable opponent who was ranked # 25 in the BCS at the end of 2008. Matter of fact, Ole Miss started this year ranked # 8 or 10 depending on which poll you prefer, but they were top 10. Please someone tell me how Tech could be forgotten like that when other ranked teams who have lost more important games to unranked teams manage to stay ranked? Tech did not have a weak schedule either. It was the same as UT, OU and other ranked teams across the country.
Other sport's pundits said Tech was omitted from rankings because of losing Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree. What a stupid reason. Did those pundits (idiots) not see the caliber players who remained on the Tech team after Harrell graduated and Crabtree elected to leave. These same idiots who deem Tech as a "system's team" the ones who say they don't like Tech's spread offense and instead of respecting them slightly for it, they say it is too gimmicky and too showy. These idiots say that week in and week out and if that is really their stupid opinion, then fine, but by them saying that they should admit that Tech can then "plug and play" any player into any position and win. So what is my point? That Tech's "system" thus allowing them to "plug and play" does not miss nor need Harrell or Crabtree to keep winning. Although we love, respect and will always honor Harrell & Crabtree; Tech can continue to keep winning without them and all the other awesome players they lost from last season. The time to stop dismissing Tech via the polls has arrived. Tech is still for real. I especially want the sport's pundits (idiots), the ones who continue to also dis Tech, to just shut up.
Tech will earn more respect as the 2009 season progresses; it holds its own destiny in their own hands to earn much respect and better rankings. So AGAIN the reason I am not happy or satisfied with Tech being ranked #21 this week is because they should be ranked better. You don't dismiss a team like Tech who ended up ranked # 12 on the BCS poll last year for any reason.
The rankings for 2009 came in being very bogus; unjustly placing several other teams on the polls that should not have been there at all. Tech should have at least come in @ # 20 thru 25 and been allowed to determine how they would proceed through-out the year. Most fans say they don't care about rankings (yea, right?)...they are liars if they don't care. Besides rankings through-out the season determine championships and how much money each university will make. Don't tell me that rankings don't matter.

The Texas Tech - Nebraska Rivalry at a glance.

I will start this post reflecting on last year's football game between these two team. But first I want to remind readers that Nebraska leads the series 7-3 but Tech has won the previous 3 games. Tech is in the Big 12 south and Nebraska is in the Big 12 north so they do not play one another every year. Instead they usually play each other every two years for 2 consecutive years. This is how the south and north division games are scheduled so that all north teams play at least 3 south division teams each year.

Anyway about last year's game, Sara & I attended the Nebraska game in Lubbock when Tech was ranked #7. Texas Tech had to go into OT to win that game. Nebraska had lots to prove coming into this game and Tech almost floundered. Tech scored a TD in OT but failed on the extra point which would have been detrimental had the Huskers scored a TD and the extra point. Had our defensive back, Jamal Wall, not intercepted the ball, it would have been lights out for Tech. Indeed a nail-biter. Nebraska, having won 5 national championships in years past, had not been a very good football team for a long time, and I am sure it bothered them that Tech was ranked so high and doing so well coming into this game in the little ole town of Lubbock, Texas. As if Linclon was any better-whatever. The Cornhuskers came into that game cocky and with bad attitudes as their fans showed us before the game even started. The Huskers had already decided to snub their little brother (Tech) who was in the Big 12 south division when the Big 12 was enacted in 1995. They had surely long ago decided that only OU & UT would be deserving, annual contenders to play Nebraska and not the likes of Texas Tech. That lowly Tech would never beat them because they were the Huskers - the owners of "Big Red"! They were wrong.

As this year's game saw Texas Tech march into Lincoln, our Red Raiders once again proved their "Big Red" nation wrong. Even if the Huskers were ranked #17, Tech was ready to defeat them and to remind them that past history of any collegiate football team does not guarantee any team will continue to win. The Nebraska championship teams of the past is just that...in the past. Tech has dawned a new era of players and coaches who are at the ready to beat any team, any time. The UT loss should not have been a loss. I have to let that one be as Tech has moved forward. The UH loss was a fluke and Coach Leach should have allowed the kicker to score 3 points instead of showing off thinking Tech could score 7. That decision was stupid, but Tech has also moved forward from that quirky loss so I need to do the same. At least Tech lost both games to ranked teams.

As Tech does continue to move forward after this week's win versus the Huskers, they will show everyone what they are made of and will prove that as a "systems" team as those sport's pundits (idiots) like to call them, they (Tech) will continue to be successful. Florida still has Tebow, OU still has Bradford (or did) and UT still has McCoy BUT they are struggling with every win. Yes, they are figuring out how to win, but it has been ugly and "just barely squeaking by" kinda wins. A better opponent is at the ready to beat them and it is coming soon. My point in stating those things about those 3 teams (and several other "wanna be" teams) is that they don't have the ability to "plug and play" like our Red Raiders can. Maybe it is those "non-system's" teams who are going to fall victim very soon to the gimmicky teams like Tech with the "systems" offense. Those "non-systems" teams who will soon need to change their format of play and catch up to a "systems" offense and drop "traditional" because "systems" is what present day and time is now demanding of college football.

Next week's Tech game sees the A&M Aggies travel to Lubbock. Let's see if our Red Raiders beat them as mightily as Kansas St beat the Aggies this week and as badly as Tech already beat Kansas St last week. Whew, whatta mouthful.

ANYWAY, ONWARD & UPWARD TECH...RED RAIDERS STILL RULE!