40 Acres Sports

Texas pick up two first place votes from USC.

Season isn’t near over yet, but Texas has cleared their biggest hurdle.

Discusses the defense, Ramonce Taylor, and Billy Pittman.

Young and Pittman have connected for a play of 60+ yards in 3 straight games and 4 times this season.

We basically just came out and tried to play Texas football.

Big time rout of top 10 team.

Just minutes away from probably the toughest hurdle still ahead of Texas this season. A victory over an undefeated and top ten ranked [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] Red Raiders in front of much of the nation would go a long way to securing the number two spot in the very important human polls for the rest of the year. Now that the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Harris Poll make up 66% of the BCS rankings, winning in front of national viewers and winning convincingly are more important than ever.

First Quarter

• Kick off deep to the back of the end zone for a touchback. We’ll see what the wind looks like or if it was just a great kick.
• Three and out for the Texas defense on the first series. Two great plays, a tough penalty negating a play against Tech, and then great coverage on third down. Cody Hodges had way too much time but he couldn’t find anyone open and had to run.
• Short punt gives Texas great field position.
• My stupid dog just jumped across me and tore the the Option key off and jacked up the D on my Powerbook. If I spell lots of wors wrong, you can blame the stupi og.
• Starting off in the I formation and a couple of good runs for Selvin Young.
• Vince Young looks like he has an opening on third and 8 but he gets stopped short of the first down.
• 40 yard field goal from David Pino.

Texas Tech 0, Texas 3

• Another good kick off from Greg Johnson.
• Big gain from Taurean Henderson of Tech. Looked like Michael Griffin was the only man in the middle of the field and Tech put a body on him and there was no one else around.
• Defense steps up again. Lots of guys coming from the secondary at Hodges has really kept him uncomfortable so far. He’s 0 for 4 passing so far.
• They said Quan Cosby’s name on the first punt but I wasn’t sure (they’re wrong a lot), but it’s definitely him back there. Definitely more dangerous than Aaron Ross, and I’m guessing Mack Brown trusts him now to make the right decisions and catch the football.
• Jamaal Charles in the game for the first time.
• First option from Texas. Much earlier than most games this season, it’s what we really killed Tech with in the second half last year.
• Reggie Bush is overrated.
• Interception and long run back by Texas Tech. Limas Sweed has to come back and get the ball better, but the ball was thrown behind him pretty badly. Crap.

Texas Tech 7, Texas 3

• Defense is playing fantastic the first two series and we give them the ball at the 20 freaking yard line. We really need a nice long drive to go back ahead and give them something to think about. No mistakes and ram it down their throats.
• Good return by Ramonce Taylor gets us almost out to midfield.
• That’s got to be roughing the passer. It doesn’t matter whether he knew Vince had the ball or not, he slammed him to the ground way after he had thrown the ball.
• Bad decision by Vince that time. Taylor was covered well and the safety was coming over as well. Another interception. He had all day to throw, if no one’s open after all that time he’s got to hold onto it and run with the football.
• Great defense by the Horns picks up Vince and gets the ball back quickly.
• That’s why Cobsy’s back there!! Fantastic return all the way to inside the ten yard line. First and goal Texas!
• Vince is off again. Charles was open in the flats and his missed him by a bit.
• I think Henry Melton may be better when he get a little bit of room and has some space to run than he is in true short yardage. Looked great on a handoff when it was first and goal on the 4.
• Melton punches it in for the touchdown.

Texas Tech 7, Texas 10

• I love touchbacks and I love our return game so far. Right now we’re definitely winning the special teams battle but obviously the turnovers are killing us.
• Hodges’ grip on the football is dumb. There’s no reason to do that.
• I am getting SO DAMN TIRED OF REPLAY. Huge third down touchdown calls that go against us aren’t replayed, but first quarter spots that might be half a yard off are. Plus, from the 3 replays they showed us you couldn’t tell at all when he was down. It looks like his knee was down while ball was still at 29 yard line, but they overturn the spot and give Tech the ball out past the 30 for a first down. I’m this close to losing it.

(more …)

Let’s hope we can keep him more than a year or 2.

Only three matchups between ranked teams this week, with the biggest one down in Austin between undefeated Texas Tech and undefeated and #2 Texas. It’s a chance for the Horns to secure the number 2 spot and could be a showcase for the defense to show the nation that this team isn’t just Vince Young. For the Red Raiders, they’ve got a chance to prove they’re for real in front of the entire nation. If they can pull the upset they’ll be in line for the Big XII South title and a chance for a BCS bowl game. If they get blown out by the Horns they’ll be hard pressed to get any national respect for the next several years.

The other two big games are both upset specials in the SEC. Undefeated Alabama takes on #17 Tennessee at home in an important game for not only them but the entire conference. As things stand now, the SEC needs two undefeated and top 5 teams to meet in the conference championship to have any hope to jump Texas in the BCS for the coveted second spot in Rose Bowl. #7 LSU hosts a hot Auburn team that has rebounded from their opening week loss to rise to number 16 in the poll.

Here’s this week’s picks:

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• Last week’s picks

Impressed with our front and back court talent, they predict a Final 4 finish.