Lots of action this weekend in college football, especially in the SEC. Georgia at Tennessee, Auburn at Arkansas, Alabama at Ole Miss, and the big one, Florida at LSU. Luckily the games are perfectly scheduled and you will be able to watch the good ones on the beautiful CBS HD feed. The Texas game starts about 45 minutes before Florida/LSU, hopefully enough time for Texas to gain a big lead so we can switch back and forth between the games. Now let’s get more in depth on the games.
3 Alabama at 20 Ole Miss (+4) – 3:30 PM EST on CBS. Ole Miss definitely has a lot to prove today against Alabama if they want to be taken seriously in the SEC. Alabama is looking to bounce back after probably their worst game of the season. Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead is also looking to rebound, after going 7 of 21 for 107 yards in their loss to South Carolina. With the spread so close, mistakes will probably decide this one. Alabama seems like the more controlled team, and I see them winning the turnover battle. Take Alabama minus the points.
Colorado at 2 Texas (-33) – 7:15 PM EST on ESPN. At the start of the season I would have told you I was a little worried about this Colorado matchup, especially with the big game against OU the week after. Thankfully Colorado has struggled this year and I don’t see them putting up much of a fight. They are outmatched in every way, and have to deal with playing in front of 100,000 opposing fans. Basically there is no chance for the Buffaloes week. Texas wins big and will cover the 33 point spread.
1 Florida at 4 LSU (+9) – 8 PM EST on CBS. Night game at Death Valley, need I say more? LSU has won 32 consecutive Saturday night games, and I don’t see that changing this weekend. Tebow’s status is questionable, and even if he does go I don’t see him being 100%. Florida has had an extra week to prepare, but most of that time has probably been spent coddling Tim Tebow and stroking his ego. LSU is proving to be a good running team, and if you give Jordan Jefferson enough time he is a very capable quarterback. It really doesn’t get much better than this in college football. Florida’s 14 game winning streak ends tonight. Take LSU plus the points.
I am assuming this is probably agent/money related, probably similar to the whole Reggie Bush thing. Except it doesn’t look like Oklahoma State will get the pass that USC did. The path through the Big 12 South may have gotten just a little easier.
Update: This rumor is now confirmed.
Links: Dez Bryant ruled ineligible, OSU’s Dez Bryant rule ineligible
Posted October 6th, 2009 by Ross
Filed under: Feature, Football, Volleyball
WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ football bye week.
WTH Buffs?! – Coach Dan Hawkins proclaimed double digit wins for his team which is now mathematically impossible unless they go to a bowl game (yeah sure!). With losses to Toledo and Colorado State the Buffs are 1-3 as they come into Austin this coming Saturday. Hey RB Darrell Scott (91 total yards through 4 games) still happy about choosing to attend Colorado.
WTH Sooners?! – You get a slight pass due to the injuries that you have sustained, but come on now. You were supposed to be undefeated (2-2 record) instead you lose to Miami and BYU heading into conference play. They say a wounded animal is dangerous. I hope the rest of the BIG XII sees this as an opportunity to shoot you instead of run away from you.
WTH Aggies?! – I know that the Razorbacks are from the SEC, but you do not need to be scared of them. QB Jerrod Johnson looks more like Reggie McNeal than the second coming of Vince Young. I wondered watching Coach Mike Sherman with his huge plastic menu/play sheet which section told him to teach blocking for his QB.
WTH Raiders?! – Be on the lookout for more insanity coming from the mad scientist/pirate that is Coach Mike Leach. He banned twitter from his players after it was posted that he was less than punctual to one of his team meetings. He now has the opportunity to have a junior QB carousel in which to play with after Taylor Potts went out with a concussion and in stepped Steven Sheffield to lead Texas Tech to a 3rd win of the season (3-2).
