When you saw that Texas Tech beat East Central University 167-115, you probably thought Red Raiders football coach Mike Leach ran the bench Thursday night.

Leach is the king of the high-scoring spread offense this year. He has Texas Tech, 10-0 and No. 2 in the nation, prepared to go aerial on Oklahoma Saturday.

But, no, Pat Knight is still coaching the basketball in Lubbock. The Red Raiders just hosted an overmatched directional school foe that insisted on playing up-tempo on the road.

The result? Texas Tech beat its school record for points scored by 39.

“Wow, that was fun, wasn’t it?” East Central coach Terry Shannon said. “We came in with a couple of ideas. We want to play an up-tempo game. We want to force people to play our pace. We didn’t have to force them. They went with us and boy they shot the ball well.”

By the way, Knoxville News Sentinel scribe Mike Griffith doesn’t see Leach as a viable candidate for the Tennessee opening: “Mike Leach still has his name thrown around, but I don’t see it. No one is going to come into the SEC and win with Xs and Os - it takes talent, not gadgets.. And, I just don’t see Leach (47) being able to handle the level of scrutiny that comes with the UT head football coach job. It’s a regal position - hardly a post for someone with erratic and eccentric personality traits.”

Eccentric, as in “fascinated by UFOs.”

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering why CC Sabathia hasn’t jumped at the $140 million offer from the New York Yankees:

• Since when is Leo Lyons a liability at the free-throw line?
• How will history remember the David Koci Era with the Blues?
• When you team is 5-21 over the last two seasons, as the Rams are, how could an underachieving offensive lineman have the temerity to rip St. Louis fans?
• Shouldn’t Richie Incognito concentrate on becoming a competent football player?
• Now that Adam “Don’t Call Me Pacman” Jones is back with the Cowboys, how long before he gets in trouble again?

BUT CAN HE HIT A CHANGE-UP?

Gotta love this guy’s hand-eye coordination.

GRUDGE OF THE WEEK

Vikings coach Brad “Major Dad” Childress doesn’t come from the Bill Parcells School of Coaching. His style isn’t particularly combative.

But former Minnesota receiver Troy Williamson, now in Jacksonville, would love to confront his old boss.

“We can meet on the 50-yard line and we can go at it,” Williamson told reporters.

Apparently the hard feelings date back to disciplinary actions Childress took against Williamson in Minnesota. Troy is still mad, so much so that he offered to fight with his hands tied behind his back.

Jacksonville reporters pressed Childress for a response, wondering how his weight and reach matched up with the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Williamson.

“Do you need my reach? I’m not like a woman; I’ll give you my weight. It’s 190 pounds of twisted steel and rompin’, stompin’ dynamite,” Childress said. “Is that enough humor for you?”

Williamson, by the way, has done very little in Jacksonville; he has four catches for 27 yards all season. Maybe he needs to move on to the UFC.

ERIN ANDREWS HE’S NOT

The Sports Edge has a cable TV show in development. Might this concept put it over the top?

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “To President-elect Barack Obama: If I may speak for 303 million Americans. I think it’s really great that you want to take a sledgehammer to the BCS like the rest of us. But, really, Prez, before you strong-arm college football into a playoff system, can you do something about the economy? And maybe Iraq. And Afghanistan. And the stock market, health care, unemployment, energy, illegal aliens, the tax code, corrupt CEOs, golden parachutes, my 401ks . . .”

Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times: “President-elect Barack Obama will solve the Middle East crisis before he solves the Bowl Championship Series. He’ll get the polar ice caps to stop melting before he gets “sensible” people to come to a college football consensus.”

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “Just curious: what would CC Sabathia be worth if he could actually win a playoff game? Just for the record: he’s allowed 20 runs over 19 innings in his last four postseason starts.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald, after Jimmie Johnson coasted to another Nextel Cup title: “Shouldn’t NASCAR tweak its Chase format so that the season-ending race always means something? As it is, Johnson needing only 36th or better is like having a Super Bowl in which one team is assured of winning unless it gives up, like, nine safeties . . . If this were the Olympics’ 100-meter finals, Johnson would be the guy with a 60-yard head start, and the rest of the field would be in the starting blocks shod in neon-orange Crocs.”

Randy Galloway, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, on Adam Jones: “PacRat doesn’t have a drinking problem. He’s got a stupid problem. You can’t rehab stupid, OK?”

Kriegel again: “Would liked to have seen the end of the Steelers-Chargers point-spread game from the sportsbook of the MGM Grand. I bet there hasn’t been that kind of fun in Vegas since the last Tyson fight.”

Dan Daly, Washington Times, on efforts to market free-agent outfielder Manny Ramirez: “Scott Boras, of course, tells us his client isn’t nearly as self-absorbed as he’s made out to be. To prove his point - and increase his market value — Boras will probably have him return to the Dominican Republic in the next few days and organize the Million Manny March.”

MEGAPHONE

“You have to understand that situation and I do. We have a lot of guys at one position. Somebody has to come off the bench and you accept that role. But I’m not expecting 15-20 minutes, and I don’t want to deal with that.”

Our Town’s Larry Hughes, bristling at his part-time role with the Bulls.