Texas Longhorns Football News Page 10

WTH Moments – Texas vs Rice

Posted September 6th, 2011 by Ross
Filed under: Feature, Football

Comments Off on WTH Moments – Texas vs Rice

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.

Texas freshman running back Malcolm Brown rushed for 86 yards against Rice. (AP Photo)

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!!

Tags: Bryan Harsin, David Ash, Fozzy Whittaker, Garrett Gilbert, Greg Davis, Jaxon Shipley, Justin Tucker, Kenny Vaccaro, Longhorn Network, Rice, WTH

Marquise Goodwin returning to Texas football

Posted September 5th, 2011 by Brian
Filed under: Feature, Football, Track

Comments Off on Marquise Goodwin returning to Texas football

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.”

Tags: Marquise Goodwin, Wide Receivers

Texas and OU headed west to form Pac 16?

Posted September 4th, 2011 by Brian
Filed under: Baseball, Basketball, Football

Comments Off on Texas and OU headed west to form Pac 16?

Video from ESPN on the latest in conference realignment caused by the Aggies running away from Texas to the SEC:

Tags: NCAA, Oklahoma, Pac 10, Pac 16, Texas, Video

Game Day Live: Texas vs Rice

Posted September 3rd, 2011 by Brian
Filed under: Feature, Football, Live

Comments Off on Game Day Live: Texas vs Rice

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!

Saturday September 3, 2011