On the Pitch

Texas Tech soccer defeated Boise State 2-0 behind two goals from Taylor Zdrojewski, assisted by Reese Liner and Kylie Bahr on the first goal. The Red Raiders will host Pepperdine on Thursday night, first-touch is at 7:00 p.m.

“It was overdue for us to have a response like we did tonight. We’ve had the extra weeks of training in the preseason and put in the work. We came back from Hawaii and weren’t satisfied with the way we had played. Our team is close and we train hard. And I had no complaints about effort, but we hadn’t put together a good performance. And our team absolutely needed a performance like tonight. Boise was the right team for us to face needing a performance like this because they put you in all sorts of pressure. They’re very direct and fouling you all the time. They’re physical and really well coached. The whole matchup was a problem, and it was the perfect antidote to what we had been struggling with. If it was a really easy game I don’t think we would have felt good about ourselves. So to play well, score two good goals and for Z to come out and have that kind of performance was great to see. We started Reese Liner for the first time and Addie Todd was great in goal. Our team just needed to feel this way. And when 1800 people show up and we break our home opener attendance record and entertain those guys was great to see. Our players were like wow what an atmosphere because this was their first home game at Walker. So, to give them that feeling and the home feeling. To have a 2-0 win and have a shutout was excellent. We now need to get ready for Pepperdine, so nothing gets easier.”

On the Hardwood

Yahoo Sports on the Tenth Circuit granting the NCAA stay in the 5th year eligibility lawsuit. This affects Donovan Atwell, who has only played 4 years, has a year remaining, and only became eligible because of this case in Colorado. Thus, Atwell technically is not eligible. The distinction between this case and the Darrion Williams case is that Williams was part of a temporary injunction that specifically permitted him (along with 50 other athletes) to compete this year.

In retrospect, I’ve thought quite a bit about the NCAA not allowing these guys who have graduated not to come back and I think I agree with them. Recently, players on NFL rosters have asked to be cut so that they can go back and attempt to play college football and that’s not necessarily something that I want to see. And even Atwell was playing in the NBA summer league and doing really well, but obviously could make more money playing in college. Atwell also has not obtained his own temporary injunction, although I think he still could.

Sportico’s Michael McCann has a good explainer on the court procedures and to add to the intrigue, via Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, a former Ole Miss tight end, playing preseason for the Cleveland Browns, is looking to join LSU after being asked to be cut by the Browns. I’m sure the outrage against LSU of ruining the integrity of the game will follow:

That’s right. Former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright, who signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles and is in training camp with the Cleveland Browns, popped into the portal on Thursday afternoon, followed soon by other players, some of them like Wright who have signed a professional contract.

You’re probably wondering how in the hell this is happening.

The players are part of a large group who sued the NCAA in a Louisiana court in an attempt to gain a fifth year of eligibility in the wake of the association’s new five-year, age-based eligibility policy. Dozens of players across the country have filed similar suits on the heels of the NCAA’s decision not to make an exception for seniors who completed their career this past spring after playing in just four seasons. They are ineligible under the old rule, but they are eligible under the new rule — if the association had made an exception.

On the Gridiron

The second scrimmage was Saturday night and here’s head coach Joey McGuire. As an aside, I think the person asking questions was Matt Dowdy so no media scrum.

On3’s Daniel Hager on Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos receiving a temporary injunction to be eligible and Texas Tech is one of the leading candidates to sign Castellanos. I remember watching him and Florida State beat the pants off of Alabama to start the year last year, but it was a little uneven, 58% completion percent, 8.9 yards per attempt, 15 touchdowns and 9 picks, while throwing about 230 yards per game. The thing that Castellanos is really good at is running the ball, 137 attempts and 557 yards rushing, good for 4.07 yards per run and 9 touchdowns. Castellanos ran about 11 times a game last year.

The big question is why and that’s the part I don’t get. If Hammond is healthy and you want a guy to just run the ball . . . that seems like overkill? I don’t know. Maybe they’ve seen enough from Francis and Jones that they are concerned about if Hammond does go down, they want a more than competent back-up?

Hype video from the luncheon:

ESPN’s Max Olson on the chaos that is the quarterback transfer market. This is not really Texas Tech related, just a good read.

Mercury News’ Jon Wilner, the same guy that thinks Texas Tech is preseason No. 25, predicts the Big 12 race and his rationale is not based on logic, but something else?

We are admittedly cutting against conventional wisdom by not picking the Red Raiders to successfully defend their conference title, and it might be blasphemous to some that we have them slotted third. The skepticism isn’t tied to quarterback Will Hammond, who’s coming off knee surgery and fills the spot that had been reserved for Brendan Sorsby. Instead, our forecast is based on things that cannot be explained or predicted — except, perhaps, by the football gods — but that rise up to derail seasons: bad bounces, tough luck with injuries and a handful of plays that go awry.