Bevo Sports

The last scrimmage/practice of the spring is about to get underway on Fox Sports Southwest. The Orange-White Game is most fans’ first look at a lot of players and it’s always interesting to see who is playing where. We won’t see much (if any) new scheme or plays, but it’s football and gosh darnit I like it. The most important thing in this type of event is always that nobody gets seriously injured.

I’ll be posting my live thoughts and opinions below.

First Quarter

Nice to see we tackled more this spring, much more so that we did more full contact drills than in a scrimmage like this.

Here’s the spring roster off the official site. Definitely going to be needed today.

Tray Allen gets the start today at left tackle with Adam Ulatoski out.

I thought Brandon Collins had dropped that pass but on the replay cornerback Deon Beasley made a nice diving play to break it up. Collins probably needs to use his body better though to prevent the defender from being able to do that so easily.

I don’t know about that interference penalty on Beasley. Colt McCoy threw a nice pass but put it over Quan Cosby’s wrong shoulder. He had the position and Colt should have been able to put it in a more catchable position.

Not a good job on the Jordan Shipley reverse by Henry Melton. As the backside defensive end his responsibilities are RCC (reverse, counter, or cutback) and while he held his spot for a moment he started to pursue too quickly. Not a good job by the corner/safety over there either, the moment they saw Shipley going back the other way they should have been screaming at the top of their lungs.

Ishie Oduegwu is in street clothes on the sideline, I didn’t realize he was hurt. I assume that’s why true freshman Blake Gideon got the start at safety for Team Tradition. Okay that’s the last time I’ll mention these lame team names.

John Chiles and Fozzy Whittaker screwed up the hand-off on their first play of the day. Zone read and Chiles tried to change his mind and keep it but they put in on the turf.

On his first pass attempt Chiles makes a decent throw to Collins but he looked like he was tripled covered. The pocket was still holding so I think John could have waited another tick, bought himself some time, and looked for a more open receiver.

Nice run by Vondrell McGee ended with him delivering a blow to Earl Thomas. Good play though by Thomas to hold on despite the big hit and make the tackle.

I hope we’re not planning on playing freshman kicker Justin Tucker. We’ve already got Ryan Bailey and Hunter Lawrence and I want one of them to win the kicking job this year so we can afford to redshirt Tucker.

Russell Carter sure looks like a football player. Big old sucker. Nice play by him bringing down Whitaker.

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They really need to space these doubleheader games out better, it seems no channel does it well with either basketball or football. I guess they’d rather have games overlap and piss off fans than have to fill time between games. Either way, we’re once again missing the start of the Texas game and if it goes to overtime it could mean we miss most of the first half. We’ll have live opinions on the game as soon as CBS switches to the Texas versus Texas Tech game in Lubbock.

First Half

• Texas is up 4 to 3 early. Five minutes gone by but not much scoring so far.
• Watching ESPN’s game tracker Alexis Wangmene already has two rebounds. Getting more early playing time for the youngster.
• I really hope this Georgetown player chokes on this third free throw. I don’t care about his trauma, I just want to watch the Texas game. Crap… maybe at least CBS will be smart enough to switch the Texas region to the game.

Texas 18, Texas Tech 16

• Good. With 11 minutes left in the first half CBS has switched over to our game.
• Texas Tech presses and it worked pretty well but after Damion James breaks the press and Tech forgets to cover AJ Abrams in the corner. After struggling a little at the beginning of Big 12 play Abrams has found his groove and will kill you if left alone.
• Nice to see freshman Clint Chapman handle a pass and take it to the hole. Not sure about his form from the free throw line but he is nice and smooth just made two easy ones.

Texas 23, Texas Tech 20

• Looks the Red Raiders are hanging around at least in part due to some lucky shots. They’ve had at least two or three shots go in on some crazy bounces just since I started watching.
• Great pass from Chapman to James. Threaded in there right under the basket giving James an easy hoop.
• Wow! What a block by Tech’s Martin Zeno. James was going in for a big dunk and Zeno does a great job swatting it away.
• I like the attitude of Justin Mason but he just picked up a technical foul with his mouth. Not sure what he had to say or who he was talking to.
• I haven’t seen Connor Atchley at all today, must have picked up early fouls again.

Texas 30, Texas Tech 26

• JD Lewis swishes a three and then I think runs down the court giving Tech’s Voskuhl grief. If Lewis had gone to Tech he’d have started/played as much as Voskuhl the last 3 years.
• Pretty bad officiating again as usual. Zeno just flattened DJ Augustin who was standing with his hands straight up but they called it on Augustin. That call is missed pretty bad both ways though.
• Big Dexter Pittman still leaves his feet too much after the pump fake. He has to better job being under control on defense.
• Not sure what the announcer is watching. Abrams took the ball to the top of the key, pump faked, and calmly shot a wide open three. I’m not sure how that makes Texas rattled on offense to have the conference’s best shooter take an open shot.
• One of Tech’s many ugly white gguys apparently didn’t like the fact that he undercut a Texas player and then fell down. He had to be held back but no Texas players even noticed him.
• Rebounding on both ends killed the Horns the last few minutes of the half. Gave Tech too many second chances and didn’t help themselves out at all on the other end.

Halftime: Texas 37, Texas Tech 41

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I’ll be posting periodic updates, comments, and vulgarity as the game goes on. It’s kickoff time and I’m as fired up as I’ve been since early on in the season. Let’s see how the Horns respond to a little adversity.

First Quarter

• 2 seconds in to the game and it’s clear Brent Musberger didn’t do any preparation. Brutally mispronounces Chris Ogbonnaya’s name and then calls Lamarr Houston the name of some random walk on. Houston takes the very short pooch kick off and the Horns start the game off with the ball out at the 50.
• Looked like a bad read by Colt McCoy on the zone read. Picks up close to 10 yards though and the Horns have a 3rd and 3. Big play as the team really needs to get going early.
• 3rd and short run that the line did a terrible job blocking on but Jamaal Charles breaks it for a 15 yard game.
• Mack Brown is right. Charles was hit out of bounds down low and that should have been a penalty.
• Bad awareness by Nate Jones. He was wide open but let himself drift out of the back of the end zone. Announcers have good comment though about how the design of the end zone in the stadium could be confusing.
• Greg Davis is a gosh damn genius!!!!!!! WoooOoo! Touchdown Derek Lokey for the touchdown!!! That a boy! Bill Belichick would be proud.

Arizona State 0, Texas 7

• The team really looks fired up. Let’s hope that results in some inspired play, and no let down once that energy wears off.
• Jared Norton, Roddrick Muckelroy, and Scott Derry are the starters at linebacker. That might shut some Internet coaches up (for a few minutes.)
• And Norton is already hurt. Damnit.
• Defensive package on 3rd and long includes only 3 down lineman, Drew Kelson and Deon Beasley in there as extra pass defenders. Nice new look.
• Designed QB draw play. I don’t mind McCoy scrambling (in fact he’s been darn good at it this season) but not sure we should be calling too many first quarter QB runs in the huddle.
• As Musberger talks about Chris Hall I just noticed that freshman Kyle Hix is getting the start at right tackle and they’ve moved Adam Ulatoski to the left side.
• Quan Cosby on the reverse pass. Not really anybody open and Cosby does the smart thing and just throws it away. Or maybe it twas just a terrible throw. The play wasn’t blocked well and the receivers were all covered as well.
• Sergio Kindle in there on this series. Norton back in there as well.
• Fumble! Maybe. They called it a fumble on the field at least as corner Brandon Foster appears to rip the ball out as the ASU running back falls to the ground. Looks like he had it out before his knee was down and doesn’t look like there’s 100% evidence of the contrary. Replay confirms, Texas ball!
• Hot damn! Hey there John Chiles, I vaguely remember you buddy. The young dual threat QB is in there and on the first play Charles takes the zone read hand off close to 50 yards. On the very Next play Chiles keeps it on the same play off the left end for the touchdown! (Psst… where has this been all year?)

