Outside the Gridiron : Three Storylines to Follow Before the Liberty Bowl
Mississippi State and Texas Tech will face off in the 2021 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee on December 28th at 5:45 p.m CT.
MSU will be gunning for its eighth win of the season in head coach Mike Leach’s second year, while the Red Raiders will be looking to secure their seventh win and finish the season above the .500 mark. Before then, though, there are several things worth noting about the game outside of the gridiron.
1. Leach’s Money
Bulldogs head coach Mike Leach coached at Texas Tech from 2000-2009 and played an instrumental role in bringing the program and his Air Raid offense into the national spotlight. Leach finished his career at Texas Tech with the third most wins in program history.
After plenty of fallout after the 2009 season, Leach formally filed a lawsuit against Texas Tech in order to attempt to receive the money that would have been owed to him in the final year of his contract, and to this day still hasn’t received that money.
“It’s a great school and I’ve got great memories there,” said Leach to reporters in a recent appearance, “You know, they still owe me for 2009 - the last time they won 9 games…”
Needless to say, Coach Leach still wants his money.
2. Coaching Connection
They say there’s no harder person to play than the person who taught you how, and that might just ring true in this affair between the Bulldogs and Red Raiders, as interim Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie once upon a time played under Mike Leach at Texas Tech, and has a great career story to show for it.
Cumbie walked on at Tech as a student during the 2000 season, and was the backup quarterback for most of his playing days in Lubbock. Before the 2004 season, Cumbie had amassed only 40 completions for 374 yards and one touchdown.
That all changed in ‘04, however, as Cumbie beat out junior college transfer Robert Johnson and junior Cody Hodges for the starting role. In his lone season as the Red Raider front man, Cumbie led the nation in passing yardage with a grand total of 4,742 yards through the air. Tech ended the season at 7-4, and drew a tough matchup against the Aaron Rodgers-led, No. 4 California Golden Bears. Leach, Cumbie and Tech went on to win that game, and Cumbie was awarded the M.V.P. Honors for his efforts in the affair.
Now the freshly hired head coach at Louisiana Tech, Cumbie will be returning to try and secure the 7th win of the season for the Red Raiders, but he’ll have to do it against the man that gave him a chance and taught him everything he knew about the Air Raid. No pressure, right?
3. The Memphis Blues
Needless to say, the last time MSU played in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, things did not go swimmingly. The Bulldogs lost a tough Week 3 matchup to the Memphis Tigers 31-29 due to a blown call on a punt return. After the game, fans were questioning themselves on the expectations of this Bulldog team this year, especially after the ensuing loss to LSU at home.
Leach and company bounced back further down the line in the regular season, though, and as mentioned previously, are knocking on the door of an eight-win season, which would double the team’s win total from last season’s COVID schedule.
Obviously, the blown call isn’t the only thing that cost MSU the win against the Tigers in week 3, so if it’s the Memphis Blues that get to the Bulldogs whenever they’re in Liberty Bowl Memorial, they’ll have to find a way to shake them off for four quarters come the 28th.
