Follow along live with 40 Acres Sports on Twitter and below for our thoughts and analysis during tonight’s game versus [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] on ABC. We’ll be live right around kickoff so join us to discuss the game right around 7pm tonight.
Feel free to leave comments and questions using the live tool, but not all comments will be published. Read below for more notes on comments and how the live blog will work. Hook ’em!
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Brief highlights of yesterday’s Texas win over [tag]Wyoming[/tag] from Versus:
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Follow along below or with @40AcresSports on Twitter for live updates on the Texas vs. Wyoming game tonight at 2:30pm…
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Refs just blew whistle and called delay of game with 2 seconds left on play clock. Mack is flabbergasted. #ut
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Great effort and block by Tray Allen as Chiles takes screen pass to the house. Touchdown horns!! Nice block by M Williams too. #ut
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Wyoming defense looks exhausted. Tre Newton takes it right up middle got 14 yd touchdown. Newton looks good. #ut 34 wyo 10
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Colt breaks tackles, rolls left and finds Buckner alone. Buckner breaks tackles, gets block from Newton and scores!! #ut
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Apparently MWC officials have no idea what holding is. Opposite if big 12 refs who never call it. #ut
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96 seconds into 2nd half Longhorns strike on McCoy option keeper. Whew. Don’t take foot off gas Horns. #ut 20 wyo 10
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DJ Monroe takes short 2nd half kickoff back to wyo 40. Great start. Saw 2 #UT players high five, hope refs don’t flag them. 😉
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Think the Wyo coach’s necklace looks like it’s made of gumballs and popcorn. #ut (2nd half bout to start.)
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RT @ChipBrownOB: UT held Wyo w/out a single f1st down in 2nd quarter. Defense playing lights out. All 10 Wyo points traced to sp teams.
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RT @mikefinger: Colt McCoy’s halftime numbers: 17-of-29, 166 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. If no one was watching, it actually looks respectable. #UT
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RT @stevehabel: At half, TX has 237 yards to WYO’s 99, thanks to big final drive for TD. UT has 11 FD to 6 for WYO (none in 2nd qtr) #ut
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Surprised by wyo taking a knee despite getting ball after OOB kickoff. Halftime. Let’s see how horns regroup. #ut 13 wyo 10
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KIRKENDOLL!!! Fantastic run after catch on crossing route and jukes/stumbles into endzone for TD. #ut 13 wyo 10
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Holding call gives Wyoming 7 points as #ut has punt block breakdown and cowboys take it into endzone.
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More bad officiating. It’s not a hold just because lineman’s hands are on defenders back. Costs #ut 1st down
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Fantastic defense by Randall and huge open field tackle by K Robinson stop wyo on 3rd and 3. #ut ball with 2:40 left.
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@KEYE_Sports #UT is fine. They’ll win thanks to overwhelming D. (knock on wood.) but it’s not overreaction to say they’re playing awful.
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Dan Buckner with fantastic block but Colt McCoy looking very 2007. Not good. Interception Wyoming. #ut
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Horns get down to 3 but false start by Snow and then series of stumbles forces them to settle for fiejd goal. #ut 6 wyo 3
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Another clueless flag by MWC refs. Call illegal forward pass when Colt was behind line of scrimmage. #ut
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RT @chrismaka: That upside-down Horns sign is actually the official international hand sign for “I AM A COMPLETE DOUCHE BAG”
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Surprised by wyo decision to punt with 4th and 5 on #ut 45 yard line. Horns will take ball inside their 10.
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Kindle has gotten several shots in on Wyo qb but he’s doing good job getting rid of ball. #ut DBs giving lots of cushion.
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Colt not looking his normal accurate self. Leaving a lot of passes way high. #ut has to punt. Tucker with nice lefty soccer pooch punt.
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Wyo DBs off the LOS and bailing at snap. Colt having to hit underneath checkdowns. Might need to test deep middle. #ut.
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Not sure that was 15 yd roughing but #ut will take it. Wyo hits punter and gives horns free first down.
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Horns front 4 getting great pressure if Wyo just drops back to pass. More trouble when they zone play action and move pocket. #ut
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After moving downfield easily Horns forced to settle for 32 yd field goal from Lawrence. #ut 3 wyo 0
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Dont forget: Follow along with today’s #UT vs Wyoming game live here on twitter and at http://bit.ly/10exfb
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RT @suzhalliburton: For those keeping score, #ut brought 74 players. Mack brown told us they normally take 80 on non-conf road games
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RT @bobcatbaseball: Snow?! Rain is already blowing my mind. RT @kbohls: About to rain in dallas. Hearing chance of snow in wyoming. #ut
Follow along below or with @40AcresSports on Twitter for live updates on the Texas vs. Louisiana-Monroe game tonight at 6pm…
Texas will enter the 2009 season with national yitle hopes after a stellar 2008 campaign. In fact, [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] was pointing towards 2009 last offseason as the team he was looking forward to taking to his second title. Even with the anticipated success there are a few question marks on the field.
