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 the BYU Cougars.
Pregame WTH Hospitality?! I was enjoying some tailgating on campus when some BYU faithful came strolling by. Offered up to the group some cold beers and they refused our Texas hospitality. Oh yeah, Mormons do not like the demon water. So I gave them some of our own demon water, an H2Orange water bottle.1st Quarter (15:00) WTH Cable Wars?! ESPN and Time Warner are battling it out over the broadcasting of the LHN. Interesting how the Texas athletic department is OK taking ad revenue along the stadium stands. There were Time Warner Cable banners all across the stadium while ESPN is broadcasting the game.
1st Quarter (1:54) WTH Grape?! This may be my last reference to Garrett Gilbert. The last image maybe of him throwing into double coverage where the BYU safety easily picked off the throw. He constantly locks his eyes on one receiver and makes poor decisions. I really hope he can fix the mental issues of his game. He may need to fix it while on another team’s roster.
3rd Quarter (12:45) WTH Hockey?! I have seen more shift changes in this football game than in the NHL. David Ash for one play and then comes Case McCoy. Great block delivered by David to help the running game get the team back into the game 13-10. Is it me or does David look like Sam Bradford when he has his helmet on?
3rd Quarter (4:26) WTH Marquise?! It is great to see Marquise Goodwin back to help out this team of struggling wide receivers. But you cannot get tripped up on your electrifying return of 40 yards by the BYU kicker. Marquise came back because he missed the team camaraderie. Well get ready for some ribbing in the film room this week.
4th Quarter (11:18) WTH Roommates?! Case hooks up with Jaxon Shipley on consecutive 1st down throws. Jaxon hurdles one defender on the first throw and snags the next pass play one handed to bring DKR fans to its feet. The momentum of these two plays carries the Horns on to take the lead for good. Did you know that Case and Jaxon are roommates? Here we go again and I am starting to like it.
4th Quarter (3:39) WTH Diggs?! This call out should be for the entire defense on how great their play was on the field especially giving up only 67 total yards in the second half. Cornerback Quandre Diggs interception was the momentum shifter that the defense needed until we saw the closer.
4th Quarter (2:44) WTH Harsin?! The Lone Star State is starting to warm up to the Boise State offense when you see a freshmen wide receiver, Shipley, throwing a pass to another freshmen quarterback, Ash, to move the chains. New Kids on the Block should be replacing this year’s slogan of Brick by Brick.
4th Quarter (1:34) WTH Closer?! I would like to introduce the newest nickname to one of our stable of running backs who we will now affectionately call The Closer. Malcolm Brown running off left tackle for 14 yards sealed the win for the Horns and will hopefully garner more than the 14 carries next game.
Next up for the Longhorns are the Bruins as they travel to LA for the game at 2:30pm on Sept. 17th.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
Garret Gilbert is the most polarizing quarterback at Texas since Chris Simms, and even though he won the starting job, coming out of camp, he was not the fans choice to be the starting quarterback. While he had a decent night against Rice in week one, there was nothing shown in that game that made anyone feel that he was ready to take the job and run with it. Nobody in the Texas community felt safe knowing this team was led by Gilbert. But most fans were willing to give him a chance to prove them wrong against BYU. Unfortunately for him, that never happened. He struggled early and often in the early part of the game.
It really wasn’t anyone’s surprise when he was benched for the combination of McCoy and Ash. In the long story of Garret Gilbert, who came to the university of Texas with such promise, he has shown a long line of struggles, and it looks like we have reached the end of his story, for now. I am not one to say that Gilbert won’t have another shot at some point down the line, but for now, I think it is safe to say we have seen the last of Garret Gilbert starting. Sad to say that he went out with little opposition, to the fan favorite McCoy and surprise David Ash.
Tonight’s Texas game against BYU will be the first time the LHN deprived Longhorn fanbase will be able to watch their team this season. We’ll be active here and on Twitter and would love to have you join in on the conversation.
Follow along live with @40AcresSports on Twitter and below for our coverage. We’ll be live right around kickoff so join us to discuss the game at 6pm Saturday.
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.
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 the Rice Owls.
Pregame (15:00) WTH LHN?! C’mon ESPN I know you want the biggest bang for your buck, but you are pissing off Longhorn Nation without letting the fans see the game at least on pay per view. The 101,624 in attendance saw the Longhorn Network studio set up in the Southeast section of the stadium. Coincidence that it chose that location?
