40 Acres Sports

I can’t tell you how good recapping a Texas victory over OU feels. The last time we beat OU, I was a freshman in college, which seems ages ago. I was lucky enough to be at the game, which made the victory even more special. But even with this win, we still have a lot left to do this season if we want any hopes of returning back to the Rose Bowl. I really hope Texas doesn’t fall into their own hype and focuses on Colorado this weekend. Back to the game though, here is how I graded the performances.

Quarterback – Overall Grade: A
Vince led Texas all the way through this win, and while I wouldn’t really say he played spectular, it was definitely a special performance. He controlled the tempo very well and made touch passes like I have never seen him make before. There were a few instances where he missed some wide open receivers, but that is expected over the course of a game. He made the big throws when he had to, and started off the opening drive with a nice touchdown pass to Taylor. His deep touchdown pass to Pittman right before the end of the first half really felt like it sealed the deal in the game. I will take 3 touchdown passes and 45 rushing yards almost any weekend out of the year.

Running Backs – Overall Grade: A-
Jamaal Charles was just nuts. He did exactly what Brian had predicted, and broke a long touchdown over 50 yards. He ended up with 116 yards on just 9 carries and added a score before he was taken out with a minor injury. Selvin did most of the relief, and I must say that it scares me every time he runs the ball. Is it just me, or has he fumbled in every game he has played? Melton wasn’t really that big of a factor, but he wasn’t really needed.

Wide Receivers – Overall Grade: A+
Very Impressive performance out of this group. They seemed to run great routes and were wide open several times. Taylor seemed to run by everyone like they were standing still. Pittman has been Vince’s goto man, and he proved that yet again grabbing 4 catches for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. And again, that touchdown before the half basically sealed the deal.

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I think they should. USC has had 3 straight unimpressive weeks.

Somehow Brian got lucky and actually caught up with me. Not sure exactly how it happened. But this week we have another great weekend of college football. What is normally one of the biggest games of the year, Texas/OU, is going down Saturday at 12:00pm CST. I will be in attendence watching Texas roll over OU. Well, they probably won’t roll, but they should pull out the win.

Another big matchup is taking place in the SEC, where Georgia is traveling to play Tennessee. I think Tennessee is the most over-rated team in the country (with Cal right behind them), and hopefully Georgia will bring that to everybody elses attention. Should be a great day of college football. Here’s how we think today’s games are going to go down:

Related Links

• Last week’s picks

Our Thoughts

Brian – Top 3 stays the same while there’s tons of shuffling going on below them. Laurence Maroney was almost on my list last week and then went out and laid an egg against Penn State. Brady Quinn sure has some impressive stats (1,621 yards, 13 TD’s, and 3 INT’s), but Croyle is undefeated and thanks to Charlie Weis I almost view Quinn as a “system QB” à la Kliff Kingsbury. He’s averaging 38 pass attempts per game, that’s Texas Tech ridiculous. Marcus Vick has started off the season pretty well, but hasn’t had to face any adversity yet. Plus, I’d rather not have the Heisman go to a kid who gets suspended from his team for a year, flicks off opposing fans, and shoves assistant coaches.

Matt – It was disappointing to see Laurence Maroney have that kind of performance against Penn State. I felt he a good shot at making the Top 5 at the end of the year. I have Reggie Bush on my list, but still am not sure if he really should be. He is not even the best running back on his team, but I guess he does bring that game breaking ability. Vince’s Heisman run will face a big test this weekend against OU. He needs to have a big game to stay at the top. I wasn’t sure about my #4 and #5 spots, so I added the two QBs I felt were at the top of their game right now.

Related Links

• Last week’s Heisman poll
• ESPN Experts Poll
• SI’s Heisman Watch

I was definitely a little nervous going into this game, fearful of [tag]Missouri[/tag]’s Brad Smith and hoping Texas wasn’t looking ahead to next weeks game against the Sooners. It feels like every game we are playing for the National Championship, because if we lose one, we are probably done. Thankfully, we got past the Tigers pretty easily, even with a poor/lucky first quarter. Here is how I graded the performances:

Quarterback – Overall Grade: A
Vince definitely didn’t do anything to hurt his Heisman campaign. He threw for 236 yds, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception (it was tipped and not really Vince’s fault). Vince was also the leading rusher with 108 yds and a touchdown. Overall I would say he played very well. I hope he keeps up this effort in the Oklahoma game.

Running Backs – Overall Grade: A-
Isn’t it just amazing how much talent Texas has in the backfield. Texas’ backfield has just dominated games, and this week was no different racking up 349 yds in rushing. When you have the talent of Jamaal Charles and Selvin Young, the speed of Ramonce Taylor, and can bring in a bruiser like Melton, good things are going to happen. Can Melton even be tackled? I am not sure.

Wide Receivers – Overall Grade: B+
Not much need for wide receivers when you have the rushing game of Texas, but overall they did pretty good. Pittman continued to be Vince’s go-to guy, hauling in 4 catches for 81 yds.

Offensive Lineman – Overall Grade: B
I know the refs were against us, but I swear that everyone on the offense line got a couple penalties thrown their way. That is something that will need to be corrected before going into the OU game. We can’t have a repeat performance of 14 penalties for 135 yds.

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Our Thoughts

Brian – The USC guys have flipped for me this week, they both played well but bore me. I’m just not as enamored with Bush as everyone else is. He’s probably the nation’s most dangerous player but he just doesn’t put up the stats to back it up, 110 rushing yards per game just doesn’t do it for me. Laurence Maroney is banging on the door after his outstanding performance against Purdue. I wanted to put him in this week but couldn’t find anyone of the five that are on there that didn’t belong. Leak had an impressive game against Kentucky but will need to impress me this weekend against a tough Alabama team to hold him off. Bye weeks for Young and Jacobs, Young has a decent test coming up with Texas’ Big XII opener versus Missouri. Jacobs is pretty much done playing real teams this season, so he’ll be racking up the passing yards and TD’s the rest of the way.

Matt – So Vince Young has a bye week yet somehow ESPN jumps Reggie in front of him. Doesn’t make sense to me. After watching Maroney play this past weekend, I would have to say that I think he is the best running back in the nation. His size and physical style of running will make him a sure bet in the pros. He also proved that he can carry the load, tallying up a career high 46 carries. You haven’t seen him play you should.

Related Links

• Last week’s Heisman poll

11am kick-off. Ouch. The student section should be in by around 11:30am.

350 yards and four touchdowns in just 4 games as a freshman!

Dallas Mayor Laura Miller really screwed this one up.

I swear, it is amazing to have such big games so early in the college football season. This week we have a huge matchup with #5 Tennessee traveling down to The Swamp to play #6 Florida. Some other interesting matchup will be #8 Florida St at #17 Boston College, Michigan St at #10 Notre Dame, and #13 Miami at #20 Clemson. Looks like another weekend where I will just dominate Brian. Here is how we think things will shake out this weekend:

Related Links

• Last week’s picks