I’m Glad I’m A Longhorn – Day 2

You know I love numbered lists. I’m Glad I’m A Longhorn, let me count the ways.

1. No Overalls. No Ugly T-Shirts. Oh, and no overalls. Really?! OVERALLS? We have burnt orange to work with – and we make it look good. You have MAROON – you can’t do anything better with maroon?!

2. We have a “rivalry” with many schools – everyone likes to beat Texas (we’re kind of the yard stick, you know what I mean?) However, I’m happy to say there is no penis envy lurking around Austin. Last week the Aggies sang about beating Texas, wore anti-Texas shirts and did the horns down. Texas on the other hand was focused on beating Texas Tech and completely unconcerned at all with Texas A&M.

3. Cool merchandise. Yes. These are raggedy Aggies. Really. Really?

4. No pretending, homoeroticism. Which would you rather?
or

or
Even Aggies prefer Texas cheer…

5. At Texas nobody uses the word “tradition” to justify many, many inexplicable acts.

6. The most revered entity on our campus is not Lassie.

7. Nothing as comical/disgraceful as this: http://www.texags.com/main/forum.main.asp

8. 73-35-5

9. 47 National Championships in 11 sports

10. What Starts Here Changes The World.

Meet The Opponent – Texas Tech

 

This week we have a battle of the interior against our fellow Texans at Tech. I always look forward to playing Tech, especially when they are in Austin. Those Tech sonsabetches drink like fish when they get into a wet city, which usually provides entertainment for us local folks.

But on to what you are interested in – who is going to win the game this weekend and why? There are some Longhorn fans (one in particular, who I had a rather long GChat ‘discussion’ with regarding most of the following) who think Texas is going to lose this weekend. The argument:

 

• Tech has the number 1 passer in the nation.
• Tech has the number 1 and 4 of the top ten receivers in the nation.
• Texas has some pretty significant injuries.
• Texas has a less than stellar pass defense.
• Tech does have a “weak” run defense, but less than half of Texas’ yards are rush yards.
• Tech has the No. 7 pass defense in the nation.
  • Oh, and the best we’ve played are the Number 56 and 57 pass defenses. (OU and KState)
• Texas’ top rushers are:
  • Jamaal Charles (awesome.)
  • Colt McCoy (really?)
  • Vondrell McGee (if only he could get more plays…)
  • John Chiles (WTF!?)
• Texas has corners that are around 5’10, and they have receivers that are 6’2.

If you look at it that way, it looks like perhaps he has a point. This doesn’t bode well for Texas. We’ve got one key rusher and we’re facing the best past defense in the nation. That makes it tough for us to get points on the board. On the other side, as far as defending this air bombardment, there is a reason I didn’t list our pass defense’s rank. (Just comfort yourself in knowing that it is better than Texas A&M’s.) Who cares about our rush defense – Tech isn’t going to run it.

However, I still think the Longhorns will come out on top this year. Why? I’m so glad you asked.

The big, big reason I believe this is because of Tech’s current record. They have 6 big games this year. They’ve got two left with Texas and Oklahoma to finish out the end of the season. The other four ‘big’ games were Colorado, Mizzou, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. Three losses and a W against Fran&Co. So who exactly has Tech been smacking around with the air attack and pass defense? I give you the list of Tech’s prestigious wins this season: SMU, UTEP, Rice, Northwestern State, Iowa State, and Baylor.

Don’t get me wrong, Texas certainly hasn’t played a list of powerhouses, but I think our schedule is stronger than Tech’s. If we had that same schedule, I think our numbers would be a bit different.

A closer look….

OFFENSE

Passing – Advantage: TEXAS TECH

This is certainly Texas Tech’s strong point. Gimmick offense it may be, however, it is working for them. Graham Harrell has put up 4412 yards, completing 73.5% of his passes. Yes friends, that is 441 yards per game in the air. Harrell has several options, but hooks up most frequently with 5 WRs led by the kingpin, Michael Crabtree. Crabtree has 1512 yards this season, averaging 150 yards a game. Amendola is close behind with 1014 yards, at 100 yards a game. The rest is split between Eric Morris, Edward Britton and Grant Walker, who collectively have less yards than Crabtree.

