40 Acres Sports

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!!

The Longhorns didn’t finish off the 2009 recruiting class with the bang some fans were hoping for, but the class is still one of the top in the nation. Rivals.com ranks Texas as fifth overall class overall, but is with [tag]Florida[/tag] and USC for best average rating per prospect. Check out a brief video feature on the entire top ten below:

Even though there is no Texas game this weekend, it almost feels like it with all of the Big 12 South implications that come with Texas Tech playing at Oklahoma. I feel like our best shot to go to the National Championship game is if Oklahoma beats Tech, but does that really mean I have to root for OU? That kind of makes me nauseous.

Well besides that game there really isn’t much to watch this Saturday. I guess that just gives more time to warm-up before the big game at night. And just FYI, I did go 3-0 last weekend against the spread, and plan to this weekend also.

Michigan at #10 Ohio State (-21) – 12:00 PM EST on ABC. I guess if you wake up early enough and have nothing else to do, this is the game to watch. With Michigan losing 8 games this year (first time ever by the way) and Ohio State in the #10 spot, you would think this would be an easy win for OSU. But in this kind of game anything can and usually happens. Ohio State doesn’t have the offense to cover a 21 point spread against Michigan, and this could be the game to save Coach Rodriguez’s job. Now I don’t really expect Michigan win, but it wouldn’t surprise me, and I think they easily stay inside the points. Take Michigan.

#15 Michigan State at #8 Penn State (-15.5) – 3:30 PM EST on ABC. A win for Penn State here and they are in the Rose Bowl. This could also be Coach Pat’s last year in Happy Valley, so you know the players are fired up. Michigan State has lost 10 straight games against ranked opponents. The weather looks rough up north, which means the running game takes on more importance. With Michigan State’s already weak passing game, I expect Penn State to load up on the run and prevent Javon Ringer from having a big game. This one will be over in the first half. Take Penn State.

#2 Texas Tech at #5 Oklahoma (-7) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. The game every Texas fan will be watching. If Texas Tech wins they are automatically in the Big 12 Championship. If Oklahoma wins, they will have to also beat Oklahoma State and stay ahead of Texas in the BCS to play in the championship. Lots of pressure in this one. Texas Tech always pulls a “Tech” and implodes on themselves for at least one game. And this year will be no different. Oklahoma has been averaging 47 points in the first half in their last 4 games. When playing an offense like Tech, it can never be over in the first quarter, but this one could start getting ugly early. Take OU in this one.

An interesting note on the spread. It is holding steady at 7 even though you will see the juice rising all the way up to +110 at some places. That means there is obviously a lot of public money coming in on Tech, but there is some reason the bookies are holding that number. To me that seems odd and just another reason to take OU.

Like most people, I have been waiting for this weekend for some time because we get to see two of the top teams in the nation square off during the regular season, #1 USC vs. #5 Ohio State. There is almost as much hype for this game as the National Championship. Unfortunately some of that excitement has diminished for me since it has been reported that Chris “Beanie” Wells will not play this Saturday against USC.

And now that we know Texas vs. Arkansas is postponed, we have to find something else to watch. Let’s see what is going on this weekend. (P.S. I went 2-0-1 last weekend with my picks)

Michigan at Notre Dame (+1) – 3:43 PM EST on NBC. Some of the luster of this game has worn off since both programs seem to be struggling. Even so, NBC’s broadcast of this game in HD looks great, and it will be good fun seeing Notre Dame get embarrassed at home. Notre Dame should have lost last weekend, and I just can’t see anyway they can pull off that same miracle against Michigan. I’m not a huge fan of Rich Rodriguez, but I seem them winning easily this weekend.

#3 Oklahoma at Washington (+20) – 7:45 PM EST on ESPN. I’m pretty curious to see how Washington responds to getting screwed last weekend against BYU. It will probably either be extremely good, or extremely bad. I am going to go with the latter. Oklahoma’s offense continues to improve and their young wide receivers are absolutely torching the opponents’ secondary. Oklahoma is averaging 55 points per game, Washington 19. You can do the math here. Expect Oklahoma to win by 30.

#5 Ohio State at #1 USC (-11) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. Like I said, this game isn’t as exciting since Ohio State isn’t bringing all of their weapons, but this will still probably be the biggest game in college football this year. So far this year USC has been more impressive than we thought, and Ohio State has been not nearly been as good as we expected. Without Chris Wells I don’t see them able to get the running game going against USC’s strong defense, which in turn puts more pressure on QB Todd Boeckman and freshman QB Terrelle Pryor. Boeckman is coming off one of the worst games of his career. Things are probably only going to get worse. And Pryor will most likely be a big-time quarterback soon in college football, but now is not that time.

USC on the other hand has a “stable” of 6 running backs on their team, probably all of whom would start on most teams in the country. Does 6 sound like a little too many? Yeah, sure does, but 5 of the 6 scored touchdowns against Virginia in their season opener. Talk about depth. Bottomline, Ohio State has no shot in this game and will probably lose by 20. Take USC here.

2. Michigan Wolverines

Classic colors, jerseys, and of course great helmets. There’s not a more iconic and distinctive helmet in college football than the winged maize and blue design the Wolverines have had since 1938. The white jerseys are good, but the dark blues are our favorite home uniform.

The Michigan uniforms are easily our second favorite out there and the top two on this list are a cut above any other team. The pants and jerseys have changed over the years (and may be changing again this season) but as long as the helmets stay the same they’ll remain at the top of any top uniforms list.

Check back Wednesday for the best college football uniform in the country.

College football’s best uniforms

1. Texas
2. Michigan
3. Florida State
4. Southern Cal
5. Notre Dame