1. Will the offensive line play get better?
Texas struggled to run the ball late in games all of last year. Mack Brown wants that to change. So much so that all accounts point to the team spending most of the spring figuring out what needs to change. Outsiders point to scheme, but this is the same scheme that allowed [tag]Vince Young[/tag], Selvin Young, and Jamaal Charles to rack up tons of yards in 2005. The difference is Kasey Studdard, Jonathan Scott, and Justin Blalock won’t be in the starting lineup. The big guys up front have been good, but not great, and with most of them now in their third and fourth year in the program there are no more excuses. Texas’ offensive lineman must play stronger at the point of attack for this offense to be as balanced as Brown wants it to be. The Longhorns may not have a true game breaker in the backfield, but they’re good enough to do damage if given the holes. If Texas can get a running game going the offense could be the best ever at Texas. Guys like [tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag], [tag]Michael Huey[/tag], and [tag]Kyle Hix[/tag] need to step up and be as dominant as most think they can be.
2. Who is going to step up at running back?
For most of the spring [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] was running with the first team. Texas is looking to go under center more this year, and Johnson is clearly the best downhill runner on the roster, at least until [tag]Chris Whaley[/tag] reports. Unfortunately, Johnson got hurt and will miss the spring game on Sunday. The door could be no more wide open for the likes of [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag], [tag]Foswhitt Whittaker[/tag], [tag]Tre Newton[/tag], and [tag]Jeremy Hills[/tag]. The staff knows what they have in McGee and Whittaker. McGee is explosive and a hard runner, but doesn’t offer the receiving and/or blocking skills position coach Major Applewhite stresses in his players. A lot of people feel like the staff wants Whittaker to be the guy because of his skill set, but the little guy just can’t stay healthy. There hasn’t been a huge buzz around Hills or Newton but an eye opening spring game could set them up for playing time in the fall. The fact is somebody needs to step up because the running game is the only thing holding this offense back.
3. Who will get to the quarterback?
We all know [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] will be on one side, but who will be the other defensive end? Texas feels like Kindle will replace the production provided by soon to be multi-millionaire [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag], but who will replace Kindle’s? Right now it looks like [tag]Sam Acho[/tag] will get the start with [tag]Eddie Jones[/tag] and maybe even freshman [tag]Alex Okafor[/tag] getting looks on pure rushing situations. Defensive coordinator [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] has Acho’s brother Emmanuel working at the buck end position along with starting inside linebacker [tag]Jared Norton[/tag]. More than likely it won’t matter who is on the field, Muschamp won’t allow the defense not to get pressure. How much will Texas show in the spring game is a question that can’t be answered, but with a secondary that returns all but one contributor it is likely that Muschamp will unleash the hounds this year. The question is will he apply pressure because of his personnel like last year, or will he have to do it with scheme.
4. Who’ll play in the nickel formation?
For all intents and purposes the Longhorn defense is a 4-2-5. Texas says their base is a three linebacker set, but with the offenses they face in the Big 12 more times than not five defensive backs on the field. Going into the spring there were grumblings about the perceived battle between returning starter [tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] and the message board deity [tag]Christian Scott[/tag] and who will get the snaps, but it looks like Muschamp has found an answer, and that answer is both. The speed and versatility of [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] has allowed Muschamp to play him in the slot while keeping the brains of Gideon on the field while not sacrificing the athletic gifts of Scott. The cornerback situation appears to have already settled despite what anybody says. Right now [tag]Chykie Brown[/tag] and [tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] are locked in as the starters with [tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] and [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] backing up. In the past it has been hard for underclassman to jump over guys with more experience but it looks like the talent of Williams is too much to overlook. The true sophomore to be has a chance to be one of the best defensive backs to come through the 40 acres if what the staff thinks about him is true. The whole formation depends on how Thomas does in the slot. If he can stay there, Texas can have three safeties on the field.
5. Who will step up and lead?
We know who the likely candidates are on offense. [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag], [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag], and [tag]Adam Ulatoski[/tag] would figure to take charge on that side of the ball. All three levels of the defense will lose the guy most pegged as their emotional leader. The defensive line lost [tag]Roy Miller[/tag] and Brian Orakpo, the linebackers lost Rashad Bobino, and the defensive backs lost Ryan Palmer. If last year’s team taught us anything it is that leadership or the lack there of can never be overlooked. If you need any other evidence take a look at the Cowboys. From a talent perspective Kindle and [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] would lead the charge, but both of those guys are quiet and low key by nature. [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] has been said to be taking charge in the front seven and Thomas has it locked in the secondary. The team keeping the momentum and mentality of last year will ultimately decide if all the goals are met this season.