Arizona State 0, Texas 14

• In case you hadn’t noticed, yes I’m about 5 minutes behind live on the DVR. I’ll be caught up after one or two commercial breaks.
• Wonder what the wind situation is like. Hunter Lawrence’s kickoffs have all been pretty short.
• Has Roger Clemens hired investigator to “discredit Brian McNamee” or two prove that he didn’t take steroids? Those are two very different things.
• Not only did senior Robert Killebrew not get the start at linebacker but I haven’t seen him in on defense at all yet tonight. Two series in a row where it’s nothing but the young guys and Derry is off the field as well.
• Erick Jackson got really burned on a deep pass but gets back just in time because of the underthrown ball (and maybe a little early) and the ball is tipped up and safety Marcus Griffin has the ball come right to him for the interception.
• I like the fair catch trash talk by the ASU punt returner. “Did you see the way I waved my arm and caught the ball. You can’t handle this!”
• Killebrew, Derry, and Rashad Bobino in there for this series.
• Can Musberger get anyone’s name right? It’s Dick Tomey, not Toomey. Dufus.
• Finally. McCoy scrambles and throws deep on the run and get its to his open receiver Cosby for a huge 55 yard gain. That a boy Colt.
• And Charles runs tough and right through the Sun Devils’ defense for the 15-yard TD run. Heck of a run and refusal to get tackled by one guy. The Horns are now up 3 scores and it’s still the first quarter. Come on guys keep this up, don’t let an ASU score or anything swing this momentum.

Arizona State 0, Texas 21

• Veteran linebackers in for second series in a row. Henry Melton getting some early playing time at defensive end.
• Bobino shaken up. Now both middle linebackers have needed to be helped up by the medical staff but both were able to walk off on their own power.
• We’re bring multiple linebackers on every play and if we don’t start getting to Carpenter a step quicker we could be in trouble.

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Nothing gets me more fired up than watching Ducks Unlimited TV before a big Longhorn game. Do you think Versus would show a show about hunting and killing ducks if Oregon was playing instead of Texas and Baylor? That might be a little awkward.

If you’re not one of the many Texas fans who made the trip to Waco you’ll have to surf through about 1,000 channels before you’ll find Versus and you’re probably only getting it if you have satellite or digital cable. Versus is on channel 603 on DirecTV, channel 151 on Dish Network, and on 470 if you’ve got Time Warner digital cable in Austin.

Here we go…

First Quarter

• I like the straight zone run play with Jamaal Charles than the zone read or the counter. Gives Jamaal a chance to hit the hole fast and get going north/south quicker.
• I like that a professional football announcer doesn’t know the difference between the zone read and a counter. Not even run out of the shotgun is a zone read.
• Three attempts towards Jermichael Finley already. One good completion, one ball he should have caught, and one that he and Colt McCoy had a miscommunication on.
• And another pass towards Finley. Texas attempts a fake field goal after he goes out wide and uncovered but Jordan Shipley can’t get the play off quickly enough and then can’t get the ball out to him before the defense adjusted. Versus missed the whole play because we were zoomed in on kicker Ryan Bailey’s helmet.
• Erick Jackson has been serviceable at safety this season but he is absolutely awful at adjusting to the ball in the air. He was there in coverage on a terrible Baylor pass but couldn’t make a play on the ball. Looked similar to the unnecessary pass interference penalty he picked up last week.
• Baylor offensive lineman Dan Gay IV commits a holding penalty. How unfortunate is that last name? Especially with the IV after it. You can essentially put any noun after that and hilarity will ensue.
• I’m surprised how empty Floyd Casey Stadium is. Enough Texas fans normally make that trip to fill up the place a little better.
• Second time already that I thought the Baylor defensive back got there early on pass coverage. Quan Cosby doesn’t drop many passes, it looked like he got bumped early.
• Great punt but Jackson can’t down it before it bounces into the end zone. The only good thing to come out of the Kansas State game is punter Justin Moore.
• Versus really likes to use the camera angle from the roof of the press box. The damn thing is so high i can’t tell anybody’s number.
• John Chiles and the second team offense is in there for this series. I actually like the timing of this one better than last week. The first team offense didn’t have much momentum so it’s not really going to disrupt them.
• Chiles has to be more careful with the football. First downs are important but not as important as holding onto the football. Don’t stretch the ball out in traffic on your own 40 yard line.
• Smithson Valley sucks!
• Big run by Vondrell McGee up the middle. 18 yards on the carry is probably the second teamers biggest gain against first team defenses. I think as Chiles gains more experience running the zone read the whole offense opens up. Right now he looks a little like he’s keeping and handing off randomly and not doing a great job reading the defensive end. That’s a tough read and you can only really learn in live game situations.
• Set your feet before you throw John.
• Ryan Bailey nails the 46-yard field goal into the wind. Right down the middle.

Texas 3, Baylor 0

• How sad is Baylor that the announcers are talking about their defense getting a victory by holding the second team defense to only a field goal?
• Not sure if this is their first series or not, but the young group of linebackers are in there now for Texas.
• What did they rule that play on the field? I thought I saw an official pointing that he was down before the fumble. Looks to me like the ball is coming loose a little before the Baylor running back hits the ground.
• Not sure how they ruled he was down after reviewing that play. Looked pretty clear from one angle that the ball was loose before his butt hit the ground.

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Today’s matchup for the Longhorns against Iowa State should be a rout, but there’s been lots of games like that this season and Texas only took care of business against Rice. The Horns need to continue the solid play from last week against Oklahoma and if they can they should be able to come home with a comfortable win.

Follow with me and my random thoughts during the game below:

First Quarter

• I wonder when FSN Southwest will be in high definition on DirecTV? It looks like the game is being shot in HD and if I had FSNMW I could be watching it in HD. Oh well.
• Ryan Bailey kicking off, is Hunter Lawrence hurt?
• Same starting lineup on defense that we’ve seen all year.
• Texas is only 7th in the Big 12 in punt returns? Quan Cosby is solid back there so I don’t really blame him for that number. With Limas Sweed out for the year it might be time to protect Cosby and put one of the young WR/DB’s back there.
• Long bomb from Colt McCoy to Jordan Shipley on Texas’ first offensive play. McCoy does nice job buying time in a collapsing pocket and finds Shipley wide open. 58-yard touchdown for the Horns.

Texas 7, Iowa State 0

• FSN’s wonderful coverage continues. They take a TV timeout and miss both the kickoff and the first ISU play after it. Sad.
• FSN announcers are apparently using an OU roster instead of Texas.
• On third down play it looks like defensive line slants to the field and Robert Killebrew lets the ISU runner get wide for the first down. Might have been Lamarr Houston’s fault. Terrible defensive fundamentals.
• I was just going to complain about the lack of pressure from the Texas defense then Lamarr Houston comes untouched off the end for the sack.
• Face raped? Yikes. Not sure you should say that on TV. That was a definite face mask but the reason the helmet comes off is that it’s not fitted correctly. Your helmet should never come off that easy. He said face rape again.
• Is our defense really this poorly coached? We’ve got guys flying inside to avoid blockers on every play. If you’re a defensive end and have a linebacker blitzing to your inside you can’t try to get in the same gap. Ugh.
• Derek Lokey playing defensive end on that play. He got whipped man on man and gave up a big run.
• Texas holds on third down and forces a field goal. Field goal is wide right. Break for Texas as Iowa State had put together a very solid drive.
• Mental mistake by wide receiver covered up Jermichael Finley. FSN announcers are morons.
• Looks like Chris Ogbonnaya is seeing increased playing time already over Jamaal Charles. If we’re going with the wide open offense that’s a good idea since he’s a better blocker and pass catcher than Charles.
• Looks like McCoy is growing a sweet mustache. Couple more weeks and that might be thick enough to show up on camera.
• Ogbonnaya and Vondrell McGee get the two Texas redzone rushing attempts. Hope Charles can keep his head up, figure out the issue, and earn these attempts back.
• Not sure that was a well advised throw by McCoy but man did Cosby get up and get that one. No good camera angle but I think that might have come out a little when he hit the ground. Another good scramble to buy time and find a receiver by Colt.

