Opening Weekend Observations

Whew, how about that for an opening day weekend? 5 straight days of college football....although much of it was sort of mediocre. Hey, we've got to start somewhere don't we? I've got my thoughts on the Horns and my general weekend observations as well. And of course I'll preface this with my usual opening-week recap caveat: Teams will typically (not all the time) see the biggest improvement between weeks 1 and 2 - I know a couple of orange and white teams that are praying this holds true (I'm looking in your direction Tennessee and Clemson). Point is, let's not pigeon-hole those teams as "crappy" while anointing Bama and UCLA as the new darlings of the league.

Texas Longhorns:
I had an opportunity to re-watch much of the game on Monday afternoon and I'll tell you I'm quite pleased here - this may be one of the best looking opening games I've seen Texas play in quite some time. And I'll still contend that FAU was a good opening-day test - there are players on that team who are projected to be in the NFL next year so those are some good players/athletes. The offensive line was ridiculous good this weekend - that should go a long way in helping build confidence and maintain a swagger as they watch film; they were great.

The best part of the night you ask? Has to be Colt McCoy - his performance was, by a mile, the best all around performance I've seen him give in his career here at Texas. He truly looked and played like a big-time college quarterback. And somewhere between last year and this year he turned into a bona fide running threat. I've always thought he just looked like a little white kid who was scrambling for his life and wondered how he would turn in these 70-90 yard performances. Now, he looks like a true runner. I was really blown away by his play.

I *really* liked the intensity of the entire defense - they all played really hard. Secondary was good, not great, but like I said they really played hard and swarmed to the ball quite well. Although I'm not entirely pleased with the 240 something passing yards, I will say this: if we give up 240 or 250 a game while throwing up 52 points, count me as happy. The bad news is Missouri, Tech, Oklahoma and Kansas will be able to move the ball. I hope to see some steady improvement in this category over the next few weeks.

One key item of feedback for Texas offensive coaches: I don't at all mind this "Q package" that I keep hearing so much about - especially given the running abilities we saw from Colt on Saturday. BUT, please, for the love of God, do not ever put Chiles in the game as the main QB. The dude cannot make the throws. Period. I don't care what he looks like in practice the SOB can't throw as good as half of us reading this right now. Don't get me wrong - he's a great athlete with really great size...and I really REALLY want him to be a good QB, but he's not. Get him in the game, just don't force him behind center. There's no need to ever, EVER pull McCoy randomly early in the second quarter for Chiles - we've learned what we need to...which is that's not his bag baby.

One last thing - kick coverage MUST improve. And why does it seem like this topic comes up every other year like clockwork? I'll say it yet again - if you have someone who can kick it out of the end zone 85% of the time than he should be kicking the ball off.

All in all, great game and great tone to set for the season. Offense looks scary good and the defensive front will make it extremely tough for teams to run the ball with any consistency. This is the kind of game we're used to seeing in the 4th or 5th game of the year (or against Rice/North Texas) so let's keep this up.

Weekend Observations:

• Man, I've never wanted to slap a big, black defensive lineman upside his head more than I want to slap Lamar Houston right now. ARRRGGGHHH! Memo to UT players who insist on drinking/driving: YOU'RE GOING TO GET CAUGHT!! Especially if you're driving around drunk between I-35 and Congress Avenue an hour after bars close. Yet again we have a program where the players don't fear consequences. In case you may not know this cat - he had the best game of all the defensive lineman on Saturday. Yea, he's good.
  
• I told you guys - watch that Michigan/Utah game as it will be a nail biter. Michigan is starting a very ugly trend of starting the season off with ugly home losses. I still think Rodriguez gets a pass for this whole year and gets a lot of leniency next year. I'm not banking on many big wins (or even "should" wins for that matter) from the Wolverines this year.
  
• Really, Aggies? Arkansas State? Really? Let's see - Arkansas State shut out the aggies for the last 35 minutes of the game and out gained them over the entire game. This has got to be a tough one for Aggie players to get over. Not a stellar way to start things in College Station Mr. Sherman - I have no doubt that things will improve in the coming years, but man this was bad. I say if the Aggies go 6-6 this year they should be somewhat pleased with that as it could be a hell of a lot worse than that. One more thing - Arkansas State was 0-14 against the Big 12 before this game.
  