WTH BIG XII?! – The conference stands with a 34-12 non-conference mark which is hardly something to write home about after our chief rival, the SEC, ended up with a 24-3 non-conference mark and the SEC held a 6-3 advantage over BCS conference foes. Throw in that the Big XII finished with a 4-7 record against BCS teams that included a 0-3 finish this past Saturday. (UT did not schedule one BCS non-conference game this year which is a concern). The beginning of the season the BIG XII had 3 in the Top 10 in the Associated Press poll which as of Oct. 4th we only have one – the Longhorns.
WTH SHOUT OUT?! – To the University of Texas No. 2 ranked women’s volleyball team lead by Coach Jerritt Elliott and senior Destinee Hooker who are now 11-0 overall and have a 6-0 conference record. The biggest props go to the team for beating Nebraska Cornhuskers on their home court last Saturday the 26th which snapped their 82 match home winning streak. Next up for the Longhorn women is a showdown with OU this Saturday October 10th at 12pm at Gregory Gym. See the women play in the afternoon and finish the day up with the men later that evening. Go Horns!
Next up for the Longhorn football team is Colorado at 6:15pm at DKR on October 10th.
Pretty hilarious and does a good job of summing up their season so far.
Even though Texas has a bye this week there is still plenty of college football going on. The weird thing this weekend is the fact that ESPN Gameday is at the Florida State vs Boston College game. Is anyone really interested in this game? Let’s check out the actual games to watch this weekend.
4 LSU at 18 Georgia (-3.5) – 3:30 PM EST on CBS. LSU is ranked 4 in the country, but they find themselves having to apologize for their high ranking due to their poor performance last week against Mississippi State. If they want to stay in the Top 5 they will have to bring a much better effort against the favored Georgia Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are 9-1 in their last 10 games against the SEC West and has won the last 3 matchups in this series. The real stat that I am looking at though is Georgia 1-7 ATS in their last 8 at home and 1-8 in their last 9 overall. Georgia just doesn’t seem to step-up in the big games. I like LSU plus the points in this one.
7 USC at 24 California (+5) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. I will must say I am pretty bitter in regards to Cal after they completely laid an egg last weekend against Oregon. USC still has a lot to prove after losing to Washington and struggling against Washington State. USC is also dealing with the scary events of recent days when running back Stafon Johnson suffered a crushed neck and larynx after a weight lifting accident. I expect USC to pull together and play a tough game for star running back. Their defense has been outstanding and I see them putting a lot of pressure on the struggling Cal QB. Take USC in this one.
8 Oklahoma at 17 Miami (+7.5) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. This is the game I have been looking forward to for a couple of weeks now. Oklahoma is without Sam Bradford again this week, but that hasn’t slowed them down as backup Landry Jones has filled in well. Oklahoma still has the athletes on both sides of the ball and I expect them to put a lot of pressure on Miami QB Jacorey Harris. He showed last week that he still has a lot to learn, making bad throw after bad throw. Those kind of mistakes won’t fly against Oklahoma. Oklahoma wins this one easy on the road.
WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against UTEP.
Pregame – WTH Mongo?! – Steve McMichael was on the field to accept the honor of being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Steve, aka Bam Bam, was a tremendous defensive tackle for UT in the late 70’s. One of his funnier moments after his playing career was over came when he was ejected from a Cubs game in 2001 after he sang take me out to the ballgame and announced to the crowd that he was going to be waiting for umpire Angel Hernandez because of a disputed call against the Cubs.
1st Quarter (13:36) – WTH Sergio?! – Sergio Kindle’s penchant for violent QB sacks continued when he hit and separated the ball from UTEP Trevor Vittatoe. The play happened at almost the same place he crushed TT Tyler Potts last week.
1st Quarter (11:00) – WTH Monroe?! – D.J. Monroe has established himself has the only player in UT history to have 2 kickoff returns for a touchdown so early in the season. Speed does kill.
1st Quarter (8:43) – WTH Malcolm?! – Malcolm Williams hit on UTEP punter Greg Hiett made Coach Blood (aka Muschamp) giddy and wondering why you are not on the defensive side of the ball.
