Longhorn Renaissance

History tells us that this is when Texas usually turns it on. How many times have we seen this team turn it on after losing the those Sooners. Unfortunately this time, it was our second conference loss. This is most definitely the season of "anything can happen" and perhaps OU, Tech and the Aggies could lose a couple of more games while Texas runs the table....but I doubt it. In all reality, Texas is probably out of the conference running altogether.

What I'm anxious to see is how they respond. You have to remember, Texas has not been this far in the conference hole this early in who knows how long - it's uncharted territory. The bad news is they still have no true player leadership and no real identity. The good news is they get Iowa State and Baylor over the next two weeks (both road games I might add). If there was ever a two-week stretch to "put it all back together", this is it.

They certainly played a higher level than we've seen against Oklahoma - that's good because it was by and far the best team they've played and it's positive to see your team play up to the competition. What you really have to beware of is the big letdown loss - after all, Gene Chizick knows exactly what Greg Davis is going to do (not that it's tough to figure out). I don't see it happening, but I wouldn't be shocked. Unfortunately, the worrisome part is that they continue to let the same issues ale them - making turnovers, getting no turnovers, pass defense and offensive line. Good opportunity to really improve in at least a couple of these areas.

I'd really like to see the Big O get the ball about 15 times in one of these next two games because the one area of their game I cannot stand to watch anymore is the Jamaal Charles show.

Texas - 34
Iowa State - 20

Texas A&M at Texas Tech:
If you're not excited about watching this gooey little rivalry than I don't know what to think about you. The best part of this is that the game is in Lubbock and if there's a group of drunken fans that are more entertaining to watch, I haven't seen them. The only saving grace for the Aggies is that the game is in the middle of the afternoon - less drinking time.

The big question is this - how will A&M respond to Franchione Puppet Show. That and Jug-But Javorski Lane guaranteeing a win may just be enough to jinx those Red Raiders. Tech is really going to need to stack the box and stop the run - if they let Lane and Goodson (and McGee) run all over the place, their offense won't get the chances they need. Tech is all about outscoring their opponents and they must limit A&M's time of possession. I predict another big game by Michael Crabtree as he runs circles around the Aggie secondary.

Of course, let's not put it past the aggies to completely cave as they grasp the reality that they are playing for a lame-duck coach. At the end of the day, I think the home crowd in Lubbock and Tech's offense will take over.

More on this game from a Red Raider: http://fannation.com/blogs/post/66435

Texas Tech - 58
Texas A&M - 24

Missouri at Oklahoma:
VERY interesting game here. 5-0 Missouri versus 4-1 Oklahoma. Missouri is playing great and although their defense has plagued them of late, they completely shut Nebraska down for 3 and a half quarters. It's not saying a ton, but they're improving.

BUUUUT, they're playing in Norman against an Oklahoma team that just has to be feeling good about themselves. The Sooners have their issues in the secondary and Chase Daniel will probably make some big plays, but OU's offense is really firing on all cylinders and they are taking care of the ball. Too many weapons on offense for Missouri to handle.

I wouldn't put it past Daniel to single-handily keep the Tigers in this game, but my gut says that Oklahoma makes a statement game here.

Oklahoma - 42
Missouri - 27

LSU at Kentucky:
Be careful LSU - this is a quintessential trap game....not quite Wildcats.

LSU - 33
Kentucky - 27

Other College Football Notes:

• Imagine these 2 heisman finalists - Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech and Chase Daniel of Missouri....I'm just saying.
  
• How about that Coach Fran. I've got a sneaky feeling that this isn't over. I still can't understand why his daughter would be a registered member of the site...unless it was for someone/something else. I'm not a conspiracy theorists, but this whole thing gets shadier and shadier....either way, he's gone.
  
• Aggie Fans - raiser your hand if you wish you could go back in time and hire Kubiak when he was vocal about the fact that he wanted this job...that's what I thought.
• I said it once before and I'll say it again - Limas Sweed has been a pretty big disappointment in his last two seasons here at Texas. He'll still get his NFL shot - no doubt.
  
