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Ohio State will wear new Nike jerseys next week with a LeBron James logo. James has no OSU affiliateion.

With Leather has the story of a great office prank played on an (assuredly) obnoxious Ohio State fan. When the guy returned from his trip to Arizona to watch the game he found his cubicle wallpapered with the Sports Illustrated cover of the thrashing. I definitely like their idea of adding a hidden live alligator to the mix, but I guess there’s always next year for that.

Shockingly I didn’t see Ohio State fans lighting anything on fire after their loss, but you can’t really blame them for their normal behavior considering how boring life in Ohio must be. But even without cars or couches on fire around Columbus, it still really sucks to be from Ohio.

Was it just me or was Ohio State’s band just playing “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic during the halftime show of the national title game? That may be more embarrassing than being down by 20 points at the half in a game you were favored to win big.

It’s probably equally embarrassing that I immediately recognized the song.

The hype surrounding this game was unreal. The atmosphere in Austin before the game was incredible. The tailgating was off the charts (more pictures and details of that to come later). Too bad the game let us down. Texas looked like they came out with the same lack of effort as they did against North Texas. The only guy on the team that looked like he was working hard was Selvin Young.

And I still don’t understand why we stopped running the ball? We were absolutely killing them on the run, yet I don’t know how many times we threw a pass on first down or some little weak screen. Why not run the ball until they prove they can stop it? All in all, we definitely got outplayed and had poor execution of game plan (if there was one). Ohio State doesn’t look unbeatable, but they were the far better team this past Saturday.

Now for the breakdown of I how I graded the positions:

Quarterback - Overall Grade: C

Colt McCoy came back down to reality this week in the first big game of his career. You shouldn’t expect too much from a freshman quarterback playing his second game in college against the #1 team in the nation, and he proved why. Colt never really made a big mistake (except for that interception), but he never did anything good either. And I know this isn’t really his fault, but the amount of screens and 5 yard passes he threw just got ridiculous. Can we please see a 30 yard pass? The one positive thing I have to say about Colt though, is that everytime he was hit (and he got hit hard) he bounced right back up and didn’t let it affect him.

Running Backs - Overall Grade: A-

You definitely can’t blame the running backs for this loss. Texas rushed for 172 yards and averaged 6 yards per carry. Selvin Young continues to show that he worked hard over the summer and ran for 94 yards for an impressive 8.5 yards per carry. Jamaal had a pretty good night as well, going for 70 yards. The only problem was out of their control, they simply did not get the ball enough. When you are averaging 6 yards per carry, you don’t throw the ball 32 times. Make Ohio State stop the running attack, then throw the ball down-field.

Wide Receivers - Overall Grade: C-

I think the receivers saw a lot more action than they were expecting. Most of the time you would think they would like that. However I doubt they really enjoyed catching a screen or 5 yard pass and then getting nailed by the defense. Ohio State really concentrated their efforts on Sweed and had some extra coverage on him most of the night, although when he was actually able to break away he did make some good plays. But with a play-maker like that you need to figure out a way to get him the ball.

Pittman’s fumble came about as bad a time as possible. Texas was pounding the ball down the Buckeyes throat, about to score, and Pittman fumbles the ball at the 2. Imagine how pumped the crowd would be scoring first, instead Ohio State is scoring 5 plays later. And where is Jermichael Finley? He needs to figure out a way to get the ball more and make the catch when it finally does come to him.

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It is true what they say, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” I always like to read what the opposition is saying about our team in order to get a better perspective on the match-up. Here is a list of Ohio State sports blogs that you may want to check out:

• Buckeye Commentary
• The 614 (my interview is here)
• Pfef’s Sports Blog
• Around the Oval
• Men of the Scarlet and Gray

In what is probably the biggest game of the year, Texas finally proved that they can win the big game. They went into Ohio State, didn’t really play their best game, and still found a way to pull out the win. The path is now set to the Rose Bowl, lets just hope we can beat OU.