2nd Quarter (15:00 & 7:44) – WTH Davis?! – The Q package or Wild Horn that Coach Greg Davis puts in does not work with WR John Chiles when you exclusively run for 1 yard & -7 yards in the second quarter. Let Chiles pass the ball or run the option to get defenses guessing on what Wild thing we are going to pull.
4th Quarter – Not WTH but WHO the Heck are all of these players?! – Jeremy Hills and Jamison Berryhill contributed to the rushing totals as well as Trevor Walker took a few snaps as quarterback in the late stages for Texas. It was great to see so many players getting playing time from this very dominant performance by the Longhorns.
Final Score: Texas 64 UTEP 7
Next up is a Bye Week. Colorado is on the horizon at DKR Memorial on October 10th.
Follow along live with 40 Acres Sports on Twitter and below for our thoughts and analysis during today’s game versus [tag]UTEP[/tag] on FSN. We’ll be live right around kickoff so join us to discuss the game right around 2:30pm this afternoon.
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!
One more game to tune up for the Longhorns before Big 12 play gets fully underway. The Longhorns are big favorites, but how to the editors of 40 Acres Sports see the game going?
Brian – Is this the [tag]Tre Newton[/tag] coming out party? In the last non-conference game for the Horns I expect the Texas coaches to try to feature Newton and jumpstart the running game for the rest of the season. [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] will start slow again but this time Greg Davis will go to hurry up in first quarter so he’ll play three good quarters of football instead of two. Defense comes up big against a UTEP offense that has been struggling against even average early season opponents. Texas 60, UTEP 14
Michael – The 2009 Longhorns have yet to live up to preseason expectations, and there’s little chance of that changing this afternoon against an uncommonly weak UTEP team. However, the offense has a golden opportunity to show that they really are the dominant, well-oiled machine that Texas fans expected them to be. Look for a healthier Colt McCoy to establish his passing dominance, hopefully with more deep shots to Malcolm Williams to take some pressure off of [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag]. With Tre Newton as the starting back, I’d like to see more running plays inside the box as well to get our offensive line some practice in being aggressive. Defensively, there’s still room for improvement. Look for [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] to make his return at some point this afternoon, and Muschamp will most likely be working to tighten down the zone defense to eliminate some of the bend in the “bend and not break” scheme. Texas 52, UTEP 10
Ross – This game against UTEP needs to be the breather that all Texas fans have been hoping for. Colt McCoy had 4 TD passes last year against the Miners and we should expect the same this year. The emergence of Tre Newton as the starting running back should open up the middle of the field where opponents/linebackers have not respected the running game. This will be the momentum game that will help the UT players feel good going into the bye week. Texas 45 – UTEP 17
Predictions from Twitterverse
- kslonghorn 55-14 Texas – great showing by Chiles today
- paulwalker 49-14…
- dagr81210 Colt gets it going and for 4 quarters and Texas wins big Utep 7 TEXAS 46! Hook’em Horns!
- willifordj UT 48 UTEP 17. Tre Newton with 148 yds rushing and 2 TDs. Earl Thomas with 1 pick. Okafor with 1.5 sacks.
- Bill_Morrison 48-10 #UT; McCoy to throw for 3 TD’s, run for 1; SergioK w/ 2 sacks;
- marshallboone Texas 55 UTEP 13
The Texas defense will try to swarm Trevor Vittatoe and the UTEP offense.
A week after a tough Big 12 matchup against [tag]Texas Tech[/tag], the Texas Longhorns play one more non-conference game against the UTEP Miners before getting into the meat of their schedule. The Miners are 1-2 to start the season while the Horns are 3-0 and ranked #2 in the country.
Here are a few UTEP players to keep an eye on during Saturday’s game…
Trevor Vittatoe, QB #10
2009 Stats: 54.9% comp pct, 602 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
The senior quarterback from Euless Trinity has put together back-to-back 3,000 yards seasons out in El Paso. Last year he was both prolific and efficient finishing the year with 33 TD passes against only 9 interceptions. In last year’s matchup against the Horns, Vittatoe threw for 267 yards and 1 TD in the loss. He’s still trying to get in a rhythm in 2009, and [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] and his Texas defense will look to make sure that doesn’t happen until next week.
