ESPN College Football

SAN ANTONIO -- Interim Texas Tech coach Ruffin McNeill learned about Mike Leach's firing in the middle of his team's practice Wednesday afternoon.

McNeill's team was working in the middle of a team drill at Incarnate Word University when he was told that Leach has been fired after 10 years as Tech's coach.

"When I heard it, there was a little bit of shock, but you learn in this business that anything can happen," McNeill said. "You have to be professional at all times. I've been blessed to have professional group. And once we heard about it, we had another productive day of practice."

McNeill said the controversial firing is difficult for him because of his respect for Leach and Texas Tech.

"We've had some family things that have gone on and some things out there that have happened, university things and things between two parties that make it a torn situation," McNeill said. "I love both sides of the party. Coach Leach has been great friend and a great boss and Texas Tech has been a great university for me as well. You can imagine how torn I am."

McNeill, 51, worked with Leach during his entire tenure at Tech, taking over as the defensive coordinator after the Red Raiders were embarrassed in a 49-45 loss at Oklahoma State in 2007. That prompted a staff change the following day with the resignation of Lyle Setencich.

His ascension has been responsible for much of Tech's defensive improvement, which has helped them become contenders in the South Division. Tech notched 39 sacks this season to rank second nationally in per-game average behind Pittsburgh as a young defense became an unexpected team strength.

"We've been together so long," McNeill said. "It is a tough situation, but at the same time, I know the professionalism must override everything. I've been in a lot of situations good and bad in 29 years, success and failures, I've learned from both of them."

McNeill said he hasn't talked to Leach since his firing. The abrupt change has altered some things for him, but he's determined to have his team ready to play Michigan State Saturday night in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

"It's kind of like going 95 mph in a school zone," McNeill said. "The biggest thing and my biggest focus has been making sure the players are focused. We're trying to keep a cool head when everybody else is losing their's. We're trying to stay as close to possible with our routine to make sure our routine doesn't come off the track."

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

Even with the memories of his last trip to Boone Pickens Stadium unshakable, Texas Tech cornerback Jamar Wall will be missing Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant from the Cowboys’ lineup on Saturday.

Bryant was a preseason All-American for the Cowboys who was suspended for the season last month by the NCAA. Wall wishes he could face the test of stopping the Bryant if he was still playing.

“It’s a disappointment because I like the challenge,” Wall said. “Playing against him gives you a chance to show how well you can play.”

	Karl Anderson/Icon SMI
	Texas Tech cornerback Jamar Wall likes a challenge.

Wall’s first game against the Cowboys in Stillwater remains one of the most memorable of his career. He notched a career-high 11 tackles and produced an interception in the Cowboys’ wild 49-45 victory over the Red Raiders in 2007.

“It was hostile, hot, crazy. Definitely, it wasn’t a good experience to remember,” Wall said. “We had a bad taste in our mouths after it happened. And we know we can’t let it happen again.”

The showdown later became infamous because of the dueling news conferences after the game by the two rival head coaches. OSU coach Mike Gundy’s “I’m 40, I’m a man” rant was matched word-for-word by Tech coach Mike Leach’s where he questioned the toughness of his defense.

On the day after the game, veteran Tech defensive coach Lyle Setencich resigned and Ruffin McNeill was hired in his place.

That move has helped transform the Red Raiders defense. Wall said that McNeill hiring has helped bring a different attitude to a defense that traditionally had been overshadowed by Leach's high-powered offense.

“Everything about us has been changed with him transforming us,” Wall said. “He brought a different mindset to our defense. He’s pushing us, but knows what he can expect from us.”

The difference could be seen in the Red Raiders’ most recent victory, a 42-21 triumph over Kansas. Tech produced six sacks, nine tackles for losses, 10 deflected passes and forced two fumbles.

“You can see 11 guys swarming to the ball,” Wall said. “It’s a bunch of small things, but it gives us a different demeanor. It’s all because of Coach Ruff.”

Saturday’s game in Stillwater will be crucial in helping to settle the Big 12 South’s bowl order. The winner of the game will earn the inside track to the Cotton Bowl, while the loser could skid as far as the Sun Bowl or the Independence Bowl.

Wall is one of the key players on Tech’s improving defense. The Red Raiders have developed a fearsome knack for making plays, as they are tied for third nationally in sacks and 35th in tackles for losses.

Rival quarterbacks seem to be hesitant to test Wall in his third season as a starter. He still leads the Red Raiders with seven pass deflections, but doesn’t see as many pass attempts come his way as before.

His transformation into a lockdown cornerback is complete after a heralded career as a running back at Plainview (Texas) High School. Back-to-back 2,000-yard rushing seasons as a junior and senior earned him all-state honors before he arrived at college.

Shortly after his arrival at Tech and his move to cornerback, he earned confidence at his new position after working out against former Tech standout Wes Welker, currently an NFL Pro Bowler.

