40 Acres Sports

Our Thoughts

Brian – The first and probably most wrong Bevo Sports Top 25 of the year. I went into detail on my top 10 last week, which is probably the only part of the poll I have any confidence in whatsoever. I have Oklahoma at number 12 to start off the season, and I don’t think I’d have had them much higher even if they had Rhett Bomar. I just don’t have any faith in their offensive line at all. LSU at 13 is a lot lower than most people have them, but I still don’t believe Les Miles is the right guy for a big time program. Other Big XII teams in my top 25 include Tech at 18 and Nebraska down at 21. The Cornhuskers are getting a lot of love as the North division favorite and though I think they’ve got a chance to do that while still being decidedly mediocre. They’re recruiting much better lately and seem to be back on their way up though.

Matt – It seems like so many teams are not returning keys players this year, that this Week 1 poll seems more difficult than ever. First off, teams I am not sold on are Notre Dame, West Virginia, LSU, and Cal, so if I see any slip-ups I will not be afraid to drop them down a few spots. Ohio State has a lot of question marks on defense, but with their offense laced with so much talent, I can see why some people would have them as #1. I have been really impressed with the video I have seen of the Texas scrimmages. Selvin Young looks almost as fast as Jamaal Charles. Texas vs. Ohio State is definitely going to be the match-up to watch, and don’t worry, I will be there to witness it. Other Big XII teams I have in the top 25 include Oklahoma at 16, Nebraska at 19, and Texas Tech at 22.

Related Links

• AP Top 25
• USA Today Coaches Top 25

Deadspin brings up a good point. Baby due in November. Leinart spotted leaving Paris Hilton’s in May. Hmm…

College football season is officially upon us as Saturday morning ESPN’s College Gameday aired their preview special. I didn’t even know it would be on, luckily the TiVo caught it and I saw it on there this morning.

In the first ten minutes of the show, the Gameday crew talks about Vince Young leaving and the remarkable 2005 Longhorn season, the quarterback situation, the many returning studs, and who will step up to fill Vince’s leadership role. Probably the most interesting comment comes from Mark May, he essentially says a two-quarterback system can have some success but it won’t win anyone a national championship. Kirk Herbstreit also brings up the need for offensive consistency without the explosive ability of Vince Young. Texas is going to have to put together some longer scoring drives and not put themselves in 3rd and 27 situations. Both are valid points.

May definitely appears to still be on the Texas bandwagon again this year. It seems he was big on the Horns every year except last season until real late. Whoops.

Click here to watch the entire 4+ minute segment. (Note: Video playback requires Flash Player 8.)

It almost sounds like there will be no QB rotation at all, even against UNT.

Despite going to I-AA, the NCAA should force him to sit out the year.

Good article on Mack and his brother Watson Brown, the head coach at UAB.

Hopefully no one will get knocked out while running with the ball and trying to watch the screen.

Don’t worry though, it is just a bruise. The x-rays were negative.

In an effort to measure which college programs have been the most successful over the last five seasons, the Wall Street Journal has come up with The Dow Jones College-Football Success Index. I’m not sure why, but they have chosen to use a formula that calculates the success of college football teams using only NFL information. They use the number of players starting/contributing on NFL teams as one factor, which also includes how many games their NFL teams win. The other factor is a team’s “draft success” which attempts to determine whether a team’s players have lived up to their draft promise.

The Longhorns land at number sixteen, which isn’t too low except for the fact that teams like North Carolina and Texas A&M land ahead of the Horns. That’s a pretty tell-tale sign that your ranking logic is horribly skewed. They list only [tag]Derrick Dockery[/tag], [tag]Casey Hampton[/tag], and [tag]Derrick Johnson[/tag] as standout players. I guess Pro Bowlers [tag]Nathan Vasher[/tag] and [tag]Shaun Rogers[/tag], who might be the best defensive tackle in the league, don’t count as standouts.

Here’s their comment on Texas:

National champs sent only three players to the NFL this year from the nation’s top offense. One problem: Longhorns’ shotgun formation isn’t popular in the NFL.

Not a very good argument there. I’m guessing a better reason we only had three offensive player’s drafted is that the team has seven returning starters this year on that side of the football. It’s kind of hard to be drafted when you’re still in college. [tag]Vince Young[/tag] went third overall, tight end [tag]David Thomas[/tag] went in the third round to the Patriots, and tackle [tag]Jonathan Scott[/tag] was the Lions’ fifth round selection. Guard [tag]Will Allen[/tag] signed a free agent deal with the Saints and backups [tag]Matt Nordgren[/tag] and [tag]Ahmard Hall[/tag] also found teams despite not being starters at Texas. Actually seems like a pretty good success rate to me.

So basically they took a faulty premise and backed it up with terrible analysis. There’s a lot of ways to determine a successful college football program, but how many backups a school has in the NFL is probably one of the last things you should consider.

Via: The Wiz

I swear, everytime I read some poll dealing with colleges, Texas seems to be #1 on the charts.

Now this one should come as no surprise, as Texas topped the list of the biggest college football money-makers bringing in a whopping $53,204,171. What was shocking though, is that Texas A&M came in at #10 with $38,359,977. I guess the difference between #1 and #10 is a 7,000 sq ft video board versus a 4,000 sq ft video board.

1. Texas $53,204,171
2. Ohio State $51,810,607
3. Georgia $50,895,838
4. Michigan $46,396,107
5. Florida $43,417,641
6. Alabama $42,979,669
7. Notre Dame $41,754,817
8. Auburn $40,563,927
9. Louisiana State $40,107,764
10. Texas A&M $38,359,977

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