Texas 14, Iowa State 0

• Hunter Lawrence kicking off on this one. Wonder why it wasn’t him in there on the first one?
• Young linebackers in there for this series.

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Looks like we’re definitely headed towards another situation where the early FSN game is going to interfere with the start of the Texas vs. Rice game. Texas Tech and Oklahoma State have decided to forego defense and play a 9-hour offensive shootout. All is not lost however, if you’re a DirecTV customer the game will start on schedule on channel 667 and you can check out FSN Southwest’s contingency plan for the telecast over on the official UT football site. Plus I’ll post frequent updates on the game here on this post. Stay tuned…

First Quarter

• Rice won the toss and will kick off.
• Good deep kick and Quan Cosby takes a knee.
• Chris Hall starting at right tackle again. Limas Sweed is healthy enough to make the start at receiver.
• Colt McCoy misses Cosby on a 12 yard out.
• Jamaal Charles may never touch the football again. Another damn fumble. Rice football.
• No surprises starting at linebacker. Same three veterans: Derry, Bobino, Killebrew.
• Great penetration on the blitz by Rashad Bobino results in a loss of yards.
• Deon Beasley got the start at cornerback over Brandon Foster.
• How is that not grounding? Rice OL forgets to block Frank Okam and he gets a free run at the QB.
• There’s a flag, they called it after all. Rice lining up for 50-yard field goal attempt.
• Rice kicker misses wide left. My former coworker and former Rice kicker Derek Crabtree would’ve made that one. Or so he’d tell me.
• Charles is still the running back. McCoy hits Jermichael Finley on a quick out for a 9 yard game.
• Charles reverses field and gets a good gain. Kid has tons of talent, hold on to the ball and I’ll be your best friend.
• Ugly option play and McCoy gets brought down hard. Guard Cedric Dockery got his ass kicked.
• Great catch on a hitch by Cosby. Colt tried to get him killed. Short of the first down and Texas has to punt.
• Texas sends out Colt McCoy with the rest of the punting team in some sort of likely fake but we screw it up and have to blow a timeout.
• After the timeout we’ve got the regular offense out there for 4th and 2.
• Lead dive out by Charles behind FB Atwan Cobb gets the first down.
• Completion from McCoy to Nate Jones on a slant. 7 yard gain.
• McCoy fumbles the shotgun snap but he rolls to his left and finds Cosby alone for a completion and a first down.
• Terrible looking play where two Texas linemen are running laterally 3 yards deep in the backfield and Charles has to fight his way through them on the counter before he can get a couple of yards. Yikes.
• Tony Hills with an obvious hold made more obvious by the fact that he threw his hands up in the air trying to claim innocence. Costs the Horns a first and goal opportunity.
• McCoy and Cosby bail out Hills. Great pass and catch for the touchdown on 3rd and long. The inside receiver was even more open on the play.

Rice 0, Texas 7

• About 1:30 left in the Tech/OSU game and OSU just scored to go up by four on a 54 yard TD catch.
• Didn’t know Texas was using the Bill Bates air conditioned shoulder pads. Great technology.
• Great job by Aaron Lewis to string out the play, Bobino flies to the ball and blows up the blocker, and Lewis is able to make the tackle.
• The Rice receiver might have been bobbling that ball. Rice thinks so too and is running the no huddle.
• Rice’s line is getting whipped right now. They’re doubling the two defensive tackles and that allowed the end to come and make the tackle untouched.
• As I’ve said over and over again, that spread punt formation is the dumbest thing in college football. Texas gets the ball at their 33.
• Colt is holding the ball a tick too long on the deep ball. Another underthrown bomb and another incompletion. He’s got a good enough arm if he gets rid of it a little quicker he’d be a lot more successful.
• Long run by Charles on the single back counter.
• Another ill advised deep ball. Come on Colt. Be smart. Interception but there’s flag on the play.
• McCoy bailed out by the pass interference call. That could have gone either way. First down Texas.
• John Chiles in the game. McCoy motioned left and Chiles ran the zone read. Nice idea but center Dallas Griffin got his ass beat and a Rice lineman blew up the play.
• Two incompletions and Texas will have to attempt a field goal.
• Ryan Bailey’s 44-yard field goal goes right down the middle.

Rice 0, Texas 10

• If our corners are going to give 15 yard cushion they can’t miss freaking tackles. Beasley whiffs and there’s a good gain for Rice.
• Ryan Palmer shows Beasley how to do it.
• Sergio Kindle in the game. Texas defensive line is blowing up the zone read every time.
• Looked like all the young linebackers might have been out there on that series. Rice has to punt.
• Cosby fair catches a line drive punt at the 10 and Texas starts this possession with bad field position.
• Charles lined up at wideout and McCoy puts a beautiful pass in his hands and Charles drops it. Would have been an easy 6.
• Colt is leaving all these short passes up high. Doesn’t seem to have the zip on it he did last season.
• The game is on regular FSN Southwest now so I’ll be doing less play by play and make more witty comments.

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Game just under way in Spokane, Washington and I think there’s more people in my living room watching the game than there in the stadium. Tough trip for fans from New Mexico or Texas but I’m surprised more locals wouldn’t come out to see Kevin Durant and some great basketball in person. New Mexico State could be a tough opponent for the Horns despite being only a #13 seed, Texas will have to play well to win tonight.

I’ll post some random thoughts on the game throughout, hopefully Texas plays up to their ability and can advance to the second round.

First Half

• HDTV has a sponsor but no actual HD here in Dallas. Is anyone else getting the game in high def?
• Three minutes or so before Kevin Durant gets his first real touch on offense. New Mexico State is pressing to get us out of our base offense and make it harder to get KD involved. We’ll see if Texas adjusts.
• Good to see D.J. Augustin off to a good start. Because of the NMSU press he’s been able to find seams in the defense and go hard to the hoop.
• Reggie Theus kind of looks like a guy from Hustle & Flow.
• About seven chance at a bucket there and no points for Texas. Good job on the offensive glass but somebody’s got to put the ball in the basket.

New Mexico St. 17, Texas 15

• DJ better be well rested. NMSU’s defense is really working him out there and he’s having to expend a lot of energy.
• CBS really has a knack for making sure you don’t get to watch the game you want to. We’re watching other random games instead of going back to our game that’s back under way.

New Mexico St. 24, Texas 19

• Bullcrap foul called on Augustin.
• A lot of low scoring games in the first round, including this one.
• Another terrible call on the charge on Kevin Durant. The NMSU guy was clearly moving. NCAA officials have fallen in love with calling the charge this season and have missed a ton of calls because of it.
• Augustin and Durant only Horns who have shown up so far tonight. Damion James has been active but needs to finish.

