IS THERE A QB CONTROVERSY AT TECH?

Now he’s done it, the thing Mike Leach hates most.

Steven Sheffield, darn him, has gone and created a distraction.

Leach’s first nine years coaching Texas Tech were free of quarterback controversy, largely because Leach made it so. Years past, when the waters roiled around a Kliff Kingsbury, a Sonny Cumbie or a Graham Harrell, Leach calmed the situation like a first-grade teacher shushing class. Always, he sticks to his starter.

How about now?

Not to say that Taylor Potts deserves to sit, thanks to circumstances beyond Potts’ control. Hey, he’s the nation’s second-leading passer, and he needed all of about three games to earn huddle cred with his toughness.

But can you bench Sticks now? After his rescue effort one Saturday and a rout the next? With him moving the team, making sound decisions and firing up the fans? Heck, Tech higher-ups have to be thinking, too, about ticket sales since Jones Stadium is growing — and because it was much emptier than usual for a 66-14 blowout of Kansas State on a chilly
Saturday night.

Frankly, I don’t know that the quarterback call is one Leach will have to make right away. Potts couldn’t recover in a week’s time from a concussion, and I’d be surprised if he’s cleared to go next weekend at Nebraska.

But after Sheffield’s 490-yard, seven-touchdown gem, it’s clear the Red Raiders have two viable options. At some point, Leach will have to make a choice, be it next week or next month or, looking ahead, next year.

As smoothly as he handled his first significant game action the week before, Sheffield raised his bid for the job in his first career start. The game was over when Tech led 38-0 at halftime as the Red Raiders scored every time they touched the ball against a team that had yet to give up more than 23 points in a game this season.

Sheffield wasn’t just along for the ride. He threw touch passes, put zing we didn’t know he had on balls that called for it and, to the astonishment of quite a few, unleashed a couple of bombs just perfectly.

Jacoby Franks latched on to one and turned it into a 72-yard touchdown. Lyle Leong dropped another, and Sheffield ran 50 yards downfield to tell Leong, shake it off, I’ll get back to ya. He did, in the fourth quarter, for his seventh touchdown pass.

Like last week, Sheffield played with boyish enthusiasm, judiciously left the pocket to buy time when necessary and mixed in one of his own runs for a first down.

Maybe most impressive, he chose the right option nearly all the time, seldom forcing anything.

Behind closed doors, I can tell you what Leach is thinking: A starter doesn’t lose his job because he got hurt.

Knowing Mike, that philosophy might go double for his quarterbacks, a position at which he makes evaluations based on what he’s seen for years in meeting rooms and monotonous practices. The lawyer coach reviews all the evidence.

And, to be sure, there are reasons not to hand it over to Sticks too quickly.

New Mexico’s New Mexico, and Kansas State’s not the middle-aged Bill Snyder’s Kansas State. Sheffield looked dandy against two outclassed teams. A crowd that wanted to see him do well was ready with the support whenever he did.

And if Sheffield could move ahead of Potts in the last two Saturdays alone, what was he doing the last three years? After all, both Tech quarterbacks entered the program at the same time, sat through all the same meetings, went to all the same practices and, going into August, no one thought for a second that Potts shouldn’t be starting quarterback.

Now there’s a lot more to think about.

Story courtesy of Don Williams at www.redraiders.com