• Will be very interesting to see how USC backup QB Matt Sanchez responds in his first start...
• ....and don't you just know that Mike Stoops is licking his chops.

Patriots and Cowboys:
You just gotta hope that this game lives up to the hype. It appeared as if Dallas would be knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten last Monday night, but managed a miracle comeback like few I have ever seen (more on this game below). This game is in Dallas, but in my humble opinion, that's the only thing that the Cowboys have going for them against the red-hot Pats.

Romo is everyone's sweetheart, but we got a glimpse of the downside of Romo on Monday night...and boy is it a huge down side. Some compare him to a young Brett Favre and I guess that's somewhat accurate given his gun slinger mentality at times. Many of his throws last Monday night were utterly atrocious - it looked as if I were out there trying to make a play. The bad news for Cowboys fans is that the Patriots are SOOOOO much better than Buffalo in so many ways.

Look, Romo's a pretty good QB and he happens to coming into his own at a time when the NFC is more or less a train wreck so that's going to help him out a lot in terms of numbers and confidence. But, he's no Tom Brady and I don't care what you die hard Cowboys fans think (Seiders), he'll never be a Tom Brady. Obviously something has to give this Sunday afternoon and I'm jumping on the "Patriots in a route" bandwagon. I think it may be close, but TO can't win this game on his own and Marion Barber (please stop playing Julius Jones so much) will have a much tougher time than he's had in past games. By the way, I think Barber may be on his way to becoming one of the league's most productive backs.

Patriots - 32
Cowboys - 17

And speaking of the Monday night game - WOW!! I'm still trying to figure out how the Cowboys pulled that one out. Let's see, Romo gives up 6 turnovers (5 INTs and a fumble), TO drops 2 HUGE potential catches in the last minute, and they give up a kick return for a touchdown...and they still win. Easily one of the best games I've seen in a long, LONG time. Some of those Romo picks had me really scratching my head - when you look at the replay you have to wonder what in the world he was thinking on about 3 of those picks.

MLB:
Do you think ESPN realizes that the Yankees actually lost their series? There's more stories on Torre and the Yanks than on the damn team that beat them. Unreal. Guess what - it's not news until something happens.

NBA:
Soooo, now Kobe's on the trading block? Man, it's amazing how discombobulated the Lakers have become since West departed. I say Kobe ends up in Chicago before the start of next season.

Another Epic Weekend

Yet again, the "polls" get a major shake up this weekend with two more of the top 5 going down...but don't worry, I won't talk today about the issues with pre- and early-season polls; I'll spare you all for at least one day.

Lot of really great games this weekend, where do I even begin....with the one that broke my heart, of course.

OU over Texas:
As you know, I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of Texas this game...hell, I don't think anyone was. Local sports writers, national media, TV and radio experts and fans - very few people expected Texas to show up to this one (and why would they). But low and behold, those Horns did show up and frankly, they played pretty darn good. To sum it up, Texas just isn't as good as Oklahoma and it comes down to one key reason - big time players make big time plays and Texas has no big time players. Sure, they've got quite a bit of talent, but to say that anyone on this team (on either side of the ball) qualifies as a big time player is just wrong. Yea, Texas is a pretty good team that I'm thinking will end up 9-3 at best, but more likely an 8-4. And the bad news is that I don't think you're going to see a whole lot of improvement over the next year or so given who we've got now and who we'll be losing over the next year or two. And I'll be real honest, the thought of 2 more years of Colt is not exciting to me...not in the least bit.

But another thing to point out - I don't think Oklahoma is quite as good as I've been thinking/saying over this season thus far. Their quarterback is really, REALLY good though - and the stable of running backs they've got is somewhat scary. I mean, that Bradford kis is only a redshirt freshman - THAT is scary. The touch he put on some of those balls was perfect...literally. But, it's the OU defense that is questionable. If Texas had any running game whatsoever I think we could have more easily overcome our mistakes. There are definitely gaps and seams all through the OU secondary and if you've got a QB who can make the throws, most teams from here on out should be able to give them fits. Tech may have a field day with them (as they will with most other teams I'm starting to determine).

