40 Acres Sports

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 Wildcats.

Pre-Game Respect. A great decision by the UT brass to have a moment of silence before the game for the Oklahoma State’s tragedy of losing two of their women’s basketball coaches in a plane crash. Nice touch with the OSU logo on the Godzillatron.

1st Quarter (11:03) WTH Ash?! David Ash needs to realize that you do not need to jump when you throw the football. He has a tremendous upside but the decision making is suspect. Wildcats put the first points of the game after the turnonver.

2nd Quarter (3:02) WTH Blue Chip?! Way to take the momentum right out of the stadium. Coach Brown decides to go for it on fourth down at their own 41 yard line. Tray Allen false starts which kills the drive and ends up leading to a punt and the turning point of the game.

2nd Quarter (2:51) WTH Refs?! I am getting sick of these judgment calls! The KSU punt returner, Tramaine Thompson, fumbles the ball and the Horns recover in great field position. The ref felt that the returner was scared of the oncoming pressure and decided to throw the flag. Best Mack Brown meltdown ever.

2nd Quarter (:57) WTH Mack?! KSU was trying to get into position for a score before the half. Wildcat Sheldon Smith did his best tight rope act along the sidelines with a 24 yard catch which the refs really enjoyed by deciding to make the judgment call that it was a catch. Mack you have got to challenge that call. You do not need the timeouts so why not get the booth to review it.

3rd Quarter (3:43) WTH McCoy?! I guess the golden horseshoe is back in place. Case McCoy steps in an orchestrated a 6 play – 79 yard touchdown drive. Great designed play by Coach Harsin for McCoy to hit senior Blaine Irby for his first touchdown of the year.

End of Game (:00) WTH UT Defense?! What an incredible display of domination by this unit. It was sad to see the effort was wasted with a loss. The Horns held the Wildcats to 121 yards of total offense. Collin Klein, aka Honey Badger (please), had 4 net yards of rushing on 26 carries. The other telling stat is that the Wildcats had 9 series which they had 3 plays and punt.

Next up for the Longhorns are the Aggies for the final time? at 7PM on Turkey Day.
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 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!!

Who knew Mack Brown was such a Dancing with the Stars fan?

I want a TV hidden behind a painting in my office.

Video from Mack Brown’s Monday press conference:

Update: For some reason the embed is only coming across as 3 minutes long. Watch the whole thing here.

I wanted to use a phrase for this football season similar to what Mack Brown uses for his team. This
year’s moniker is “Brick by Brick”. Mack wants to rebuild this program back to where it belongs. I
would like to refer to this upcoming season as PAIN. Not the type of Pain referenced by Clubber Lang to Rocky. (Check out the 2011 Longhorn Football Preview – Rocky Version.)

This season will be more like “Growing Pains” for the Longhorns this year. Did you know that during
this great television show (tongue in cheek) from 1985 through 1992 that the Longhorns had four losing
seasons? After painstakingly finding that crazy stat, I realized that it will be difficult to get back to
the greatness that the Horns had just experienced. Again, I know that the Horns have more talent than
probably most schools in the country, but the ability to beat teams on talent alone went out the window
with last year’s 5-7 season. It was painfully obvious that changes needed to be made.

A new coaching staff, plus a new strength and conditioning coach and a new sense of involvement from
the CEO was taking place. The future looks bright with the young coaching staff and the talent that
should be developed and utilized. Wonder when the first fan will say I am glad we got rid of that pain in
the ass Greg Davis? But it pains me to say that all this hope and new attitude does not always equal more
wins.

Remember that every team that was once the South Division had a better record and you can probably say
that every one of those teams has improved. OU, OSU, A&M, and Baylor all have returning quarterbacks
and their leading receiver. The quarterback position at UT is still a question mark and the offense has to
learn a whole new way of operating. The defensive staff has a new set of cornerbacks and hopes that a
defensive tackle will step up. There are so many more question marks than answers that UT fans need to
up their pain medication for this year.