New Mexico St. 27, Texas 24

• Apparently the refs looked up and noticed they hadn’t called any fouls on Texas because they’ve called four completely awful fouls in the last few minutes now. Cheap.
• And now a cheap BS call against the Aggies.
• And after back to back crap calls against James the refs have called back to back bad fouls on NMSU big man.
• Durant starting to feel it a little.
• Texas on 12 to 3 run since I put on the lucky game day shirt. I take the blame for the slow start.

New Mexico St. 30, Texas 33

• Aggies get a couple of looks at the basket but good defense by the Horns to end the half. After trailing for most of the half Texas goes into halftime with the lead.

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Holy crap.

After one of the most incredible first half performances I’ve ever seen, Kevin Durant stepped on the ankle of a Kansas defender and went down. Looked to have somehow injured both ankles and limped into the locker room with his left ankle not looking so good.

Crap.

Update: Durant came back onto the court after a few minutes in the locker room and was able to reenter the game. Definitely not 100% he was hobbling a little and not able to get up and down the court at full speed. Didn’t look like it was bad enough to effect his shot but it could definitely wear on him during a game if it’s not fully healed by the Big 12 Tournament.

I’m not even watching TBS yet, USC is about to get upset by Oregon State with seven seconds to go after the Beavers stop Booty and the Trojans on a two-point conversion. That would of course be huge for the Longhorns as a loss would likely drop USC well behind Texas in the human polls and behind them in the BCS as well. Definitely a big help since Nebraska getting spanked by Oklahoma State today probably going to hurt the strength of schedule.

As for this game, Texas is on the road for the second straight week against a tough opponent in Texas Tech. Last week the Longhorns were solid but inconsistent. The offense has to punch the ball into the end zone and the defense has to stop the big play. Can the banged up Texas defense stop the Red Raiders offense? Should be a good game, hopefully Texas plays four strong quarters and wins in solid fashion.

First Quarter

• Scott Derry and Robert Killebrew both on the sideline early in a passing situation. Drew Kelson in at linebacker.
• Defensive end misses a chance at a sack. Can’t let Graham Harrell step away like that and give him a chance to throw.
• Red Raiders holding like crazy already. Got called for it on one play but getting away with it on the inside.
• Mike Leach goes for it on 4th down and the Texas defense doesn’t make them pay. Gives Harrell all day to throw and he completes a long pass.
• Tech RB takes a screen pass and there’s nobody around. Easy drive and easy TD for Tech.

Texas 0, Texas Tech 7

• Texas offense has to respond and put together a solid drive. Get some points and give Gene Chizik some time to figure out what the hell to do the next time Tech has the ball.
• A couple of good solid passing plays for the Texas offense to get started. Don’t forget about the running backs.
• First running play is the GT counter and Selvin Young has to try to bounce it wide. Nothing there.
• Colt McCoy really does throw the ball well when he’s moving around. Looks like Greg Davis knows that as he’s had a designed roll out or two already.
• Couple of actual zone read plays and looked like McCoy had room to keep it both times.
• Terrible call by the refs as none of them actually saw a fumble. Looked like Charles was clearly down. Then he recovered the ball himself while he was down again. Bad call.
• How the hell does the replay booth not freaking replay that. I say it every week, but man is replay on college football the most worthless thing of all time.
• Bad call. None of the refs actually called it a fumble till 20 seconds after the play. Charles recovered it himself, had control, and was down. Certainly close enough to review without forcing Mack Brown to call for the replay. Terrible job as usual.
• Texas defense blitzing guys and not getting any pressure at all.
• On the scoring play it looked like we sent about 7 guys after the QB and none of them got within 5 yards of him. Easy touchdown pass.

Texas 0, Texas Tech 14

• Good drive before the “fumble” last series. Offense can’t panic. Put together solid drives and see if the defense can pull their heads out.
• 3rd and 2 and we freaking throw the football. Get under center and run it down their damn throats.
• Crap. Cheap shot on Mike Griffin and now we’re another damn player short in the secondary.
• Griffin back in there. “How did Harrell get that pass off?” Because the officials don’t know how to freaking call holding. You can’t grab a guy’s jersey and hang on when he’s rushing the QB.
• Ball clearly came loose. What the hell is wrong with the announcers? Pretty close play needing review of whether he had possession.
• He bobbled the ball and never really had possession. Not sure they got the call right, but it was close. I like that all the replay guys are like 80 years old.
• Announcers are making themselves look worse and worse. First they couldn’t see anything that happened and wanted to know why there was a review. Then they thought it was clearly a fumble. Every time you watched another replay you saw something new, so clearly there was nothing clear about it.
• McCoy throws it right to Tech for a pick 6. Right freaking to him.

Texas 0, Texas Tech 21

• Plenty of time left still against this defense. Let’s get 10 - 14 back before the half and then win the damn game in the second half.

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Big game this morning for the Texas Longhorns in some frigid weather up in Lincoln. The result of this game against Nebraska won’t have much impact on Texas’ goal of a Big 12 title but it certainly has national implications. One of Texas’ toughest remaining games and the Longhorns need as many quality wins as they can get to get some BCS computer love and rise in the rankings. Hook ‘em!

• Sweet, the game is in HD. I didn’t think it was going to be. ABC has been much better this year.
• What are Musberger and Davie standing in front of? Is that just a green screen with footage from the crowd behind them? It sure was weird looking.

First Quarter

• YES!! Big return by Quan Cosby on the game’s opening kickoff takes it back close to 80 yards. It was a short and low kickoff. The guys on both sides are bundled up and it makes them look pretty slow out there.
• Some sort of end around to Jordan Shipley didn’t work at all. No need for that down on the damn five yard line at all. Crap.
• Tough looking angle for the field goal but Greg Johnson knocks in the short field goal. Horns get points but that’s a missed opportunity.

Texas 3, Nebraska 0

• Let’s see if the Horns can do a better job on the kickoff. Hunter Lawrence did a good job last week putting them in the end zone. And he kicks it out of bounds and gives Nebraska good field position. Come on freshman!
• The Shipley play actually had an opening other than the one linebacker who spotted him hiding behind the line early. Just doesn’t seem like a smart play call to pick up short yards. Have confidence in your guys to get 5 yards.
• Aaron Lewis in the game early instead of Brian Robison. Rumors had Robison in a boot this morning around the hotel. Hopefully we’ll see him later.
• Picture of Limas Sweed instead of Marlon Lucky.
• Scott Derry makes a good play on 3rd and short but can’t keep the running back short of the first down.
• There’s Robison in there on a long 3rd down. Might not be 100% and might only be available for passing situations. Tim Crowder gets in there and gets a big sack. Big play by the defense early to get the offense the ball back.
• I think it’s weird that Dr. Pepper is using a song about masturbation for their commercials.
• Vince Young at the game after all. Heard he wasn’t going to be there.
• Longhorns open the game with 4 runs before the first pass. Colt McCoy has a guy open on a deep out but overthrew the pass.
• Terrible job by McCoy. Set up the quick screen to Cosby and McCoy tries to throw it sidearm while backpedaling and doesn’t get the ball to his receiver.
• Derek Lokey just blows up his man and gets in the backfield as the RB takes the hand off.
• Bad job on the ball and even worse tackling by Deon Beasley. Then Michael Griffin knocks him off the tackle and the NU receiver runs 63 yards for the TD.

