Beware the Golden Knights

First let me start off by addressing Tyrell Gatewood's arrest last night - this has officially gotten out of hand. The bad news is Gatewood is a senior and is a prominent part of the defensive secondary. The even worse news is this is the fifth one of these since June. I'll repeat, this has officially gotten out of hand. It's obvious Brown needs to do something different than he has been doing to address these issues. I'd also like to see the team leaders (whoever the hell they may be this year) step up and help address the situation - take care of your own. I do think that we shouldn't put all of this on Brown on the coaches - I think young people (younger than me - coming out of high school) have this sense of entitlement and no sense of accountability and consequences - you can see this not just in sports, but in the business/work wold as well. Screw "waiting for the legal process", kick this guy off the team and let everyone else know that even the most minor of incidents (a f'ng speeding ticket even) will result in immediate removal from the team and loss of scholarship. But who am I kidding, this is Mack Brown - I'm not sure this guy truly understands the concept of accountability either. But I digress, let's look at the game.

So tomorrow marks Texas' first road game of the year and as such should always be taken seriously. Let's be honest, Texas should win this game running away, but on the flip side, it's not like we've seen this team play the way we know they can yet - my only hope is that maybe we can show up to play for 3 quarters this time. In all honesty, anything can happen....but it probably won't. If you go and look at the stats here, these guys give up a lot of yards and a lot of points on average - this bodes well for our offense who is continuing to find some sense of rhythm.

Sounds like Jordan Shipley will travel with the team and may see limited action - has their been a bigger disappointment in the last couple of years than this guy? Not his fault, he's been constantly injured, but still a bummer. Hopefully we can get him healthy and ready for the second half of the year.

I think the defense will show up and continue to show improvements and growth - these guys had a great TCU game and hope to see that carry over. The only real concern (same with every Texas where they're not playing Rice), is coming out slow and sluggish. Let's be honest - that's the safest bet in the book. Central Florida is debuting a new stadium and like most of our opponents, this is their big super bowl game. I imagine these guys will come out pumped up and hot, but as usual the horns will come out sometime in the 2nd quarter, kick it up a notch and run away with this win.

Texas - 37
UCF - 16

Notre Dame vs. Michigan:
And all of a sudden, this is a meaningless game. I gotta think Michigan will kick these guys' ass. I know their defense is no good and I know Henne is out, but Notre Dame literally has nothing going for them. If went out and got 10 friends and lined up to play defense against them, I'm not sure they could move the ball. Frankly, I don't even think this game will be close. I can't conceive one area of the game where ND has the edge here.

Michigan - 27
Notre Dame - 13

Tennessee at Florida:
I'm very intrigued to see this game. I think Tennessee has a chance here. I know that Florida has a mental stranglehold on Fulmer, but given the Gator youth on defense (and offense), Tenn has a slight advantage I believe. The game is in the Swamp, however which won't make things any easier. I know most people would disagree with this, but I'm going with Tennessee to pull the upset here and hand Florida one of it's 2 losses this year.

Tennessee - 24
Florida - 22

USC at Nebraska:
I'd like to think that Nebraska can come out and avenge the ass whoopin' they took last year..I really would. But, I don't *think* it's going to happen. After watching Nebraska's defense against Wake's backup QB last week, I'm not so sure. I know, they did what they were supposed to do and win the game, but if they couldn't stop Wake, how in the world are they going to stop USC? The good news is you just know Nebraska will come out pumped up in front of their home crowd and ready to prove to the college football world that Husker football is back...I just don't think it's going to work out, but I REALLY hope it does.

USC - 37
Nebraska - 20

I don't know much about either of these teams this year, but the OSU vs. Washington game is quite intriguing. I'm taking the Huskies in this one to continue their winning streak. Mind you, that's based on nothing but a gut feeling at this point.

Random CFB Observations:
- Anyone else think Chizick may be regretting that sudden jump to Iowa State? Wow, what a terrible way to start a season - back-to-back losses to D2 teams. They get Iowa this weekend and it should be ugly.

- I'm not sure this is real or just media-fabricated hype, but is Michigan really considering Les Miles? Really? He's like Charlie Weiss - he's playing with a core of players that were recruited and seasoned by past coaches. Not saying he's not a good coach, I'm just not so sure he's a great coach.

- So the bummer about tomorrow's games - all of the good ones are on at 2:30pm. This is one of those weekends when you wish you had the Elvis Presley TV set up with about 6 right in front.

- I must reiterate how troubled I am with the UT player conduct issues - at some point you have to make a statement that this will not be tolerated. That's hard to do when you've consistently been tolerating it.