Texas on the other hand splits the offense a little more evenly between passing and rushing. Colt McCoy has completed 65.6% of passes for 2632 yards, that’s 260 per game. Colt connects primarily with Nate Jones, Quan Cosby and Jermichael Finley (628, 519, and 500 yards respectively.)

However, to make things a little more even, the Masked Wino has done an excellent comparison of situations in similar games.

Passing Yards (Texas/Tech)

Rice 333/481
Iowa State 298/460
Oklahoma State 282/646
Baylor 293/490

TOTAL 1206/2077
ADVANTAGE: TECH

You’ll see here that Tech certainly has more yards on us for similar opponents.

Rushing – Advantage: Texas

Tech’s top three rushers garner a measly 725 yards (Shannon Woods, Koby Lewis, and Aaron Crawford). Texas on the other hand has many more rushing weapons, led by Jamaal Charles with 1192 yards. The top 5 rushers for the Longhorns have 1959 yards this season. Take a look at the head to head comparison provided by TMW.

Rushing Yards (Texas/Tech)

Rice 227/111
Iowa State 216/29
Oklahoma State 307/72
Baylor 177/73

TOTAL: 927/285
ADVANTAGE: Texas

Texas seriously outnumbers Tech in this department, which should come as no surprise to you.

Offensive Summary, Advantage: Texas Tech

So as far as offense, Texas is half and half and Tech is the airball. If we look at the head to head chart (for similar games of course), Tech has the advantage – but not by much.

Total Offense (Texas/Tech)

Rice 560/592
Iowa State 514/489
Oklahoma State 589/718
Baylor 470/563

TOTAL: 2133/2362
ADVANTAGE: TECH

Additionally, first downs are very important, and Texas Tech takes that cake as well, again by very little. I think that means that this will be a defensive battle. Who can hold who to less yards?

DEFENSE

Pass Defense – Advantage, Texas Tech

Briefly, Texas has some issues to overcome on defense – but I have been pleased with our growth this year. Is it where I’d like us to be at this point in the season? No, but progress is progress. Does this little discussion here mean I think we have the best defense in the world, no it doesn’t, but I do think it has what it takes to beat Texas Tech.

Tech has allowed 1783 yards on the pass, that’s 178 yards per game. That is a low number. We split our offense, and we have 260 per game. Texas on the other hand has allowed almost 250 yards per game. Again, the Texas D has some issues. However, when we take a closer look at TMW’s chart, it doesn’t look nearly so lopsided.

Opponents’ Passing Yards (Texas/Tech)

Rice 279/212
Iowa State 135/187
Oklahoma State 430/244
Baylor 284/191

TOTAL: 1128/834
ADVANTAGE: TECH

Rush Defense – Advantage: Texas

On the rush, Tech has held opponents to 1663 yards this season. Nearly half of those yards came during the three losses this season. (Hence, my other key point: the rush is the key to beating Texas Tech.)

Texas held opponents to only 1011 yards. Two teams were held to less than 10 yards (Rice being -11.)

For the head to head on similar opponents, Texas’ strength on defending the rush becomes clearer.

Opponents’ Rushing Yards (Texas/Tech)

Rice -11/99
Iowa State 93/100
Oklahoma state 164/366
Baylor 8/91

TOTAL: 254/656
ADVANTAGE: TEXAS

Defensive Summary, Advantage: Texas

Opponents’ Total Offense (Texas/Tech)

Rice 268/311
Iowa State 228/287
Oklahoma State 594/610
Baylor 292/282

TOTAL: 1382/1490
ADVANTAGE: TEXAS

Opponents’ First Downs (Texas/Tech)

Rice 17/25
Iowa State 14/17
Oklahoma State 29/29 Baylor 19/21

TOTAL: 79/92
ADVANTAGE: TEXAS

On total defense, Texas has the clear advantage holding the same opponents to less first downs and less total offense. Texas Tech does have a primarily pass offense, but without a solid rushing threat they will have trouble exploiting our defense. Pass defense may be our weakest point, but Texas has a rush/pass offense that Tech may have trouble defending. This isn’t our first rodeo with Tech, and you can bet that we’ll be ready.

OVERALL SUMMARY

Texas will win this game. We have the overall defensive advantage and a serious weapon in Jamaal Charles. The rushing attack is the key to beating Texas Tech.

