Leach’s best team looks to make season even better

By Adam Zuvanich on November 21st, 2008 View Comments Printer-Friendly

BY DON WILLIAMS
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

The record and ranking don’t lie. Mike Leach’s ninth Texas Tech team is his best.

“Yeah, I’d say so,” Leach said, without pause for deliberation.

The question now is, will his best be good enough to defeat the team that has, at times, lorded over the Big 12 Conference during its 13-year history? No. 5 Oklahoma, which has lost twice at home under head coach Bob Stoops in 10 years, will try to dash No. 2 Tech’s magical season in Saturday’s 7 p.m. game at Memorial Stadium/Owen Field in Norman, Okla.

Asked what makes this team his best, Leach doesn’t point to the 10-0 record or its place in the polls.

“They play together, and they’re the most coachable group,” he said Thursday. “So they’ve been able to develop quicker, respond to adversity quicker, because as a unit they’re more committed in their various jobs and roles, and the other thing is they’re the most coachable. They respond as a unit.”

Oklahoma, though trailing the Red Raiders in the BCS standings and one game behind them in the Big 12 South Division, is a seven-point favorite with some justification. The Sooners’ last conference loss at home was in 2001 to Oklahoma State. Oklahoma’s seniors are playing their last game Saturday in Norman, and Stoops urged OU fans this week to get loud.

With quarterback Sam Bradford operating at a high level and running backs DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown combining for an average of almost 160 rushing yards, OU is averaging 51.4 points per game.

Tech’s not likely to give up 51 and win, but the Raiders have surrendered more than 30 only twice and never more than 33.

“So far, we’ve been fortunate enough to hold most teams that we’ve played well below their average,” Tech defensive line coach Charlie Sadler said, mentioning victories in the last month over Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma State. “Let’s just go do the best that we can and hold them to as few points as we can. If we continue what we’ve been doing, we’ll be OK.”

Tech’s first 10-win season in 32 years, though highlighted by the play of quarterback Graham Harrell and flanker Mike Crabtree, has as much or more to do with the play of both lines. The offensive front has allowed only five sacks. The defensive front, which rotates at least nine players and sometimes more, sets the tone for a unit that ranks 20th in the nation in rushing defense.

“Going against (the Sooners), you kind of look to see how you compare athletically, and as far as the defensive line this year, we match up better probably than what we have in the past,” Sadler said. “You use them as a barometer of how you’re coming along as a program, so obviously the trend is going in the right direction.”

After being stuffed by OU five years in a row from 2000-04, Tech turned the tables by winning two of the last three seasons. The Raiders might have a three-game winning streak in the series but, after taking a 24-10 lead on their last visit to Norman, they were shut out in the second half and lost 34-24.

Tech’s 12-game winning streak includes five wins against ranked teams and three in the last three games. The Raiders need to match the intensity they’ve brought to the table since late October, but they say they’re capable.

“I don’t think we’ll have a problem at all getting the momentum back,” defensive end Jake Ratliff said. “This team’s been great at doing that. There shouldn’t be any dropoff.”

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  • Mike

    R A I D E R – P O W E R !

    WRECK ‘EM TECH!

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  • Longhorn Sally

    Hahaha! EVERYBODY is picking Owho…lol

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  • John

    Go Raiders!!! Play with confidence as you have and you will come home victorious!!

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  • Red Raider John

    Longhorn Sally……I am sorry we beat you and everyone in the country saw too…but its ok..colt really wasn’t a colt but more like my little pony..didn’t ya see the picture on gameday…know this, we will whip ou and run the table and get out own nice crystal football just like yours except our is newer….then next year we will be planning on coming down to austin and beat ya again on your field….get over it you lost…you don’t have any advantage on the field anymore…our players are just as good…you’re just another good team…not great…be happy you will still probably go to the fiesta bowl which is a bcs game which is good for you and the big 12…i will even be rooting for you too…now please go away!

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  • Billy II

    Longhorn Sally: I predict that the Aggies will beat the T-sippers, and you will take your three South Divison losses to the Sun Bowl. Your team sucks. Actually, I suspect you are an Aggie.

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  • Longhorn Sally

    Hi everyone. I want to apologize again for my stupid posts. I’m just a fat and pathetic lonely woman. All I have is UT football and I wasn’t even smart enough to go to that skewl. I’m gonna go eat a bunch of donuts and fantasize about Colt McCoy. He’s gawt such a purdy mouth.

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  • Pete Storseth

    Everyone in the country is raving about OU’s home field advantage and 59-2 record. Blah!

    How about some stats on OU’s latest record in BIG games????

    “Big Game Bob” is used as a mocking term these days. Stoops’ Sooners have lost too many of them in recent years to scare anyone.
    It started when Southern California humiliated them in the title game after the 2004 season, 55-19. It continued in 2005 when the Sooners stumbled to 8-4 and began a trend of frustrating losses to archrival Texas, a team they once owned. Boise State got them 43-42 in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2006 season and then West Virginia did it again, 48-28 in 2008. This season, the Sooners entered the Texas game top-ranked and left with a 45-35 loss despite leading throughout.
    As surprising as all the losses have been, as confusing as OU’s ability to look dominant in regular games and be dominated in major ones, it’s what’s causing the problem that is most stunning.
    Oklahoma’s Defense. Bob Stoops’ Defense. The very thing that made him great has fallen apart against the spread offense. From 2000-04 OU was never ranked worse than seventh in scoring defense. This season they are 57th. In its past five games this season, OU opponents have scored at least 28 points each game.
    [Dan Wetzel, Yahoo!]

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  • Pete Storseth

    On Dec. 6, 2003, Oklahoma was undefeated, ranked No. 1 and ticketed for a BCS championship shot in the Sugar Bowl against LSU. The Sooners were widely expected to win their second national title in four seasons. They were playing Kansas State in the Big 12 title game that day, and they were two-touchdown favorites.
    Then Sproles sprinted through Stoopsie’s defense like the wind rushing down the Plain. He ran for 235 yards that night, plus earned 88 receiving yards, and K-State shocked the misfiring Sooners 35-7.
    It was like knocking the teeth out of the schoolyard bully. All the invincibility disappeared that day.
    2004 Sugar Bowl — LSU 21, Oklahoma 14
    2005 Orange Bowl — USC 55, Oklahoma 19
    2007 Fiesta Bowl — Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42, OT
    2008 Fiesta Bowl — West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28

    [Pat Forde, ESPN.com]

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  • rr

    Pete, what you said about Stoops is true enough. But, he does have that one national championship. Most coaches, even good ones, don’t have that. Mike Leach has been a head coach only one year less than Stoops; he is quite a good coach, but still does not have even a Big-12 south title. You see, even if you lose that “last” game of the year in January, the key is to get to play that game. (I live in the northwest and enjoy watching TT play. I hope to see them in one of those big January games one day.)

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