Texas 3, Nebraska 7

• Offense is not looking good so far. Starting out about the same as we did last week. Just antsy out there or something.
• Selvin Young can’t hesitate when he’s block on the QB draw. McCoy doesn’t have the speed to hesitate and still make plays. Just go block someone.
• I don’t think the football players live in Jester anymore. I know my senior year at least some of them had moved into the new San Jacinto Hall.
• Seems like all Greg Davis thinks McCoy can do is throw to heavily covered WR screens.
• Damn the wind must be blowing. Johnson looked like he got off a good punt but it went absolutely nowhere.
• Robert Killebrew is down and they’re looking at his knee or ankle. Sergio Kindle in the game for him.
• Lewis is looking like a player for us for the long term. He could end up at either defensive end or tackle but he looks solid.
• The Horns punt return team backs up the offense big time.

(more…)

The Big 12 this year makes the Big 12 last season look like a juggernaut. Texas Tech spanked by winless Colorado, undefeated Missouri repeatedly throws the game away against the Aggies, and Oklahoma just lost Adrian Peterson for the year. The Longhorns will have to continue to win and win convincingly this year if they plan on holding off any one-loss teams from the SEC or an average Notre Dame team.

Today against Baylor the Horns will have to battle through some injuries and beat an improving Baylor team. If the Horns play solid football and protect the football they should be able to beat the Bears on talent and depth alone.

First Quarter

• Selvin Young running down the field looking back at Quan Cosby instead of blocking on the kickoff return. Horns start off with bad field position.
• Apparently the Baylor coaches watched some Texas game film this year. Every single time a team makes a play action fake our safeties bite hard. Good fake by Baylor’s QB and the receiver runs wide open for a long TD on their first offensive play. They beat the two backups in the secondary that are starting in Deon Beasley and Matt Melton.

Baylor 7, Texas 0

• On the replay it looks like Melton didn’t bite on the play fake but just didn’t get enough depth. He flinched a little when he saw another receiver but it wasn’t the play fake.
• Longhorns getting their ass kicked right now. No fire from the offensive line at all. A three and out on the second offensive series.
• Finally a solid play for Texas. Both defensive ends got into the pocket quickly and Tim Crowder comes up with a sack.
• Looks like Baylor’s picking on Beasley. He needs to make smart plays.
• Nice call by the ref 200 yards away. Probably the right call but was way late and not from anywhere around the play.
• Huge early play for the Texas defense. 3rd and 4 for Baylor inside the 20. Texas needs to force a field goal.
• Brian Robison on the coverage as we bring a big zone blitz brings up 4th down.

Baylor 10, Texas 0

• Let’s get under center and run it down their throats.
• I don’t hate Greg Davis as much as most people, but that stat TBS just threw out there is probably a little misleading. I think the last ten years has probably been the weakest schedules Texas has ever played and they play more games and scoring is up all over the country.
• Just like the first half of the OU game, Davis is trying to be too smart in my opinion. We just came and ran three straight pass plays when our strength is clearly our running game.
• That may be the worst personal foul call I’ve ever seen. The Baylor punt returner drops the football and they call us for diving on the pile.
• Beasley looked like he was in trouble there. He made a good play on the receiver but he never turned around and looked for the football.
• It wasn’t exactly pretty but the Texas defense forces a three and out and gets the ball back. Let’s hope the offense figures out what the hell they’re doing quick.
• Good block by Neale Tweedie but the Horns are probably lucky holding wasn’t called. Texas’ tight ends have been called for a ton of those this season and that was a close one.
• Hey look what happens when we run the football?! First downs!
• And we get cute again and McCoy throws an interception. Baylor football. We need a turnover and some momentum.

(more…)

I’m liveblogging the game over at the NCAA FanHouse. If you want to follow along or join in on the conversation if you’d like. Here’s the first half.

Second half underway now and it gets it’s own post.

Hopefully I wasn’t too bad. I definitely need to enunciate more though.

You can also check it out over on Sports Bloggers Live.

With Duke now out of the tournament, the road to the Final Four for whichever team wins this game just got a little easier. This game matches up two very different teams. While Texas needs the three to be dominant, West Virginia’s entire game relies on the outside shot. Texas will spend much of the game in a man-to-man defense to attempt to give WVU’s shooters as few open looks as possible, while the Horns will attempt to dominate on the offensive and defensive boards.

Should be an entertaining game.

First Half

• Good dish by LaMarcus Aldridge to find PJ Tucker underneath the basket. Good start and great to see the ball inside to Tucker early.
• Kevin Pittsnogle’s first three goes all the way around the rim before rattling out. A good sign?
• I guess it wasn’t much of an omen. Pittsnogle’s next two threes go down easily to give WVU the lead.

West Virginia 9, Texas 6

• Horns playing good defense and moving the ball nicely on offense. No wide open looks so far for WVU and several easy dunk/layups for the Horns.
• We need to be a little more careful with the basketball. Not too bad, but a couple unforced turnovers so far. I wonder if/when the Mountaineers plan on playing any full court defense.

West Virginia 9, Texas 10

• Darn, I thought we were going to be announcer-free for a second.
• Ouch. PJ takes it to the hoop and hits the ground very hard.
• Kenton Paulino had time and an opening to get rid of the ball on the trap but holds on to for too long. Luckily WVU gets called for the touch foul.
• Big fast break dunk for Tucker. 9 points already for him.
• Ahhhh! I hate playing good three point shooting teams. Good defense all around and Patrick Beilein nails the 3.
• Pittsnogle flops and they call the foul on Aldridge. If they’re going to call that amount of contact then the whistle should blow on every possession.

West Virginia 15, Texas 19

• Less than eight minutes to play and again the announcers are unaware we’re back from commercial.
• Aldrige is stroking it from midrange.
• Great steal by AJ Abrams. Shoot, he’s limping now. He said “f***” as he started to jog back up court and reached down towards his legs.

West Virginia 15, Texas 23

• How much longer is Napolean Dynamite going to play Napolean Dynamite? Memo to actors in Hollywood: If you see Rob Schneider’s name associated with a movie run away! Bench Warmers looks awful.
• West Virginia has yet to make a two-point shot and Texas has yet to hit a three.
• Nevermind. Daniel Gibson nails one. Let’s hope he gets going, we’re up now but we’ll need outside shooters hitting to win this game.
• How is that a foul on AJ Abrams? Yikes.
• Great move and decision by Mike Williams. Passed up a long jumper and drives for the easy hoop. Exactly what Brad Buckman needs to do. His midrange shot is off, put the ball on the floor and look to pass or find an easier shot.

(more…)

We’re facing a completely different type of team today in NC State and we’ll have to play a completely different basketball game if we hope to win. The Wolfpack are going to hit open three pointers so the Texas zone has to be solid and not give them a ton of open looks. You can also assume they saw the final few minutes from the Penn game and will go to a full court press early in the game to see if they can force the Texas guards to turn the ball over.

First Half

• Kenton Paulino was supposed to be limited today because of a banged up knee, but he started the game and already nailed a 3. With Daniel Gibson’s long range shot the possession before Texas already has as many three’s as they did the entire Penn game. If we hit our open jumpers we win easily against most teams in this tourney, but we haven’t done that consistently.
• Nice to see Brad Buckman going early.
• Mike Williams in and Buckman to the bench already. Williams still isn’t exactly a force on offense, but he’s been a much more confident player the last couple of weeks and has been giving quality minutes. If he can play good defense and get rebounds he definitely will help this team.

NC State 5, Texas 8

• With 15 minutes to go Paulino nails another 3. He’s had three open looks and got good shots at all of them.
• And another 3 from Gibson! Welcome to the NCAA Tournament Mr. Gibson and Mr. Paulino!

NC State 5, Texas 16

• Does it bother anyone else how they pronounce “realtor” in the commercials for the National Association of Realtors? The way they pronounce it it rhymes with the word “four”. I guess they can say it however they want since they have a registered trademark on the word. Did they just make it up? Odd.
• Nice to see the Wolfpack having ball handling issues instead of our guys. Four turnovers by them already.