Texas also has the X-factor and the home field advantage. It causes me near cardiac arrest every game, but even if we are down at halftime we will make adjustments and we will come back and win.

Texas Keys To Winning This Game:

-Pressure pressure pressure on Harrell.
-Make them earn all offensive yards, so no broken tackles. After the first hit, our opponents usually eek out another 3-4 yards until another defender jumps in.
-Rush, rush, pass pass. Wear out their pass defense and expose their joke of a rush defense.
-Colt, we normally give you two credits per game for interceptions, fumbles etc. I’m going to have to ask you to not do that at all, okay?

Credit, thanks, etc:
http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com
texastech.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/text-m-footbl-body.html
http://www.cfbstats.com

Tube 4 You: Mike Leach

There were so many, I had a very, very hard time selecting.

And a pirate can beat a soldier. Extra nice, because it spites Texas A&M.

Mike Leach doesn’t tolerate your tears, pouting, general bad mood.

Scalpings??

Meet the Opponent Returns – Oklahoma State

 

Dear Horn readers, sorry for the lack of content. Back firing on all cylinders – much the way I hope our team is this Saturday.

(Oh and side news – I got a new Mac computer. Bow down, Dell!)

Up on the slate – Oklahoma State Cowpeople. As others have noted, Texas is not exactly out of a BCS bowl. There are several, albeit remote, possibilities that would see Texas in a bowl game. I’d love to see those play out, but they rely heavily on 1) our ability to win out and 2) chance, luck and the complexities of rolling a twenty sided die. (Yes. That is a D&D reference. You like it.)

“No dungeon master worth his weight in geldings would go anywhere without his… 20-sided die!”

I guess that is getting a bit ahead of ourselves, for now let’s take a more in depth look at Okie Light.

This year OSU has had three losses: Georgia, Texas A&M, and the roughest for the Cowboys – the less than Trojan-like team from Troy University. Georgia and A&M aren’t exactly cupcakes – but losses there didn’t really help them out. Alternatively, they did beat K-State, Nebraska (by 31 points) and Texas Tech. The big factor in this game on Saturday? Who shows up. Will it be “the same OSU team that played Troy” vs. “the Texas from last week’s 4th quarter” — or will it be “the OSU that trounced Nebraska” vs. “the Texas that was 10-7 with Baylor for large parts of the game”?

(Credit where it is due. This post not possible without the help of ESPN and cfbstats.com)

OFFENSE

Rushing – Okie Light
Right now Okie Light is rushing an average of 256.63 yards per game, led by Senior RB Dantrell Savage. (A little comparison – Texas is averaging 186.67 yards per game led overwhelmingly by Jamaal Charles.)

Passing – Texas

Oklahoma State has 1847 yards, 1300 and change thrown by Sophie QB Zac Robinson. Robinson has completed 56% of his passes for 12 TDs, throwing only 7 interceptions. Comparatively, Colt has thrown 65% of his passes for 15 TDs, 2350 yards and 13 interceptions (OUCH!).

Receiving – Texas

The Pokes have a stable receiving core led by Adarius Bowman (50 Receptions for 802 yards), Brandon Pettigrew (19 Receptions for 362 yards) and Freshman Dez Bryant (15 receptions for 190 yards).

For Texas, Nate Jones and Quan Cosby have been so clutch this year. It certainly hurts not having Sweed out there but these guys have really stepped up. Jones (53 receptions for 585 yards), Cosby (46 receptions for 472 yards) and Finley (30 receptions for 421 yards) have put up a total of 1478 yards trumping OSUs top three recievers.

Offensive Summary:

Texas MUST shut down the Oklahoma State ground game. I won’t show you the painful YouTube clips of UCF running all over us. If we cannot shut them down on the ground, the game could get very, very ugly. Oh, and Texas MUST shut them down in the air. OSU hasn’t gotten much attention this year – but they have the ability to put up significant yards both in the air and on the ground. If we lay over, they will happily march over us.

Texas has the edge in the air – that is if good Colt plays on Saturday.

Will the real McCoy, please stand up, please stand up.

DEFENSE:

DAMN IT. Kindle out for the season with a “stinger.” I’m getting really sick of all these “stinger” injuries.