If you go back and look at the plays that made the difference, I think you can look at 3 key plays: Jamaal's fumble on the goal line, Colt's interception throw (which was such a bad throw to such a wide open guy I can't get over it), and the series where Texas had 2nd and 2 and couldn't get a first down mid way through the third period - OU's subsequent offensive possession was when they had one play for 65 yards and a TD.

If you really want to narrow it down, Charles' fumble was the momentum swing in the game that changed everything. Granted, OU didn't score on the possession that followed the fumble, but the damage was done. You simply can't fumble the ball 2 steps before you're going to score. I'm officially done with Charles - he should not be our starting running back. Not saying he shouldn't play b/c he's too talented to simply leave on the bench, but he's a mediocre running back at best. And to be fair, our offensive line should take a lot of the criticism here too, they've been bad all year long and the improvements we see are very small and few and far between. Texas' running game is irrelevant and that's going to make it much easier for teams to prepare for Texas in the future. I think it's time for the Big O to start getting more and more of the carries.

It's hard too down on Colt as he had a pretty good game when you look at completion percentage and 2 TDs, but many times, his throws are high or behind the receivers so they have to adjust to make the catch. He's not wild by any means, I just don't think he's a top tier QB, he doesn't have the strongest arm in the world and he never seems relaxed. I'll say it again, I'm not at all excited about the prospect of having him for the next 2 years. I only say that because when you look at what Texas fans have come to expect based on the success we've seen over the last 5 years, and you couple that with the talent (supposed talent that is) that UT brings in each year, it's hard to settle for mediocrity at any one position, especially the QB position. If I'm Mack, I'm hitting the recruiting trails VERY HARD to bring in a blue chip QB and RB. I've know we've got a stable of RBs in the wings, but you can't have too many.

On the defensive side of the ball, I think our D-line played with a great emotion and intensity. They did give up a 65 yard TD run (which by the way, was half of that guy's total yards on that one play) which you really can't do in games like this, but other than that, I think they did a damn good job. The secondary on the other hand? My God these guys are terrible pass defenders. They had like 3 or 4 good defensive plays early on, but once Bradford found his rhythm, they were eaten up. The secondary does a great job of coming up on run support and even made some great tackles in this game, but pass defense is going to kill this team this year. Tech will put up no less than 500 yards on Texas this year.

All in all, they showed improvement from Kstate and after two costly turnovers (without forcing any of their own), they even had themselves in a position to go on a game-tying drive in the last two minutes. But at the end of the day, it comes down to your big time players making those big time plays...and Texas, as far as I can tell, doesn't really have any big time players. Even worse? Texas has started conference play 0-2 (first time since SWC days of old) and has lost 4 straight conference games...you all know I'm not even close to being in the "Fire Mack" camp (have I mentioned how ridiculous that is?), but someone had better be on the hot seat if they don't turn this ship around in the next few games. Luckily they've got Iowa State and Baylor over the next two weeks - hopefully we can find and establish some sense of identity during that time.

LSU over Florida:
What an absolutely fantastic game! I'll tell you, I've never been a big Les Miles fan and have felt he's been a bit overrated, but not after this game. How do you say - he showed some serious cojones. Going for it on 4th down twice on the last drive when a field goal would have tied it. That was great.

I really thought LSU would eventually shut Florida down and open it up, but Florida played pretty damn good. This game really came down to the running game - LSU put up almost 100 more yards of rushing than Florida and I think that's what made the difference. Neither QB was spectacular throwing the ball, although Tebow did have 2 TDs (and an INT).

Well that and Florida's second half turnovers - you can't do that with LSU. On paper, that was LSU's toughest opponent, but as we all know, anything can happen this year. Either way, I'm sticking with LSU as by and far the top team right now - and there's really no more question about that anymore.

