Leach "knows how NU feels"

[Blackshirt]

John Mabry: Tech's Leach knows how NU's feeling

 

LUBBOCK, Texas — Life in the big city can be rough.

 

What that has to do with Saturday's game, I don't know. It's Lubbock, for crying out loud.

 

But speaking of crying out loud, what can you say? Texas has a strong football program, always have. The Huskers aren't going to be able to go toe-to-toe with the Longhorns with the offense struggling the way it is.

 

What? NU played Texas Tech?

 

Isn't that the Red Raider bunch that lost to NU 56-3 here a few years ago?

 

Actually, it's a new and improved version, the 70-point version.

 

"It's unbelievable to me," said Texas Tech senior running back Johnnie Mack, who scored three of Tech's 10 touchdowns. "I don't think I've ever seen a team put up 70 against Nebraska."

 

That's because it had never happened, Johnnie.

 

Tech head coach Mike Leach said the result of the 2000 game in Lubbock never crossed his team's collective mind, as Red Raider after Red Raider crossed the goal line Saturday night.

 

"Not really," Leach said.

 

Texas Tech now is averaging 70 points per home game, which would tend to be suggest the Huskers are having some success in the red zone.

 

"I'm not battling for the red-zone efficiency award," said Leach, who looks and sounds like a cross between Jay Leno and Ray Romano.

 

Leach said the Husker defense wasn't exactly what his coaching staff expected.

 

"They came at us less early than I thought they would because I knew they would come after us at some point," Leach said. "There's no team that can really hide very much at this point in the season. You've got a bunch of film on them. You can't sit and save everything. What you do is what you do?

 

"We knew they'd try to pressure us and we knew they'd play some zone, and they did both. I thought they'd start out by pressuring us. They started out in the zone.

 

"Usually if you just see one thing, you're not playing very good."

 

Did I mention that times have changed? And aren't you glad the Huskers are in the Big 12 North?

 

The Red Raiders celebrated homecoming with a trash-talking, good time at SBC Jones Stadium, where they love their guns and cannons. It was the Fourth of July here Saturday, with Tech declaring its independence from seven games of Husker dominance.

 

The picture of the night was Barrett Ruud, on the verge of becoming NU's all-time tackle king, trying unsuccessfully to wrap up Taurean Henderson with 2-plus minutes left in the third quarter.

 

(By the way, if you didn't want to watch that third quarter, you could have seen all three Godfather movies and a couple of Rocky's in the time it took to play the period.)

 

"The line judge is now the referee," was the announcement over the press-box P.A. in the third quarter.

 

And Nebraska now is going through what Texas Tech went through when Leach took over in 2000.

 

"Oh yeah, I do," Leach said when asked if he felt Bill Callahan's pain. "I think they have pretty good players but sometimes it's just getting in a rhythm.

 

"There are some tough spots."

 

Yeah, those 70-spots can sting a little.

 

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2004/1...15874076888.txt