Mini-Okies have picked off six from opponents this year, and has allowed 15 passing TDs and 11 rushing TDS. They’ve allowed opponents to rack up 308 yards per game passing and 122.75 yards per game rushing.

Texas has had 11 picks and allowed only 17 TDs (10 passing and 7 rushing). Texas gives up the most yards per game on the pass. (227.6 yards per game, only 94.11 yards per game on the rush.)

OVERALL SUMMARY

1. Our defensive players must step up this week, particularly with the latest stinger injury. Please Killebrew. I’ll take back everything negative I’ve ever said — just please, please shut them down.

2. Oklahoma State is weakest on pass defense. We must make it a point to abuse this. These little two and three yard rushes are not going to cut it.

3. Oklahoma State is beatable, some would even say obviously so. However, as we are in the year of the upset, you can’t count anyone out – particularly someone who has nicely beat two teams, one a Texas loss and the other a Texas struggle. CAN Texas beat them? Hell yes. WILL we beat them? That depends on …

4. Who shows up – easily the most important factor in this game.

BEARS!

Is it a coincidence that Stephen Colbert, bear-hater, has picked this week to announce his candidacy for president?? I think NOT! He’s clearly a Longhorn fan, and wanted to raise national awareness of the dangers of Bears even further.

That’s right, Baylor. You’re ON NOTICE.

We play Baylor this week, which like last week should be a nice respite from worrying about our beloved Horns. It would certainly be fun to talk about Baylor’s “Air Bear” offense that they stole from Tech. The problem is, Tech actually manages to make it work, and Baylor makes it look silly. Maybe if GuyMo started talking like a pirate it would be more interesting.

Anyways, I hope this year’s game brings at least a little bit of excitement, and gives our boys the confidence they’ll need to play Nebraska next week. Check out one of my favorite blogs, the hilarious BearMeat, to see their take on the game and read their interview with BON. Watch below to see highlights of the 2005 game. It makes me wish for happier times. Scroll to about 4:15 to watch my favorite play.

Meet the Opponent: Oklahoma

Now, the real question is, why would you want to meet your opponent this week? Sooners are toothless, illiterate trailer trash who suck so hard that they’re keeping the entire state of Texas from floating into the Gulf of Mexico.(Edit:) not having any part of a little pre-game jest. If they’re fans are willing to castrate members of the Longhorn Nation, just imagine what their football team will do to us.

To be honest, I haven’t really been looking forward to this game at all this year, even before the losses to Kansas State and Colorado. The Longhorns still have problems with defense, and our offense is in BIG trouble after what we saw versus Kansas State. Oklahoma’s new quarterback may look like the missing link, but he’ll do horrible, horrible things to our defense. I’m generally an optimistic individual, but this year I’m just hoping that it’s not as bad as my first Cotton Bowl experience, when we were pummeled 65-13. Then again, they DID lose to Colorado, so there’s hope for us yet!

If we do pull off the win, My biggest question for the game this weekend, is how are the cameras are going to be able to handle it? Will there be another crying OU kid?? Maybe a little girl this time?

(Edit:) A Sweet little dickens, enjoying the football game.
Picture, ESPN
The original crying OU kid.

(Edit:) Exhausted OU child, with Longhorn ancestry, not crying about the loss to Colorado.
Picture, FSN
Crying OU kid, Version 2.0

So what do you say when faced with the burden of a crying OU kid in your midst? We at the Horn have some ideas:

• It’s okay, at least you get to go home Oklahoma now. (sarcasm)
• At least you won’t have to move, since Daddy won’t be able to afford that double-wide after losing all his money gambling on the Sooners.
• Someday you’ll grow up to be a Sooner too, that is if you can marry your sister, lose your baby and adult teeth and manage to get at least C’s.
• Don’t cry, just get drunk with Daddy when you get back to Norman. It keeps him happy.
• I bet your folks won’t make you brush your teeth for a whole month (as opposed to a whole week).
• You got on national television!
• If you’re feeling down, see if Mom will take you to the Bob Stoops Visor Museum on the way home.
• There’s always next year, kiddo.

Okay, okay… so those aren’t really comforting. But then what can you say to convince a mini varmint that their life doesn’t suck?

