And It All Comes Down To This
Well sports fans, after a.....uh....interesting season for the longhorns, it all culminates in tonight's Holiday Bowl - Texas' home away from home during bowl season. Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what to expect in tonight's game....none at all. I think when you give 18-20 year-old kids 3 weeks off in between games it's almost impossible to guess how they will respond.
With that said, if there's a few things we've learned about these longhorns this year it's: 1) they most likely will not come out with a whole lot of energy, 2) they'll turn the ball over at least 2 times, and 3) they'll give up a whole ton of yards.
Now the good news - other than the turnovers, Arizona State will likely do the same thing. In short, I see this game as a shootout - I'm preparing for a 4-hour event this evening. The real question here for both teams centers around motivation - who is more motivated and why. Frankly, I don't see either team being overly pumped up about this game. ASU was thinking BCS bowl while Texas laid an egg (again) against it's very mediocre in-state rival to end the year.
But wait Horns fans, there is one more bit of good news. It seems Mack has heeded the call and has implemented some real discipline for his team's bowl preparation. He's asking players to be accountable for their performance on the field AND he's actually punishing players for being late, not executing, making bad plays, etc. WOW, what a novel idea. Here's a better one - WHY NOT DO THIS ALL F'NG SEASON LONG!!! It's nice to see that Mack is starting to show signs of growing a pair....we'll see how it works out.
My guess is the defense will still give up a whole crap-load of yards (Akina is a bad play caller, period) and Colt is sure to throw at least one pick, largely because his offensive line will give him zero time to pick the defense apart. Surely by now the secret is out on Colt: give him all day and he will shred you; get pressure on him and he'll likely throw a pick. The one shinning spot is the growth of Jamaal Charles - I did not realize this, but he had 1,458 yards this year. Yes, I was surprised too, but he's done it. If they can keep the ASU defense (who has also fallen apart in the second half of the season) honest with Charles running the ball, they may just have a chance.
In the end, I'm going with the Sun Devils in this one. They will likely outnumber Texas fans 2:1 at least. And the more I see Brown, the more I'm convinced he's a mirage of big-time college football coaching. Tar Heel fans warned us of this 8-9 years ago when Brown became a Longhorn - he'll win you a bunch of games, but none of the games that matter. Meanwhile, our largest rival to our north (Stoops and Oklahoma) is playing in there 6th BCS bowl game....along with their 4 conference titles. Sorry Mack, your coveted stat of consecutive 10-win seasons ends tonight....and frankly, we're getting a little tired of hanging our hat on that one each year. 7 consecutive 10-win seasons with 1 conference title and 2 BCS appearances.
More important than this game though will be what he does in the offseason - namely in recruiting and staff changes. I'm also guessing that this will be the first of a few years when Texas has a significant drop-off in recruiting talent. Sooner or later, the upper echelon players will realize that if they want to compete for a national title (hell, a conference title), Texas may not be the best place to accomplish that....unless we can get the last year of Vince's eligibility back.
ASU - 35
Texas - 32
Other College Football Notes:
Sooo, interesting tactic by Jerry Jones in showing the Giants/Patriots game on NBC and CBS this Saturday night. I've spoken with 2 co-workers who are "die-hard" satellite guys and listened to their mindless jabbering about the evils of cable. "If Satellite is ponying up for it, why can't cable - it's the cable companies' fault." Not so fast.
Let's think about this - satellite makes up roughly 25-30% of the television viewing market (and that may be a big generous). Is satellite simply going to take significant market share away from cable in head-to-head competition alone? Probably not. Here's what I think they did - I think they went to Jerry Jones and company and said we will pay an overly inflated price for the NFL network so that our viewers can see it because we know that Cable won't match it. Over time, as the NFL network grows (assuming it will), more and more cable customers will get more and more frustrated and want to switch. Meanwhile, the cable companies won't initially give in because the price that the satellite guys put up is so inflated - thereby leaving cable customers in the dark. Once cable customers start switching over to satellite in significant numbers, the cable companies will have no choice but to match the price tag (the inflated one).
So there you go. Cable companies have made 2 reasonable offers to let their customers purchase the NFL network as part of a "package" so those that want it can pay for it and those that don't, won't have to. BUT NOOOOO, Jerry Jones isn't going for that. He wants all customers to have to pay for it AND he wants the price tag to be the highest among non-movie channels.