Update: Download named rosters for NCAA Football 10. (7/23/2009)
NCAA Football 09 is less than a month away, the demo is up on Xbox Live and the Playstation Network, and player ratings are starting to make their way on to the Internet. EA Sports released the team top 25 and player ratings for all those teams.
I went through the list and put the players’ real names in where possible. I had trouble with a lot of the true freshmen in the game so if you know who any of the blank names are or if I made any mistakes please let me know in the comments. It really looks like EA did a poor job this year on the roster and depth chart. Hopefully it’s a little more accurate when the game is released.
You can download Excel files of the player ratings at the bottom of this post or check out the overall ratings for the Texas team below:
Real Name | Name | Year | Position | Rating |
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[tag]Buck Burnette[/tag] | C #66 | Soph(RS) | C | 78 |
C #60 | Fresh | C | 72 | |
[tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] | CB #7 | Junior | CB | 85 |
[tag]Ryan Palmer[/tag] | CB #13 | Senior(RS) | CB | 84 |
[tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] | CB #3 | Soph | CB | 83 |
[tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] | CB #26 | Fresh | CB | 80 |
[tag]Chykie Brown[/tag] | CB #8 | Soph(RS) | CB | 80 |
[tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] | CB #12 | Fresh(RS) | CB | 78 |
[tag]DJ Monroe[/tag] | CB #27 | Fresh | CB | 76 |
[tag]Roy Miller[/tag] | DT #99 | Senior | DT | 90 |
[tag]Jarvis Humphrey[/tag] | DT #96 | Fresh | DT | 80 |
[tag]Brian Ellis[/tag] | DT #90 | Soph(RS) | DT | 78 |
[tag]Ben Alexander[/tag] | DT #92 | Junior | DT | 76 |
[tag]Kheeston Randall[/tag] | DT #88 | Fresh | DT | 76 |
[tag]Chris Ogbonnayya[/tag] | FB #3 | Senior(RS) | FB | 93 |
[tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] | FB #31 | Fresh(RS) | FB | 72 |
[tag]Ben Wells[/tag] | FS #5 | Fresh(RS) | FS | 84 |
[tag]Christian Scott[/tag] | FS #6 | Fresh(RS) | FS | 77 |
[tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] | FS #21 | Fresh | FS | 77 |
[tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] | HB #2 | Soph(RS) | HB | 85 |
[tag]DeSean Hales[/tag] | HB #30 | Fresh | HB | 80 |
[tag]Antwan Cobb[/tag] | HB #24 | Soph(RS) | HB | 79 |
[tag]Fozzy Whittaker[/tag] | HB #22 | Fresh(RS) | HB | 78 |
[tag]Jeremy Hills[/tag] | HB #32 | Fresh | HB | 76 |
[tag]Tre Newton[/tag] | HB #23 | Fresh | HB | 73 |
[tag]Hunter Lawrence[/tag] | K #15 | Junior | K | 82 |
[tag]Justin Tucker[/tag] | K #9 | Fresh | K | 69 |
[tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] | LE #33 | Junior | LE | 91 |
[tag]Aaron Lewis[/tag] | LE #95 | Senior | LE | 85 |
[tag]Henry Melton[/tag] | LE #37 | Senior | LE | 80 |
[tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag] | LG #52 | Junior(RS) | LG | 86 |
[tag]Tray Allen[/tag] | LG #70 | Soph | LG | 82 |
[tag]Chris Hall[/tag] | LG #71 | Junior(RS) | LG | 81 |
[tag]Aundre McGaskey[/tag] | LG #76 | Fresh(RS) | LG | 74 |
[tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] | LOLB #2 | Junior | LOLB | 85 |
LOLB #16 | Fresh | LOLB | 80 | |
LOLB #57 | Fresh | LOLB | 76 | |
[tag]David Snow[/tag] | LT #78 | Fresh | LT | 78 |
[tag]Britt Mitchell[/tag] | LT #72 | Soph(RS) | LT | 78 |
[tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] | MLB #44 | Senior(RS) | MLB | 90 |
[tag]Jared Norton[/tag] | MLB #11 | Junior | MLB | 85 |
[tag]Trevor Gerland[/tag] | P #17 | Junior(RS) | P | 83 |
[tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] | QB #12 | Junior(RS) | QB | 89 |
[tag]Sherrod Harris[/tag] | QB #17 | Soph(RS) | QB | 81 |
[tag]John Chiles[/tag] | QB #7 | Soph | QB | 79 |
[tag]Eddie Jones[/tag] | RE #32 | Soph(RS) | RE | 92 |
[tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] | RE #98 | Senior(RS) | RE | 90 |
[tag]Russell Carter[/tag] | RE #97 | Fresh(RS) | RE | 77 |