Hopefully our Horns pull out the win. I wouldn’t put money on it, but hopefully Mack and the boys can prove me wrong. Hook’em!

(Edit:) Clearly this is low-brow jest on the eve of the biggest game of our season. General Concession: We know all of our opponents are not the toothless varmints we make them out to be. In fact, the players and fans are supporters and representatives of fine universities across the nation – something we can relate to here at Texas.

Now, is that going to stop us on OU weekend from making fun of Sooners? No. It isn’t. Are we sorry your kid got picked on? I mean, maybe. Nobody — even the TV station — insisted this was some sort of documentary. It is football coverage. College. Football. Coverage.

If this really offended you to the point of needing to assert “the truth” rather than just let an openly sarcastic, jesful blog have a little fun on Longhorn Football Christmas, we’re sorry. Genuinely. Smack-talking is part of it all – and we feel badly you’re unable to appreciate its importance.

-txhny-

Meet the Opponent: RICE

Well Longhorn fans, it is that time of year again. Texas vs. Rice, Saturday 22, 2007 at 6pm.

Why indeed? I always enjoy football, particularly home Texas games. The atmosphere, the tailgating, the Longhorn comradery and the legitimate excuse to pop open a beer before noon. You might not think much of Rice as an opponent but, [Insert my typical, long, drawn-out rant about how playing teams like this can do nothing but hurt us. Win big, win small, lose – doesn’t matter. Still hurts us.] let’s just hope this is another great game enjoyed by all.

Wasn’t that benevolent?

We introduced you to Rice last year by showing you a bit about Owl traditions, but this year we’d like to take a more in-depth look at some Owl statistics for this season.

Rice has played three teams: Nicholls State, Baylor and Texas Tech. All three were losses. Rather than focus on the negative, we’re going to take the stats game by game and walk you through the strengths and improvements of Rice. I didn’t take the time to make my long rant about playing teams like Rice, and I won’t do it here either. However, if Texas wins by only a touchdown or two – things could get very, very ugly come October 6th. If Rice can play their strengths and exploit our weaknesse (which are numerous), they’ll be able to shut us down.

(Credit where it is due. This post not possible without the help of ESPN and cfbstats.com)

OFFENSE

Rushing
Nicholls – 117 yards, Baylor – 110, Texas Tech – 99

What does this mean? This is a fair number of yards. Nicholls and Baylor aren’t exactly powerhouse opponents, but the Owls can make some runs. The average yards per carry over the three games decreased but that makes sense considering the increasing difficulty of opponent.

The rushing is led by C. J. Ugokwe who has picked up 157 yards so far and averages 4 yards per carry. Not much statistical improvement here over the first three games, but again, likely tougher defenses.

Passing
Nicholls – 28 attempts, 11 compl, 101 yards, Baylor – 30, 23, 239, Texas Tech – 38, 20, 212.

What does this mean? Rice has improved over the course, in spite of more challenging opponents in the air. Junior QB Chase Clement is settling in and making more completions. After throwing three INTs against Nicholls, he gave up only one pick against Texas Tech. We can expect Rice to be (or at least try to be) a thorn in the side of the Longhorn pass defense.

Receiving

Leading the receiving corps is Junior WR Jarrett Dillard, followed by Tommy Henderson. Dillard has picked up 244 yards this year and is averaging 14 yards per catch. Add on Dixon and Knox, and the Owls have plenty of receivers to hit.

Offensive Summary:

Texas will face a team with improved offensive play. The Owls offense is balanced, splitting the ground and the air. Texas has given up 974 yards to opponents this year. Needless to say, our defense needs work. Despite the improvement of the Owls and my disapproval of the Longhorn D, I simply don’t think it will be enough to give Rice a ‘W’.

DEFENSE:

The Owls have 4 sacks this year, two against Baylor. On the slightly negative side, Rice has given up 1394 yards to opponents this year. That seems really awful, but 991 of those yards are in the air. With two “pass-first, pass-only” teams (Baylor and Tech), this really isn’t so bad. After all, Graham Harrell’s arm is registered with the U.S. Military as a WMD.

There are some names on the line worth mentioning, and if we continue our current path these guys are going to hit us where it hurts.