1st Quarter (1:18) WTH QB Controversy?! I guess you can eliminate the controversy when you have 6 players line up to take the snap. Fozzy Whitaker had the most success in the wildcat formation when he wowed the crowd with his exploits (88 all-purpose yds. & 2 TD’s). QB David Ash will not redshirt this year because he has a package… giggle.
2nd Quarter (13:03) WTH Crime Dog?! Rice RB Sam McGuffie took a wicked shot from S Kenny Vaccaro and managed to gather himself to complete a 15 yard pass which was the longest pass play for the Owls. It was a great job by the UT defense all night in keeping Rice out of the end zone.
2nd Quarter (:35) WTH Special Package?! Guess no one was missing Coach Davis after all the different packages of players that came running on and off the field during the game. I was tired just watching the players run back and forth. Get used to the illegal motion penalties with all the different packages of players getting familiar with the new system installed by Coach Harsin.
Halftime WTH MOB?! Great job by the funniest band in the land. The Rice band made fun of the Aggies leaving for the SEC. The line of the night was when the Rice announcer said that the Big 12 and the SEC were both raising their IQ points by that Aggies move.
3rd Quarter (12:15) WTH Grape?! Garret Gilbert had a solid night for the Horns (13-23 for 239 1 TD – no turnovers). The dumbfounding play was when he was being chased out of the pocket and he flipped the ball backwards that thankfully Fozzy landed on the fumble.
3rd Quarter (5:32) WTH Out of Bounds?! I have heard the saying that a player has a nose for the end zone. Never heard of a player that is attracted to the out of bounds line. An earlier run in the first half by Jaxon Shipley was negated by him touching the end line. Thankfully his aerobatic catch for the touchdown in the third quarter was not wiped out by an apparent end line violation. Dare I say that Jaxon looks faster than Jordan?
4th Quarter (1:00) WTH Rugby?! Justin Tucker is such a great field goal kicker that I wonder about the decision to use him as a rugby style punter. Justin’s final punt only traveled six yards to set up the Owls at mid field. Great job by the UT defense and non-scholarship player Cody Ramirez to recover a fumble to end the drive.
End of the Game WTH UT Band?! It’s a great moment when the tower is lit orange and the band plays the Eyes of Texas after a win. A new wrinkle was added before the traditional ending to a game. The entire football team was serenaded by the Band’s rendition of DJ Khaled “All I Do is Win.” No one can deny that this is a brand new season.
Next up for the Longhorn’s are the Mormons from BYU at 6pm on Sept. 10th.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
Texas wide receiver and world class long jumper Marquise Goodwin is coming back to the Texas football team. Goodwin was originally going to sit out and redshirt this season to focus on his Olympic dreams, but after watching the Rice game Saturday he texted Coach Mack Brown and told him he wanted to come back to the team. He’ll back on the practice field tomorrow with the rest of the team.
Goodwin’s return is a huge boost to a very young (but talented) receiving corps. Goodwin probably slots behind Mike Davis and freshman Jaxon Shipley but he’ll bring gamebreaking speed and good hands to a team that can never get enough of either. He’ll look great running the jet sweep.
Quotes from the official MBTF press release:
“Words can’t even explain how I excited I am right now to be getting back on the football field,” Goodwin said. “When I was overseas, I was missing football, the guys and being a part of the team so much. I thought about how they were getting ready for the season, working hard and pulling together, but it really hit me when I was in the airport on my way back from Seoul. People were texting and tweeting me with updates from the game. I don’t know how anybody could feel what I was feeling at that time. I just was missing being there terribly and didn’t want to wait a year to play again. I just wanted to get back out there and didn’t want to be saying ‘what if’ after the season.”
“When Marquise talked to me and our coaches about coming back and playing this year we were 100 percent in support if that was what he wanted to do,” Brown said. “He had decided earlier to redshirt and focus on track and field, and we backed him then just as we are now. He’s a tremendous young man who is blessed with a lot of ability in both football and track and field. Marquise has had great success in both sports and will continue to, but at the end of the day, what I heard from him was that he really missed football and wanted to play this year. We want what’s best for him and know he’s in great shape, is a fast learner and can help us, so we’re glad to have him back.”
Goodwin’s junior season in track and field was a stellar one as he won the U.S. Outdoor National title, set the UT indoor school record in the event, earned three First Team All-America honors and swept the Big 12 long jump titles.
