Out on the South Plains, it's been quite a week -- in the aftermath of the unexpected resignation of Texas Tech Red Raiders defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt back in September, head coach Kliff Kingsbury and interim defensive coordinator Mike Smith are now making some serious accusations.
Smith believes that the defensive signals used by the Red Raiders have been passed around the conference since Wallterstedt's departure:
"They have," Smith said. "They have been passed around. ... I know other coaches have called and our signals have been passed around the whole time. All I know is karma's a bad deal.
"I don't want to get into what's going on with all that, but it's not right and, to me, it's not fair to the kids. So if that's how that person wants to handle business, they can handle business that way. I sure hope I don't run into him anytime soon."
The tirade from Smith didn't mention any specific names, but a source confirmed to the Lubbock Avalance-Journal that the interim defensive coordinator was talking about Wallerstedt. Kingsbury also referred to the issues with signals potentially being stolen as a result of "the situation we had earlier in the year."
Believing that Texas Tech was merely suffering a run of bad luck, Smith didn't immediately make the connection for two or three weeks, but opponents seemed to know when the Red Raiders were in a certain coverage every time.
So now Smith believes that there is some bad karma headed in Wallterstedt's direction:
"That person knows. I know," Smith said. "A lot of people know. Bad deal. Karma's a bad deal. You don't mess with that, especially in this profession."
Now coaching the linebackers at Louisiana-Lafayette, Wallerstedt sent out a statement through his attorney denying the charges:
"I have not shared with anyone the Red Raiders defensive signals," Wallerstedt said in a statement West sent to A-J Media. "I respect the players at Texas Tech and would never do such a thing.
"It sounds like something that's done in the political arena - blaming someone else for what you now control. Coach Kingsbury and Smith would do well to simply execute their own game plan instead of trying to blame others for what may be their own shortcomings."
Hardly a surprising move, though the story doesn't merely end in a "he said, he said" impasse:
Source: Texas was first school to call Texas Tech, tell Kingsbury about obtaining defensive signals. UT declines comment to @statesman.
— Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) November 18, 2014
Judging by the results, that didn't happen until after the game -- when the Horns traveled to Lubbock several weeks ago, there were wide receivers running open downfield on a consistent basis, including senior wide receiver John Harris on a 68-yard catch and junior wide receiver Daje Johnson and freshman tight end Andrew Beck open down the sidelines on passes that weren't converted.
For the game, Texas sophomore quarterback Tyrone Swoopes only completed 13 passes, but threw for 228 yards and a touchdown at 17.5 yards per completion, one of his most prolific games of the season in that area after significant struggles early producing big plays in the passing game.
So, thanks for that, Wallerstedt. And good luck getting another defensive coordinator job anywhere.