NC State 9, Texas 20

• Not only are we shooting the ball better, but we sure have a lot more energy out there today. Good defense and hustle on the glass.
• Ten minutes gone and still no full court pressure from NC State. They did just go to a half court trap though but we beat it and PJ Tucker hits the short jumper.
• Nice penetration and dish by AJ Abrams. Tucker throws down the bigdunk.

NC State 13, Texas 27

• 9 to 2 run by NC State since the timeout. Texas has to slow down of offense and get their butts back on defense quicker.
• Guards are also doing a much better job of getting into the lane and causing trouble. The difference is night and day from Friday.
• We’re getting beat for the rebounds we were getting in the first part of the half. It’s led to NC State’s run and we’re starting to turn the ball over as well. Rick Barnes should’ve called a timeout earlier in that run to slow things down.

(more…)

Couple of upsets over the last two days that should serve to remind the Horns that this is March Madness and anything can happen. I imagine Rick Barnes mentioned to the guys that #1 seed Connecticut was down twelve to #16 Albany with about ten minutes to go.

First Half

• The defense is forcing Penn to take shots they probably don’t want to. Long threes with the shot clock running down with a defender in their face.
• Three minutes in and someone finally scores. Texas is getting some good shots and is just a little rusty right now. They’ve got to start early getting the ball to LaMarcus Aldridge inside.
• Aldridge has position right under the basket and we don’t get the ball to him.

Penn 0, Texas 2

• 5 minutes in and still only 3 total points on the board. The Quakers haven’t gotten off a single decent shot.
• Just as I type that last comment, Penn nails an open 3 pointer and ties the game at 3.
• Aldridge is giving the ball up too easily. There’s not a guy on the floor that can guard him and he needs to realize it.
• How many people are at the game? I can here individual people yelling “hey” at the Penn free throw shooter. Or is it mic placement?
• AJ Abrams turns the damn ball over as usual. Protect the ball young man.

Penn 8, Texas 9

• About 11 minutes remaining in the first half and we’re letting them hang around because we’re useless on offense. It’s hard to pull away from a team if you only score 20 points per half.
• Still playing good D. I’m not sure if Penn has anybody that can really kill us from beyond the arc. We’re dominating on defense, shooting decently on offense, we’ve just got to stop turning the ball over.
• Nasty rejection by Aldridge.
• Brad Buckman has missed several shots from point blank range but keeps getting his own rebound.
• Terrible call by the official as they call Abrams for a block as he takes a forearm to the chest. He’s set and the Quaker bowls him over and they call AJ for the foul.

Penn 11, Texas 13

• Seven minutes left. Daniel Gibson just passed up an open 3 and drove and blew a layup. He had a lane to the basket but he can be afraid to pull the trigger.
• And we’re done by one. Maybe I spoke too soon about their long range shooting. Of course they’re getting more open looks lately.
• Buckman hits Texas’ first three of the game with 4 and a half left.

Penn 16, Texas 16

• 3:41 remaining. We should think about scoring some points. I think that would be useful.
• They seem to be calling random crap away from the ball on us inside. Announcers didn’t see anything either.
• 90 seconds left and we don’t have a single point from our guards.

Penn 22, Texas 22

• The announcers made it sound like Gibson undercut the Penn player on purpose. It’s kind of hard to intentionally back into a guy who you don’t see coming.

Penn 23, Texas 22

• We have about 6 seconds not to go into halftime freaking down to #15 seed Penn.
• Abrams can’t get the ball down court because of the pressure (Penn was intentionally trying to foul him but the refs didn’t notice) and we only get off a halfcourt heave. Going into halftime down 2. It’s not like Penn is playing well, we’re just handling the ball like crap and shooting even worse. We’ve had open shots and inside looks, and often had trouble even hitting rim on those looks. It’s an awfully late start, maybe it’s past our guards’ bed time.

(more…)

Let’s see how this goes. I’ll post as often as I can stand to. Horns and Trojans are about to get underway.

BIG FREAKING GAME!

Did we win the coin toss, defer, and USC chose to kick? Will we receive to start both halves? Nevermind, the official said it wrong.

First Quarter

• Great deep kick and good coverage on Reggie Bush. Great start to the game for the Horns.
• Bush stopped for a loss on the game’s first play. Now let’s do that 60+ more times.
• Texas’ defense in the backfield with great penetration on the first 3 plays.
• Holy crap! Aaron Ross fumbled the punt. Crap crap crap. Come on defense step up. Crap.
• Reggie Bush has no class. Hand the ball to the ref instead of flicking it up in the air after a 5 yard run. Let’s hope he actually gets ejected if he punches someone again this game.
• Too bad helmet-to-helmet contact isn’t illegal in college football. Plus Cedric Griffin hit him in the chest.
• Stupid penalty by Robert Killebrew. He seems to get one per game, let’s hope this is it. Come on D!
• Turnover costs the Horns 7 points. Game started off fantastically and then suddenly went downhill from there.

Texas 0, USC 7

• Let’s go Vince, get fired up.
• Looks like no huddle for the offense to start things off again this week. I like it.
• Poor spot on 2nd down leads to 4th and 1. Mack Brown elects to go for it and Horns get nowhere. Turnover on downs at midfield. All the momentum is going USC’s way now. Defense has to make a big play here and get things back going Texas’ way.
• Apparently guy in charge of the clock doesn’t realize it should stop after incomplete passes.
• Freaking Rose Bowl and national championship and the clock breaks?
• Horns go to 3 down linemen on a 3rd and long. Interesting look.
• Texas makes the stop but a face mask on Michael Huff gives USC the necessary yards for the first down.
• Drew Kelson in the game early instead of Rashad Bobino (I think that’s who isn’t in there.) Gene Chizik getting more speed on the field.
• Tarell Brown has a pick go in and out of his hands.
• Reggie Bush gets about an extra 2 yards thanks to the generous spot. These simple plays need to be reviewed as much as any others.
• Another generous spot for Matt Leinart on the 4th down QB sneak but I still think they’re short. Come on!
• Horns stop them and get the ball back. Let’s go let’s go!
• Meanwhile ABC is on commercial break #26 after like two minutes of football.
• Bad play design or something as Billy Pittman and Jamaal Charles end up next to each other on pass routes. Complete to Pittman for the first though.
• Another freaking fumble. Charles bumps into David Thomas and just drops it. Crap. Lost 5 yards. Kills the offense’s momentum.
• Bud Light commercial featuring the “daredevil” are dumb.
• Lost takes such long hiatuses that they have to have recap shows by the time they come back.
• Interesting counter play from USC. Kind of a WR and FB counter instead of a GT counter.

(more…)

Rematch with a Colorado team that the Longhorns handled easily back in mid-October. The Buffs were flying high then but they’re reeling now after two straight losses and backing into this game. They’re certainly a good enough football team that Texas can’t overlook them and just cruise through. They need to get up early and then just pour it on.

Give it up to ABC for actually managing to show the game in high definition, of course only ABC could manage to keep that a complete secret all week long. Seems like that might be the kind of thing that a network would want people to know to draw in viewers. This will be my first ever Texas game to watch in HD, it’ll be interesting to see if I can stand not being able to rewind and watch replays that ABC doesn’t bother to show.

