40 Acres Sports

The first Bowl Championship Series standings were released today and it was good news for the Texas Longhorns. We come out further behind #1 USC than I thought, but we have a pretty good hold onto the all important #2 slot.

Here are the rankings for the teams that have a legitimate shot of finishing the season in the top 2:

Before this weekend a lot of BCS experts were predicting Texas to debut at #3, but as you can see we’ve got a reasonably safe lead over #3 Virginia Tech and the rest of the pack. Virginia Tech is actually much closer to #4 Georgia than they are to being #2. I’m a little surprised to see how much more the computers like Georgia than Virginia Tech, and we better hope it stays that way. Switch Georgia and Virginia Tech’s computer rankings and the Hokies are right on our tails. It looks like Alabama is on the outside looking in as well, as they’re almost a full point behind the top 4. After Alabama you start seeing one loss teams and teams like Texas Tech and UCLA, who would need a miracle to make it to the Rose Bowl no matter how many games they win.

Texas’ chances of the Rose Bowl got a lot better on Saturday thanks to a number of factors:

1. Colorado 17, Texas 42. First of all, a blow out victory over a ranked conference opponent is always good. Texas went out and easily handled a very respectable Colorado team and Vince Young showed that the team can beat you in many different ways. There’s a ton of different factors that go in to the BCS rankings, but number one is winning games. With the number of undefeated teams this year, it doesn’t look like there will be a back door to the championship game this year.
2. USC looked beatable for the third straight week. Without a Trojans’ loss it’s not likely we’ll pass them in either of the human polls or in the BCS, but any Harris or USA Today voter that can be swayed is big. The more first place votes we get in those two polls the harder it’ll be for Virginia Tech or any of the other teams behind them to pass us. We picked up fewer first place votes this week than I thought we would, but if we can soundly beat a top ten Texas Tech this weekend we might see even more of those votes coming our way.
3. Ohio State came from behind to win. For much of the afternoon Saturday it looked like the Buckeyes would be dealt another loss from Michigan State and the Horns’ strength of schedule would take a hit because of it. Thanks in large part to a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown with seconds remaining in the first half, they pulled out the come from behind victory. Our computer rankings as well as national perceptions hinge a lot on the play of Ohio State so we need them to keep winning football games. If they can climb back into the top 10 in the polls it would definitely give us a boost.
4. Florida State gets upset by Virginia. Virginia Tech doesn’t play FSU in the regular season but there was a good chance they would play them in the ACC championship game. If the Seminoles had made it to that game undefeated, either one of those teams could have caused trouble for us. A solid win over a top 4, undefeated team in a conference championship setting could have given voters a reason to put either FSU or VT ahead of us on their ballots. Now, Longhorn fans can root for FSU to run the table and win the ACC, knocking off the Hokies in the process.

With the way things came down today it looks like we can control our own destiny. If the team continues to play the way they’ve been playing and just continues to win football games, they should be headed back to the Rose Bowl. The BCS is a strange and stupid system, but right now it appears to be on our side.

Related Links

• SI.com: No. 3 VT will need help in BCS race
• CFN: Initial BCS breakdown

We gain just a little on USC in both the AP and the Coaches Poll.

Career highs for Vince, Limas Sweed, David Thomas, & Ramonce Taylor.

I don’t care if I have to run it 100 times or pass it 100 times, whatever it takes to win.

Photos from yesterday’s game.

Country’s real #1 team wins easily.

ABC was about to screw Longhorn fans once again, they botched things the last two weeks and seemed like they weren’t going to switch away from the Texas Tech game. They would’ve had throngs of angry Horns fans on the doorsteps if they did it to us again.

Big game today, I really don’t think the Buffs are as good as people think they are. They’re good, but they played poorly against the only top opponent they’ve played so far this season. They’re getting a lot of love for throttling the Aggies, but who hasn’t done that. It’ll be interesting to see how we do if Jamaal Charles is limited or doesn’t play and to see how we match up with their big tight end, Joe Klopfenstein.