You need to ask yourself will this team be above or below the 7 1/2 win mark at the end of the regular
season. Give me the under at 7 wins with the hope that we will be inflicting more pain than receiving
towards the end of the season. I know that this prediction was painful to read.

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!!

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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 Wildcats.

Start of the Game (15:00) WTH Little Apple?! A whopping 46,734 fans is the most intimidating place in the conference for UT? Seeing the Horns walk down the curved ramp, did they have to go through a turnstile to get onto the field. It’s still hard to believe a team from Manhattan Kansas has such a stranglehold on this team.

1st Quarter (14:07) WTH Defense?! The entire defense needs to be called out giving up such a quick score. It is also disturbing when a backup QB Collin Klein racks up a team high 151 yards of rushing and only 9 yards of passing. You know the run is coming and you cannot stop it?!

1st Quarter (9:28) WTH Mack 1?! I need to call out the gambler who has been quite successful on calling 4th down plays. The Wildcats have one of the worst rushing defenses in the country so the decision is to run a trick play which calls for a 5 yard snap back to the kicker in order to just gain one yard on 4th down.

1st Quarter (5:08) WTH Glee Club?! UT should employ K-State drum major CJ Longabaugh for his motivational speeches. Coming back from commercial, ESPN showed his final home game senior speech to his band members by ending it with “…Let’s finish Right 1, 2, 3!”

1st Quarter (4:04) WTH Kirkendoll?! James Kirkendoll had a good night with 6 catches for 72 yards. But the receiver had a once in a life time blunder when he was called for pass interference while he was run blocking his defender. When it rains it pours…

2nd Quarter (6:52) WTH Mack 2?! Are you trying to tell me that you designed exotics (trick plays) for punter Justin Tucker, but did not have one single play call designed for DJ Monroe. It’s amazing that you try gaining 10 yards by starting off with a reverse which gives way to an option to only get 7 yards. To add insult to injury, the team had a holding penalty that would have wiped out anything remotely positive on that play.

2nd Quarter (3:14) WTH Trey?! I know that you are just a freshman, but Trey Hopkins will have to serve as the poster boy for the failures of the offense line. The biggest pass play of the night (a TD) to James Kirkendoll was wiped out by your holding penalty. ESPN cameras throughout the night captured the UT fans in all of their anguish and disgust.

2nd Quarter (:20) WTH Grape?! One of the many hardships that follow Gilbert Grape (I mean Garrett) is the desire to force a throw. With the Horns on the doorstep of ending its sour first half, Gilbert launches an ill advised pass to the K-State defender Ty Zimmerman in the end zone. Grape will end up dishing out 5 INT’s without a hint of sitting him down to let him clear his head. I hope the coaches were right for leaving him in there for his sake.

3rd Quarter (1:19) WTH Goodwin?! I know that are special teams are not even close to being special. But Marquise Goodwin did not even look like he knew what he was doing when he plowed into the punter to extend K-States drive for their final touchdown of the night. Who is our special team coach!? Mike Tolleson? The same coach that takes care of the defensive tackles needs to work on both job titles this week.

Next up for the Longhorn’s are the Cowboys of Oklahoma State in Austin on November 13th.

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.

Log on to flavortouchdown.com to enter for a chance to win the Sonic Flavor Touchdown Sweepstakes. You could win a prize package and a VIP football trip for 6 to the bowl game of your choice. Hopefully the Longhorns win at least two more games this season and make it to one of them. HOOK EM!!

Mack was on the Dan Patrick show Monday and said that he feels that since Vince came in second after the 2005 Heisman Trophy vote, he should get it now.  Quoth Mack:  “I think you have to go back and really give that choice to the Heisman Trust. If they take it away, I think Vince should be awarded the trophy.  Vince was second in the voting, so even if they re-voted I would like to see Vince get it.”

