Shaking Off the Dust

Well gang, did you all survive opening weekend? I hope so, I know I did. And for all 84 people out there who saw the Texas game, let us know what you thought. I've got a lot to cover from week 1 and a look at the upcoming weekend.

And hopefully some of you caught the first ever podcast featuring myself and Mr. Hooser, author of Wisdom of the Crowd blog sometimes featured here (he's the Tech guy). Or maybe hopefully you didn't - it'll get better. We're doing our best to get a cadence going so hopefully we'll have weekly updates on both the blog and podcast front.

But enough of that - let's get to it. My observations, snap judgments and general ranting in the world of all things football...

• So luckily (sort of) I was able to see the second half of the Horns' game...thank you Mr. Butler. As far as the game as a whole - pretty dull, rusty and boring, to be expected. 18 freshman played and it was the first game of the year - that's not a recipe for a November-like performance with a senior-laden team. With that said, it was a win; they kept the opponent out of the end zone; they executed their cute plays; not many glaring or huge mistakes. Two good things that I saw: 1) Shipley is worth the hype. He'll certainly be challenged as the competition stiffens, but he looks a hell of a lot like his brother running routes and grabbing the ball. Looking forward to seeing more of him. And 2) Malcolm Brown is our starting running back and there is no close second. Just watching this dude run the ball a half dozen times and it was clear that he's the kind of back we've been wanting. Hits the hole very hard and pushes tacklers back - he's a north/south runner. Fozzy has a role - he can come in for 7 or 10 carries a game as a change of pace/different package type runner. Malcolm Brown is the every-down guy. Period.
  
• And a couple of bad things...1) Gilbert didn't jeopardize his team's chances and didn't make any huge mistakes - he was average, maybe a little above average. Unfortunately for him this is Texas and players have been run out of town for being a little above average. The sad thing is I'm not positive there's anything that can change that other than him looking like Colt McCoy every game. He's inching dangerously closely to the Chris Simms zone and that is not a good zone to be in. 2) Manny is going to need to do some work on that front line - misdirection and trap plays killed our defense - they ran the ball very, very well against our line.
  
• So which is it most rational of college football fans - does Georgia suck or is Boise really good? Boise is not in a BCS conference so they can't possibly be as good as big, national names, right? And Georgia is in the SEC so they can't possibly be bad, can they? Hmmm.....I'll hear your cases now.....
• Ugh - Notre Dame has a looooong way to go don't they? That was as sloppy as sloppy gets.
  
• Oh how I hope you all got to see TCU and Baylor - don't under estimate what a win like this can do to spark confidence in a team. I'm not declaring Baylor is winning the Big 12, but they sure look sharp. Griffin is going to be fun to watch this year.
  
• Oregon is not a "terrible" team - and who knows if they're "overrated", but I don't care who you are and who you play, you can't turn the ball over like they did as often as they did and expect to win a game like that. They also out gained LSU so don't forget about that. They'll get better - had they cut those turnovers in half that game is likely down to the wire. Just can't give a team like LSU chances like that.
  
• On the other side, LSU's defense is very good and very athletic....shocking. They'll struggle with good teams who protect the ball. If they run the table, which isn't out of the question, they'll do it running the ball consistently, protecting the ball, and overwhelming their opponents defensively.
  
• Auburn is going to lose at least 5 games this year. At least. They simply lost too much.
  
• So is USC.
  
• Looking forward to Oklahoma/FSU this weekend - I hope it's a good game. If I'm laying down a bet in Vegas I'm taking OU....hoping for a good game though.
  
• Michigan/Notre Dame...not so much. Man, how times have changed, remember when this was relevant AND fun?
  
• Texas vs BYU will be an interesting game: BYU is coming off of a nice victory on the road in the SEC. Ole Miss isn't necessarily a powerhouse, but still a good win. Of course you can't expect to win on a play where you recover a fumble in the end zone too many times. Two straight road games against teams like Ole Miss and Texas may be tough for the Cougars. I'm taking Texas by 10 with another routine, less-than-flashy victory. 31-21 Longhorns.
  
• Nice Thursday night game with Arizona visiting Stillwater to take on Okie State. Good chance for the Cowboys to raise some eyebrows - they get the national stage all to themselves.
  
• Bama visiting Happy Valley to take on Penn State. As much as I'd like to see PSU give this a go and eek out a victory, I just don't see it happening. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't imagine Bama dropping this one.
  
• Interesting game to watch: Miss State at Auburn. Auburn will struggle this year, but let's see how good MSU really is...
• Nice of Aggies to not let the recent conference brew-ha-ha distract them from the game at hand. SMU has no quarterback.
  
• Very excited about NFL starting this week. Very excited.
• Really, Baylor? Really?
• I say this with nothing but love, but we all know just how irrational and most times, stupid college sports fans are, right? I mean, we're all in that category together so I'm not pointing fingers here. With that said, everyone just settle down about this whole conference realignment mess. Is it a mess? Yes, but not because of Texas or any other school - it's because of the business side of things pulling the strings, racing to get the next dollar, and not wanting to be innovative at risk of losing "theirs". Nothing more and nothing less. And is it really that bad? Is conference realignment bad? It's certainly inevitable, but I dare say it's bad. Look, nothing would make me happier to have the Big 12 add a couple of nice teams to get back to 12 (TCU, Notre Dame, BYU, etc.), and it may happen, but probably not. The funny thing is this - and this is a hypothetical so please spare me your, "yeah, but they couldn't because of this clause or that clause" banter - if this were Big 10, Big East ACC or SEC school taking a bunch of money and allegedly "destroying a conference", there wouldn't be anywhere near this kind of talk/backlash. Not even close. Let me also remind everyone that EVERY SCHOOL in the Big 12 had a say in all of this - from the Longhorn network, to the Aggies leaving town and they ALL voted for it. So from where I'm sitting - everyone in the Big 12, save for Texas, Oklahoma, and maybe Texas A&M are looking pretty stupid.
  

Conference Madness:
With all of that said.... I think at this point the Big 12's fate is all but sealed, that's no secret. But where do the pieces fall? If I'm looking into my crystal ball, here's what I see...
Oklahoma schools make a move/plea to join the Pac-12. After much thought and debate, Texas also makes move to head west - bringing with them either Tech or Missouri. Look, the way things seem to be heading, the days of Independents are very much in danger. If you think about the make up of the potential four 16-team conferences, it's going to be hard for an independent to compete for spotlight and potential BCS or (dare I say) playoff spot. That is, of course, assuming we continue down the path of the super conferences. But here's one guarantee I can make: the suits in charge of pulling all of the strings surrounding this haven't even begun to think about ramifications beyond next week.

It's a mess to be sure, but it's not as messy as the talking heads and writers are making it look. And also keep in mind, No one HAS to do anything at this point. They really don't. Regardless of how the things fall today, tomorrow, next month or next year, us idiots out here will still watch this increasingly watered down sport and we'll continue to argue with each other across the web without an ounce of intelligence or facts to back it up - hey, we're college football fans, it's what we do. Just please, everyone, calm down. No matter what happens, there will be College Gameday on Saturday mornings and College football on Saturday afternoons.

Important Non-Sports Thought for the Week:
One final note for the week - if you are in or around the greater Austin area, find out what the folks in Bastrop need and do what you can to help. Horrible situation those folks are in. You can google Bastrop fire relief and find numerous ways to help in 5 minutes or less.