40 Acres Sports

Another fan brought to tears (and public shame) by his football team’s performance on the field. And this time it’s not a little boy. It’s an Alabama fan who is inconsolable by his team’s inability to play remotely good or entertaining football in their loss to LSU last night:

I'd be upset too if I wore a suit and tie to football games.

His pretty decent looking date seems both exasperated and embarrassed by his tears. I’m guessing now that this picture is making its way towards Internet infamy she’s rethinking this relationship. Though based on the look on her face she was having serious doubts already. Ouch.

WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Jayhawks.

So dominating was the performance of the Longhorns over the Jayhawks (43-0) that I focused on some of the more interesting things not involved on the playing field.

Pre-Game (15:00) WTH Gill?! I can see the ploy of not putting names on the back of the uniforms to suggest that you are all one team. But having a microscopic Jayhawk (fictitious bird) on the back of the jerseys is a little silly, Coach Gill.

1st Quarter (9:59) WTH Halloween?! Not too many Halloween costumes in the stands this night where 99,211 were in attendance. The best I saw was a large sombrero made completely out of beer pull tabs. The man wearing it looked like he drank every beer that night to make that hat.

2nd Quarter (15:00) WTH Jet Blue?! Looks like the airline had bigger issues with stranding people on a plane in Hartford. You could at least get a fan that knows how to kick a field goal. Who is responsible for picking out these people? You may want to get a little good publicity after last week’s snowstorms and find someone that can make it through the uprights.

Halftime WTH Twirler?! The biggest cheer of the night was for the baton twirler as the Longhorn Alumni Band performed for the UT faithful. A special shout out to that older gentleman, Don Hart, who thrilled the crowd with one last heave of the baton that he caught at the end of the program.

3rd Quarter (3:13) WTH Smokey?! Since the Horns were dominating the Jayhawks on the field, it looks like the Cowboys spirit organization decided to have some fun. The cannon fire after one score produced a giant smoke ring for the crowd to see. Wonder if that technique is performed at campus dorms with another apparatus?

4th Quarter (15:00) WTH Camera Shot?! The UT stadium camera crew was trying to keep the Longhorn fans entertained while the game was already decided. The crowd shots of all the women were nice, especially the view of one coed that had a shirt that said “Horn Star.”

Next up for the Longhorns are the Red Raiders as they host to Texas Tech on November 5th.

Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on Twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!

WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Cowboys.

Texas was a half step away from a game changing defensive TD by Blake Gideon.

Pre-Game (15:00) WTH Fans?! The Longhorns are 4-1 and need some support after the Oklahoma beat down, and the UT fans struggle to get to the game. Announced attendance was 100,101 but there were clearly tons of empty seats.

1st Quarter (9:49) WTH Ash?! We now know who the QB is for the moment. David Ash played the entire game. The freshmen mistakes keep coming with an interception driving into OSU territory. The best bet for the Horns is one signal caller. Hope the turnover bug will get flushed out of Ash soon.

2nd Quarter (14:46) WTH Brown?! Great day by Malcolm Brown with the first of his two touchdowns to start the second quarter. Brown finished with his first century day of his career (135 yards) with many more to come.

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WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Sooners.

Pre-Game (15:00) WTH Defer?! Is it me or do we lack that killer instinct? What a great opportunity to take a young team and attack on offensive first after winning the coin toss. Horns chose to defer to the second half. I will defer to the 96,000 plus in attendance, but I believe no one liked the choice of shirt by Mack Brown with the Longhorn on the pocket.

1st Quarter (9:30) WTH McCoy?! This would be the first of many turnovers for the Longhorns. A sack and subsequent fumble by Case McCoy was later turned into an OU field goal. I guess Case forgot his horseshoe. Great job by the defense to bend but not break in the first quarter, but that was about the change quickly.

2nd Quarter (15:00) WTH Diaz?! Understand that you were trying to play coverage most of the day, but there were no blitzes of memory that were up the middle to disrupt the timing of Landry Jones. An easy lob over the UT defense to Kenny (crazy hair) Stills was a sign of bad things to come to start the second quarter.