- Check out the Texas Tech preview here: http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/59035 - they're playing Rice so I can take a guess about how this will work out.

- Does anyone else love what Ty Willingham is doing at Washington....coupled with what Weiss is doing at Notre Dame?

- I'm still shocked that ESPN continues to pay Mark May and Lou Holtz for that puppet show they call television. Those two guys have got to be the worst duo in sports television history. Spike Dikes would be better than Holtz for crying out loud.

New England Patriots:

Alright, so I don't necessarily think that the cheating thing is as big of a deal as a lot of the writers/talk show folks I'm haring do. It is a ridiculous thing that they did that (and have done it before), but I think folks are making a big deal about it because they're automatically jumping to the conclusion that they've done it for every single game and might have done it to win their super bowls. Maybe so, but I really doubt it. Does it mean Tom Brady is not as good as he seemed? That's crazy, he's still putting the ball on the money with giant d-lineman trying to kill him. The receivers are still running against premier athletes in the secondary. It was most definitely a dumb move by the Patriots and most definitely a ghetto thing to do - especially when you're the favorites to win the super bowl. It will most certainly taint Belicheck's reputation, but let's not go too crazy. Bottom line is this - the rule book clearly states you can't use electronic AV equipment to see what your opponents are doing - they did it and were punished.

Here's what IS the big deal about this. Goodell, whom I like a lot and like the tone he's trying to set, really dropped the ball on this one. He penalized the coach roughly one tenth of his salary and forget about the fine to the organization - it's nothing. He also took a first-round draft pick away from them. This means that the Patriots, who will most likely make the playoffs and can possibly go to the big game, will lose a late-round (possibly last pick) of the first round. Let's not mention that they have another draft pick that they acquired from the 49ers a while back that will most certainly be an early round pick - they still get to use that.

All I'm saying is you absolutely have to suspend him for X amount of games. You took a third of Wade Wilson's salary and 3 or 4 games for doing something that had nothing to do with the game - it had to do with bettering his life AFTER a career in pro football. The Patriots were messing with the "fabric" of the game. Goodell, I imagine, will take A LOT of heat for this - especially from Colts, Ravens, Jets and Chargers fans/markets - and he should. He messed up big time and may even be perceived as special treatment for the premier franchise of the last 5 years or so.

Golf:
Don't forget about the championship tournament for the FedEx cup. Should be some good golf...assuming Tiger and Phil care as much about it as we hope they do.

NBA:
Couple of things about this wonderful NBA league. First off, it's nothing short of astonishing how the referee/gambling story has been so quiet. I'm not sure what's going on or if it's because football stories (Michigan, Patriots, etc.) are dominating the headlines, but this is something else. I still strongly believe a storm is brewing with this and will explode in about 2 or 3 months.

I must comment on the Greg Oden news here. If you haven't heard (or care to pay attention), Greg Oden will not play this coming NBA season after having his knee scoped. Evidently he had or will have microfracture knee surgery...whatever the hell that is.

Those of you who know me and read this know that I have been very in the minority in thinking that I'm not sure Greg Oden is as good as everyone would like him to be. Furthermore, I'm not sure he'll be anything more than a mediocre player throughout his career. Had the Blazers picked up Durant I think they would be competing for the Western Conference finals within 2 or 3 years..and on a consistent basis. They will still be very good I think, but I honestly think that Durant was the piece that could have solidified their lineup and could have taken them to greatness. Durant is a leader - we Texas fans got a glimpse of that. As a freshman, he was the undisputed leader of that team (granted all of them freshman, but still).

Oden, on the other hand, was NOT the leader of that OSU team - that title was clearly with Mike Connelly, Jr. Look, there's no question that when you look at Oden's size, you immediately think basketball all-start - his frame and size and sheer athletic ability are astounding. BUT, he only played half of a college season - that's his entire experience in division 1 basketball...one half of a season. And in that half season we had constant questions on his health, HUGE questions about his defense (he is incapable of defending anyone beyond 8 feet), and questions about his desire. Now this. I could be and hope I am wrong, but I think this will be the beginning of a career filled with nagging injuries and missed games.

You have to feel sorry for Trailblazers fans (if you'll recall, it was the Portland Trailblazers who took Sam Bowie over Jordan with the first pick way back when). And I'll tell you this, if Randolph or Aldridge step and have strong years as post players, the fans will REALLY begin to ask, "if we had these guys who are more than capable of effectively playing the position - why didn't we go get Durant?" And forget about if Durant has a Rookie of the year-type year - they may explode.