“It happened coming into my freshman year here and it was my first time I'd really played defense,” Wall said. “He made me come out and work with him every day. It gave me a boost when he told me I could get better and play cornerback if I kept working hard.”

Wall considered attending Baylor, Kansas State, Purdue, Wake Forest, SMU, TCU and UTEP before settling on the Red Raiders. In a way, it was kind of preordained he would be heading to Tech, considering that his older brother Koy Smith played basketball there in the mid-1990s.

And despite his success at cornerback, he still sometimes wonders how his career would have been changed if he had continued at running back.

“I still kind of question that,” Wall said. “I like my change in position, but there’s no telling what I could have done at running back. You always kind of miss getting the ball like you did on offense.”

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

No. 14

The day that press conferences were bigger than anything on the field.

Date: Sept. 22, 2007
Place: Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, Okla.
Score: Oklahoma State 49, Texas Tech 45

Oklahoma State's wild victory over Texas Tech started the 2007 conference race with one of the most memorable games in Big 12 history.

The two teams combined for 94 points, 62 first downs, and 1,328 yards. There were also three lead changes in the final 12:25.

And that action was upstaged by the comments of both teams' coaches in the post-game press conference.

OSU coach Mike Gundy quickly became a celebrated national figure after he defended his backup quarterback Bobby Reid, who he felt had been unfairly portrayed before the game in a column in the Daily Oklahoman.

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach had a similar eruption where he questioned the toughness of his defense after it had been gashed for 366 rushing yards.

It was a wild scene unlike anything that has been seen -- before or since -- in Big 12 history.

Earlier, the action on the field was nearly as memorable.

Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree had helped stake the Red Raiders to a 35-28 halftime advantage with three early touchdown grabs. But OSU stormed back to tie the game on Zac Robinson's 3-yard keeper with 1:15 left in the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, OSU's defense came up with a huge play when Tech wide receiver Edward Britton fumbled at the Tech 38. On the next play, OSU took the lead when Seth Newton hit Jeremy Broadway on a 33-yard option pass for a touchdown to give the Cowboys the lead.

Tech stormed back to tie the game four plays later when quarterback Graham Harrell threw his fifth touchdown of the game -- a 41-yard strike to Danny Amendola.

The Red Raiders withstood OSU on the next drive as Robinson was stopped on fourth down at the Tech 40 by Joe Garcia. Tech then marched 58 yards on a scoring drive capped by Alex Trlica's 19-yard field goal that gave the Red Raiders a 45-42 lead with 4:49 left.

After an exchange of punts, OSU had one final chance. And on the first play from scrimmage, Robinson hooked up with tight end Brandon Pettigrew on a 54-yard TD reception that gave them the lead for good with 1:37 remaining.

Tech marched to the OSU 15, but Crabtree dropped a touchdown pass in the end zone with 19 seconds left after OSU cornerback Ricky Price had flashed in front of him.

It provided Gundy with a victory in his first conference game of the season, emboldening him to make perhaps the most celebrated rant in college football history.

Factoids to note: Harrell's 646 passing yards was the fourth-best single-game total in college football history at the time of the game as he completed 46 of 67 passes. OSU had three backs who rushed for 100 yards for the first time in the same game in school history -- Dantrell Savage with 130 yards, Robinson with 116 yards and Kendall Hunter with 113 yards. Crabtree and Amendola both had huge games as Crabtree produced 14 receptions for 237 yards and Amendola snagged 14 catches for 233 yards ... It was only OSU's second victory in a Big 12 opener in nine seasons.

They said it, part I: "Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40!" OSU coach Mike Gundy's comments after he felt backup quarterback Bobby Reid was unfairly attacked in a newspaper column before the game.

They said it, part II: "We got hit in the mouth and acted like somebody took our lunch money. All we wanted to do was have pouty expressions on our face until somebody dabbed our little tears off and made us (expletive) feel better," Tech coach Mike Leach on his defense's inability to contain OSU's offense.

They said it, part III: "If I put it on the other shoulder, he's going to catch that easily and we win. If I put it a foot on the other side of him, we catch the ball and win. It's probably my fault. He played a heck of a game," Tech QB Graham Harrell on Michael Crabtree's late drop that cost the Red Raiders a game-winning touchdown.

They said it, part IV: "That was my Superman," OSU tight end Brandon Pettigrew describing his leap for the end zone on his game-winning touchdown.

The upshot: Gundy became a cult figure after his 3-minute 20-second outburst, which has been replayed on YouTube millions of times after the incident. Robinson claimed the starting position after the comeback victory and Reid never started at quarterback again. He eventually started at wide receiver later in the season, but transferred to Southern University after the season for his final year. In an interview with ESPN the Magazine's Tom Friend, Reid said that Gundy's rant "basically ended my life."

Leach fired defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich the following day and inserted Ruffin McNeill into the position. The move worked as the Red Raiders' defense improved markedly and helped spark them to a 9-4 season punctuated by a 31-28 victory over Virginia in the Gator Bowl. That triumph helped boost Tech to a No. 22 ranking in the final Associated Press poll that season.

OSU used momentum from the comeback victory to charge to a 7-6 record during the rest of the season, capping the season with a 49-33 triumph over Indiana in the Insight Bowl in the Cowboys' second-straight bowl victory under Gundy.

The countdown:

15. Rout 66: No, that score wasn't a typo.
16. Kansas State finally slays the Cornhuskers.
17. Kingsbury and Long hook up in a passing duel for the ages.
18. Henery and Suh make Colorado blue.
19. Stunning OSU rally leads to Stoops' first home loss.
20. It's never over for Texas Tech until it's over.
21. Reesing to Meier. Again and again.
22. A Texas-sized comeback -- Texas over Oklahoma State in 2004.
23. A Border War unlike any of the rest -- Missouri over Kansas in 2007.
24. Seneca Wallace's wild TD run vs. Texas Tech in 2001.
25. Baylor's "So Much for Taking a Knee" against UNLV in 1999.

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

The scene in Texas Tech's locker room after last season's loss to Oklahoma State remains vivid to Graham Harrell. The frustration and tears he shared with wide receiver Michael Crabtree afterwards are something he'll never forget.

Memories for Oklahoma State quarterback Zac Robinson are a little bit sweeter as he recalls his first victorious college start -- a game that boosted his confidence that he could be a productive college quarterback.

Any reporter who was within earshot of either Mike Leach or Mike Gundy's post-game interview sessions will long recall how their post-game pyrotechnics upstaged the wild offensive show that had just taken place on the field.

Looking back, Oklahoma State's 49-45 victory over Texas Tech last season was one of the most spectacular games in Big 12 history. And it's proven to be even more significant for what has happened for both teams afterwards.

Both coaches have said the game could have been considered a touchstone that has pointed their teams to the recent success the following season. Texas Tech (9-0) is off to its best start since 1938 and brings a nation-best 11-game winning streak and a No. 2 ranking in the BCS standings into the game. And Oklahoma State's 8-1 start -- its best since 1985 -- is marred only by a four-point road loss at then No. 1 Texas.

Some of the impetus for the strong starts began after that wild four-hour, two-minute shootout at Boone Pickens Stadium that left both teams drained and both coaches raging afterwards.

"It was a big win for us because Tech was a very good football team," Gundy said. "For the most part, our program has grown since then. We're more mature and things seem to be heading into the right direction. That game kind of lifted our spirits and made things better."

The bitter disappointment helped point Harrell in the right direction along with Crabtree, who dropped a potential game-winning touchdown pass in the end zone with 11 seconds left.

"I can remember being in the locker room with him and both of us were in tears after how that game played out," said Harrell, who passed for a career-best 646 yards in the loss. "We battled and left everything out on the field. That loss hurt bad at the time. And now, looking back it's kind of a turning point to help us get where we are today."

But the fun was only getting started.

Afterwards, Mike Leach blistered his defense's performance so badly that his coordinator Lyle Setencich resigned the next day. And Gundy became a sports cultural icon for his iinfamous "I'm 40, I'm a Man" catch phrase as he fumed at an Oklahoma City columnist. Those two YouTube staples effectively upstaged a game that featured 1,328 yards of total offense, 62 first downs and three lead changes in the final 12:25 of play.

Leach immediately installed Ruffin McNeill as his interim defensive coordinator. The Texas Tech defense unified over the course of last season under their new leader, steadily improving each week. And it has carried that growth into this season, where it has shown surprising across-the-board development.

"I think that as soon as Ruffin took over, the defense improved immediately and has just continued to grow," Leach said. "He's inspired the whole group and they are a passionate about what he has taught them. I think our whole team has drawn from our defense."

And Oklahoma State grew from the victory as well, charging to a 7-6 finish that was capped by a victory in the Insight Bowl. The Cowboys used that strong finish as a springboard to this season that has pointed them into contention for their first Big 12 South title.

"As a team, we've come a long way dating back to last season," Robinson said. "We knew we had a chance to be a good team, but we just needed to put it together. We're more of a team than we've ever been."

That belief will be tested Saturday as the Cowboys will be battling some significant history. The Cowboys will be looking for their first victory in Lubbock since 1944 and a triumph over their highest ranked road opponent in history.

"There's a lot on the line," said Gundy, who didn't know of the Cowboys' 11-game losing streak in Lubbock until he was told by reporters earlier this week. "We're playing in some big games and I think that's enough motivation for them. To be honest, I don't know if those other things intrigue them that much."

If not, they should just think back to last season and the wild game that helped point them to where they are today.