Goodwin leaped 27-4 to claim the U.S. title in the long jump and earn a spot in the World Championships. Competing at that meet in Daegu, Korea last week, he finished 13th in the qualifying rounds with a leap of 26-3.75 (8.02m). The top 12 finishers advanced to the final round, but despite being tied with the 11th and 12th-place jumpers, he did not advance due to a tiebreaker based on next best jump.
“I really appreciate coach Brown, (men’s track and field head) coach (Bubba) Thornton and all of my coaches for being so supportive of me through all of this,” Goodwin said. “They stood behind me when I decided to redshirt and couldn’t have been more understanding and agreeable when I wanted to come back. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that you have those kinds of people — my family here at UT — believing in and standing behind you.”
“We’re really happy Marquise is going to come back and play football this year,” Thornton said. “We’re excited about the experiences he had this summer with track and field and are going to support him 100 percent in anything he does. He still has a dream of winning a medal at the Olympics and being part of the U.S. Olympic team, and we’ll be there to help him work to achieve that, but right now he wants to make the most of this time and we couldn’t be happier for him.”
Prior to the World Championships, Goodwin captured the silver medal on the final day of the 2011 World University Games with a jump of 26-4.25 (8.03m) in Shenzhen, China in August.
“I texted Coach Brown after the game on Saturday and told him how much I missed football,” Goodwin said. “I said was having second thoughts about redshirting and he said, ‘We miss you and need you, so come out if you want.’ That was so nice to hear so I called Coach Thornton to clear it with him first. He was very supportive, as he always is. We had a really nice talk and he just made it clear that he wants whatever is best for me. So, after that, I decided to make the move and get back on the football field.”
Not everyone (maybe hardly anyone?) will be able to watch the Longhorns’ debut today against Rice but we will be watchig live thanks to Verizon and their deal with Longhorn Network. We’ll be posting frequent updates here to help you keep up with the game that you can’t see.
Follow along live with @40AcresSports on Twitter and below for our coverage of tonight’s season opener versus Rice on Longhorn Network. We’ll be live right around kickoff so join us to discuss the game at at around 7pm Saturday.
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.
I wanted to use a phrase for this football season similar to what Mack Brown uses for his team. This
year’s moniker is “Brick by Brick”. Mack wants to rebuild this program back to where it belongs. I
would like to refer to this upcoming season as PAIN. Not the type of Pain referenced by Clubber Lang to Rocky. (Check out the 2011 Longhorn Football Preview – Rocky Version.)
This season will be more like “Growing Pains” for the Longhorns this year. Did you know that during
this great television show (tongue in cheek) from 1985 through 1992 that the Longhorns had four losing
seasons? After painstakingly finding that crazy stat, I realized that it will be difficult to get back to
the greatness that the Horns had just experienced. Again, I know that the Horns have more talent than
probably most schools in the country, but the ability to beat teams on talent alone went out the window
with last year’s 5-7 season. It was painfully obvious that changes needed to be made.
A new coaching staff, plus a new strength and conditioning coach and a new sense of involvement from
the CEO was taking place. The future looks bright with the young coaching staff and the talent that
should be developed and utilized. Wonder when the first fan will say I am glad we got rid of that pain in
the ass Greg Davis? But it pains me to say that all this hope and new attitude does not always equal more
wins.
Remember that every team that was once the South Division had a better record and you can probably say
that every one of those teams has improved. OU, OSU, A&M, and Baylor all have returning quarterbacks
and their leading receiver. The quarterback position at UT is still a question mark and the offense has to
learn a whole new way of operating. The defensive staff has a new set of cornerbacks and hopes that a
defensive tackle will step up. There are so many more question marks than answers that UT fans need to
up their pain medication for this year.
You need to ask yourself will this team be above or below the 7 1/2 win mark at the end of the regular
season. Give me the under at 7 wins with the hope that we will be inflicting more pain than receiving
towards the end of the season. I know that this prediction was painful to read.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
Texas safety Christian Scott’s status for the upcoming season has been up in the air since he was arrested in early August on an assault charge related to the repossession of his car. Monday Scott pled no contest to the misdemeanor charges and received deferred adjudication, probation, and community service for his crime. As is standard operating procedure, Texas coach Mack Brown waited for the legal matter to be settled before handing down the team punishment of a 3 game suspension on Tuesday night.
From Mack Brown: “We’re disappointed any time one of our players makes a poor decision, and Christian understands he made a mistake. He has taken responsibility, is accepting the consequences of his actions and has returned to the team.” (via)
Scott was a starting safety last season but had been passed on the depth chart this fall by Kenny Vaccaro. When he returns to the team he will provide valuable veteran depth to the a very young secondary.
