Texas Tech Football Notebook: Kingsbury Talks Play Calling; Arkansas Looks to Correct Mistakes

Outside the Huddle.  I really enjoy this.

Interesting to hear how Kingsbury has a set of ten plays that he likes to run, but changes it up depending on hashes and where the ball is. Just work on getting better and enjoy every one of these games. Kingsbury is high on the improvement from week 1 to week 2. Again, good stuff.

Arm Strength. Brian Holland has a cool look Patrick Mahomes velocity of an incomplete pass that went 60 yards in 3 seconds:

All of the Errors. Via Arkansas Online, Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema talked about all of the errors from the Toledo game, from penalties to being better on third down and being better in the redzone:

“The biggest thing is it’s tough to pass in the red zone,” Allen said. “The field shrinks and windows get a lot tighter, so it’s difficult to pass the ball down there, but that’s where that run game really steps up and makes it easier for you.”

The final “edge” of Bielema’s system is earning everything. He said Monday the Razorbacks put forth a textbook example of how to lose a game that was imminently winnable.

“We wouldn’t have been happy, obviously, coming out of there, but we would have come out of there with a W and felt totally different,” he said. “To me this is a situation that, as bad as it was to live through, as bad as it absolutely, positively wrenches my stomach, my heart, my soul and everything that we have, I think it’s something that we had to go through.”

Consistency. ESPN’s Max Olson writes that defensive coordinator David Gibbs knows that the key to improving the defense, even if the results don’t show week-to-week is consistency:

“We will get better as the season goes on, because we’ll keep doing the same things over and over again,” Gibbs said. “Now the fans might not like it, and the results might not show it, but we will keep getting better. Obviously, in the next three weeks, it might not show up because of who we’re playing. But I’m not a short-term guy.”

He recognizes the challenges he inherited at Tech. Some of Gibbs’ starters have already played for four other defensive coordinators at TTU. They’ve endured countless scheme changes. Fifth-year seniorsPete Robertson and Branden Jackson have experienced 22 games in which Tech gave up more than 40 points.

There’s a long-term funk here that must be broken, and some of it’s mental.

“There’s a tendency of panic. To me, that’s the history of bad defenses,” Gibbs said. “Not only do the coaches panic, but the players panic and they don’t trust the call. It starts up front. The D-line starts peeking in the backfield and switching gaps and the linebackers do the same thing. And shoot, by then your DBs have no chance to fit the run.”

Notebook: Keane at Fullback. LAJ’s Don Williams files his notebook and writes about fullback Stanton Keane who is playing a ton on special teams:

“What’s he on, two or three special teams?” Jinks said this week. “The kids love him. It took about two weeks for them to realize, this is a tough, hard-nosed kid, and those kind of guys win football games.”

Williams also writes about how the offensive line hasn’t given up a sack thus far and UTEP RB Aaron Jones is out for the year after suffering an injury against Texas Tech.

Long and Hocutt. LAJ’s Don Williams writes about the relationship between Arkansas AD Jeff Long and Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt as they both worked together at Oklahoma:

“It was a lot of fun,” Hocutt said. “Jeff is a tremendous professional committed to student-athletes. At the same time, he likes to have a little bit of fun every day. There was not a meeting or a day that went by that we wouldn’t laugh or enjoy some fun times together. It was a lot of fun and at the same time very memorable.”

Stockton and Fatherhood. SAEN’s Tim Griffin writes about how RB Justin Stockton has matured after becoming a father and Stockton’s mother said that Stockton has been a good father, especially after Stockton didn’t have a father in his life growing up:

“They are so young,” she said. “But I’m very proud of him handling the situation like the young man that he is. He’s trying to do everything right. My kid’s father wasn’t there for him, so I think that’s why Justin wants to be there for his own little boy.

“That makes me more proud, knowing he’s only 20 years old, he’s trying to go to school, trying to do football and be a young man at a young age. I love how he is handling this.”

Miscellaneous. Land Grant Gauntlet has their week two power rankings and Texas Tech sits at 7, but 5 through 7 is pretty close . . . DMN’s Michael DuPont has five things to know about Arkansas . . .

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