40 Acres Sports

Rice coach Todd Graham signed a 5 year extension with Rice and 3 days later took the Tulsa job.

UT ex Roy Williams named to Pro Bowl to replace injured Rams’ WR Torry Holt on the NFC roster.

Durant lights up Mizzou for 34 more points & helps the Horns start Big 12 play with 2 wins.

Our good friend Ryan Perrilloux may be in big time trouble and I can’t say I’m surprised. The former Texas quarterback commit and current LSU benchwarmer is apparently under federal investigation about his involvement in a counterfeiting ring:

LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux is involved in a federal criminal investigation, and Baton Rouge lawyer Nathan Fisher has been hired to represent the reserve quarterback.

A New Orleans radio station is reporting that federal authorities in New Orleans are investigating Perrilloux. Fisher said he is Perrilloux’s attorney and that he could not comment about the nature of the investigation, but could only confirm that the investigation is taking place.

Perrilloux has not been booked on any charges, Fisher said. Fisher also said he is unaware of any pending hearings or other court actions scheduled to take place in connection with the investigation.

Rumors of this surfaced on LSU message boards earlier this week but more details and are coming out now and the mainstream press has gotten wind of it and is asking questions. The New Orleans Times-Picayune got quotes on the situation from Perrilloux’s mom and high school coach. Sounds like the kid could be in real trouble (whether he was directly involved or not) and the people close to him are doing everything they can to make sure the kid is never held accountable for his actions.

Burnt Orange Nation thinks Kevin Durant is the best ever and I’m starting to believe it too.

I don’t know if we should be honored or offended but Bevo Sports is a nominee for the College Football Blogger Awards. The site is one of five finalists for the Brady Quinn Award for “the prettiest blog, the best layout and design.” The winning blog must have “an aesthetic appeal, whether from a stylish banner, a pleasing layout, or an eye-catching incorporation of blog technology.”

Here’s the other nominees:

• Men of the Scarlet and Gray
• Buckeye Commentary
• Rocky Top Talk
• Trojan Wire

We all know how much we love Notre Dame around here but this is quite the honor. Matt and I put a lot of time and effort into the site and it’s nice that somebody out there likes what we’re doing.

Hopefully this isn’t a case of style over substance, we do try to provide quality content but we can’t help it that we’re so darn pretty.

Colt McCoy named to Freshman All-America Team. One of only three unanimous selections.

Vote early, vote often for Vince Young for NFL Rookie of the Year. Winner announced February 1st.

Mavs & Rockets games means no Horns basketball against Mizzou for fans in DFW & Houston areas.

[tag]Larry Mac Duff[/tag] is the new name but Duane Akina is Texas’ new defensive coordinator.

The biggest news related to the surprise hire of Mac Duff is that [tag]Duane Akina[/tag] will now be calling the plays for the Texas defense. Under the previous regime coach Gene Chizik was the one really in charge of the defense and was the one calling the shots on Saturdays. Even though Chizik and Akina shared the defensive coordinator title, Chizik was the one who received the hype and he was the one who was referred to as “the defensive coordinator.” Now Akina is 1A and Mac Duff is 1B.

What we do know about Akina is that despite this year’s performance he is an one of the nation’s top secondary coaches and a good recruiter. His promotion means no disruption to the current players or to recruiting. Akina is a guy who has loyalty to Mack Brown and to the University of Texas so unlike the last two guys we can expect him to stick around longer than a year or two.

The Alamo Bowl was Akina’s tryout for the job but I’m not sure if it was enough for us as fans to get a good idea of his coaching ability or style. He was working with Chizik’s guys and didn’t have enough time to get his scheme into place. After struggling mightily in the first half, Akina and the Texas defense stepped it up a little in the second half and came up with the big stops when needed. One game is not enough for us to draw any conclusions from. We don’t have any idea what kind of job he’ll do making defensive calls on gameday or how good he’ll be at making in game adjustments. Next year it’ll be trial by fire and I think Akina has earned that opportunity.

The Mac Duff hire will be great news for the Texas linebackers and special teams play. He’s got experience and success at every level with those two groups and those spots have been a weakness for the Longhorns in recent years. Texas has a lot of young talent at linebacker and all three starters returning at the position, but it still wouldn’t surprise me to see three new starters next year. Sergio Kindle, Roddrick Muckelroy, and Jared Norton are all big, fast and athletic and I think most Texas fans are excited about those guys being on the field a lot more in 2007.

Whoever Mack brought in to replace Chizik needed to be a compliment to Akina because it’s clear Brown likes him and the players do as well. Mac Duff fits perfectly. He’s got a solid relationship with Akina and unlike Chizik and Jerry Gray he’s a true linebackers coach. A bigger name hire might have made more of a splash nationally and made some fans happy, but it would’ve caused more of a disruption to the team and depending on the hire might have meant replacing Akina as well. Brown decided that the Akina and Mac Duff together could do a better job helping the Longhorns win games than any of the other big names would do.