Brian Raines, Jr LB, has 14 solo, and 12 assisted tackles including 2.5 tackles for loss. Andres Sendejo, Sophomore DB, has 14 solo tackles himself including 1 tackle for loss. Chris Jones and Brandon King, also DBs, have 11 solo tackles.

OVERALL SUMMARY

The rant I said I wouldn’t make is now finally rearing its ugly head. Rice does not have the assets to beat us, if we play at least as “well” as we have the past three weeks. That said, Longhorn fans want blood. Mostly because our foes want us on the chopping block and this game has the potential to put us there. Eeking out pathetic wins against unranked teams is not making us look good to the rest of football-dom.

We have three choices here:

1) beat Rice by the standard 40 points. Everyone says, so what? It’s Rice. You’ve always beaten them. You’re bigger, stronger, faster, better recruited, have state of the art facilities and the best coaches (arguable, of course) in Texas. We have yet another win against a cupcake that makes our schedule wither in comparison to the likes of the SEC.

2) barely eek out another pathetic win against an unranked team, i.e. Texas wins by a touchdown or two, and kicks a field goal (that’s my-boy Ryan Bailey!) for good measure. Everyone does that stupid clap song “O-VER-RAT-ED – clap clap clap” when we play them. Some of the Texas fans join in. This sentence enters the vocabulary of our opponents: “Well, you know Texas only beat Rice by a touchdown or two, which completely confirms the jeers we were saying after that Arkansas State game.”

3) upset. Normally I’d say never going to happen, but again, Michigan changed everything.

Are any of these good for us? No. No they aren’t. Alright. If you know me personally, I’ve said this 100 times. Now it is officially on the blog. And I promise to never bring it up ever, ever again.

Meet The Opponent: Central Florida

This week Texas faces the University of Central Florida as their first road opponent of the year. And the treacherous Texas schedule continues. (Sorry if my sarcasm dripped on your keyboard. )

Sarcasm aside, UCF is going to show up ready to play. They shut down NCState in Week 1, and had Week 2 off. As PB notes, experience is UCF’s biggest asset.

Texas looked significantly stronger and more organized in the second half of the TCU game. Arkansas State and, surprisingly, TCU let us get away with sloppy, lackluster play for 6 quarters. UCF will not be so forgiving. Coach O’Leary is no stranger to wins, and the Knights can and will capitalize on the mistakes and weaknesses of the Longhorns.

In particular, watch out for Kevin Smith (no, not one of my favorite Ex-Cowboys and Ex-Mustangs). The Junior Golden Knight racked up 217 yards against the Wolf Pack, with 6.2 yards per carry. Check out this 80-yard run:

And, an amateur clip from the NC State Game. Oh, and one very excited fan.

For those of you hitting the road, good luck.

Big 12 Roundtable: Now We Know

This week’s questions are from Crimson and Cream Machine, the blog of our infamous rival across the Red River.

1. Based on what you now know to be your team’s strengths and weaknesses – if the game was on the line, do you want your offense or defense on the field?

Just to be the other side of the coin, I’ll go with the Texas defense. After Arkansas State I was not impressed, and the problems we’ve had for a couple seasons with our secondary were completely exposed. After the TCU game however, I really like the more aggressive style of defense. I’d like to see that continue, so I give the vote to the Longhorn D.

2. If you had to pick a team from the AP Top 10 for your team to play this weekend, who would you pick, and why (OU & Texas are not options)?

I’d love love love to see a game with LSU. If we played this weekend we’d get taken behind the woodshed, but can you imagine how much fun the tailgate would be? Gumbo and BBQ. Shiner Bock and boudain. Laissez le bon temps roulet!

Buuuuut that would not be this weekend. This weekend, I’d love to see West Virginia. A nice win against a highly ranked opponent would bode well for the Longhorns. Plus I’d like to see how Colt and the offense would do against Williams, Ivy and Magro. (Not to ignore WVU’s offense, led by dual-threat Patrick White.)

3. You can take one player off your team and trade him for any player in the conference who plays the same position – who are you taking?

Hmm. I can’t believe I’m saying this… but considering the question marks around Orakpo’s return… I’d like to take Alonzo Dotson from OU for Eddie Jones. Jones has done a fine job while Orakpo is out, but Dotson is a tacklin’ machine.