Check out Bill Simmons' take on it - always a great read:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/blog/index?name=simmons

Great Weekend...Big Win

Well folks, it doesn't happen often, but when I'm wrong - I'm wrong....and I'll take it. Although Texas looked far from a top 10 team on Saturday night, they did look much improved from game 1 - at least for a half.

Like many of you, I only saw a fraction of the firt half thanks to Aggies defensive clinic they were putting on against Fresno State so I can't really say how they played on the whole, but I know this - they didn't so much as put up a field goal in that time so it couldn't have been that good. So let's get serious here and recap some of the bigger games of the weekend.

Texas over TCU:
Well, like I said, it was ugly early, but they got the engines running late (geez, what else is new). Am I happy with this win? Absolutely, any win by 3 touchdowns is a positive. Am I happy about where Texas is right now as a team? Not really, but there was obviously some vast improvements from weeks 1 to 2. Do I think Texas is a top 10 team right now? Not quite, but I could conceive them being a top 12 or 15 team. I look at those "top teams" and see quite a few who I believe would manhandle the horns right now.

Moreover, I was very underwhelmed by TCU's defense (didn't know what to expect from offense, but it was very ugly). I'd like to think that Texas' offense just pushed them around and showed superior talent, but time will tell. I don't know about you, but I'll be keeping an eye on TCU over the next few weeks and see how their defense responds. TCU's offense is what will kill them. I can't imagine these guys playing in a big-time bowl (BCS) with an offense like that. I was VERY pleased with the running game. I'm still not declaring Jamaal Charles a superstar, but he did rack up 134 yards and averaged just ove 6 yards a carry vs. 3 yards a carry last week - that's a great thing.

But yet again the same issues haunt us - not being able to finish drives and turning the ball over. This time though the TOs are coming from our QB play. That makes 4 INTs in the last 2 games - averaging 2 INTs a game is not a good thing. I will say the tipped ball INT was not entirely Colt's fault although I don't think he made a great throw there. I'm also looking for a receiver to make a play out there - if the ball doesn't hit them directly in the numbers they seem to drop the ball. The exception to this is Jermichael Finley who seemed to make some good plays all over the field. I think you're going to start seeing this guy's number called more and more this year. All in all, our offense needs some work and frankly, I need to see a lot more from Colt to feel comfortable about the season. 6 of 15 on third down conversions is also a very ugly stat - the first conversion came in the 2nd half I believe.

Defensively speaking - I couldn't be happier. They didn't give up a TD to the offense and they held them to a field goal after a first and goal situation. If the offense hadn't turned the ball over I think this would have been a shut out. The secondary guys were playing very physical too - making nice pass beakups and making some great open-field tackles in the second half. I was very pleased with the defense - and all without Orakpo. Kudos to the defense - very pleased to see that.

At the end of the day I'll take the win (and any win at that), but there's quite a bit of work to do if they want to win this conference - if you need any evidence, watch Oklahoma play a game in the next couple of weeks...scary team right there.

Oklahoma over Miami:
There's no question I was expecting more out of Miami in this game - especially on defense - but man, does Oklahoma look like a top 3 team! As a longhorn fan, I'm quite nervous about having to play these guys - I know it's a month off, but they are a well-oiled machine right now. I will say this though - for all the talk about the 2-headed monster at running back, they didn't have a single rushing TD agains Miami...and that's with putting up 51 points. And their leading rusher had 64 yards (and it wasn't White or Brown who had it - they each had about 45 yards. Bradford was a whopping 19 of 25 with 205 yards and 5 TDs. I'm still eager to see the Aggies visit Miami in a couple of weeks - that should be a good game. Luckily for Miami, the aggie game plan (all running) plays into their hands defensively - they will get a chance to use their speed. We'll see though. Either way, Oklahoma looks way impressive - and rightfully so, they're #3 in this week's AP poll.

Texas A&M over Fresno State:
And speaking of the aggies...Look, it was a good win - given these guys' schedule this year, that loss may have been disastrous. Here's the bad news for the aggies, that's not a very impressive team they struggled to beat. Fresno has it's appeal and you love to route for them because they'll play anyone/anywhere. But, this is a team that was 4-8 last year and was shut out by Idaho. BUT, the aggies pulled it out and that was good, especially after giving up the late touchdown drive to close out regulation, that was bad. I'll tell you this, if you can't stop the run, the aggies can beat anyone in the country, but if they can't get it going on the ground, they are hopeless. I don't believe Javorski Lane can ever be an every-down back at this level, not in his current state, but is sure is one hell of an insurance policy late in the game (and in overtime) when the opposing defense is worn down. Again, nice win for the aggies, but they've got a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball.