Anyway, that's my theory - I essentially think the Satellite companies are helping JJ get his money (b/c that's what it's all about with him...and he has admitted as much) and JJ is helping the satellite companies in a ghetto business tactic.
Let just finish this little rant with this fact: I absolutely loathe cable companies. I really do. I'm in no way defending these guys, but I am defending their stance.
NBA:
FYI Chad Seiders, Tom Spillane and Eric Miller (only Laker fans I know on this distribution list) - The Lakers look good....real good. Most recently, they've won 9 of 11 and 3 straight including a Christmas Day victory of those pesky Suns - second win this year over Phoenix.
Don't get me wrong, it's waaaay early (I don't believe the NBA really matters until mid February), but Bynum, Farmar, Walton and Ariza are playing great - and in case you haven't forgotten due to the media snubbing, Kobe is still the best player on the planet.
It's still the Spurs championship to win this year, but I think I speak for everyone when I say a Celtics/Spurs or Suns series would be great. We shall see.
Enjoy the rest of the games and have a great New Year...I'm out.
With that said, if there's a few things we've learned about these longhorns this year it's: 1) they most likely will not come out with a whole lot of energy, 2) they'll turn the ball over at least 2 times, and 3) they'll give up a whole ton of yards.
Now the good news - other than the turnovers, Arizona State will likely do the same thing. In short, I see this game as a shootout - I'm preparing for a 4-hour event this evening. The real question here for both teams centers around motivation - who is more motivated and why. Frankly, I don't see either team being overly pumped up about this game. ASU was thinking BCS bowl while Texas laid an egg (again) against it's very mediocre in-state rival to end the year.
But wait Horns fans, there is one more bit of good news. It seems Mack has heeded the call and has implemented some real discipline for his team's bowl preparation. He's asking players to be accountable for their performance on the field AND he's actually punishing players for being late, not executing, making bad plays, etc. WOW, what a novel idea. Here's a better one - WHY NOT DO THIS ALL F'NG SEASON LONG!!! It's nice to see that Mack is starting to show signs of growing a pair....we'll see how it works out.
My guess is the defense will still give up a whole crap-load of yards (Akina is a bad play caller, period) and Colt is sure to throw at least one pick, largely because his offensive line will give him zero time to pick the defense apart. Surely by now the secret is out on Colt: give him all day and he will shred you; get pressure on him and he'll likely throw a pick. The one shinning spot is the growth of Jamaal Charles - I did not realize this, but he had 1,458 yards this year. Yes, I was surprised too, but he's done it. If they can keep the ASU defense (who has also fallen apart in the second half of the season) honest with Charles running the ball, they may just have a chance.
In the end, I'm going with the Sun Devils in this one. They will likely outnumber Texas fans 2:1 at least. And the more I see Brown, the more I'm convinced he's a mirage of big-time college football coaching. Tar Heel fans warned us of this 8-9 years ago when Brown became a Longhorn - he'll win you a bunch of games, but none of the games that matter. Meanwhile, our largest rival to our north (Stoops and Oklahoma) is playing in there 6th BCS bowl game....along with their 4 conference titles. Sorry Mack, your coveted stat of consecutive 10-win seasons ends tonight....and frankly, we're getting a little tired of hanging our hat on that one each year. 7 consecutive 10-win seasons with 1 conference title and 2 BCS appearances.
More important than this game though will be what he does in the offseason - namely in recruiting and staff changes. I'm also guessing that this will be the first of a few years when Texas has a significant drop-off in recruiting talent. Sooner or later, the upper echelon players will realize that if they want to compete for a national title (hell, a conference title), Texas may not be the best place to accomplish that....unless we can get the last year of Vince's eligibility back.
ASU - 35
Texas - 32
Other College Football Notes:
- Some pretty good games so far this bowl season. ECU's get-up-big-then-fall-behind-then-win-on-last-second-field-goal game plan worked so good that Purdue implemented it last night. Man, Purdue killed me in the bowl pick game. They were up 24 at one point and had to kick a last-second field goal to beat....Central Michigan.
- What in the world has happened to Florida State?? With exception to about 5 names, any other head coach not named Bobby Bowden would be fired by now. Will this guy quit already - it's not like he's actually coaching the team anymore and we all know it.
