40 Acres Sports

So I don’t know if you have heard, but the tailgate situation down in Austin right now is pretty extreme. We arrived at parking lot 3 last night around 8:30pm and we were #14 on the list! The people at this lot first started the list earlier that day at 12pm. This is just insane.

The good news though is that we have our spots, so everything should be good to go with the beer. If you are around the area, stop by at 17th and Congress and look for a BevoSports.com sign. Below are some pictures from the festivities last night, including our RV (click the image to enlarge).

Nothing official or anything, but I wanted to let everyone know that I am going to be setting up a small tail-gate down in Austin for the game this weekend. We are going to have plenty of beer on hand, so feel free to stop by and say hi, and grab some beer!

We are planning on setting up around 17th street and Congress (Lots 2 & 3, link to map below), but with all of the craziness that is going on with the tailgating spots down there I am not exactly sure where we will end up. Look for a sign (might not be so professional looking) that says BevoSports.com.

I will post an update if anything changes.

Update: Ok. It is official. We are directly in the middle of Lot 3 on the south-west corner of 17th and Congress. You can see details of the quest here. Please come and drink our beer!

Parking Lot Map

It is true what they say, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” I always like to read what the opposition is saying about our team in order to get a better perspective on the match-up. Here is a list of [tag]Ohio State[/tag] sports blogs that you may want to check out:

• Buckeye Commentary
• The 614 (my interview is here)
• Pfef’s Sports Blog
• Around the Oval
• Men of the Scarlet and Gray

It’s time to get this started! Can’t wait!

Man, and I thought getting down there late Thursday afternoon would be good.

The biggest game of the regular season goes down this Saturday when Texas hosts Ohio State. And since the AP moved Texas up to #2 today, this is the first meeting between the #1 and #2 teams during the regular season in 10 years. The only other big game of note this week is #19 Penn State taking on #4 Notre Dame. Let’s see if Notre Dame can play a little closer to their expectations.

And just to remind everyone, I was undefeated last weekend with my picks and I expect this weekend to be no different.

Here’s this week’s picks:

Related Links

• Last week’s winners
• SI.com Top 25 Scoreboard
• SI.com Big 12 Scoreboard

Want to check out what simulations and data think of this weekends matchup of #1 versus #2? Well then this if for you. Below we have a game forecast from Statshark.com. Everything from the simulation looks pretty tight and has the average score at Texas 27.0 and Ohio State 25.9.

It also looks like Jamaal Charles has the edge in the running back spot, but Troy Smith has the edge at quarterback. I guess if you are a gambling man it is telling you take Ohio State. Personally, I think it is too close to call.

Thanks to Ryan Jackson from Orion Data Analysis for the hook-up.

At the Ohio State press luncheon yesterday, head coach Jim Tressel revealed that he voted Texas #1 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. This week Ohio State received 41 first place votes while Texas received 14.

This is probably just one of those typical coaches’ tactics where they try to make you think they actually think the other team is better. Plus, he knows it will all be settled this week.

Here is some audio as well as his quote about ranking Texas #1.

“They are very good and everyone knows it,� Tressel said of Texas. “They are the defending national champions and I’ve got them ranked No. 1 on our ballot because I think they deserve that. I think they deserve that from top to bottom. I think they deserve that from a program standpoint, they deserve that from a special teams standpoint, from an offensive and defensive standpoint. They have excellent speed which is what we all seek. They demonstrate great toughness, which is what we try and teach and try and recruit. And you can tell that they understand the game.�

Update: It looks like Tressel didn’t vote Texas #1. And what, he has the Director of Player Development making his selections? What kind of integrity can a coaches poll have if the coach isn’t even selecting the teams?

Source

Our Thoughts

Matt – Man, those guys from ESPN still haven’t got on the ball and updated their Heisman picks for this year. Slackers.

My number one spot stays the same this week with Adrian Peterson, mainly because he is the only reason they won this past weekend and he scored the winning touchdown on a 70+ yard reception (did you see that block on that play? wow).

Based on Brady Quinn’s sub-par performance against Georgia Tech, I have dropped him down to the #4 spot and moved Troy Smith and Chris Leak up one spot each. Troy Smith was very impressive this weekend, throwing for 3 touchdowns and 297 yards. Most of his deep balls were a little under-thrown, but with the speed he has at receiver it really didn’t matter too much.

I still have Kenny Irons at #5 but was very tempted to move him to the #4 and move Quinn all the way down to #5. Irons’ performance was pretty impressive, almost rushing for 10 yards per carry. I am going to wait though on moving him up until I see how he performs against LSU in two weeks. If he has a big game there I will probably move him into my top 3.

Probably has to do with marijuana being so prevalent in Austin.