First Quarter

• Colorado doesn’t run the option like Texas A&M does, but they definitely watched film of that game and Oklahoma State. They come out early and run a successful toss sweep for a first down. Texas defensive ends and linebackers must do a better job against the outside run.
• I don’t know what Robert Killebrew was just doing in pass coverage. Third and ten and he lets the Colorado TE get free for the reception. It was a zone defense but he and Aaron Harris were essentially holding hands in the middle of the field while leaving the flats wide open.
• Fumble! Michael Huff makes a sure tackle and forces the CU receiver to fumble the football. Big break for Texas.
• Designed run for Vince Young early to get him involved in the rushing attack. VY breaks a tackle and goes for 18. Good to see him running and fired up.
• Look who’s freaking back! Great scramble by Vince. Several good moves and then just plows over a tackler and takes it down to the one yard line.
• Henry Melton behind the right side of the line for the one yard touchdown. Horns get on the board first.

Texas 7, Colorado 0

• Time for the defense to answer. Offense game out and got early points, now we need the defense to get a quick stop.
• Why does the 25-yard line have special coloring? Isn’t it always the 20? The refs just spotted the ball in the wrong place after a touchback because of it.
• Huff all over the place early in the game and two CU dropped passes help the Horns force a three and out.
• That’s the first time I’ve heard anyone talk about Mack Brown’s lack of a conference title as a coach with any logic. There’s not a ton of excuses for not having one in his time at Texas, but in his previous stops at Tulane and North Carolina there’s not much hope of winning one.
• Jamaal Charles looks healthy and fast. Wooo! Just took an option pitch from Vince for a big gain.
• No huddle is great, but I kind of wish we’d huddle up for a third and 3 inside the 20 yard line.
• I’d much rather have the ball in Charles’ hands than Ramonce Taylor’s on a third and short. Much better at just getting down field and picking up the necessary yards.
• I just love having Jamaal Charles in the backfield. Simple and easy arrow route out of the backfield and he catches the pass for a touchdown.

Texas 14, Colorado 0

• Just a reminder to myself before I relax too much, Texas was up 14 - 0 against A&M last week too.
• Good kickoff coverage.
• Buffaloes are holding like mad men. The CU running back just used his legs to wrap up a guy in pass protection.
• Crap, Michael Huff is hurt. Maybe an arm or shoulder?
• Holy crap are we pathetic against the option. Joel Klatt looked half-retarded on the play but he managed to drunkenly stumble for a big gain.
• Now the other safety is on the ground hurt. Michael Griffin decided to lead with his helmet instead of wrapping up and making a sound tackle and hurt himself.
• More blocking with their legs by Colorado. I guess the refs are going to allow that crap today.
• Another option but this time the Texas defense actually plays it correctly. Linebacker slow-played Klatt and forced the pitch while giving the rest of the defense time to get out there.
• Big third and 11.
• If the guy in the Citi Simplicity commercial is paying his credit card online, why does he need a paper copy of the bill to make a payment?
• Looks like they have decided to stop Colorado’s constant holding, two calls against them in a row. Aaron Ross breaks up the pass and forces a field goal try.
• Blocked field goal!! Brian Robison got his white ass up and got a solid hand on it. Ross tries to pull a Nathan Vasher and picked up a ball he shouldn’t have for the return. Not a bad return by him but there’s an illegal block and Texas is backed up to their own 6.
• Crap. Limas Sweed doesn’t make the catch on what might have been pass interference and CU intercepts the pass. Crap.

(more…)

Looks like we’re going to miss the start of the game due to the Bowling Green versus Toledo football game. It’s Tuesday, why in the world is there college football going on? There was even a game last night (Miami and Ohio), do athletes in the MAC ever go to class?

Well it looks like they’re switching to the game here in Dallas at least…

First Half

• College basketball officiating really is a freaking joke. Someone at ESPN needs to let the NCAA that the way the games are officiated makes the games almost unwatchable. There’s a stoppage for some unseen foul every 20 seconds, then you’ll see a guy hammered on the shot and no call is made. Just let them play basketball and shove the whistle up your…
• Daniel Gibson not hitting right now. I can handle some hot and cold shooting out of him, but he’s got to control the ball better than he did last night.
• If LaMarcus Aldridge can hit that jump hook consistently he’ll be tough to defend.
• Aldridge looks a lot less goofy running the floor this year. The time in the gym has helped him fill out a lot.

Texas 17, Iowa 16

• Do we need a sideline reporter at a preseason college basketball tourney? Erin Andrews definitely needs more air time, but man is her job pointless. Maybe get rid of Stuart Scott to make room for her.
• Speaking of goofy, Connor Atchley makes Jason Klotz look coordinated. Sounds like he’s going to be an excellent role player for us in coming years. Definitely looks like he still has room to grow physically.
• Hey look, more overofficiating. Is that a word? It is now. I think part of the problem is that the announcers haven’t mentioned what these calls are or who they were on.
• Why are there dinosaurs in King Kong? Were they in the original movie?
• Mike Williams in for Brad Buckman for a long time now.
• If P.J. Tucker can hit his jumper he’ll be a totally different player than he was before. Much better fit at the 3 if that’s the case.

(more…)

Last home game today for the seniors against a pretty good Kansas Jayhawk football team. (Let’s hope it’s not Vince Young’s last game in Austin!) Obviously an important game for the Horns as they can’t afford to lose one as they persue a national title. Texas also has a chance to clinch the Big XII South simply by winning one of their last two games. We’re big favorites but there should be plenty to play for and we should come out fired up.

First Quarter

• No TV right now because OU and A&M are still going on ABC. WOAI in San Antonio is still streaming the games on the Internet even though everyone else has pulled it.
• Longhorns went 3 and out to start the game.
• A couple of early false starts by the Jayhawks gives them 2nd and 17.
• Robison gets pressure on Kansas quarterback and he gets the sack.
• Texas offense sounds a little rough right now and it appears Greg Davis is starting things off pretty conservatively. A screen pass on second and long and then a running play to Selvin Young on third and 10.
• Third down and 10 again for KU and Cedric Griffin comes up with the stop to force another punt. Not much offense for either team so far.
• Two more minutes to go in the OU/TAMU game. Sooners just converted a crucial 3rd down and 12 and should be able to run out the clock now.
• Sounded like a typical Ramonce Taylor screw up/huge play all in one, just like in the Ohio State game. Taylor fumbled the ball but it bounced back up to him and he’s able to scoop it and run for the first down.
• Touchdown Limas Sweed!! Play action fake by Vince Young who then throws a 45-yard bomb into the end zone and Sweed goes up to get it for the TD. Sweed had two big catches last week and makes a tough one to put the Longhorns up early.

Kansas 0, Texas 7

• Touchdown Robert Killebrew!! Kansas returner fumbled the kick off and Killebrew picks it up and scores!
• AHhh! They took the TD away from him. Officials said the ball was muffed which means the kicking team isn’t allowed to advance it.
• Well Killebrew is probably pissed, but the Longhorn offense is able to quickly turn his play into points. One play, hand off to Jamaal Charles for a ten yard touchdown.

Kansas 0, Texas 14

• OU finishes off the game and beats the Aggies 36 to 30. We should have TV coverage after the break.
• Radio and TV coverage missed it but it looks like kick off must have gone out of bounds. Rumor on Friday was that Greg Johnson might miss the game and Richmond McGee would have to kick off. Let’s hope we keep scoring and make it not matter.
• Good play by Larry Dibbles and Cedric Griffin to make the stop on another 3rd and long for the Jayhawks. Texas defense is starting off much better than they did against Oklahoma State or Baylor. Third straight 3 and out.
• More holding by the offensive line.
• Quan Cosby has officially arrived. My goodness has he become a player the last two or three weeks. He’s fast, catches the football well, and is a tough SOB who refuses to go down. That’s two weeks in a row that he should have been tackled and he turned it into a long TD. 65 yards on that reception and the Horns are up huge!

