By Wendell Barnhouse
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
One of the dozens of challenges facing a college football coach is knowing his team. That knowledge requires reading the minds of between 80 and 100 young men aged 18 to 22 years old.
Good luck with that.
As the Big 12 heads in Week Three, let’s pause and reflect on some of the psychological warfare going on around the Conference.
Texas coach Charlie Strong revealed how stinging the 41-7 loss to BYU was. The word “embarrassed” has been high on the list of vocabulary words. Strong tried to motivate his players by posting signs in the locker room with the ugly numbers from 2013’s loss in Provo.
“I did it for a reason, just to see what we would do,” Strong said. “I wanted to see if somebody would just get (ticked).”
The coach expected the players to trash the signs. They didn’t. It was a communications failure on the “Cool Hand Luke” level. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2f-MZ2HRHQ
Strong also could tell before kickoff that the Longhorns weren’t ready to play. He felt a similar vibe while coaching at Louisville and that day he waved his players into the locker room during warmups to deliver a verbal wakeup call. Before leaving the locker room to go out for the kickoff, Strong delivered another message.
"I called the team up and told them we’re not ready to play. Our focus isn’t there," Strong said in his postgame comments. "We’re getting ready to play a really good football team and we’re going to get embarrassed if we don’t watch out. That’s what happened."
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy has a depth chart of talented but inexperienced players. After pushing defending national champion Florida State to the brink in the season opener, the Cowboys were inconsistent in a 40-23 victory over Missouri State. The Cowboys tied a school record with six field goal attempts.
“We were really flat,” Gundy said.“I wasn’t real fired up about our team and how they played. It was kind of the first sign of an immature team in not preparing well. We had warned them throughout the week. But sometimes you have to learn on the run.”
This week Oklahoma State faces a dangerous UT-San Antonio team that the Cowboys defeated 56-35 in San Antonio last season.
“They got a lot of guys back,” Gundy said. “And they were good last year. We were in a battle with them last year. And they went on to have a good season. “This is like a league game for us. They’re good enough to win games in our league.”
Gundy wants to convince his players that “conference” play starts Saturday. Gundy’s former offensive coordinator wants his team to look back before looking to this week’s game.
West Virginia plays at Maryland, a team that spanked the Mountaineers 37-0 last season. Coach Dana Holgorsen believes his team is vastly improved over the 2013 edition and that last year’s loss to the Terps will be motivation.
“The majority of the people on our team right now played in that game last year and wasn't too happy with the outcome and was embarrassed with the outcome,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “We've got a pretty motivated bunch to be able to get over there and try to obviously put a little bit of a better effort out there on the field.”
Mind games can be as fascinating and entertaining as the games played on the field. And between contests, it’s often all the media and the fans have to contemplate.
One Warrior Tweets Another
Twitter is social media’s version of a loaded gun. In the wrong hands, it can be dangerous. Your Humble Correspondent estimates that half of the Tweets he reads are snarky, mean-spirited and/or delete-worthy.
But Iowa State senior defensive end Cory Morrisey (@CJM048) deserves props for this Tweet he posted Tuesday night: “Playing or not playing , prayers for a speedy recovery to the behemoth Scherff . Went down being a complete team player.”
Here’s the context: Brandon Scherff (the “behemoth”) is Iowa’s starting left tackle, a 6-5, 320-pound senior considered one of the nation’s best offensive linemen. In the Hawkeyes’ victory Saturday, he suffered a knee injury trying to prevent a fumble return for a touchdown. Scherff underwent arthroscopic surgery and will miss Saturday’s game with Morrissey and the Cyclones.
As they (used to) say: Real recognizes real.
Charlie Weis Dropping Weight
Kansas coach Charlie Weis has spent his life battling weight problems. It nearly killed him once.
In 2002, while an assistant with the New England Patriots, Weis underwent gastric bypass surgery. He nearly died when complications arose and the procedure left him with limited feeling in both feet.
Last February, Weis made a pledge to his family and to his team.
“I told them that I would drop 100 pounds,” Weis told the Kansas City Star. “I was a mess. I’m less of a mess now. … I do feel better. But I did it because I made a commitment to both the team and my family. That’s what I said.”
Weis hasn’t disclosed any specific numbers but over the summer he told one reporter that he had dropped 70 pounds. He’s fighting a weight war that millions of people can understand.
Numbers Game
7.7: Yards per play averaged by Texas Tech, tops in the Big 12.
9: Number of touchdown passes for Kansas last season. Sophomore Montell Cozart had three TD passes in the season opener.
15: Tackles for loss by Texas’ defense, ranking 15th nationally. UCLA, the team the Longhorns face Saturday, has allowed 21 tackles for loss.
16: The number of FBS teams (127 total) that have more touchdown passes than Texas Tech’s Bradley Marquez has touchdown receptions (he has five).
37-2: Oklahoma’s record at home against non-conference teams under coach Bob Stoops.
Audibles
Kansas coach Charlie Weis on the school’s 27-game losing streak on the road (last victory: Sept. 12, 2009, at UTEP): “We haven’t won a road game around here in an eternity.”
Baylor coach Art Briles on the Bears’ Friday night game at Buffalo, which plans to wear all-black uniforms with the fans urged to also dress in black: “It is a Friday night ESPN football game, and they are having a blackout. To me that is good. It challenges us to some extent, and I like that part of it because we are not going to be in any comfort zone. We are going to have to go out there and depend on the guys we look around and see. That part of it is kind of inspiring to me."
UT-San Antonio coach Larry Coker on Oklahoma State junior running back/wide receiver Tyreek Hill: “They have maybe the fastest football player in the world playing for them."
Oklahoma faces Tennessee Saturday and OU defensive lineman Geneo Grissom on coach Bob Stoops’ comments about the Southeastern Conference: "We all know coach Stoops’ feeling about the SEC and as his guys we’re 100 percent behind him. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. This is about us. It is up to us to make sure we’re ready to play."
Kansas senior linebacker Ben Heeney on the Jayhawks’ second-half struggles in a 34-28 victory over Southeast Missouri State: “We came out in the second half with no juice. Half the stadium’s empty like it always is … Fans leaving at halftime. There’s no juice in the stadium, and I think that’s part of it.”