Texas Tech's Coleman now a part of football follies
Douglas Coleman III is quite a football player for Texas Tech. The senior from Zachary, Louisiana, leads the NCAA in interceptions, with seven in eight games.
But now Coleman will forever be remembered among football' s greatest follies, along with the likes of Leon Lett and Joe Pisarcik.
With 13 seconds left in a tie game Saturday night, Texas Tech blocked a Kansas fieldgoal attempt. The ball came to Coleman, who tried to find running room, then inexplicably turned and lateraled to a teammate. But no Red Raider was there, and Kansas deep snapper Logan Klusman recovered at the Tech 14-yard line, with two seconds left.
KU's Liam Jones came back and kicked a 32-yard field goal to give the Jayhawks a 37-34 victory.
“There's nobody that cares more about this team than Douglas Coleman ,” said first-year Tech coach Matt Wells on the Big 12 teleconference Monday. “It was an unfortunate play made with all the right intentions. Just, you gotta know a situation better. We as coaches need to inform them better. The guy has strained and done so many things well and done so many things right.
“Doug's a good player, and he's an even better kid. He's handling it with class, with dignity. And unfortunately, a lot of the spotlight is on that play. We lost that game at other points.”
Wells said Tech teaches players to try to scoop and score with a blocked kick that doesn't cross the line of scrimmage, but blocked kicks that cross the line of scrimmage should be left alone. However, Coleman cleanly fielded the blocked kick. He just foolishly tried to lateral, apparently thinking time had expired.
“Right intentions, unfortunate result,” Wells said. “I understand the spotlight will always be on that play, but internally, we know games are not lost on that one play.”
Sunflower State field-storming
Around 2:30 p.m. Saturday, delirious Kansas State fans flooded the field at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Seven hours later, celebrating Kansas fans did the same at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
It was Storm-the-field Saturday in the Sunflower State, where K- State upset Oklahoma 48-41 and KU shocked Texas Tech 37-34 on a last- play field goal. Quite a testament to first-year coaches Les Miles of Kansas and Chris Klieman of KSU.
“Honestly, it was really very special,” said Miles. “Took me about 20 minutes to get across the field… a lot of people whose name I could not regurgitate at this time, but it was wonderful. Knowing the hard work, effort and energy our kids put in to game week and how they played against a very capable Texas Tech team, really heart-felt for them.”
Klieman is not as emotional or as descriptive as Miles, but he did appreciate the moment.
“It was a great fan base Saturday,” Klieman said. “The fans were electric, so happy they were able to share it with the guys.”
Brown embraces Thursday game
Neal Brown grew up watching Thursday night football on ESPN. “It was always a big deal,” Brown said.
Now Brown is the head coach at West Virginia, the NFL has become the must-see football on Thursday nights and many Thursday night college games don't even include Power 5 Conference teams.
But Brown's Mountaineers play at 12th-ranked Baylor on an ESPN Thursday this week,
and Brown sees it as a chance to market West Virginia football.
“That's the hope,” Brown said. “It can go one of two ways, either really good or really bad.”
Brown pointed out that West Virginia on Oct. 19 played OU in Fox's 11 a.m. marquee game. The Sooners won big.
“That was a really bad showcase,” Brown said. But “I like the Thursday night games. We play it up to our kids. It's a great opportunity for us, kind of phrasing it as a new season. Let's get it kicked off.”
Can Longhorns rally?
Last season, Texas suffered back-to-back losses against Oklahoma State and West Virginia, falling to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12. Those `Horns rallied to make the Big 12 Championship Game.
Saturday, the Longhorns lost to TCU 37-27 and fell to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the Big 12. And coach Tom Herman had a message for his team.
“There was a team last year that lost two games in a row, in conference, and still kept fighting, still kept battling, and found a way into the conference title game,” Herman said. “We won't talk about it much, if at all, because it's irrelevant if we don't beat Kansas State (on Nov. 3). And if we don't improve this week, we're not going to beat Kansas State.
“But they're no dummies. We don't quite control our own destiny, but if we handle our business, we'll make sure we're right there in the race.”
But to reach the Big 12 title game, Texas almost certainly will have to sweep K-State, Iowa State, Baylor and Texas Tech. Those two middle games are on the road. A return to Arlington doesn't seem likely.