Insight Bowl, Tech vs Minnesota Options

[impala454]

Actually, that isn't technically correct. Texas Tech rushed for 103 yards last night against Minnesota, more than 25 yards over it's season average of 76.3 yards per game. Additionally, Shannon Woods rushed 19 times against the Gophers which was eight more than his season average of 11 carries.

That bit of information by itself is a bit misleading, however, as last night the Red Raiders exceeded their season averages for points, offensive yards, passing yards, rushing yards, rushing attempts and passing attempts.

If you break it down, Tech passed 81% of the time during the regular season. Last night they passed a little less, 75% of the time. It should be noted that this stat does not take into account plays that were nullified because of penalties.

And it is not as if Mike Leach read Jessica's post and said, "Avast ye matey! I'm going to run the ball more in Tempe!" He usually sends two plays into the huddle, one pass and one run. The quarterback decides at the line of scrimmage which play to run.

Finally, as much as I hate to, I have to agree to some extent with what she is saying (what's the saying about a blind squirrel?). Shannon Woods needs to be a central component of this offense next season, especially with the relatively inexperienced wide receiving corps that the Red Raiders will be fielding. He has carried the ball 15 times or more in four games this season and Tech won all of them.

bah i went back and saw the stat i looked at was wrong (shoulda gone to straight to ncaa.org). either way, it doesn't make a difference in the way jessica thinks it does. don't get me wrong, i love seeing shannon woods get a few breakaway runs and think he's a great back, but the only reason he does is because we pass so much. obviously our improved run game helps our pass game, but it works both ways. do you think if we went to a 50/50 pass/rush shannon woods would still average 6 ypc over the course of a season??

my point in calling out jessica's comment of "don't be stupid and comment that passing won the game" was that our slightly above average rushing isn't what won us the game. jessica seems to have this notion that more rushing = win. in fact it almost lost us the game because we wasted so much clock trying to brute force pound that last touchdown in. imho a pass/rush of 75/25 or 80/20 is perfect for leach's system, and if he can ever get any damn recruits we'll have a top ten finish on our hands.

[HMWH]

http://mb33.scout.com/fraiderpowerfrm2.sho...cID=48215.topic

some pics from the game (Scantronguy) those ones were posted by me

[Aaron]

bah i went back and saw the stat i looked at was wrong (shoulda gone to straight to ncaa.org). either way, it doesn't make a difference in the way jessica thinks it does. don't get me wrong, i love seeing shannon woods get a few breakaway runs and think he's a great back, but the only reason he does is because we pass so much. obviously our improved run game helps our pass game, but it works both ways. do you think if we went to a 50/50 pass/rush shannon woods would still average 6 ypc over the course of a season??

my point in calling out jessica's comment of "don't be stupid and comment that passing won the game" was that our slightly above average rushing isn't what won us the game. jessica seems to have this notion that more rushing = win. in fact it almost lost us the game because we wasted so much clock trying to brute force pound that last touchdown in. imho a pass/rush of 75/25 or 80/20 is perfect for leach's system, and if he can ever get any damn recruits we'll have a top ten finish on our hands.

I completely feel you, and agree with your sentiments above. I was basically just pointing out that, despite the increased carries for Woods, the distribution between run and pass last night was consistent with what we've seen all year.

[impala454]

ahh ok gotcha aaron...

cool pics jeff i got your text msg... that game was definitely worth the trip i bet heheh.

[psidancer]

Minnesota fires coach

[koreanp1e]

does any of you guys know where I can see highlights of this game ?
I was playing blackjack in rui doso and couldn't catch much of the action.

[impala454]

Minnesota fires coach

[Aaron]

does any of you guys know where I can see highlights of this game ?
I was playing blackjack in rui doso and couldn't catch much of the action.

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/9898433

You can actually watch the entire game, quarter by quarter, at the website above. If you aren't interested in investing that amount of time, there's a link there for highlights as well. You need RealPlayer to view the clips but it's friggin worth it.

[Mike N]

And Jessica disappears.

[pysex]

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/9898433

You can actually watch the entire game, quarter by quarter, at the website above. If you aren't interested in investing that amount of time, there's a link there for highlights as well. You need RealPlayer to view the clips but it's friggin worth it.

cool link....i just wish the title didn't say "Taxas Minnesota Insight Bowl"

[koreanp1e]

thanks aaron.

[Rocky]

It's also a crazy idea to think that, when you keep passing (or rushing) for a massive percentage of your plays, it makes your opponent very unsuspecting of what you are going to do next.


Shannon Woods - 926 yards. More yards and better YPC than anybody else in Texas in Div I. And only Lane has more TDs, which is for obvious reasons.


But let's keep finding reasons to pretend they are a joke system !


I'd love to see him run it a little more, but it's not particularly a broken system. Plus, anybody who is paying close attention notices that they have already been changing the offense a little to begin with all year. The sweep, the different formations. Sit tight kids.

[pysex]

Leach was almost in tears. I don't think he expected us to recover from a 31 point deficit. Kudos Tech.

[Aaron]

I'd love to see him run it a little more, but it's not particularly a broken system. Plus, anybody who is paying close attention notices that they have already been changing the offense a little to begin with all year. The sweep, the different formations. Sit tight kids.

I honestly think that next year's rotation of wide receivers have a chance to be more effective than this year's bunch. Hear me out.

Graham Harrell completed 412 passes this season, and 255 of them (62%) went to Joel Filani (91), Robert Johnson (89) or Shannon Woods (75). The core concept behind Mike Leach's offensive philosophy - his idea of balance - is to distribute the ball to all of his playmakers. This season, the Red Raider offensive effectively rode the backs of three of the five skill positions: Z-receiver, Y-receiver and running back. We saw little production out of the X-receiver position (46 receptions, 548 yards and four touchdowns) and the H-receiver position (48 receptions, 487 yards and five touchdowns).

Look at the previous three years, for example.

In 2005, four of the five skill positions registered just around 65 receptions: Johnson (67), Henderson (67), Filani (65) and Jarrett Hicks (65). That's almost perfect. Danny Amendola and Bristol Olomua, the two H-receivers who were switched depending on what kind of package they were using, caught a combined 62 balls. Cody Hodges completed 391 passes that season.

Sonny Cumbie completed 426 passes in 2004 and managed to spread the ball around quite a bit. Four of the five starting skill position players registered 60 or more receptions: Trey Haverty (77), Hicks (76), Nehemiah Glover (62) and Henderson (60). The two players that split time at Z-receiver, Filani and Cody Fuller, made a combined 61 receptions.

In 2003, the year that B.J. Symons broke the NCAA single-season record for passing yards, Texas Tech completed 506 passes. Again, the ball was spread around a lot among the receiver rotation. All five of the starting skill position players registered 75 or more receptions: Wes Welker (97), Mickey Peters (78), Taurean Henderson (78), Glover (77) and Carlos Francis (75). That was also the year that Tech became the only Division 1A football team in history to have three receivers with over 1,000 yards receiving.

I am not saying that any of them will be able to take over a game like Robert Johnson, Joel Filani and Jarrett Hicks did at points in their career but I suspect that 2007 may hold more balanced production from the wideouts.

[Rocky]

I've been trying to pay attention to the younger guys who are going to be playing next year. From the few times he's taken a pass, Reed looks pretty good.


I get what you are saying, and I think it sounds very realistic. It's one thing to know that Tech is probably going to throw to Filani or Johnson in those clench plays - it's a whole new ball game to feel like all 5 receivers are going to have equal consideration.


I also really hope that Harrell's deep ball gets more play next year. The deep fade just didn't seem to haunt the defenses like it did in the past.