Week 2 (Already?) Preview

Weird, short week - but hey, it's already the weekend and I still can't figure out how. First and foremost I'm happy to report we had a very successful first official day of pre-school....so it's all coming together. T-minus 7 days until daddy is running solo with Ella (for 10 days)....

I have to make a retraction/admit over zealousness (if that's a word). I took a close look at UTEP's first game against Buffalo (no, not the Bills)....and they are not good. Not good at all. That was one of those games (Tx vs. UTEP) that looked "good" on paper. Not sure when they scheduled this game, but I do know Price had a year/year and a half of unexpected success. Either way, they got drilled by an extremely irrelevant team - Buffalo University. A few highlights:
- UTEP gave up 484 yards of offense (200+ in both rushing/passing)
- Buffalo converted 70% of their third downs
- Buffalo averaged over 7 yards/play
- Etc., etc., etc.

Sooo, we could argue that the late kickoff may cause some early, sluggish play. And you know you're going to get their best shot - it's their big shot at a big-time upset. It really doesn't matter, Texas should absolutely crush these guys. I won't admit that I know one single thing about Buffalo, but I'm sure of this - they don't have athletes that are half as good as Texas' athletes. The offense should have another field day and I'd like to think it will be a good opportunity to build confidence with the young secondary. If they can snag a couple of picks it would be good.

I'm going with another big night for Colt and [insert RB/WR name here] show.
Texas - 62
UTEP - 10

More Thoughts, Predictions and Observations:

• There's certainly a lot of buzz around Stanford after they beat Oregon State - the media's dark-horse darling. Not discounting their victory, but I think Arizona State is probably a bit better than OSU. However I do think there is a great chance that this is a high-flying shoot out. I'm taking ASU at home.
• The Oregon State at Penn State game is a bit more interesting after the suspension of 3 Penn State players. Quick reminder to those college athletes out there: it's probably not a good idea to smoke, handle or distribute weed...during the season. I believe that kind of behavior is frowned upon these days in big time college athletics....I'm just staying.
  
• ...back to the game. Penn State *really* needs to win this game, but the Big 10 *REALLY* needs Penn State to win this game. I think they still pull out this victory with their new, high-flying offense. Oregon State definitely has athletes, but I think Penn State is just a little bit better - say 10 points better.
  
• Speaking of *really* needing to win - add Texas A&M, Tennessee and Syracuse to that list. I can't fathom any scenario where Greg Robinson keeps his job beyond the end of the season. I say he's D-coordinator somewhere next year.
  
• I think the Aggies take out some frustration on New Mexico on the road. Too much Goodson.
  
• I might be leaning this way because I want this to be a good game, but I think Miami hangs with Florida. Not suggesting he Canes will win, not at all. But, I do think they have the athletes to make some plays and I think these guys are going to be pumped up. What better stage to make the statement that Miami is on it's way back? I think if this club can compete and hang with Florida for 4 quarters than it will be a huge moral victory. If they could pull the upset - it would be gigantic, but I think a close one is more realistic. Who knows, the Gators may blow them out, but I just have a feeling that Miami makes this a game. Of course Harvin is coming back....that could put a damper on my wishful thinking.
  
• Careful Tech, don't get sloppy....Hooser will be there in person and you *don't* want to piss him off. I suggest you win by 30+. Speaking of, let's see what Hooser has to say about his Red Raiders: http://fannation.com/blogs/post/245576
• Why in the world did USC jump in the polls after week 1? This is precisely why we don't need pre-season polls. The impact that this jump could have down the road is huge. Didn't Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma dominate their opponents? If a USC blowout next to those other team's blowouts really weighs more than they probably should have been ranked 1 to begin with. I get the Trojans played Virginia, but I'm not sure Virginia would have beaten any of the other team's opponents save for OU's. Either way, I think that's just nuts.
• Flipping between US Open and CFB and the South Carolina/Vanderbilt game is a good one. Vanderbilt's offense looks damn good. Wish I could say the same for Roddick. 

NFL Notes:

• Let me just say that it's quite nice to have REAL nfl football on television. Even better, we get Monday Night Football starting next week. MNF is really one of my favorite things - even as much as I love college football, MNF is almost tops on the list. I can't explain it really, I just love it. It's....comforting.
  
• I gotta think it's going to be hard for the Saints to garner much motivation and energy from Gustav. Lots of a drama in the Big Easy and it ain't about football. I think Tampa takes advantage and gets a road win in this one.
  
• For the record (not sure which "record", but whatever), I was never buying any of the Brady and/or Manning injuries. I say they're both fine and both come out slinging this weekend.
  
• I'm taking Jacksonville over the Titans in Nashville.
  
• Weird game from Giants/Skins tonight - all the scoring was in the first half. Manning played a pretty darn good game although he had 1 pick to 0 touchdowns. Jacobs had a great game.
  
• I hope that any of those teams who decided to pass on Jason Taylor weren't watching this game - he reminded us just how good he is. I don't think his stats will tell the story, but he was in Manning's face quite often as well as breaking up short passes. He looked very good.
  

US Open Tennis:
Watched the Andy Roddick/Novak match on and off tonight and - surprise, surprise - Roddick lost. BUT, the best part was Novak was talking all sorts of trash about some comments that Roddick may have made about Novak's injuries...anyway, not sure what the story is and sure as hell ain't looking it up, but this dude was being crass and sarcastic and it's one of these interviews where the people in the stands can hear and they booed his ass. It was great. Could that moment have been the death of tennis in America?

That's what I got folks. Enjoy the weekend.

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.