Posted October 7th, 2008 by Brian
Filed under: Basketball
With the Horns and Sooners set to do battle at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, there’s another reason for fans of the two teams to argue and spit at each other. The Big 12 has released the men’s basketball preseason coaches poll and Texas is at number two right behind [tag]Oklahoma[/tag].
The Horns lost their best player in [tag]DJ Augustin[/tag] but returns a ton of talent and depth everywhere but point guard. With defending conference and national champs [tag]Kansas[/tag] losing so many players the conference is wide open this season. If either [tag]Dogus Balbay[/tag] or somebody can step up to man the point the Longhorns should have another shot to win the conference and make a deep tourney run.
2008-09 Big 12 Preseason Poll
See how the coaches think the league will turn out below:
| Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma (3) | 109 |
| 2 | Texas (4) | 107 |
| 3 | Baylor (2) | 103 |
| Kansas (3) | 103 | |
| 5 | Texas A&M | 79 |
| 6 | Oklahoma State | 69 |
| 7 | Missouri | 51 |
| 8 | Kansas State | 50 |
| 9 | Nebraska | 49 |
| 10 | Texas Tech | 39 |
| 11 | Iowa State | 20 |
| 12 | Colorado | 13 |
Houston Chronicle writer Joseph Duarte has posted three brief but good interviews from after Saturday’s game with Texas players. Maybe it’s because I’m not living in Austin but hearing from the players in this casual situation is a rarity. The only video we usually get is from organized press conferences so it’s nice to see them talk in a different setting.
Senior [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] discusses CU and the Big 12 schedule:
[tag]Roy Miller[/tag] talks about the difficulty in not looking past Colorado:
[tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] talks about the match-up with OU:
No upsets mean not much movement within the top of the rankings this week. [tag]Alabama[/tag] looked shaky and almost went down but otherwise just [tag]South Florida[/tag] suffered a loss. The Oklahoma Sooners won impressively and picked up additional first place votes heading into their match-up against the good guys. The Longhorns stayed at number five in both polls but did lose a few points in the USA Today Coaches Poll, despite easily handling a solid conference opponent.
Check out this week’s rankings or view the top 10 teams below:
| AP Top 25 | USA Today Poll | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma (51) 5-0 1,608 | Oklahoma (60) 5-0 1,524 | |
| 2 | Alabama (13) 6-0 1,537 | Missouri 5-0 1,404 | |
| 3 | Missouri (1) 5-0 1,487 | LSU (1) 4-0 1,398 | |
| 4 | LSU 4-0 1,444 | Alabama 6-0 1,339 | |
| 5 | Texas 5-0 1,374 | Texas 5-0 1,305 | |
| 6 | Penn State 6-0 1,287 | Penn State 6-0 1,203 | |
| 7 | Texas Tech 5-0 1,163 | Texas Tech 5-0 1,101 | |
| 8 | USC 3-1 1,137 | Brigham Young 5-0 1,086 | |
| 9 | Brigham Young 5-0 1,103 | USC 3-1 1,055 | |
| 10 | Georgia 4-1 1,014 | Georgia 4-1 937 |
The Texas defense hit QB Cody Hawkins often
The Texas Longhorns played their toughest opponent of the season Saturday but still dominated against the Colorado Buffaloes. The defense was downright dominant and the CU quarterback will be seeing the Texas defensive linemen and linebackers in his dreams for weeks. We’ll find out in less than a week what the Longhorns are made of.
See what everyone is saying about the game below:
Bevo Sports
Local Media
- Texas/Colorado box score
- Texas/Colorado game quotes
- Texas/Colorado game notes
- Texas beats Colorado, looks ahead to OU
- Texas defense looks good after stuffing the Buffs
- Ogbonnaya looks like an answer at running back
- Scott’s limited results fine with UT
- Longhorn football notebook
- Takin’ Care of Business
- Becoming Brett
Colorado Media
- Longhorns roll over Buffs
- Overmatched Buffs come up far short against No. 5 Longhorns
- Longhorns crank up the “D”
- Buffs get clocked in speed trap
- CU’s defense lone bright spot vs. McCoy, Texas
- Buffs kicked while down
- Gap still large between CU, Big 12’s best
- Hawkins continues to struggle under center
- Teammates won’t put blame on Goodman
Texas media
- Unbeaten OU, UT should make Red River Rivalry hard to beat
- UT takes care of Colorado, sets up showdown with OU
- Texas defense rushing to the top
- Texas 38, Colorado 14, final thoughts
- Texas Longhorns make a statement with defense
- Chris Ogbonnaya could be the answer for Texas’ running game
- Longhorns wax Buffs
- UT drops Colorado 38-14 in Big 12 opener
- Houston Chronicle live blog
National media
Texas played their best defense in years as they knocked off their first conference opponent [tag]Colorado[/tag]. Quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] wasn’t perfect but he was darn good and senior running back [tag]Chris Ogbonnaya[/tag] had his best day as a Longhorn. Watch video highlights of the game from ESPN below:
There’s also some good but not embeddable highlights available from FSN to check out.
Follow along below with our live thoughts and analysis during tonight’s game versus [tag]Colorado[/tag] on FSN. We’ll be live right around kickoff so join us to discuss the game right around 6pm tonight. Feel free to leave comments and questions using the live tool, but not all comments will be published. Read below for more notes on comments and how the live blog will work. Hook ’em!
Notes: Comments on the article itself will be turned off till after the game. The Writer can view all comments sent to them but only they can publish your comments for everyone to see. The “autoscroll” feature ensures you’re always shown the newest content without having to refresh or scroll your screen. Subtle sound effects alert you to new content as the writer publishes it. You can turn these features on or off by using the controls at the bottom of the Live Blog.