• And speaking of the aggies? Why couldn't I find one headline about this game? No one was talking about it in terms of upsets in week 1. Very weird and one that may suite the aggies quite well should they turn things around.
  
• What did I tell you about Bama and Saban? Write this down right here and now - within 2 years these guys will be competing for the SEC. Look, you can never count on anything with Clemson, but The Tide have a bunch of no names who are, evidently, very good. They may surprise a couple of teams in the SEC this year, but look for them to be battling for the conference title by next year.
  
• I'm curious - where is this revamped defense of Texas Tech that I heard so much about over the off season? Sure they held East Washington to next to nothing in rushing yards, but they gave up over 330 in the air and 24 points. Yes, I'm skeptical of this "new and improved" defense.
  
• Take the same comment from above and apply to Missouri - where was this all-world defense? Although never in any real danger of losing the game, they still gave up 42 points....good thing they scored 52.
  
• And how about that ACC??? Clemson, Virginia Tech, Virginia, NC State - Congrats Big East, you've just been called up; ACC is the new whipping boy of BCS conferences. I guess there's still hope for Miami/FSU, right???
  
• At the rate they're going, Georgia will have about 8 healthy players by the end of the year.
• How about those UCLA Bruins? Have you seen an uglier win in your life? I will say this - kudos to that Craft kid for coming out in the second half and playing a solid 2 quarters (after 4 INTs in the first two). Make no mistake Bruins fans, this does not mean that the "monopoly in LA is over with", not by a long shot. It was a great, emotional win against a very quality opponent and nothing else. Good news is they've got a week off to heal their wounds - in addition to having only 1 real QB on the roster, they also lost 3 other starters to injuries in the game).
  
• And can we save the "great coaching by Nuheisal on keeping the kid in the game" talk - guess what, he didn't have a choice! He's the ONLY quarterback on the roster.
  
• As ugly of a win as that was for UCLA, it was a VERY ugly loss for Tennessee. Crompton looked horrible save for a couple of late drives. Tennessee's offensive line was absolutely pushed around by the UCLA front 7 for what seemed like the entire second half. Ugh - bad loss for the Vols. Only good news is we've seen this before - them choke on an early game and then turn things around at the end of the year. Either way, you know exactly what you're going to get out of Fulmer...and I'm not sure the Vols' nation is as comfortable with that as they were maybe 4 or 5 years ago. Still scratching my head at that extension he got last year.
  
• Speaking of - what do Phil Fulmer, Will Muschamp and Dennis Franchione all have in common? I'm guessing all of them are currently on an initial "wish list" that was developed on Sunday and is sitting in the Clemon AD's top drawer.
• Oklahoma, you gotta have a better home opener than that one - when you're playing guys out of position and fair catching every single kick/punt than it's time to kick it up a notch for your opening games.
  
• Nice win Mike Gundy - that's a very good road game for a season opener.
  
• You guys remember Andre Woodson? He was the all-everything QB at Kentucky who was a first round prospect. He was cut by the Giants on Saturday....after being drafted in the 6th round. That's tough - hope he got his diploma.
  

NFL Notes:
Alright, so I guess this is the time of year when folks are supposed to be giving their super bowl predictions (which seems crazy, but OK). Here's what I got:

Super Bowl - Patriots over Vikings (yea, going to go ahead and get on that bandwagon).

MVP - Tom Brady (And yes, I'll continue to stick with the safe pick here as well).

Offensive POY - Adrian Peterson (not sure if the sophomore slump counts in the NFL, but I'm banking on No).

Defensive POY - Mario Williams (Texans) or Shaun Rogers (Browns)

Rookie of the Year (Offensive) - Chris Johnson (Titans) or Felix Jones (Cowboys)

Rookie of Year (Defensive) - Vernon Gohlston (Jets)

Coach of the Year - Jim Zorn (Redskins)

Comeback Player of the Year - Ricky Williams (Dolphins)

That's what I got folks - I'll have another update for you before the weekend - NFL kicks off on Thursday so tune in and check it out. Enjoy the short week.