Too bad we can’t get this guy.

4. Conference Power Rankings! Rank the teams in the conference from first to worst.

1. Oklahoma. I can’t wait for October 6th.

2. Texas – Don’t question our authority.

3. Nebraska – Come on. Beat USC. Please??

4. Missouri – I don’t understand how Texas A&M is on the AP Poll, and Missouri is not. Big 12 South bias?

5. Texas Tech – Can Graham keep Leach out of the hot seat?

6. Kansas, Texas A&M, Kansas State – Kind of a cop out by putting them together. I just couldn’t order them and really feel good about it. I’ve underestimated Kansas and Kansas State on more than one occasion. Texas A&M also leaves me uncomfortable. Fresno State isn’t a terrible team, but I felt that the Aggies should have ran away with the game.

9. Oklahoma State – Disappointed. I expected a lot more out of the first couple of games.

10. Colorado – Particularly after they lose to Florida State this week.

11. Baylor – “Heavenly Father, Thank you for Iowa State. Amen.”

12. Iowa State – Chizik: Do you miss Bevo yet?

5. Big 12 Players of the Week – Make your selections for offensive and defensive players of the week for week two.

Offense: Colt McCoy. He didn’t look awesome the first half of the TCU game, but he rushed for 34 yards, and threw for 239. I know TD passes are a big deal and I want to see more of those, but I hope we’ll see more of Week 2 Colt this season. (Yes. I know I’m a homer. I gave Bradford his due last week.)

Defense: To mix things up, let’s go with Steve Octavian from Nebraska. 6 tackles, 2 for loss, and some pass defense to boot. Nice.

Not on CCM’s list of questions, but… Big 12 Hot Player of the Week.

No more cupcakes, please. I’m full.

Well, if the Horns were going to have a mediocre week, this was the week to do it. The media almost forgot all about our dismal performance against the piglets, thanks to Michigan. (We won’t dwell on that here, we’re still trying to get HOT HOT HOT!! out of our heads.)

If Arkansas State was a joke, well then TCU is a heart attack. ESPN is calling this a battle between the two best teams in Texas. That may or may not be, but in front of us lies two paths…

We could a) get our asses handed to us by TCU and become the Big 12 joke o’ the week and join Michigan (while on a slightly higher sludge covered toadstool) in the trenches fighting for our good name the rest of the season.

Son of a bitch.

Or b) We could hope the depth chart shuffle and having Week 1 under our belts will make the difference. We beat TCU, an actual ranked team with a decisive win. With a chance to play a more than worthy opponent and the confidence of a win, we could head towards the rest of the season with purpose and conviction.

Prepare to die.

What will the ‘Horns face this Saturday?

The ‘Horns will walk into DKR to face a team that is 5-0 in Big 12 play. That is pretty impressive, even considering two of those five are Baylor.

We’re going to go over some high points on the Horned Frog offense and defense, but we’re not aiming to redo what’s already been done.

On offense you can expect to see hard runs on the ground. They are going to grind our defense and if we have the holes we did last week, it won’t be pretty. QB Andy Dalton threw for 208 yards last week and the offense racked up 181 yards rushing. The rushes were spread out among several players, mostly RB Joseph Turner, WR Ryan Christian, RB Aaron Brown and RB Justin Watts.

TCU’s greatest strength lies in their defense. Senior linebacker David Hawthorn is a scary mofo. You will hear his name on Saturday. Not Hawthorn, but still scary…

As for Texas, there are still a lot of question marks. The depth chart has been shuffled and hopefully corrections have been made. The question on our minds – Will we see John Chiles this week?

Prediction: Close, low scoring game.
Texas: 17
TCU: 9

Having the game at 6pm is great. I get to watch other games all day long and finish it off with the Longhorns. Other good games to catch this week:

Oregon v. Michigan – Come on, you know you want to see what Michigan does after last week.

South Carolina v. Georgia – A game I’m really looking forward to watching.

Notre Dame v. Penn State – Go Nittany Lions! ND, you suck. (DVR it if you want to watch the entire massacre, it is on at the same time as our game.)

Virginia Tech v. LSU -The battle of the tragedies!