Kansas 0, Texas 21

• Well it’s Johnson out there to kick, guess he’s okay. Nice coverage by the Horns special teams.
• This isn’t the NFL, why is ABC taking a commercial break before after a kick off??
• Bevo XIV is still a little skinny. Is that just because he’s still pretty young? I honestly think Mark Mangino may weigh more than he does.
• Kansas looks as penalty-prone as we are. That’s not good if you don’t have the extreme talent advantage to make up for it.
• And the penalty kills KU as they have to punt again and Aaron Ross takes it back 71 yards for the touchdown. Great return, not much running side to side but he hit the seam and made people miss with quick moves. Best play on the return? Michael Huff not getting a penalty by wisely pulling back and avoiding the block in the back
• Mack Brown very fired up and happy, I love that.

Kansas 0, Texas 28

• Good kick off coverage is negated by another off sides call, but we run down there again and do a pretty good job.
• Mark Mangino was eating was having a Snickers on the sideline instead of calling a play and KU got a delay of game. I mock him because he needs help, seriously. (And he’s a bit of a blow hard.)
• Another stand by the defense, no first downs allowed yet.
• Downside of being up by 28 in the first quarter? Vince Young might not be able to rack up the stats if he only plays a half or so. Hopefully he can at least rack up about 250 passing yards and maybe add one or two more passing TD’s.

(more…)

Tonight’s game will be the first TBS televised game I’ve watched all the way through, so it will be interesting to see what kind of job they do. I don’t recognize either of the announcers but they can’t be any worse than the guys ABC trots out there every week.

First Quarter

• Good kick by Greg Johnson and an even better hit! Oklahoma State returner had a seam and Johnson just came flying up and laid him out.
• Good first series from the defense, had a chance to get a turnover but still forced a three and out.
• Ramonce Taylor drops a wide open pass and we’ve got 4th down. If he catches that one in stride he might be able to get into the end zone with his speed.
• I don’t know what the wind is like but I’m pretty confident that David Pino won’t make too many 52 yard field goals. We should have tried to pin them back deep or go for it, but we don’t and we get the kick blocked.
• Great play design on 4th and one by Okie State for the touchdown. They rushed up to the line, looked like they were going to go for the short gain with everything they got and snuck a wide receiver out of the backfield. Dajuan Woods ran wide open down the field all by himself.

Texas 0, Okie State 7

• Great run from Vince Young on 3rd and long, 45 yards or so. He’s looked a little off again today so let’s hope this settles him down.
• Another holding penalty from David Thomas. He seems to get one of those and a false start every week. We just flat out can’t do that on first and goal. 2nd and goal from the 5 is a lot better than a tough 10 yard penalty.
• Wow, Vince air mailed that one about 10 yards over Quan Cosby’s head. Wasn’t even close. Somehow the announcers blamed it on Cosby.
• Another holding penalty. We may have the best offensive line in the country but we are the worst at holding I’ve ever seen. We seem to get caught more than any team I’ve ever seen.
• Touchdown David Thomas! Great pass from VY on 3rd and goal from the 20 yard line. Threaded it in there. Thomas needs to do more catching with those great hands of them and stop using them to hold.
• Did they just claim the holder, Matt Nordgren, falst started on the extra point? It looked like the right side of the line moved, but I’m pretty sure they said number 7. Crap, it just caused us to get the kick blocked. Way too much penetration in the middle of the line.

Texas 6, Okie State 7

• We’re playing absolutely terrible, the only way this game is remotely close is if we give it to them. We’ve got to settle down on offense.
• Decent kick and much better coverage. Of course, we were freaking offsides on the thing. How many penalties is that already? 4? 5? Ugh.
• The Cowboys are just playing with a lot more energy than we are. It sure looks like we must’ve spent all week celebrating our number one BCS ranking. Another big run and they’re inside our 10. They’re running right down our throats right now.
• Anytime they run the toss we have about 5 guys crash down inside for no reason and then they can just run untouched around the corner. We’ve got to pull our heads out.

Texas 6, Okie State 14

• Another high throw from Vince and this one’s picked off.
• And Oklahoma State immediately converts it into points. Our defense looked like they’d never seen the zone read before as OSU QB Al Pena runs untouched into the end zone. Embarassing.

Texas 6, Okie State 21

• Let’s come out and run it down their throats with Vince and Jamaal Charles.
• Big keeper from Vince. Down to the OSU 30.
• Looks like the OSU defense is forcing Charles outside and then they’re bottling him up. No seams up the middle for him yet.
• Vince has missed every throw by a mile. He hasn’t been close at all. 4th down.
• Pino converts the 45 yard field goal. More bad protection but he gets the 3 points.

Texas 9, Okie State 21

• Deep kick into the end zone by Johnson and great coverage. Cowboys will start at the 15 yard line, let’s hope we take the field position and get the ball back for our offense.

(more…)

OU is about to lose to UCLA and start their season by losing two of their first three games. Is that a good thing or bad thing for Texas? Of course we still have to actually beat them. Personally I think it’s great for recruiting, and since we beat Ohio State in the Columbus last week all we have to do is win all of our games. We don’t have to worry about respect.

Tonight against Rice we just need to stay sharp and stay healthy. They obviously can’t really compete with us, so start off strong early and things will fall into place. We need to make sure we’re not still enjoying last week’s victory as well as get ready for what should be a solid test in two weeks at Missouri.

First Quarter

• I still don’t like the black shoes.
• Good to see us throwing to David Thomas right off the bat, Ohio State was able to tak him out of the game last week. Fantastic grab on the first play of the game.
• A lot of single back with Vince Young under center. That’s a first this season.
• Not only is Jamaal Charles quick and shifty, but he’s got amazing balance as well. Doesn’t go down easy. Great 25 yard run for a touchdown. Nice way to start off things in your first career start.
• I still love David Pino.

Texas 7, Rice 0

• Greg Johnson instead of Richmond McGee. Not too deep, but at least it wasn’t a line drive. Good coverage too. Plus a penalty.
• Tarell Brown can’t let the runner get outside of him on the option. He’s got to force it back into the middle and the linebackers.
• An even worse job by Michael Griffin on the next play. He’s staring in at the dive fake and the QB and just let everyone get outside of him.
• Griffin looks like he is slow playing it. Are we going to rely on just the corner to cover the pitch man? That’s a flawed plan. Griffin made the play that time just because he’s ten times the athlete the running back is.
• I didn’t think you were allowed to just fall into the endzone downing a punt like that. I thought you had to keep the ball and your body from touching the line.
• Henry Melton needs a nickname.
• I thought VY was going to take that one 90+ yards. Great run but it was too easy. It kind of look like we didn’t even run a play, just told Vince to roll left and run for his life.
• Seriously, the black shoes make us look like we’re jogging. They’re terrible. Charles just kind of wandered another 25 yards for the TD.

Texas 14, Rice 0

• Okay that’s enough of that, let’s see if we can throw the thing around a little. If we get up too much we’re not going to be able to throw or it’ll look like we’re running it up. And for the 50th time, we need to get Ramonce Taylor the ball!
• At least Johnson appears to be kicking the ball where he wants. Still would like to see more distance on it, but maybe there’s some wind.
• Did we know Rice runs the option? We had a man on the running back that time but we waited back and took on the blocker instead of getting in there and blowing him up.
• I don’t know why the Owls don’t just run the option until we stop it.
• Come on Vince, you’ve got to make that throw. Limas Sweed is wide open and he tries to be too perfect. When he’s that open, lead him back into the middle of the field instead of trying to make the perfect throw to his outside shoulder.
• Pretty good run by Charles considering we only had 10 men on the field.