Jeff Moturi, WR #6
2009 Stats: 12 receptions, 106 yards, 0 TDs
Like Vittatoe, senior wideout Jeff Moturi is a good player that is struggling early this season. He caught over 50 balls in each of the last two seasons and has 22 career touchdown catches. Moturi had 5 catches for 59 yards last year against Texas but he’s still looking for his first TD of the 2009 season. UTEP spreads the ball around between Moturi, Kris Adams, and several other backs and receivers so the entire Texas secondary won’t be able to focus just on one player.
Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith, S #23
Stats: 42 tackles, 2 FF
Cromartie-Smith actually plays as a linebacker/safety hybrid that UTEP calls the “Miner” position. He’s allowed to run all over the field an make plays, sometimes in coverage and sometimes going after the quarterback. He’s a playmaker who has forced two fumbles and his 42 tackles on the season are up with the nation’s leaders.
I can empathize with Taylor Potts – Sergio Kindle’s bone-jarring sack just won’t go away. From countless SportsCenter highlight reels to the blogosphere to a record-setting four appearances in my inbox, Kindle’s hit has been everywhere during the past week. And why not? He absolutely obliterated [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] QB Taylor Potts and may have killed any shot that Marlon Winn had at becoming an NFL offensive lineman (the only right tackle who’s ever had to feel worse about a blown assignment is the guy who decided to play matador with Lawrence Taylor instead of protecting Joe Theismann). As a Texas Ex who made my way back to the 40 Acres for the showdown, I couldn’t have been happier.
From the moment ABC replayed the sack and Brent Musberger was rendered speechless, discussion has focused on the legality of Kindle’s hit. Did he make first contact with Potts’ helmet or chest? In perhaps the only well-reasoned analysis of Kindle’s hit on Potts, SI FanNation writer Andy Staples proves that the Texas defensive end was in the clear. “He [Kindle] planted his face into the ball, which Potts had clutched to his chest. Then Kindle did what any good tackler is taught to do. He exploded from the knees up and drove his body through the ballcarrier. This explosion caused the crown of his helmet to rise into Potts’ helmet.”
Exactly. Case closed. But it shouldn’t be.
You see, Kindle’s hit was technically legal, but the real problem and the larger issue is the rule itself. Under NCAA rules, if a helmet-to-helmet hit occurs, the player at fault can be suspended and his team penalized. On the surface, this rule makes a lot of sense – its goal is to protect players plain and simple. The consequences, however, could be far-reaching.
When players slow down to think about exactly which part of their body initiates contact with another player, their pace of play drops dramatically (i.e., Bad Roy Williams performance after the creation of an NFL rule banning horse collar tackling – he’s been rendered utterly ineffective). In many cases, players become timid and hesitant and are in far greater physical danger than before. Most coaches will tell you that chances of an injury are greatly reduced when players are moving at full-speed – most blown knees occur when a player is standing still or running slowly, which is when the foot has had time to plant.
Watch Kindle’s hit again. As he comes around Winn, he’s moving at full speed. Had he slowed down to make certain that he didn’t hit Potts’ helmet, he most likely would have dropped his helmet even further. He then would have struck Potts with the very top of his helmet or tried to bend his head back, almost ensuring a neck injury.
I’m not naïve. I’ve played and/or watched football for more than two decades, and I know full well that it is a dangerous sport that demands scrutiny and regulation to ensure the safety of the men who play the game. However, a worrisome trend has developed in recent years, starting in the NFL and trickling down to the NCAA, of over-regulating on-field player movement to the point of causing more harm than good. Instead of adding more rules during the next offseason, perhaps the Rules Committee should rethink some current ones.
Watch the hit below, just for fun:
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