Quarterback - Overall Grade: A-

Vince really scared me in this game. I know he is good, and I know he knows he is good, but can he please tuck the ball when he is about to get tackled? With that and his two picks, I really wanted to move him to a B+, but since he made that incredible touchdown pass, I had to give him a A-. Man was it nice to see him pass for 270 yards though.

Running Backs - Overall Grade: B-

The running game was really not there this game. But it is hard to tell if it was just playing against the best linebackers in the nation, or the running backs took a step backward. We are definitely going to need more production out of the running game though, because I don’t want to have to rely on Vince’s arm all season. Also, it looks like Jamaal Charles will be starting this week against Rice.

Receivers / Tight End - Overall Grade: A

Wow, the receivers came through huge in this game. Pittman was definitely the go to guy in this game, with 5 catches for 130 yards. And I don’t really need to comment much on that awesome catch by Sweed to win the game. Overall, just a great performance.

Offensive Line - Overall Grade: B-

Again, I think their performance was probably more of a result of how good the Ohio State defense is. They opened some decent holes every once in a while, but it is hard to block those linebackers.

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Holy cow. I hope the team and coaching staff are looser than I am, because I’m nervous as hell. They seemed pretty loose in practice this week, hopefully it carries over to a relaxed, focused, and prepared team tonight against Ohio State.

Probably won’t be posting as much as last week, I’ll be focusing all my positive energies on the game. That and I’ll probably be pacing around the house.

First Quarter

• Why isn’t ABC showing this or any other games in high definition? They’ve had plenty of absolutely crappy games on ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD.
• Someone tell Jack Arute to listen when he asks a question so he doesn’t ask something someone answered for him 3 seconds ago.
• Surprised Pino is kicking off, I’m guessing to keep it away from Ginn. Worked terribly.
• That was really close to a lateral.
• Huge three and out.
• I like the empty backfield, something we haven’t shown much of.
• Vince Young is pissed. I love it. Big time facemask, I’d be pissed too.
• Man the OSU linebackers are fugly. Looks like AJ Hawk is on human growth hormone.
• Big time run! Vince is definitely looking good running the ball. Much quicker than anyone the Buckeyes have.
• Pittman was wide open and he fell down. Damnit. Good call and pass.
• Sloppy play by VY and Selvin Young, almost turned the ball over on an option. It looks like they ruled it an incomplete pass. Kind of screwed up that opportunity. Ramonce Taylor is not the man to be throwing the jump ball to in the end zone.
• I love David Pino, 42 yard field goal is good.

Texas 3, OSU 0

• Our kickoff coverage is terrible. Angle that sucker, don’t just kick it right down the middle. Good depth though.
• Looks like Def. Coordinator didn’t show anything last week. Nice late shift by the defensive line causes a delay of game.
• Rashad Bobino needs to break down and make that tackle on the swing pass.
• Zone blitz by the Horns on 3rd and 6 forces Zwick to scramble and he ends up short. Rod Wright dropped off into the flats for coverage. I’m loving Coach Chizik.
• Aaron Ross has to catch the dang punt. Get up there and fair catch it so that it’s not bouncing all over the place and costiing us yards.
• Woooo! Love to see Jamaal Charles already in there and a wide open Billy Pittman running down the middle of the field. Nice throw and catch.
• Are we running some no huddle? Man we are treating this big game like it’s a big game and pulling out all the tricks. Note: The announcers of course didn’t notice.
• Great catch from David Thomas. Saved Vince’s butt.
• Our offensive line looks a little tired (Justin Blalock in particular just now), it’ll be interesting to see what kind of condition both teams are in.
• Jamaal Charles has skills. Little shifty sucker. I love to see the tail back screen, we don’t do that too often.
• First Henry Melton sighting. First down, we may have gotten a generous spot there.
• HOLY COW! We just threw on first and goal from the 5 yard line. Touchdown Billy Pittman. Wide open again after a play fake.

Texas 10, OSU 0

• My God, our kickoff coverage is an embarassment. We’re up now, but if we start on our ten every time and they’re starting on their fifty we may need to score 100.

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