The Heisman Trust would have to re-vote then.  They haven’t even taken it away from Reggie Bush yet – SC’s new AD just shipped the school’s statue back to New York.  So of course all of this is hypothetical.  It’s also really unnecessary.  If you think about it, they vote and award the trophy before the BCS bowls in the first place.  The Trust has never wavered from doing that, so awarding a trophy on a re-vote after the player’s greatest moment came in a bowl game – even five years later – is opening them up for some criticism down the road.

I guess that having another Heisman on display could help with recruiting and adds to Vince’s list of accolades collected as a player, but to me, I want the program to be concentrating on what’s in front of them.  This to me sounds like something a school stuck in the past would do.  Vince already got the most important trophy available – after beating Reggie and ESPN’s “greatest team of all time” in their backyard.  Besides, Vince is not a college kid anymore.  He needs to concentrate on leading his NFL team and not another trip back to Austin to get honored.  His legacy is putting an entire program back on top of the world five years ago.

I also don’t want any asterisks associated with the greatness that was the Longhorn’s 2005 BCS Championship run.  That lame 2008 Big 12 title asterisk on the wall at Moncrief-Neuhaus was embarrassing.  If Mack wants a Heisman to show off, let’s see if one of our current guys can pick one up after an awesome season.

I hope that we are all happy as we start heading into the new season with a brand new quarterback and new expectations. The past five years have been an incredible run for the Longhorn football team with more wins in the programs history than at any other time in our 127 year history.

Let’s all take a moment to reflect back when this run all started in the mountains of California. (love the personal videos!)

“The Kick” coupled with the maturation of one of the greatest Longhorn players, Vince Young, brought us the momentum we needed to achieve greatness. This greatness was realized the very next year with a 13-0 record and a BCS National Championship when the Horns beat the glitzy boys from Southern Cal 41-38. The ultimate responsibility of following up such a legend was laid upon the shoulders of a young face quarterback from Tuscola Texas. That young player named Colt McCoy had the support of an energized and confident coach in Mack Brown to continue that success for the next four years. Those four years culminated in three bowl wins including a Big XII championship.

This historic kick put the Longhorns once again on the brink of success in the BCS National Championship game until the story book run came to an end. Colt McCoy none the less provided more wins than any Longhorn or college quarterback has ever delivered with 45 wins.

Why do I recap these moments that everyone clearly has experienced themselves? The reason is the fear that we will forget the past and not appreciate the run as we start the 2010 season. This year’s team is loaded with standout defensive players all led by Coach Blood. Our offense has a few question marks, but blue chips can be found including the quarterback who grew up quickly before our eyes against Alabama. I know that we have questions at running back and we are changing our offense scheme to be a more running team, but we should win every game, right?!

I feel good about going into this year but not with the type of success that we have seen around here over the past five years. Garrett Gilbert is the real deal, but I see growing pains along with our offensive line struggling with him. I still see us reaching 10 wins, but I see that 10th win coming at Jerry World (aka the Cotton Bowl) after we finish the regular season 9-3. Who will we lose to… be sure to check out all of our predictions at 40 Acres Sports throughout the season before every game. I hope that I am wrong, but I do not see Dusty Mangum or Hunter Lawrence on our team so I will just appreciate the season before us.

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!!

Mack Brown will crush you at Jenga, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Connect 4, and more.

Another year, another great ESPN College Gameday commercial with Mack Brown being hilarious. Almost all ESPN and Gameday commercials are great and have quoteable lines, in this one it’s “Jenga, Texas style baby!” from Mack. Last year’s “We don’t freestyle Texas Fight” was even better. Alabama coach Nick Saban isn’t quite as comfortable as Brown but he does deliver a good line and it’s good to see him trying to have a little fun.

Watch the video…

Defensive tackle Derek Johnson is a big dude. Can he play as good as he looks? (Image: MBTF)

After nearly two whole months without Texas football, Friday was finally the first day of Spring practice. No tidbits yet (practices are closed to the public) but the official site does have a short video to watch and a nice photo gallery as well.