LSU over Virginia Tech:
Holy cow does this LSU team look good. I don't think many people expected a whole lot from the Hokie offense, but man, I cna't believe how much they shredded their defense - that was impressive. I know we haven't really seen USC really play, but I can't imagine a whole lot of teams hanging with the LSU team if they were to play tomorrow. In two weeks they get S. Carolina at their place which could be an entertaining game, but for the most part, they've only really got Florida at home this year (and at Bama). Matt Flynn looked great and they even Ryan P. looked pretty good - on cleanup duty of course.

Other Notables:
- Can you remember a bigger letdown of a game going into week #3 than the 0-2 Michigan Wolverines hosting the 0-2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish? After the assault that was the Penn State game I was more sure than ever that ND may not win a game this year (when you literally have no defense and a terrible offensive line, it's tough), but something's gotta give here right? Surely Michigan rights the ship here - no way they can lose to this ND team. Here's a question - when is ND going to "Tyrone Willingham" Charlie Weiss? That love affair has to be over with very soon - somewhere around the 0-7 mark I'm guessing. Yet another pro coach who thinks he can "outsmart" the college game.

- Meanwhile, Lloyd Carr and Michigan are quickly working on a buy-out plan.

- Close one Cal, let's not start booking our flights for the BCS game just yet. Colorado State is a quality opponent, but you can't give up that kind of offense to that team...when you still have USC on your schedule.

- Great win for Washington and Ty Willingham - and thank you for subsiding the "should Boise State be discussed every single day" rhetoric just a bit.

- And thank you to Louisian Tech for almost doing the same to Hawaii - we appreciate the effort.

- I'm VERY concerned about Nebraska's defense against USC next week. Perhaps they were looking ahead a bit, but they gave up a lot of yards to Wake Forest's backup QB. And Sam Keller looked shaky with 2 INTs to his 1 touchdown. Turnovers almost lost this game for the huskers.

FedEx Cup:
So couple of things on this real quick. I think most of us golf fans would agree that the idea of a playoff in golf is great. But, this is not quite it. I'll preface with acknowledging that the organizers of this "playoff" will be tweaking the system before next year. Here's a couple of suggestions as you sit down at the drawing board:
- It's not really a playoff if the golfers in the top 10 can choose to sit out for a tournament or two. It's just not.

- When the scoring spans into the 6 digits (e.g. 109,372 to 104,678), it's too complicated. Furthermore, when no one (and I mean NO ONE) who is a fan of the game can figure it out, it's WAAAY too complicated.

- Let me tell you what the top golfers in the world care about - winning majors. Their entire year is planned around getting ready for and competing in the 4 majors. There are probably a couple of other key tournaments that are favorites of the top guys, but the one consistency is the 4 majors. Plan your "tournament/playoff" accordingly. Once the last major is over, you're going to struggle to keep their attention.

- Here's the current scenario: going into the "final" next weekend, if Phil wins the tournament, but Tiger gets second - he still wins the FedEx cup. That's exactly the opposite of a playoff - that's like the BCS.

- When some of your biggest stars complain about aspectst of it - listen to them. They are the ones making you money hand over fist with this whole debacle. Listen to what they say.

NFL Notes:
- When was the last time you saw a quarterback take such command of a game as Peyton Manning did in the 2nd half of the season opener? He was in complete control of that game when he was on the field. The Colts looked VERY good.

- And then the Patriots played today. WOW! They made quick work of the Jets and Randy Moss had a "remember me?" game with over 180 yards and a TD. AFC battles should be fun this year.

- Vince Young had a rough go against the Jaguars today, but they pulled off a very important win for that team. Winning in Jacksonville was a tough feat. It looks like VY will get some help in the running game with Chris Brown playing a great game. Now if we can only find him some receivers...he definitely had a down day though with only 78 yards through the air.

- I think one of the most madening story lines to watch this year will be how long Lovie Smith can continue to stick with Grossman. If should be this team's mission over the next 18 months to acquire a more stable and consistent QB. This is like the Lions' owners sticking with Matt Millen for GM over these last few years.

- And speaking of the Lions...I know they were playing the Raiders, but still...they looked pretty good.

- The number one draft pick for the Texans last year is starting to pan out - Williams had a fumble retuned for a TD and 2 sacks. Nice.

That's all she wrote. We'll do it again later this week as we get closer to week #3 for the college game.