First Quarter

• Great 3 and out from the defense. A lot of pressure on the Colorado quarterback, Joel Klatt.
• You don’t have to call a freaking foul on every kick return, it looked like Tarell Brown brushed against the guy and they threw a flag. Weak call but not a smart play by Brown either. After the penalty and a great kick we’re going to start back on our own 10.
• Penalties have started already.
• Vince Young is looking good already. Looks comfortable in the pocket and is getting time to throw. He’s hit several open wide receivers in stride.
• Selvin Young hasn’t had much room to run yet.
• Going for it on 4th down and we have to blow a timeout. That defeats the whole damn purpose.
• I was about to yell at Vince for not running for the first down just now but he finds Brian Carter open down the field and hits him for a huge first down.
• I like the screen call to Romance Taylor but that didn’t work at all.
• Another great job protecting Vince and another good job by him to find the open man on 3rd and 13. David Thomas caught the ball short and made a great effort to get the first.
• Yikes that was scary. Great play action and pump fake by VY but then he dove for the goal line and got hammered. Careful big guy.
• QB sneak by VY for the touchdown to cap off a fantastic opening drive by the Longhorns. We passed the ball very well and converted several 3rd downs and a 4th too. 16 plays covering 90 yards but not much success running the ball.

Colorado 0, Texas 7

• Great kick by Greg Johnson for the touchback. Not wonderful depth but perfect location.
• Weak roughing the passer call. This isn’t the NFL, the QB’s aren’t made of glass. Tim Crowder took one step and hit Klatt and they throw the flag. Two guys should have had the sack before then though, I think Brian Robison and Rod Wright both missed him.
• Wow, a personal foul not against us. That’s downright shocking. Big penalty puts them in a 3rd and a mile situation.
• Charles isn’t healthy and Selvin Young is a serviceable back, but JC just brings another gear. While the game is in doubt we need him in there just to make CU think about him.
• Another third down conversion to Thomas. You guys might want to cover him.
• Fantastic play by Vince and just as good by Billy Pittman. Young is scrambling and finds Pittman who throws on the brakes, makes a great catch, and gets moving down field.
• Great run by VY for a TD. Great fake on the zone read to Selvin, then made several guys miss and got the ball just inside the pylon. Of course the refs decide to review the play since it was an obvious touchdowns, only plays that hose us aren’t reviewed.

Colorado 0, Texas 14

• Another good kick by Johnson is returned from 2 yards deep in the end zone. CU starts inside their own 20.

(more …)

A good early morning game this weekend as Ohio State and Michigan State kick off at 11 a.m. CST on ABC. It’ll be interesting to see if the Buckeyes rebound after their tough loss in Happy Valley last week, for the Horns’ title hopes I hope they do.

The marquee game nationally is going on in South Bend tomorrow afternoon where the of two most overrated teams will face off. (USC is really good, just not anywhere close to the best of all time like has been mentioned.) Florida and LSU also square off in a tough SEC battle on CBS, meaning the game will not only be in HD but they also probably won’t miss plays because ABC is run by chimps. I won’t be watching much, if any, of either of those games though because Texas takes on a pretty decent Colorado team at the same time. It’s another game the Longhorns should win easily if things are clicking, but they’ve been playing pretty sloppy the last couple of games and super frosh Jamaal Charles is hampered by an ankle injury.

Here’s our picks:

Related Links

• Last week’s picks

Our Thoughts

Brian – Vince didn’t make every single throw this weekend but he sure made a lot of them and he led his team to an impressive victory over their biggest rival. 241 yards and 3 TD’s passing and another 45 on the ground is a pretty complete effort. Where is all this Maurice Drew hype coming from? He rushed for 65 yards last week and is only projected to go for 827 this year. I really could care less that he had 162 yards on punt returns, he’s a running back by position and he doesn’t do it all that well. He’s a crappier Reggie Bush. And by the way, Bush isn’t even the best running back on his team.

Matt – LenDale could be the best running back in the nation. His stats are pretty ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as USC having 3 players in my Heisman Top 5. Maybe next week I will add Jamaal Charles to my Top 5 so that I can try to balance it out a little bit. Brady Quinn could set himself to be a big player in this Heisman race if he figures out a way to upset the Trojans this weekend, but I really doubt that will happen. Hook ’em.

Related Links

• Last week’s Heisman poll
• ESPN Experts Poll

Several big games on TV this weekend, unfortunately they’re all at same time as Texas-Colorado.