2nd Quarter (2:50) WTH Ash?! The Horns are a young team… young team… young team (trying to justify the mistakes). I just wish they had not made a whole season’s worth in one game. David Ash was trying to make something happen by throwing across his body to the waiting arms of OU Demontre Hurst who rambled 55 yards for the first of three defensive touchdowns to establish the Red River Rout.

2nd Quarter (2:38) WTH Cap’n America?! One of the few bright spots was Fozzy Whittaker (aka Captain America) 100 yard kickoff return to bring the north side of the stadium to its feet. Thanks Fozzy for the highlight.

2nd Quarter (:31) WTH Dagger?! After the kickoff return by Fozzy, the OU offense dialed up a quick 8 play drive to the end zone to retake the mojo for a 34-10 lead into halftime.

This year's OU game quickly slipped away from Mike Davis and Texas.

3rd Quarter (8:12) WTH One Play?! I have heard of offensive efficiency but this is ridiculous. OU Dominic Whaley takes the hand off at its own 36 and is never touched for a 64 yard touchdown. I guess every play is drawn up to score… this one did.

4th Quarter (12:29) WTH Davis?! I am sorry kid but I am going to have to bust you on this one. The OU defensive back rips the ball away from Mike Davis and takes it 56 yards to the house. I thought our problem was not catching the ball, now we have to hope you hold on to it?!

Next up for the Longhorns are the Cowboys as they host to Oklahoma State for the game on Oct. 15th.

Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!

Last night we were treated to a show in Ames, Iowa when the Longhorns came in and started from the onset of annihilating the Iowa State Cyclones. It was a steady dose of passing and running throughout the game. While most Longhorn fans were confident that this would be a sure victory, after last season’s fiasco, there had to some within the Longhorn family that was nervous and worried, because this Iowa State team had pulled an upset that nobody saw coming already this season. This was going to be a nice challenge for the Horns before their annual rivalry game with Oklahoma.

Most fans would have been happy to see a team with a consistent movement and be able to show a chance at making some big plays. What Longhorn fans were treated to was somewhat of an offensive clinic from Case McCoy and David Ash. Both Quarterbacks showed a pocket presence that would go beyond their youthfulness, and showed some flash of excitement as the starting quarterbacks. While they are young and inexperienced, they have shown the ability that keeps both of them getting snaps and alternating in the offense.

While Iowa State is not an Oklahoma caliber team, there is a lot of hope building within the fan base that the Longhorns will be able to steal a big win in Dallas next weekend. A win like this is just a building block for a young team that should help lay the foundation for the future. The only puzzling question is going to be who will win the starting position outright?

We have completed a quarter of the season and it’s time to start looking at conference match ups for the Horns. But before we get back to football, I want to look back at Realignment Armageddon 2.0. We can surmise that the Big 12 is back together and everything is back to normal. (Who believes that?) I do think we need to take a look at what was lost. Here is what I believe the PAC 16 would have looked like if Larry Scott and the rest of the universities on the left coast would have opened the door to the 4 schools in the East.

The pod system would have played out by having the schools in the East only having to travel to the western time zone twice a year for football. The teams would play a home and away series for two years and switch to the other remaining teams in that pod. The travel schedule for most of the other university sports would be quite different due to the size of this conference, but we all know that football pays the bills. The media markets that this league would boast would cover 12 of the major 28 markets including the biggies such as LA, SF, Houston, & DFW.

Here is a look at the possible football schedule using the pod system for the Longhorns for the 2012 and 2014 season. The odd years would result in the teams switching destinations to accommodate the home and away series. The OU game would still be played at the Cotton Bowl every year. The remaining 3 non-conference games of the season would be a host of cupcake teams to offset a brutal but highly entertaining regular season (goodbye A&M)!

