Mike Leach's lament: Tech was 'too geeked up'
Nothing tricky about Sooners' domination

By John Rohde

Published: November 23, 2008

NORMAN — Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops insists there are no tricks to shutting down Texas Tech's explosive spread offense, which his team has done several times since 2000.

He claims there was no creative genius in his team's 65-21 rout over the No. 2-ranked Red Raiders on Saturday night before a record crowd at Owen Field.

The No. 5-ranked Sooners used a straight-forward approach.

We know this because confirmation came from the other locker room.

Sipping a cup of coffee, an impressively composed Mike Leach explained what had just transpired in front of a national television audience.

“You know exactly what Oklahoma is going to come out in,” said Leach, who was OU's offensive coordinator in 1999. “You know exactly how they're going to line up. They're going to shift around a little bit. Their scheme is the same it always is. They work on their technique and their execution. They have great technique and great execution with great athletes. They don't spend a great deal of their time trying to fool you. Offensively, we don't either.”

The Sooners held the explosive Red Raiders to 271 yards and 14 points through three quarters

Texas Tech gained 135 of its 406 total yards in garbage time, after OU had extended its lead to 65-14 early in the fourth.

Leach said his team tried hard, which was the good news.

The bad news was it tried too hard.

“Oklahoma has been in a lot of games like this. We've been in a few of them,” Leach said. “We have to learn from this experience. We wanted to win very badly, and we tried too hard, just tried too hard. We needed to relax more than we did.”

As Leach continued to get peppered with questions, he playfully took complete control of the interview session and started asking and answering his own questions.

Leach: “Oh, my gosh. Were you surprised that they lined up with two safeties?”

“No, I wasn't.”

Leach: “Were you surprised they went with the four-man front and sometimes they'd go with the three-man front?”

“I mean, this is going to amaze some of you so hold onto your seat, but no, it didn't surprise me a bit.”

Leach: “Was I surprised that these big monsters were good at using their hands and getting their pads low, and if they had half a chance they'd slam into your quarterback?”

“No.”

Leach: “Did I feel we were fooled today?”

“No. Never.”

Leach: “Do I think we fooled them?”

“No.”

Leach: “Did they execute better than we did today?”

“Yes. OK?”

Leach feels the same about Oklahoma football as he did when he was a staff member.

“OU did what they always do,” Leach explained. “It's one of the things I respect about them defensively. I know it's fun for you (reporters) to act like there's this elaborate bag of tricks. That's always puzzled me about the media. I defer to how coaches believe how football works, understandably so. I'm very biased that way.

“Coaches believe football is a game of practice, patterning stuff over and over. Execution, generally speaking. Guys in the media think it's this bag of tricks and fooling one another that ultimately makes or breaks a football game. That's not the case.

“The thing is, when you play somebody that good, you've got to play in control. We did against Texas. We did against Oklahoma State. We didn't against Oklahoma, and I regret that.

“I'm going to search why we were too geeked up.”

John Rohde: 475-3099. John Rohde can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11 a.m. on New JOX 930 (AM).

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