Andy Katz thinks pretty much every other recent conference move made sense, except of course the Aggies moving to the SEC. Some quotes from Katz:
This move specifically is done because Texas A&M didn’t like the way Texas was getting favored status from the Big 12.
And…
They didn’t like being treated as the second child.
The best one comes from the other host though…
A&M has been in the shadow of Texas for quite some while now.
Too bad for the Aggies. Instead of being little brother to Texas and Oklahoma whipping boy, they’ll now be fighting Mississipi State for fifth place in the SEC West. Aggie fans somehow think they’ll be better in SEC. They couldn’t consistently beat Texas Tech and Baylor but think they can hang with Bama and LSU.
As we are on the verge of another college football season, the biggest debate is not over who is ranked number one in the preseason polls (looks like OU in 2011), but whose team is going to be on probation. The entire season will be littered with teams that are on probation, dealing with secondary violations or owners of the dreaded lack of institutional control. I believe that we are nowhere close to the brash and blatant cheating of the 80’s, but this season will be scrutinized by fan bases identifying this team as the dirtiest program in college football.
So how do you propose to change it? I do not have all the answers but I will throw up a few for debate.
Do Not Pay Players
I cannot stress this one enough. Most fans want to see college football players get paid because of all the millions of dollars that colleges rake in. People forget that football pays the bills for many college sports including all the Title IX sports. For every great college football player that is glamorized on TV or on a video game there are a host of other no name college athletes that are still getting scholarship money paid for by the school. Not to mention the facilities that the athletes use, the travel that they get to experience and the notoriety that they can obtain all on the schools tab. No regular college kid would ever be able to have that kind of head start after they graduate. Jay Bilas wants kids to have the ability to make money off their name while in school by autograph signings. Do you think anyone wants to buy the Northwestern’s wide receiver autograph or for that matter want the polo teams John Hancock? There is no solution that be can be equally administered or financially viable for all of these universities.
Shine the Light
Have you ever read a college scholarship offer that is signed by these young athletes? I have never seen the verbiage or the rules that it states. How about language in a scholarship that states that if you take improper benefits you will be permanently kicked off the team? Compliance offices are set up to help guide the student athlete on how to handle overzealous fans. How about every season ticket holder going through a course on what is acceptable behavior around student athletes? Let’s shed a light on these contracts that these kids are signing and educate fans on what their jock sniffing efforts will do to their program.
Coaches’ Amnesia
This is the biggest crock of all. Head college football coaches hide behind the fact that they cannot watch their players 24/7. Coaches have immense resources from academic counselors to compliance personnel, other coaches, and their true football leaders in the locker room. The current thought is if it is not reported than it cannot be wrong. Reporting violations while tedious is still the best way to clean up the bad apples before it affects everyone else. If you are worried about Johnny Five Star going out late and damaging the reputation of your program, do not recruit the kid. Former Coach Mike Leach said that coaches are their own worst enemy because they think that they can rehabilitate these kids when they bring them into their environment. Probably the real problem is that head coaches are numb from all the stupid rules that exist. Until the universities that run the league take a hard look at overhauling the NCAA, it needs to follow the rules that are set forth for everyone. It’s time for head coaches and the AD’s to be accountable for the millions of dollars that they earn every year to police their teams and keep the little issues from festering into a lack of institutional control.
Harsher Penalties
I love the fact that Coach Nick Saban calls runners and agents that hang around college football as pimps. (Don’t college coaches do the same thing?) Ask college basketball coaches what they think about AAU programs and you might find a more colorful word for those people. States need to get involved and legislate harsher penalties so that recruiting services, boosters and agents will be met with loss of certification, jail time and financial penalties. Most state governments around the country made money off the tobacco industry. They sure could use another revenue producing vehicle and college football is full of money. Also, please inform the NCAA that taking wins away does not hurt a school at all. The NCAA needs to affect the schools pocket books with the elimination of college bowl games and television appearances.
College football fans will never tone down their fervor for recruiting, daily updates and the need to go to every practice to rub elbows with the players and coaching staff. Since the passion of college football will never be squelched. Universities, state attorneys, and even the television networks are going to have to shine a light on college football to show everyone what is going on. We thirst for more information on twitter, blogs, and the internet. Add compliance notices and simple NCAA rules for the fans to add to their daily intake.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
Welcome. Kickoff is a little over 20 minutes away.