Stanford over USC:
Wow....I mean WOW! Didn't see any of this, but couldn't believe what I saw (over and over again on Sportscenter). The first thing I did was look at the stats and as I expected, just looking at them you would think USC drummed them by 35 points - almost double Stanford's total yards, forced Stanford to punt 8 times, more first downs, held the ball longer, etc., etc....and had 5 turnovers. They also gave up some return yards that I'm sure didn't help, but 5 turnovers is crazy. And of course, Stanford made the plays when they needed to - converting a 4th and 20 on the final drive and then that last catch was amazing.

Good for Stanford, but I'm still betting they maybe win 1 or 2 more conference games. USC on the other hand, I've never thought they were anywhere near as good as they have been in recent years. They've beaten some pretty bad teams and let's be honest, their most impressive victory is against a Nebraska team that has since been exposed as a fraud. I don't think there's any doubt that Cal is the class of the Pac 10 right now.

Big 12 North:
Hopefully some of you got to see the Kansas/Kstate game before the horns' game. If so, you were treated to a very entertaining game. Kansas ended up pulling the upset on the road - that looks good, the team that knocks you around goes and loses the next week at home. Kansas' offense sure is impressive though - they look like a pretty athletic team. They are certainly in position to contend for the Big 12 North.

Of course they have to navigate through Missouri along that route - who just humiliated Nebraska...in Lincoln. It's a shame to think about what it meant to win a game in that place (because it was very, VERY rare when anyone did) and to think about it now. They're almost better off on the road I think. Nebraska may want to consider going back to the drawing board and I'm not sure Callahan is going to have a job there next year. Nebraska still has Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Kansas on their schedule.

Missouri on the other hand looked pretty good, especially on defense which has been their largest weakness/question mark. And Chase Daniel was out of his mind good. They just toyed with the Huskers throughout that whole game.

College Football Quick Hits:

• Can you remember a more dissappointing player in recent Texas history than Limas Sweed? What in the world has happened to this guy???
• I am beyond appalled that USC is in the top 10 in both polls - #7 in the coach's poll. That's nuts. Stanford is beyond horrible. If they had been playing clean and flawless football before that, it's one thing, but that hasn't been the case.
  
• I think it's safe to say that Kyle Dorrell will probably not be back as UCLA's coach next season - you just can't lose to this Notre Dame team. Unreal.
  
• Yet again the Aggies pull out a squeaker. If they're nothing else, they're resilient. I'm still not sure how good they really are, but you never want to play them. I believe they visit Lubbock next weekend - that could get very ugly.
• And speaking of Lubbock, here's the recap of Tech's demolishing of Iowa State: http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/65418
• Minor prediction here - one of the teams playing for the national title will have 2 losses. And it won't be LSU.
• The juggernaut that is the SEC East continues - after S. Carolina dismantled Kentucky, Tennessee went out and just humiliated Georgia. Tennessee and Texas are a lot a like - they get tremendous praise each year based on potential and usually end up underachieving and then winning some games they shouldn't while dropping some games they shouldn't. Will be interesting to see who comes out of the East - I'm sticking with S. Carolina.
  
• Now that Wisconsin has been exposed (and you knew it was coming), Ohio State is a prime situation to take the Big 10 - they're playing very well right now.
  

NFL Observations from a Guy Who Didn't See Any Games:

• Nice to see San Diego show up - great game by the Chargers with Tomlinson starting to look like himself. And very nice game by Rivers.
  
• Man, very rough outing for VY - 3 INTs is not a good way to come off a bye week. Haynesworth had the big play of the day it sounded like. If he keeps his nose clean they should get him signed up, he could anchor that defense for a few more years.
  
• How about those Saints??!! It's hard to fulfill those Super Bowl dreams when you go winless during the first quarter of the season. These guys have no sense of chemistry.
  
• It will be interesting to see what happens when the Patriots travel to Dallas and to Indy, but I can't imagine these guys losing a game the way they're playing. I'm not suggesting "you know what" (16-0), but they are really playing at a high level. One has to wonder if they may peak to early??
  

That's all I got - have a great week.