Alamo Bowl
Michigan State Spartans vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders
January 2, 2010, 8pm Central
San Antonio, Texas
Network: ESPN/ESPN Radio

Fourteen Michigan State players suspended. One Texas Tech head coach fired. Two programs in turmoil. The winner will be the one that can pull things together to field a cohesive team.

The challenge to Michigan State is straight forward, but significant. On the other hand, they’ve had a month to prepare replacements for those lost.

For Texas Tech, however, this is brand new, and there are lots of unknowns. Some players have indicated that things will be better without Mike Leach, and there were certainly signs earlier this season that he had lost the team. They very well could be better without the pirate on the sidelines.

Prior to this morning’s hearing to address the injunction Mike Leach filed yesterday, Leach’s attorney Ted Liggett received a letter from Texas Tech president Guy Bailey terminating Leach’s employment for cause, effective immediately. As a result, the court hearing never occurred (I assume because Leach no longer had standing for the injunction).

Ted Liggett stated that a lawsuit against Texas Tech would be coming soon.

The Austin American Statesman’s Cedric Golden and Suzanne Halliburton are reporting on Twitter that Mike Leach, the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, has been suspended indefinitely. Apparently, this has something to do with an injured player and a complaint by a player (or his parents).

Ruffin McNeill will coach the team at the Alamo Bowl on January 2nd.

Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Mike Leach has always been unpredictable. He is likely to do the unexpected, whether with his play calling or his interviews. But this year’s antics seem to have had a larger impact, and not a positive one.

Have Texas Tech players lost faith in their coach?

Heading into the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns, if you had told me that Tech would only score twenty-four points, I would have confidently predicted a win by three or four touchdowns. As it happened, the Texas defense held Tech to three touchdowns and a field goal, but Texas only won by ten points, in a game that was actually much closer than the final score indicated.

I’ve waited a few days to write about the the game as I wanted to have some time to think about it. It was an ugly win, but I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss on any day of the week.

As always, the Wife and I were in Section 127 (upper deck eastside at about the 28 yard line). As usual, I brought a camera with me to take some pictures.

We started at the north gate to see the coaches and players walk in.

Saturday evening, September 19, 2009, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium hosted the largest crowd ever to attend a game in the state of Texas (101,297 official attendance). I shot this video of the opening kickoff to capture the environment.

Many Texas Longhorn fans still see the play in their nightmares. Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell throws the ball to Michael Crabtree, who tosses off a tackle from Earl Thomas and outruns Curtis Brown to the endzone to put the Red Raiders ahead with only a second remaining in the game.

It doesn’t help that one can’t watch anything involving college football without seeing the play every two or three minutes.

Tonight, after ten long months of waiting, Texas and Texas Tech finally meet again on the football field. Only this time, it’s Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, in front of a record Texas crown that should approach 102,000.

Texas Tech and Texas announced today that their game next season has been moved to September 19th. ABC wants to show this game at prime time, but needed the game move to accommodate their schedule.

Said Texas head coach Mack Brown:

I really am excited about it. It’ll be good to be playing on primetime in September when there are not as many national games that people like to look at.

Reports are that Texas Tech star wide receiver Michael Crabtree will announce on Tuesday that he plans to declare for the NFL draft. The NFL draft advisory committee, among other sources, lists Crabtree as a probable first round draft pick.

Crabtree, a two-time Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s top receiver, had 93 catches and 18 touchdowns in the regular season, averaging 94.6 yards per game.