The Texas Longhorns were expected to have a down season (by their standards) but after four blowout wins the team finds itself setting ranked as one of the top five teams in the country. On FSN (and in HD) at 6:00 pm tonight the Longhorns will face their first conference opponent of the season in a 3 – 1 [tag]Colorado[/tag] team. This is the first game before a tough four-game stretch against ranked opponents but the Longhorns can’t start looking ahead or things can come crashing down very quickly.
Will the Longhorns avoid the upset? Can the defense continue to get after the opposing quarterback? Read on to see what the editors of Bevo Sports and a guest from Buffs.tv think will happen today:
Brian – The Longhorns played their best game of the season last week and I think they step it up again against Colorado. They were ranked last week but other than a win over not as good as we thought [tag]West Virginia[/tag] they haven’t been overly impressive. Texas’ special teams will be the key to avoid the upset. [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] will continue to impress and freshman running back [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] will get his first career 100-yard game. Texas wins by the same score they do every week… Texas 52 – Colorado 10
Matt – There are a couple of things that worry me about this game. First, it is an almost night game in Boulder. The fans will be crazy (probably drunk) and it is tough to play with that thin air. Second, the last time we played Colorado we beat them 70-3 and knocked out their quarterback. I’m pretty sure Colorado is looking for a little revenge and will keep that previous game in mind. And finally, this game comes a week before the Red River Rivalry, so there is definitely a possibility that the Horns will be looking ahead. Now with all of that said, I still think Texas has too much offense for Colorado to handle. And with the improved defense I don’t see Colorado doing too much. Texas needs to jump out to a quick start to kill the hopes for the Buffaloes. If they do that they should roll. Texas 45 – Colorado 20
Mike – The Longhorns face their first big test of the year on the road at Colorado to get Big 12 play started. Colorado has a solid team, and proved they could pull an upset by beating [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] the week before last year’s Red River Shootout. Texas is on a roll and I don’t think anyone not wearing crimson and cream is going to slow the Horns down. Colorado wears black and gold. I may have started drinking the Kool-Aid on this one, but I think Texas wins and wins big. They dominate from the start and Colt McCoy keeps his Heisman hopes alive with another big game through the air and on the ground. The defense records over five sacks and two turnovers, and a running back will finally have a run over 30 yards. Texas 45 – Colorado 13
Marc from Buffs.tv – This game is going to come down to the trenches. Can the Colorado line hold off the Longhorns long enough for Hawkins down field? Can the Buffs get enough pressure on McCoy to force him into some bad decisions? If the Buffs can’t win at least one of these battles, winning the game will be very difficult. The good news is that the Buffs never give up in Boulder. This game will be decided in the fourth quarter. Texas 21 – Colorado 23
Can Colt McCoy make like VY against the Buffs?
Texas opens up Big 12 play tonight at 6pm against a good [tag]Colorado[/tag] team coming off their first loss of the season. The Buffaloes are a talented team heading in the right direction thanks to head coach Dan Hawkins and the play of his quarterback son, but the Longhorns are 13-point favorites and if they do their job they’ll win the game.
Read below for the Longhorns’ keys to beat the Colorado Buffaloes:
1. Don’t look past Colorado to next week.
Texas fans are already making plans and looking forward to next week’s huge match-up with [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] but the team can’t do the same. The Buffaloes are easily the toughest team Texas has faced and can easily pull off the upset if the Horns don’t play as well as they should.
2. Don’t give up a big kickoff return.
WR Josh Smith is Colorado’s biggest weapon, particularly on kickoff returns. Nothing kills momentum worse than giving up a backbreaking return after a touchdown. The kickoff coverage team has been solid so far but they haven’t faced a guy like Smith. Kicker [tag]Justin Tucker[/tag] needs to what he’s done all year and put his kickoffs high and in the end zone and he’ll completely neutralize Smith’s abilities.
3. Pressure quarterback Cody Hawkins.
After back-to-back weeks of seven sacks the Texas defense suddenly has one of the top pass rushes in the country. The Colorado offensive line has been decimated by injuries and [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] and company need to take advantage. The real test comes next week but this will be a good indicator of what the defensive line and linebackers can do against an offensive line that doesn’t average sub-260 pounds. Texas needs to hound Cody Hawkins and bring him down for at least three sacks tonight.
There was a fantastically negative article in the Houston Chronicle about Texas A&M this week. The headline is “Also-ran status looms for Aggies” and the article itself is even more scathing. The Aggies are 25.5-point underdogs this weekend in their too mediocre to be televised match-up against [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]. Not real [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] mind you, the light version. How big would the spread be if they were playing the Sooners?
Former A&M coach Jackie Sherrill thinks they should start cheating like when he was the coach the program has taken a giant step back:
The signs of decline around the Texas A&M football program have been apparent for a while now.
But after a lackluster month of non-conference play and days before the Aggies’ Big 12 opener, the reality is the program could be headed for one of its rockiest rides in nearly 40 years. A&M is a four-touchdown underdog entering Saturday’s game at No. 21 Oklahoma State – a team the Aggies have beaten four times in a row, including two consecutive one-point victories.
“Since when has A&M been a 25-point underdog to Oklahoma State or a 25-point underdog to anybody?” said former A&M coach Jackie Sherrill, referencing the opening line for Saturday’s game. “So they’ve taken a tremendous step back.”
Many thanks to EDSBS for the link.
With Big 12 play getting underway this Saturday [tag]Ryan Palmer[/tag] and the entire secondary are about to really be tested. Watch the video below (courtesy of the AAS) to see Ryan dish out a few cliches, discuss facing the top teams in the conference, [tag]Colorado[/tag], and the young defensive backs in general.
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