2012 – Pac 16 conference games

@ Oregon
Washington St
@ Standford
UCLA
@ Colorado
Arizona
@ Texas Tech
OU
@ OK State

2014 – Pac 16 conference games

Oregon St.
@ Washington
USC
@ California
Utah
@ Arizona St.
@ Texas Tech
OU
@ OK State

The Pac 16 games would provide better match ups and great destinations over the Big 12. The conference titles games would be the former Pac 8 schools (NW/West) against the Mountain/East division schools in locales such as Pasadena, Tempe or maybe even at Cowboy Stadium. Texas wants to play in large television markets for exposure and to play in mostly southern climates to recruit elite high school talent. The cons to this new frontier is that it would be much more difficult to reach a BCS bowl game or even the National Title game under the PAC 16 scenario. It looks like the Big 12 will allow the Longhorn Network to exist as long as the Tier 1 and Tier 2 television rights are shared among all schools in the league. There are probably some hurt feelings and back room deals that still need to be ironed out and another team needs to be added for this Big 12 conference to work. I just thought you might want to see what was lost last week when the Pac 12 was said that their full right now. I did enjoy DeLoss Dodds assessment of Texas during this entire upheaval. “We are who we are.”

Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter @40AcresSports or follow me @Horns1991. HOOK EM!!

Short gameday feature on Case McCoy and Jaxon Shipley from the Longhorn Network.

WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Bruins.

1st Quarter (15:00) WTH Bruin Fans?! I have never seen so many empty seats at the Rose Bowl (54,583 in attendance). The Rose Bowl is a beautiful venue, but it was an eye sore with the overhead shots of the stadium where there were plenty of seats to be had.

1st Quarter (12:35) WTH Prince?! UCLA QB Kevin Prince was in a royal mood by supplying the greatest of all gifts which were three interceptions all in the first quarter. The prince became a pauper and sat the bench for the rest of the game.

2nd Quarter (11:36) WTH Malcolm?! We have to call out the freshmen’s first touchdown run of his career as a Longhorn. Malcolm Brown had a spectacular day finishing with 110 yards while running for his first touchdown with only one shoe on. Wonder what he will do to top that feet on his next TD run?

2nd Quarter (:58) WTH Flag Football?! It is amazing to see how Marquise Goodwin has set the tone for this team with his speed and blocking. The hit that laid out the UCLA defender was a thing of beauty to spring Mike Davis for a nice reception. The referee thought that they played two hand touch in California when he threw the flag for the personal foul.

2nd Quarter (:21) WTH Horseshoe 1?! Shout out to Beau Edge from 104.9 The Horn to give the ultimate description for Case McCoy. Not a great practice player and not the measurable you would see from a top ranked prospect but the kid has a golden horseshoe up his butt and he just makes plays. Case scrambles around and makes something out of nothing by hitting Mike Davis for a 25 yard play that eventually leads to another touchdown before the half.

3rd Quarter (9:45) WTH Horseshoe 2?! Case McCoy delivers another crazy play when he throws up a prayer that is tipped by the UCLA defender right into the waiting arms of Mike Davis for 45 yards. Case will make more mistakes as he is growing into the leader of this team. But it does seem that he has the IT factor that we all want from the position.

3rd Quarter (1:40) WTH Harsin?! Coach Harsin is demonstrating how to operate an offense when he uses the wildcat formation to spring Fozzy Whitaker in for a back braking touchdown to put the Horns up by 22 points. Hope that Coach Applewhite is learning the play calling skills because Harsin will be head coach sooner than the Horn fans want to think about it.

4th Quarter (12:29) WTH DB’s?! What a coming out party for this young secondary. Adrian Phillips, Kenny Vaccaro, and Carrington Byndom all had interceptions. But Adrian needs to be singled out for the ferocious hit he delivered to force the ball out from the UCLA receiver which was recovered by Blake Gideon. Great job by the defense to switch momentum after the Horns suffered a fumble deep in their own territory.

Next up for the Longhorns are the Cyclones as they travel to Ames for the game on Oct. 1st.

Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at @40AcresSports or follow me at @Horns1991. HOOK EM!!

At the Start of the season, I was figuring Texas was looking to bounce back with a solid 8 win campaign and I had them being 2-1 after the first three games, but that was the best case scenario. Fast forward to the season and the Longhorns just had their way with UCLA and are now 3-0. This is a surprising revelation for any fan, even the most optimistic and diehard fan had to figure that a 3 -0 start wasn’t in the cards for this team.

Given the fact that Garret Gilbert was the starting quarterback, there wasn’t any sign of hope for this to happen.

Thankfully Mack and the coaching staff came to their senses and decided to hand over the starting job to Case McCoy and David Ash. This is why the Longhorns left Los Angeles with a victory. These two quarterbacks are an exciting combination and have energized the offense and will help this young team build on an already magnificent start. Nobody thinks this team will go undefeated and compete for a championship, but with each game and another win, something special could happen. This is where the coaching and youth need to find a happy medium, but the youth can mature this season, and start building the foundation towards something special in the future.

Right now Texas is 3-0, but with some luck and preparation, they could easily make it to the October showdown in Dallas with an undefeated record. But that is still a ways off, and nobody should start looking ahead. The fans and the team need to take it one game at a time, one series at a time and let the momentum build to where the football gods will let it go. There are some exciting things happening on the 40 acres, and as long as the coaches let the team learn and build, things will fall into place. Who expected this to happen after the disaster from last year?

WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the BYU Cougars.

Malcolm Brown rushed for 68 yards against BYU.

1st Quarter (15:00) WTH Cable Wars?! ESPN and Time Warner are battling it out over the broadcasting of the LHN. Interesting how the Texas athletic department is OK taking ad revenue along the stadium stands. There were Time Warner Cable banners all across the stadium while ESPN is broadcasting the game.

1st Quarter (1:54) WTH Grape?! This may be my last reference to Garrett Gilbert. The last image maybe of him throwing into double coverage where the BYU safety easily picked off the throw. He constantly locks his eyes on one receiver and makes poor decisions. I really hope he can fix the mental issues of his game. He may need to fix it while on another team’s roster.

3rd Quarter (12:45) WTH Hockey?! I have seen more shift changes in this football game than in the NHL. David Ash for one play and then comes Case McCoy. Great block delivered by David to help the running game get the team back into the game 13-10. Is it me or does David look like Sam Bradford when he has his helmet on?

3rd Quarter (4:26) WTH Marquise?! It is great to see Marquise Goodwin back to help out this team of struggling wide receivers. But you cannot get tripped up on your electrifying return of 40 yards by the BYU kicker. Marquise came back because he missed the team camaraderie. Well get ready for some ribbing in the film room this week.

4th Quarter (11:18) WTH Roommates?! Case hooks up with Jaxon Shipley on consecutive 1st down throws. Jaxon hurdles one defender on the first throw and snags the next pass play one handed to bring DKR fans to its feet. The momentum of these two plays carries the Horns on to take the lead for good. Did you know that Case and Jaxon are roommates? Here we go again and I am starting to like it.

4th Quarter (3:39) WTH Diggs?! This call out should be for the entire defense on how great their play was on the field especially giving up only 67 total yards in the second half. Cornerback Quandre Diggs interception was the momentum shifter that the defense needed until we saw the closer.

4th Quarter (2:44) WTH Harsin?! The Lone Star State is starting to warm up to the Boise State offense when you see a freshmen wide receiver, Shipley, throwing a pass to another freshmen quarterback, Ash, to move the chains. New Kids on the Block should be replacing this year’s slogan of Brick by Brick.

4th Quarter (1:34) WTH Closer?! I would like to introduce the newest nickname to one of our stable of running backs who we will now affectionately call The Closer. Malcolm Brown running off left tackle for 14 yards sealed the win for the Horns and will hopefully garner more than the 14 carries next game.

Next up for the Longhorns are the Bruins as they travel to LA for the game at 2:30pm on Sept. 17th.

Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!