Michael Crabtree and the Texas Tech Red Raiders have a much need week off this weekend. After playing two top 10 teams, including former No. 1 Texas over the last two weeks, anyone would be ready for a little time off. Especially when they’re next opponent is Oklahoma!

Crabtree is going to use this week off to heal up a bit. “The ankle is getting better,” Crabtree said. “It probably won’t even be hurting at all come the next game.”

When asked further how things are going:

“It’s been all right, but a lot of people have been going at my foot, so every time I get hit they try to twist it or whatever,” Crabtree said. “But it hasn’t been enough to keep me from playing.”

The Red Raiders will need all their weapons healthy and ready to roll come next week at Oklahoma. Everything will be riding on that game and the entire nation will be watching.

Michael Crabtree left no doubt that he is the best WR in college football on Saturday night when Texas Tech rolled Oklahoma State 56-20. I wouldn’t be surprised if their win over the No. 9 Cowboys will propel them to No. 1 in the BCS Standings.

“I feel like every week we have something to prove,” Crabtree said. “We really don’t too much worry about what other people think. We worry about what we can control, and that’s us, and that’s our team.”

Crabtree finished the game with 8 receptions for 89 yards and 3 touchdowns. Michael Crabtree extended his streak of recording at least five receptions and a touchdown catch to 13 games, placing him in a tie for second-longest all time. Only Larry Fitzgerald is ahead of him (by 1 game).

You can definitely feel something special going on with the Red Raiders. It feels like destiny for them to be in the BCS Championship game. They are just playing at such a high level and keep beating ranked teams every week.

Texas Tech pulled out a narrow victory in overtime against Nebraska on Saturday. Nebraska scored 21 points in the 4th quarter to come back and tie it up. “It was really a strange game,” Leach said. “I haven’t been in one like this.”

Michael Crabtree also broke a school record in the game yesterday. I’ll let you read about that from a snippet of a Dallas Morning News article by Bill Nichols. He can write way better then me.

Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree broke the school record for touchdown receptions on Tech’s second drive. He made the record score, his 31st, a memorable one. Crabtree turned a quick slant into an electrifying 35-yard touchdown, breezing through the secondary after making the catch about five steps from the line.

He led Tech with five receptions for 89 yards. But his biggest catch wasn’t a touchdown; it was a 47-yarder on fourth-and-5 from Tech’s 36 in the fourth quarter.

Crabtree, who entered the game tied with Jarrett Hicks (2003-06), also scored on a 4-yard pass from Harrell. With 32 touchdowns in 19 career games, Crabtree needs two more to move into the top 20 on the NCAA’s career list.

So with the school record, and the ultimate Red Raiders victory, I’d say it was a pretty good day. Oh ya, plus Texas Tech is now ranked No. 7 in the AP Top 25.

In a knockoff of the Presidential Campaign going on right now, Texas Tech has launched a new web titled: Pass or Catch 2008. It has a picture of Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree in suits and looks like a candidates website. It’s supposed to be their official bids for the 2008 Heisman. They’ve even got a “secret service” section.

Check it out at: http://www.depts.ttu.edu/athletics/passorcatch2008/

UMass had no way to stop Texas Tech’s high powered offense. Michael Crabtree and the Red Raiders destroyed the Minutemen 56-14. Harrell had all day to throw and was spreading the ball to all his weapons. Crabtree ended the game with 5 receptions, 62 yards and a score.

Harrell hit Crabtree and Morris on touchdowns, giving Tech a 42-7 halftime lead. I had predicted a much bigger statistical performance from Crabtree but in a blowout like this, Leach wanted to get more players involved and didn’t need to rely on Crabtree carrying the load.

For those of you who missed the game, I’ve got a video that a fan shot of Crabtree’s score just before halftime. It’s a quick slant route over the middle of the field. No way to stop it.

The AP Preseason Poll came out over the weekend, Texas Tech got ranked the #12 best team in the country, compared to #14 in the USA Today Poll. Not bad for a 9-4 team last season.

Part of their high ranking is due to the development of Michael Crabtree and now if has 1 more year of experience under his belt. The Red Raiders are also returning their starting quarterback, Graham Harrell.