[tag]Cedric Dockery[/tag] | RG #55 | Senior(RS) | RG | 89 |
[tag]Michael Huey[/tag] | RG #63 | Soph | RG | 81 |
[tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] | ROLB #38 | Junior(RS) | ROLB | 87 |
[tag]Keenan Robinson[/tag] | ROLB #53 | Fresh(RS) | ROLB | 82 |
ROLB #4 | Fresh | ROLB | 75 | |
[tag]Adam Ulatoski[/tag] | RT #74 | Junior(RS) | RT | 85 |
[tag]Mark Buchanan[/tag] | RT #54 | Fresh | RT | 74 |
[tag]Ishie Oduegwu[/tag] | SS #19 | Junior(RS) | SS | 88 |
[tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag] | SS #36 | Fresh | SS | 79 |
[tag]Peter Ullman[/tag] | TE #86 | Senior(RS) | TE | 81 |
[tag]Ahmard Howard[/tag] | TE #13 | Fresh(RS) | TE | 74 |
[tag]Blaine Irby[/tag] | TE #19 | Soph | TE | 73 |
[tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] | WR #6 | Senior | WR | 89 |
[tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] | WR #8 | Senior(RS) | WR | 84 |
[tag]Montre Webber[/tag] | WR #14 | Soph(RS) | WR | 83 |
[tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] | WR #4 | Fresh | WR | 79 |
[tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag] | WR #9 | Fresh(RS) | WR | 78 |
[tag]DJ Grant[/tag] | WR #80 | Fresh | WR | 75 |
[tag]Antoine Hicks[/tag] | WR #81 | Fresh | WR | 75 |
[tag]James Kirkendoll[/tag] | WR #87 | Soph | WR | 74 |
Downloads
The big one got away today (under suspicious circumstances) but the 2008 Texas recruiting class is still a good one. Mack Brown and the Horns signed 20 young athletes to letters of intent, nine of which are already on campus for the spring semester.
The class is headlined by defensive backs Aaron Williams and DJ Monroe, who along with safety Nolan Brewster, should anchor the Texas defensive backfield for the next four or five years. On the offensive side WR/RB DeSean Hales is electric with the football in his hands and wide receiver Dan Buckner is huge and will catch anything thrown in his general direction.
Here’s the full list of signees:
Name | Position | Rating | Hometown |
---|---|---|---|
[tag]Emmanuel Acho[/tag] | LB | Dallas | |
[tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag] | DB | Denver, CO | |
[tag]Mark Buchanan[/tag] | OL | Austin | |
[tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] | WR | Allen | |
[tag]Brock Fitzhenry[/tag] | RB | Giddings | |
[tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] | DB | Leander | |
[tag]DJ Grant[/tag] | WR | Austin | |
[tag]DeSean Hales[/tag] | RB | Klein | |
[tag]Antoine Hicks[/tag] | ATH | Mansfield | |
[tag]Jeremy Hills[/tag] | RB | Alief | |
[tag]Jarvis Humphrey[/tag] | DT | Cedar Hill | |
[tag]Dravannti Johnson[/tag] | LB | Nederland | |
[tag]DJ Monroe[/tag] | DB | Angleton | |
[tag]Tre Newton[/tag] | RB | Southlake | |
[tag]Luke Poehlmann[/tag] | OL | Brenham | |
[tag]Kheeston Randall[/tag] | DT | Beaumont | |
[tag]Ryan Roberson[/tag] | RB | Brenham | |
[tag]David Snow[/tag] | OL | Gilmer | |
[tag]Justin Tucker[/tag] | K | Austin | |
[tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] | DB | Round Rock |
Congratulations to the newest Texas Longhorns!
Texas picked up commitments number thirteen and fourteen for 2008 on Saturday as running back [tag]Tre Newton[/tag] and quarterback/athlete Riley Dodge told Mack Brown they’d be Longhorns. Both players of course have pretty good football bloodlines, Riley is the son of former Longhorn QB and current North Texas coach Todd Dodge and Tre is the son of former Dallas Cowboy Nate Newton. Neither player has ever lost a high school football game.
Newton is a big time running back who has great speed and size, lots of natural ability and big upside as well. Dodge is an athletic QB but might be more likely to end up as either a wide receiver or defensive back as a Longhorn. Both players are on schedule to graduate in December and be on campus in the spring. Video of each is posted below.
Tre Newton’s incredible 74-yard touchdown against Austin Westlake:
Riley Dodge leaves it all on the field in the same game: