40 Acres Sports

Looks like we’re definitely headed towards another situation where the early FSN game is going to interfere with the start of the Texas vs. [tag]Rice[/tag] game. Texas Tech and Oklahoma State have decided to forego defense and play a 9-hour offensive shootout. All is not lost however, if you’re a DirecTV customer the game will start on schedule on channel 667 and you can check out FSN Southwest’s contingency plan for the telecast over on the official UT football site. Plus I’ll post frequent updates on the game here on this post. Stay tuned…

First Quarter

• Rice won the toss and will kick off.
• Good deep kick and [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] takes a knee.
• Chris Hall starting at right tackle again. Limas Sweed is healthy enough to make the start at receiver.
• Colt McCoy misses Cosby on a 12 yard out.
• [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] may never touch the football again. Another damn fumble. Rice football.
• No surprises starting at linebacker. Same three veterans: Derry, Bobino, Killebrew.
• Great penetration on the blitz by [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] results in a loss of yards.
• [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] got the start at cornerback over Brandon Foster.
• How is that not grounding? Rice OL forgets to block Frank Okam and he gets a free run at the QB.
• There’s a flag, they called it after all. Rice lining up for 50-yard field goal attempt.
• Rice kicker misses wide left. My former coworker and former Rice kicker Derek Crabtree would’ve made that one. Or so he’d tell me.
• Charles is still the running back. McCoy hits Jermichael Finley on a quick out for a 9 yard game.
• Charles reverses field and gets a good gain. Kid has tons of talent, hold on to the ball and I’ll be your best friend.
• Ugly option play and McCoy gets brought down hard. Guard Cedric Dockery got his ass kicked.
• Great catch on a hitch by Cosby. Colt tried to get him killed. Short of the first down and Texas has to punt.
• Texas sends out [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] with the rest of the punting team in some sort of likely fake but we screw it up and have to blow a timeout.
• After the timeout we’ve got the regular offense out there for 4th and 2.
• Lead dive out by Charles behind FB Atwan Cobb gets the first down.
• Completion from McCoy to Nate Jones on a slant. 7 yard gain.
• McCoy fumbles the shotgun snap but he rolls to his left and finds Cosby alone for a completion and a first down.
• Terrible looking play where two Texas linemen are running laterally 3 yards deep in the backfield and Charles has to fight his way through them on the counter before he can get a couple of yards. Yikes.
• Tony Hills with an obvious hold made more obvious by the fact that he threw his hands up in the air trying to claim innocence. Costs the Horns a first and goal opportunity.
• McCoy and Cosby bail out Hills. Great pass and catch for the touchdown on 3rd and long. The inside receiver was even more open on the play.

Rice 0, Texas 7

• About 1:30 left in the Tech/OSU game and OSU just scored to go up by four on a 54 yard TD catch.
• Didn’t know Texas was using the Bill Bates air conditioned shoulder pads. Great technology.
• Great job by Aaron Lewis to string out the play, Bobino flies to the ball and blows up the blocker, and Lewis is able to make the tackle.
• The Rice receiver might have been bobbling that ball. Rice thinks so too and is running the no huddle.
• Rice’s line is getting whipped right now. They’re doubling the two defensive tackles and that allowed the end to come and make the tackle untouched.
• As I’ve said over and over again, that spread punt formation is the dumbest thing in college football. Texas gets the ball at their 33.
• Colt is holding the ball a tick too long on the deep ball. Another underthrown bomb and another incompletion. He’s got a good enough arm if he gets rid of it a little quicker he’d be a lot more successful.
• Long run by Charles on the single back counter.
• Another ill advised deep ball. Come on Colt. Be smart. Interception but there’s flag on the play.
• McCoy bailed out by the pass interference call. That could have gone either way. First down Texas.
• John Chiles in the game. McCoy motioned left and Chiles ran the zone read. Nice idea but center Dallas Griffin got his ass beat and a Rice lineman blew up the play.
• Two incompletions and Texas will have to attempt a field goal.
• Ryan Bailey’s 44-yard field goal goes right down the middle.

Rice 0, Texas 10

• If our corners are going to give 15 yard cushion they can’t miss freaking tackles. Beasley whiffs and there’s a good gain for Rice.
• Ryan Palmer shows Beasley how to do it.
• Sergio Kindle in the game. Texas defensive line is blowing up the zone read every time.
• Looked like all the young linebackers might have been out there on that series. Rice has to punt.
• Cosby fair catches a line drive punt at the 10 and Texas starts this possession with bad field position.
• Charles lined up at wideout and McCoy puts a beautiful pass in his hands and Charles drops it. Would have been an easy 6.
• Colt is leaving all these short passes up high. Doesn’t seem to have the zip on it he did last season.
• The game is on regular FSN Southwest now so I’ll be doing less play by play and make more witty comments.

Second Quarter

• (Had to pause the game and walk the dang dog. I’m a few minutes behind now, I’ll be caught up quick.) Great job by coaches Duane Akina and Larry Mac Duff on varying the blitzes we’re bringing. Texas forces the punt with 12:30 left.
• Rice punter gets off a 1 yard punt. Nice shank.
• [tag]Limas Sweed[/tag] takes a slant 50 yards for a touchdown!!!
• Correction, Sweed stepped out at the 3. Let’s see if our offense can punch the damn thing in now.
• Touchdown Jamaal Charles.

Rice 0, Texas 17

• Marcus Griffin does his best Michael Griffin impression. He should be the one able to pull it off pretty well. Great interception that looked very similar to Mike’s that helped turn the Rose Bowl against USC around.
• Greg Davis doing good job getting running backs involved in the passing game. Nice completion to Chris Ogbonnaya for a gain of 35.
• Wow. Incredibly stupid decision by McCoy to try to get rid of the football when he’s being brought down. Threw the ball directly sideways and it was almost a fumble. Refs ruled it a sack anyways.
• 4th and 9 I’d rather see us go for it then attempt a 52-yard field goal. Of course as soon as I say that Bailey donks it off the crossbar and it’s good. Great kick.

Rice 0, Texas 20

• Kindle, Jared Norton, and [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] are the linebackers on this series. Great pursuit by Muck.
• McCoy buys himself some time in the pocket and hits Sweed for a 53-yard touchdown. Nice play and nice throw by McCoy.

Rice 0, Texas 27

• FSN’s sideline reporter Emily Jones is considerably more attractive and less terrible than whoever was on the sidelines for the UCF game for ESPN last week. She had no clue what was going on.
• Linebacker [tag]Robert Killebrew[/tag] gets sucked in on the zone read again. If a team has any sort of misdirection plays in their playbook Killebrew shouldn’t be allowed on the field.
• Rice is trying to move the pocket around to protect their quarterback but it’s not working too well. Too much quickness out of our defensive tackles.
• Lamarr Houston is going to be a heck of an end for us. Kid is huge, has good speed, and seems to want to tear somebody’s head off. Nice speed rush by Houston and he gets a big sack.
• How does FSN miss plays during commercial breaks?? Don’t they take TV timeouts and hold up play waiting for them to come back?
• Colt isn’t afraid to throw any pass. Not sure if that’s a good thing.
• Charles is holding the ball way too low and loose going through the line. Nice run for the touchdown but I fear everytime he touches the ball.
• Genius FSN announcer just thought we ran the zone read somehow out of the I-formation. Nice call.

Rice 0, Texas 34

• Sergio Kindle has been down on the field injured for a few minutes now. Looks like he’s in lots of pain.
• Kindle is walking off on his own but let’s hope it’s not a knee or anything.
• Interception Muckelroy on a tipped ball. Thomas Marshall got a hand up and deflected the pass.
• McCoy to Sweed for the TD. Nice easy bomb. Not sure that’s a good throw against a good corner but it was an easy play with that matchup. Michael Huey was in there at right guard for that one play series.

Rice 0, Texas 41

• FSN misses half of the kickoff. Not good coverage and Rice may have a chance to put up some points before the half.
• I think that was Killebrew hitting the QB late. What a surprise. There’s no reason for him to be out there. Akina is pissed, but leaves him on the field.
• Beasley gets burned for a TD. Special teams and stupidity costs us the shut out.

Rice 7, Texas 41

• With a 34-point lead and only 18 seconds left why don’t we just take a knee? No reason to take a chance of getting Charles hurt on the draw.

Third Quarter

• As I feared, Kindle does have some sort of knee injury that will keep him out the rest of the game. Hope it’s not too serious, we need him on the field.
• Colt I know you can run pretty well, that doesn’t mean you should against Rice. Fall down champ after you get the first down.
• Nice effort by Ogbonnaya on a 3rd down to fight for extra yards and get the first down.
• I hate to keep harping on it but our interior linemen are not good. If the Horns are going to beat anyone with a decent defense they’ll need Charlie Tanner and Dallas Griffin to block better in the running game.
• Good blocking by Cedric Dockery and Chris Hall on that goalline play and Charles is able to score untouched.

Rice 7, Texas 48

• Mack Brown says “Robert Killebrew has two personalities.” Too bad the one that plays football is always out of place and committing personal fouls.
• Rice’s punter is an inconsistent SOB. One kick is 50+ yards and the next will be 10. That’s got to drive his coaches nuts.
• All I think of when I see the commercials for FSN’s show “Sport Science” is steroids.
• Josh Larocca? I’m not sure his parents would have known the answer to that AFLAC trivia question.
• Chiles and the rest of the backups are in there.
• Looked like Chiles audibled there. [tag]Brandon Collins[/tag] should have caught that one, could’ve been each player’s first completion/catch.
• There goes John Chiles. Nice subtle move to get big yards and then smartly steps out of bounds.
• Lots of true freshmen out there. I see Chiles, Tray Allen, Collins, Michael Huey, Kyle Hix, James Kirkendoll, and Blain Irby. Might be more.
• Kirkendoll looks tiny out there.
• Good solid drive ends with a [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] touchdown. Exciting drive that may not have had a single player older than a redshirt freshman out there.

Rice 7, Texas 55

• [tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] on his first play at Texas on defense gets burned deep. Might have been expecting deep help but looked more like he just got lost while looking in the backfield.
• Got the young guys in there in the secondary but still a lot of starters in the front seven.
• There’s [tag]Sam Acho[/tag] doing something again. Gets a little pressure and then gets a hand on the football to knock down a pass.
• Acho again! He’s from a tiny private school I thought it would take a while for him to do anything. He’s looked great in limited time this season.
• Holding would be assessed from the end of the run if the holding happened downfield beyond where the play ended. Der.

Fourth Quarter

• I think every single player out there on offense these last two drives may be a true or redshirt freshman. They look like they’re having a blast out there.
• Redshirt freshman TE Josh Marshall will need to get bigger and stronger before he can play the position. He’s going to have trouble run blocking.
• Emily Jones and FSN notices that the all freshmen are playing minutes after I do.
• Short field goal by Ryan Bailey.

Rice 7, Texas 58

• All backups in there on defense now too. First Henry Melton sighting of the season. Welcome back.
• Sad to see Drew Kelson out there now. Thought he was going to be a big contributor this year and last. He just whiffed on a tackle in the backfield. Jared Norton nearly killed the guy at the end of the run. Big hit.
• No wonder Rice is having trouble scoring, their offensive coordinator learned under Greg Davis!!! ZING!!
• Curtis Brown makes a great play on the ball. Looks like he may have good ball skills, hopefully he can learn to cover somebody.
• Our young corners are worrying me a little. I think we’re seeing why, despite the Internet uproar, Brandon Foster and Ryan Palmer are still starting at cornerback for this team.

Rice 14, Texas 58

• Sherrod Harris in at quarterback now. As much as I loved what I saw out of John Chiles I wish Harris had been healthy and we could have redshirted Chiles this year.
• Seriously, I frown everytime I see Kelson out there now. How could he contribute so much on that much better national championship defense yet not see the field this year?

Final: Rice 14, Texas 58

1. reply to  #1

   

   Hook'Em Horns

   September 22nd, 2007 at 11:04 pm

   now that’s how our team should look like.

2. reply to  #2

   

   Game Ball Award

   September 24th, 2007 at 1:22 am

   Jamaal Charles gets the game ball.

3. reply to  #3

   

   Hook'Em Horns

   September 24th, 2007 at 7:53 am

   i would think Colt would get the game ball, this is the first game without a pick for him, and Charles missed that long ball in the first half, but yes he did outstanding too. I give credit to our offensive line too they did awesome, and all our freshman, look out future.