Can You Remember A Time...

When Baylor fans were so jacked up about playing the Longhorns and Texas fans were so freaked out about playing the Bears? What, maybe 20 years ago or so? Strange days indeed...

Make no mistake Texas fans - you have more than enough reasons to come out tight on Saturday night. Can you imagine what would happen to Longhorn nation if Baylor came in and handed Texas it's 3rd straight home loss? My word, someone's head would explode (someone's other than mine of course).

"But Ryan, Baylor has a horrible defense so we should be able to score points." Mmkay, go back and tell me what Iowa State's defense is ranked? I'll give you a hint, it's a triple digit number.

"But Ryan, our defense is fast enough to contain Griffin." Just like it was fast enough to contain whoever the hell plays QB for UCLA? Let me paint you a picture - Baylor is better than Iowa State and they're better than UCLA. They are. And that should give you reason to be a tad scared.

One thing I will say though - Texas fans haven't seen Mack be this vocal and critical of his staff and players before, certainly not in his time here. This new territory for this program. Will be interesting because Mack essentially did call out everyone except for the cheerleaders and Bevo: coaches, players, fans alike - you've all been called out. The question is, can you respond.

I'll be honest, I don't mean to bring on the doom and gloom, but I do mean to make sure you all have your eyes wide open - this should be a dog fight. I think Texas wins this game, but I don't envision some pounding that we'd all like to see with everything clicking - not at all. I predict a fairly ugly game that Texas pulls out, but at no point will fans be too comfortable....think Arkansas State home opener a couple of years ago: it was one of those that we looked up and realized, this is a one possession game with 5 minutes to go and they have the ball....

Texas - 31 (go ahead and notch a defensive touchdown in here)
Baylor - 26

Now on to the important games of the week...

• How is it possible that Tech/Aggies aren't on television? This is one of the top 12 most entertaining match ups of any given year. I'm shocked and appalled.
  
• I think Oregon drops 50 on USC. I'm just saying.
  
• Michigan State's run comes to an end here - they've had a pretty good run and will continue to do so, but I don't see this team going undefeated. If they waltz into Iowa City and knock off the Hawkeyes, they'll shoot up my board. That's a pretty solid team all around based on what I've seen - certainly no flash appeal a la Newton or Robinson or Pryor, but a consistent team that executes.
  
• Emotional win for Mizzou last week beating OU after about 100 years, but asking them to stay focused and go into Lincoln and win is a tall order. Put me down for a tight Husker victory here. Mizzou is still for real though.
  
• When was the last time the world's largest outdoor cocktail party wasn't even a blip on the radar? I don't remember. Let me flip a coin here.......heads. Georgia by 2.
• I've seen numerous talking heads highlighting the Auburn at Ole Miss game as the upset special this weekend and that's a good call. Not sure the Rebels have the athletes to keep up, but this has let down game written all over it. Of course I remember when Texas entered into the proverbial let down games in the past and VY simply wouldn't let them lose (see every game we ever played against Okie State the last 4 years). I've said this before I see a whole lot of VY in Cam Newton and that will have to be Auburn's saving grace. Either way I see a damn tight game here.
  
• Looking for a fun game to watch this weekend? Oklahoma State and Kansas State square off and I can promise you one thing and one thing only - there will be little to no defense being played.

Fa-vre...
Very well may be heading for a nasty downfall. I hope not, but each day this story continues with the junk texting is another day that simply looks like something fishy is going on. The only question is can this team keep from completely unraveling. It's tough - they've got one hell of a team, but if they implode look for Childress to be out, Moss to be out and some pretty damn good rebuilding to take place.

Fantasy Update
Right now, today, I've got 3 quarterbacks on my roster, 2 defenses and no backup WR. Yes, that's the state that my team is in. And it's not a good state....not at all. We'll see what happens....wait, I can tell you what will happen, I'll get creamed, maybe fall ass backwards into another win, but get punked the rest of the year. Ugh. Let's just come out with it, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Baseball
I don't want to be Debbie Downer here because the Ranger have made an unbelievable run considering what they've dealt with throughout the year, but man, what the hell was that in game 2? They couldn't even try to end the game quicker (which is what they looked like they were doing).

Non-Sports Thoughts for the Week
I can smell hunting season....it's just....right......there.....