- It's really becoming astonishing to see how these coaches and ADs are conducting themselves in the business of hiring, resigning or firing coaches. Houston Nutt, Bobby Petrino, Nick Saban, Rich Rodriguez, etc., etc. And I'm sorry, the whole "it's part of the business" is both bullshit and a complete cop out of responsibility. The more these guys talk about college football being "about the kids", the more they make it about the money....at any cost. Good old American Hypocrisy.
- Can you remember a season where so many players have been suspended for academic or disciplinary reasons? Penn State has 5 out, aggies have 1 defensive starter out, Michigan State is suspending 5 or 6 and I think FSU has about 73 players out for this bowl game. To my above point - if it were about the kids, would we see this kind of stuff going on? I doubt it. Maybe, but I doubt it.
- I think that given what's going on at West Virginia (chaos), the Mountaineers are going to get absolutely creamed by Oklahoma.
- Does anyone want the UCLA job? Anyone at all? Don't you know that the Bruins REALLY don't want Rick Nuheisal (sp?) in there. Who would.
- I'll tell you, ESPN can run a "story" into the ground with the best of them. YES, we know, the Patriots will most likely go undefeated. YES, we know, they are the favorites to win it all. And NO, no one cares what Bill Parcells thinks about the '85 Bears matching up with the Patriots. That is piss-poor television gang. I mean BAD.
- Should the Titans win, they're in the playoffs. Other than the Giants, there's not a team I'd rather face than the Titans. I'm most interested to see what they do in free agency after the year AND if Norm Chow can take the reigns of of VY just a bit.
- Terrible loss by Minnesota last week, but they can still get in with a win over Denver....and a Washington loss I think.
- Playoffs start next weekend - there is no sport, college or pro, that has a more exciting playoff than the NFL.
Sooo, interesting tactic by Jerry Jones in showing the Giants/Patriots game on NBC and CBS this Saturday night. I've spoken with 2 co-workers who are "die-hard" satellite guys and listened to their mindless jabbering about the evils of cable. "If Satellite is ponying up for it, why can't cable - it's the cable companies' fault." Not so fast.
Let's think about this - satellite makes up roughly 25-30% of the television viewing market (and that may be a big generous). Is satellite simply going to take significant market share away from cable in head-to-head competition alone? Probably not. Here's what I think they did - I think they went to Jerry Jones and company and said we will pay an overly inflated price for the NFL network so that our viewers can see it because we know that Cable won't match it. Over time, as the NFL network grows (assuming it will), more and more cable customers will get more and more frustrated and want to switch. Meanwhile, the cable companies won't initially give in because the price that the satellite guys put up is so inflated - thereby leaving cable customers in the dark. Once cable customers start switching over to satellite in significant numbers, the cable companies will have no choice but to match the price tag (the inflated one).
So there you go. Cable companies have made 2 reasonable offers to let their customers purchase the NFL network as part of a "package" so those that want it can pay for it and those that don't, won't have to. BUT NOOOOO, Jerry Jones isn't going for that. He wants all customers to have to pay for it AND he wants the price tag to be the highest among non-movie channels.
Anyway, that's my theory - I essentially think the Satellite companies are helping JJ get his money (b/c that's what it's all about with him...and he has admitted as much) and JJ is helping the satellite companies in a ghetto business tactic.
Let just finish this little rant with this fact: I absolutely loathe cable companies. I really do. I'm in no way defending these guys, but I am defending their stance.
NBA:
FYI Chad Seiders, Tom Spillane and Eric Miller (only Laker fans I know on this distribution list) - The Lakers look good....real good. Most recently, they've won 9 of 11 and 3 straight including a Christmas Day victory of those pesky Suns - second win this year over Phoenix.
Don't get me wrong, it's waaaay early (I don't believe the NBA really matters until mid February), but Bynum, Farmar, Walton and Ariza are playing great - and in case you haven't forgotten due to the media snubbing, Kobe is still the best player on the planet.
It's still the Spurs championship to win this year, but I think I speak for everyone when I say a Celtics/Spurs or Suns series would be great. We shall see.
Enjoy the rest of the games and have a great New Year...I'm out.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 8:38 AM
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