Looking at their schedule, Texas Tech has a realistic shot at being undefeated until they play Kansas in late October. Of course they end the season with a couple of tough games vs Texas and at Oklahoma. If they can split those two games, this could be a great season for Crabtree and the Red Raiders.

When Michael Crabtree arrived at Texas Tech in 2006, he was an eager freshman looking to make an instant impact on the field. However, he had never played wide receiver and wasn’t quite as polished as some of the other players on the team. But no one could deny his raw talent and ability to make plays. So Texas Tech coaches decided to redshirt him his freshman year.

“It was disappointing to sit out that first season, but I was learning to be patient,” Crabtree said. “And I was learning stuff all the time. That first game was so important to me because I had been waiting for it so long. Now, it’s like every time I get on the field, I try to build on it.”

Last year Crabtree busted on the scene and had some huge games right away. He came out firing.

One thing that’s bad about the redshirt is that Texas Tech fans now only have 1 more season to enjoy him. 2008 will be his last year as a Red Raider, you can count on it. Even though he has plenty of eligibility, Michael Crabtree will be ready for the NFL and the millions of dollars that comes with it. You just can’t risk injury when there is guaranteed money on the table.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders just finished up their first practice of the fall yesterday afternoon. Some interesting news came out of it. Wide receiver Michael Crabtree spent some time working on returning kicks and punts. “We messed with it a little last year, too. I think he’ll be good at it and have for a while,” Coach Leach said. “I think he’d have a chance to be good at either one, maybe better at punt.”

Crabtree said he’s looking forward to being involved in special teams. I’m not sure if I believe him. While getting on the field more will increase a player’s exposure, Crabtree isn’t exactly the type of player lacking national attention. He’s a Heisman candidate going into 2008 and is the best WR in college football. I don’t know if I’d risk injury by putting him on the field for punts and kick offs. Remember what happened to Ted Ginn Jr. in the National Championship game?

Big Time WRs shouldn’t play special teams in my opinion.

The Sunday Morning Quarterback wrote up a very long article on what Red Raider fans can expect from their team in 2008. You can read the entire article here. But if you’re interested in only what they had to say about Michael Crabtree, then here’s an excerpt:

Obviously, to say Michael Crabtree took the Big 12 by storm or something would be an understatement. He set freshman records for everything, came pretty close to setting national records for everything, regardless of class, and won the Biletnikoff Award. Better defenses caught on later in the year and held him somewhat in check –– 17 touchdowns in the first six games declined to five TDs in the last seven –– and there was the flatly dropped touchdown on fourth down that would have beaten Oklahoma State, after he’d caught three scores earlier in the game. But Crabtree still had 64 catches in those last seven, dominated Texas and Oklahoma (21 for 349 and 3 TDs in back-to-back games) and is a good bet to go toward the top of next year’s draft, if he wants. All things considered, the best receiver in the country.

This came from a piece on who the best player is, that’s why it starts out with “Obviously.” There’s no doubt Red Raider fans are expecting big things from their team. Some ESPN experts are even picking them for the Sugar Bowl.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders are known for running a pass heavy offense. Quarterback Graham Harrell threw the ball 713 times during the 2007 season. Compare that to Heisman winner Tim Tebow’s 350 attempts, Chase Daniel’s 452 attempts, or John David Booty’s 436 attempts. The Red Raiders clearly love to launch the ball up and down the field.

So that begs the question, is Michael Crabtree is a “product of the system”? Would Crabtree be as dominant a wide receiver if he played for another team, like the Miami Hurricanes or Florida State Seminoles?

I think answer is somewhat of a yes/no. Yes Crabtree benefits from the pass-heavy system he is in, but also he is a very talented and gifted wide receiver. Let’s not forget that he was on of the most highly recruited players out of high school and put up nearly 2,000 yards receiving as a true freshman. I believe he could have succeeded in any system on any team. He may have had a ton of catches and yards, but his average per catch was still only 14.6 yards. That’s less then Limas Sweed and Mario Manningham’s YPC, and comparable to Percy Harvin’s 14.5.

A true measure of how great Michael Crabtree really is, will be if he can increase his yards per catch in 2008 to something like 16.0 ypc. If given the same number of receptions, he could break the single season NCAA receiving yards record (2060 yards).