Business-As-Usual Weekend

The teams will the most to lose were able to take care of business this past weekend, setting up for a huge do-or-die Saturday next week for a handful of teams. Great win for the Horns, although a little bit closer than it probably should have been, but hey, Oklahoma State is a damn good team. The Red Raiders are probably pretty happy that Texas was able to squeak it out as well as I don't think they wanted any part of a Texas team coming off of a loss. Let's take a quick look at these two teams.

Texas:
Big win for the Horns - as Mack said in the post-game press conference, this ain't the same Oklahoma State team from years past. Mike Gundy has these guys playing a very high level. And more important, they proved that the running game is for real. I heard some folks suggesting that Texas may have been looking ahead to next week - I don't think so, I just think Oklahoma State is that good. And one more thing about these Cowboys - they shouldn't drop one bit in the polls after that game.

With that said, I also believe that this game was about 4 or 5 plays from being a 17-20 point game in favor of the Horns. Those 4-5 plays came in the form of special teams and turnovers - both turnovers came during long, sustained drives (Colt's fumble coming inside the OSU 10 yard line) and on special teams we gave them a short field a few times - can't do that with an offense this explosive. That will be a huge key next week in Lubbock - can't give that offense a short field...ever. Another great game by Colt McCoy, even with the turnovers, completing (AGAIN!) over 80% of his passes for damn-near 400 yards. He had two TD passes (Shipley and Cosby) that were absolutely perfect balls.

I'm not ready to make any predictions or projections for next week's game, but I'll say this - if Texas turns the ball over against Tech they have no chance to win.

Texas Tech:
What can you say - they continue to do what it is they do. Last week I said that this game started the REAL schedule for the Red Raiders, but the Jayhawks sure didn't put up much of a fight after the first 10 minutes of the game. I don't want to take anything away from the Red Raiders and what they've done because regardless of the level of their competition thus far, they've done what they're supposed to do. I had picked KU to upset Tech partly because I was concerned about Tech looking ahead to the Texas match up. How wrong I was - there was no looking ahead for these guys.

The Red Raiders are certainly in a nice position right now and control their own destiny, which is the best you can hope for in the BCS era, but these guys will face competition over the next 3 games that is far superior to anything they've seen thus far this year and that's when we'll find out just what these guys are made of - however you have to be impressed with what they've done this year. And yes, I realize that I made this same comment of "let's see how they do against much better competition" coming into this game with Kansas (and even predicted an upset - eek), but these next 3 games are against their south division brethren - see number 1 below. Either way, you know this Tech team will be tested. The biggest question for the Red Raiders for the next month will be this - like it or not, you're right smack in the middle of the spotlight now...can you handle it? We will certainly see. 

What did we learn this weekend?

1. We learned that the jig is up for the Big 12 north. Coming into the year it was looking like the Big 12 was quickly becoming the most complete conference in the country with Missouri and Kansas poised to make big runs after last year's success, and Colorado and Nebraska looking to make big strides. Not so much. Kansas played a pretty competitive game in Norman last weekend and had a chance to make a statement at home against Tech and instead chose to throw in the towel before halftime. Horrible game all around for the Jayhawks. With that loss, the top two teams in the north division have lost 2 straight when playing against the "meat" of the south division. One could argue that the Big 12 south is the toughest division in college football, but with the north division being exposed over the last few weeks, it would be tough to argue the Big 12 is the best all around conference in the game.
2. We learned that hey, the SEC can put up (and give up) some points too. Georgia and LSU put up some surprising offensive numbers this weekend with the Dawgs beating the Tigers 52-38. It usually takes SEC teams a couple of games to throw up numbers like that (Florida notwithstanding). One of the biggest concerns for this LSU team was their offense, but this was a pretty impressive performance...unfortunately it wasn't impressive enough. Great running game by both teams in this one. And don't look now, but Auburn got steamrolled by West Virginia on Thursday night - very surprising given the history and reputation of this Auburn defense. Not discarding the SEC as a "bad" defensive group, not at all, but there is a tide that's turning. 
   
3. We learned that although Penn State will likely run away with the Big 10 title, they likely won't be able to control their own destiny if they want to make it to Miami in January. Many argue that the conference championship game is a disadvantage for the Big 12 and SEC schools, but it can also be an advantage. I don't think Alabama or Texas gets through the regular season unscathed, but I do think that both teams will be able to get to their respective conference championship games and thus will get the opportunity to jump Penn State. That's an eternity away, but something to consider - don't just discount those conference games as a complete downer for those that have to play them. 

Quote of the Day from one blog comment:

"Those that thought Texas had a super scary team frighten easily. In one of the few tests of the season McCoy melted down in the second half, and the Texas rush defense was bullied." 

Let me see if I got this straight: Texas a) beat the number 7 ranked team in the nation, b) held the Cowboys to less than half of their scoring average, c) although gave up a lot of rushing yards for Texas' (anyone's really) standards, held the Cowboys under their game average, and d) did this after man-handling the number 11 team in the country and beating the number 1 team in the country in consecutive weeks. I'll say it again - they won't ever get national attention/respect, but this Oklahoma State team is damn good and having seen them and OU up close and personal this year I would give the edge to the Cowboys. 

That's what I got gang - no NFL notes today as I didn't see but about 20 minutes of one of the games today (Cowboys) and I'm so mad at how bad I did (again) with my picks I'm just not in the mood. But yes, I'm happy those Giants pulled out a big win. Super Bowl preview??? 

I'll be back on Halloween with a super scary Texas/Tech preview.