Tech football shocker

As Louisiana Tech upsets go, this one ranks up there with the Alabama wins.

No, I'm not talking about a game on the field. I'm talking about the turnout for Derek Dooley's luncheon at Ralph and Kacoo's today.

Whether the coach was Gary Crowton or Jack Bicknell, they usually drew the same small group of red-hot fans.

Today, in a much bigger room, there was hardly a seat to be found. Heck, I thought I was in the wrong place when I saw a line to get into the room.

There had to be more than 100 people in this dining room to hear Dooley speak.

That tells me one thing: Tech people think Dooley can take them up another level. We won't know for three or four years if that's the case. But if today's luncheon is any case, he has the fan support.

Now for the actual talk: If you close your eyes and just listen, you would think you were listening to Nick Saban talk. He talked about "the process'' and not playing to the scoreboard - the same thing Saban said at LSU. He talked about the recruiting criteria, similar to what Saban did at Michigan State, LSU and now Alabama.

No, he's not a clone of Saban. But the influence is certainly there.