40 Acres Sports

We finally get to see Texas back in action after the game against [tag]Arkansas[/tag] was postponed due to [tag]Hurricane Ike[/tag]. Last week’s game of the year, USC vs. Ohio State, turned out to be a big disappointment. This week we get to see two of the premier teams in the SEC square off, LSU and Auburn, in what looks to be a knock-down-drag-out fight of two great defenses. It may be a low scoring affair, but it should still be an exciting football game.

Let’s see what is going on this Saturday. Remember, I did go 2-1 last weekend against the spread.

Miami (FL) at Texas A&M (+3) – 3:30 PM EST on ABC. The best news in this game might well be the fact that [tag]Stephen McGee[/tag] is injured and might not play. [tag]Jerrod Johnson[/tag] has shown some promise already this season and is probably a better option than McGee. Remember last year when Miami killed Aggy on the national stage? Well you can expect more of the same this year. Aggy will start the season 0-2 at home.

Rice at #7 Texas (-29) – 7:00 PM EST on FSN. After Hurricane Ike I am sure these two teams are ready to get back on the playing field and resume some normalcy. Rice doesn’t seem as bad this year as they normally do, but they still have no shot against Texas. Rice can actually score some points, so this will another good warm-up for the Texas defense before the real schedule starts. Rice might actually be a tough cover, but I see us winning by about 35.

#18 Wake Forest at #24 Florida State (-4) – 7:00 PM EST on ESPN2. Florida St is currently #1 in the nation in overall defense, allowing only 170 yards per game, but that is a little deceiving since they have played two Football Championship Subdivision teams. Wake Forest has owned Florida State in recent years and is the only team to shut-out FSU at home in coach Bobby Bowdens’ career. FSU is the favorite in this game for a reason. They are much more talented in the skill positions and are playing at home. I think this game might be close, but FSU will end up winning by 7 and cover the spread.

#6 LSU at #10 Auburn (+2.5) – 7:45 PM EST on ESPN. By far the premier match-up of the weekend. With two of the best defenses in the country squaring off Saturday night, this has all of the makings to be a 7-6 game. If you only score 3 points against Mississippi St, something is wrong with your offense. Even though they are playing at home, Auburn has the real potential to be shut-out. LSU’s offense is nothing to write home about either, but they should be able to put something together. I see LSU winning this game 17-6.

My Top 8 remains unchanged this week as a few teams didn’t play and the rest won easily. The story of the weekend was the Cremation in the Coliseum – USC’s dismantling of the over-hyped Ohio State. Ohio State has pretty much become a joke, getting shallacked whenever they play on the big stage. I am starting to think if I should allow any teams in the Big 10 in the Top 25 at all? Hmm….

Agree or disagree? Please let us know in the comments.

1. [tag]USC[/tag]

   
   LW: 1

   Was there really anyone surprised in their thrashing of Ohio State? USC looks unbeatable right now but they usually suck-up one game during the regular season, so we will see.

2. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   
   LW: 2

   Offense, offense, offense. Oklahoma probably won’t score less than 40 points all season long. Right now Oklahoma and USC are separating themselves from the rest of the teams in college football.

3. [tag]Florida[/tag]

   
   LW: 3

   Bye week

4. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   
   LW: 4

   Chase Daniel has the offense rolling right now, though it does help when you play a high school team like Nevada. And 6 catches, 172 yards, and 3 touchdowns for Maclin? Ridiculous.

5. [tag]LSU[/tag]

   
   LW: 5

   LSU finally got to play a game and just toyed with UNT. Not really fair. Let’s see how they do against their first real test, Auburn.

6. [tag]Texas[/tag]

   
   LW: 6

   Game against Arkansas postponed.

7. [tag]Georgia[/tag]

   
   LW: 7

   This team is so overrated it is ridiculous. But since they still haven’t lost, I will wait for them to lose so I can drop them down. That will likely happen in two weeks against Alabama.

8. [tag]Alabama[/tag]

   
   LW: 8

   Alabama’s balanced offensive attack looks impressive. Not much to dislike with this team. They have a pretty good shot to do goods things in the SEC West.

9. [tag]South Florida[/tag]

   
   LW: 19

   What a game Friday night against Kansas. Big lead changes both ways and South Florida pulls out the crazy victory. Now hopefully they won’t have a letdown after this big win.

10. [tag]Wisconsin[/tag]

    
    LW: 15

    Wisconsin just continues their boring football that wins games. But hey, whatever works.

11. [tag]Auburn[/tag]

    
    LW: 9

    3-2 victory against Mississippi State? Are you serious? Their defense is great, but they will have to actually score touchdowns to beat LSU.

12. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

    
    LW: 13

    Their offense looks good so far, but hard not to against the caliber of opponents they have been playing. I guess we will have to wait until Big 12 play to see how they really are.

13. [tag]BYU[/tag]

    
    LW: 17

    Absolutely smoked UCLA. 7 passing touchdowns will usually get it done. Might have to start paying attention to this team.

14. [tag]Wake Forest[/tag]

    
    LW: 18

    Bye week

15. [tag]East Carolina[/tag]

    
    LW: 12

    Barely sneaked by a weak Tulane team. Maybe they aren’t as good as we thought. They will need some more convincing wins if they want to challenge for the Top 10.

16. [tag]Oregon[/tag]

    
    LW: 16

    Probably should have lost to Purdue, but their impressive rushing attack led the charge in their comeback win against Purdue. Blount had 132 yards on 12 carries. Not a bad average.

17. [tag]Penn State[/tag]

    
    LW: 21

    Penn State racked up 560 total yards and held Syracuse to 159 yards. We will have to see how they face adversity, because so far they have breezed through this season.

18. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

    
    LW: 11

    Heartbreaking loss against a good South Florida team. I bet Reesing is wanting that one poor throw back late in the 4th quarter. Kansas is still a good football team that will probably climb back up in the rankings.

19. [tag]Ohio State[/tag]

    
    LW: 10

    Now can we please stop thinking Ohio State is any good? Lately anytime they are the national stage they get blown out. Needless to say they will not be playing for the national championship this year.

20. [tag]Vanderbilt[/tag]

    
    LW: 23

    Another solid win against Rice. SEC teams better not overlook this Vanderbilt team. They might be the surprise of the SEC East this year.

21. [tag]Utah[/tag]

    
    LW: 25

    Utah is starting to play like they did in their 2004 unbeaten season. Though their big win against Michigan isn’t looking as impressive as it did in the beginning of the season.

22. [tag]Florida State[/tag]

    
    LW: NR

    Lots of first timers making an appearance in my Top 25, and FSU is the first. They have a real test upcoming against Wake Forest, so we will see how long they stay here.

23. [tag]TCU[/tag]

    
    LW: NR

    TCU has started their season off with 3 impressive win, including a 31-14 win against Pac-10 Stanford. They virtually have no passing game, but their stable of running backs is impressive.

24. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

    
    LW: NR

    Oklahoma State is chugging along basically unnoticed so far this season. Unfortunately for them they have an extremely tough schedule this year. But for now things are looking good.

25. [tag]West Virginia[/tag]

    
    LW: NR

    Even though they didn’t play, I am giving them another shot in the Top 25. They need to win convincingly if they want to stay here.

With [tag]Vince Young[/tag] injured it wasn’t a very exciting week for ex-Longhorns in the NFL. Quentin Jammer and Selvin Young probably had the best weeks, while the complete absence of Jermichael Finley and Limas Sweed continues. Here’s how all the former Horns did in week two of the NFL season:

[tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] – Less busy after a good week one, only three carries for seven yards. The Chiefs only rushed the ball 19 times all game as a team. Charles also had a 15 yard catch and hurt Larry Johnson’s feelings.

[tag]Phil Dawson[/tag] – Two of two on field goals with a long of 38 yards in a loss.

[tag]Jermichael Finley[/tag] – Still looking for his first career catch. I’m not sure if he’s getting any snaps at all.

[tag]Cedric Griffin[/tag] – Six tackles and one pass breakup against Peyton Manning and the Colts.

[tag]Michael Griffin[/tag] – Picked up his first interception of the year off a tipped pass. Also added six tackles from his safety spot.

[tag]Ahmard Hall[/tag] – Three carries for nine yards.

[tag]Casey Hampton[/tag] – One tackle.

[tag]Michael Huff[/tag] – Four tackles against KC and two passes defended.

[tag]Quentin Jammer[/tag] – Posted 11 tackles and had a forced fumble in the Chargers’ controversial loss to the Broncos.

[tag]Derrick Johnson[/tag] – Eight tackles, seven of them solo.

[tag]Cullen Loeffler[/tag] – Inspired me to teach my kids to deep snap.

[tag]Cory Redding[/tag] – Three solo tackles against the Packers.

[tag]Shaun Rogers[/tag] – First sack of the 2008 season and added six tackles.

[tag]Aaron Ross[/tag] – Four tackles.

[tag]Bo Scaife[/tag] – Without Vince Young, just one catch for six yards.

[tag]Limas Sweed[/tag] – Still no catches in his NFL career. Like Finley, looking at his game logs it appears he’s not even playing.

[tag]David Thomas[/tag] – Picked up his first catch of the year against the Jets, a 14-yarder from Matt Cassel.

[tag]Nathan Vasher[/tag] – Returned punts for the first time in a long while. Had three returns for a total of 21 yards. Added two tackles.

[tag]Ricky Williams[/tag] – After an exciting preseason another ho hum game for Ricky. He had 11 rushes for 28 yards in the Dolphins’ blowout loss to Arizona.

[tag]Roy Williams[/tag] – Just about the same performance as week one: three catches for 48 yards. Looks like Calvin Johnson has become the clear number one target in Detroit, maybe Roy can head down to Tennessee next year as a free agent.

[tag]Selvin Young[/tag] – Was the Broncos’ leading rusher with eight carries for 78 yards, including a big 49-yarder. Also added one catch for eight yards.

According to the headlines on both ESPN.com and SI.com, Tennessee Titans’ head coach Jeff Fisher announced today that [tag]Vince Young[/tag] would not get his starting job when he was back healthy and able to play. The ESPN headline is “Unbeaten Titans to go with Collins over injured, troubled Young” as if Young has been benched, but is that what Fisher actually said?

Here’s the actual quote from Fisher in the AP article:

“We’re going to get Vince back, get his knee back, work with him, get him back involved in the offense, but Kerry’s going to go ahead and play for us until either he struggles or whatever else happens.”

And…

“He’s got to get back. He’s eventually going to be under center for us. When that happens, I don’t know. For right now, Kerry’s our quarterback”

That’s not exactly the statement the headlines or the article are making it out to be. Fisher essentially said that Collins would be starting for him since Young was injured and that they’d take the time for his knee to heal and not rush him back.

This isn’t some huge vote of confidence in Collins. Fisher stated that Collins would play until “either he struggles or whatever else happens.” For anyone who watched Collins play back in 2006 and in limited time in 2007, it would be pretty surprising if he does anything more than put up the average day he did Sunday against mediocre competition. That “for right now” is also pretty damn noncommittal.

Collins will likely start the next three games, put up two clunkers against Minnesota and Baltimore, and then Vince is back in as the starter after the bye week. For the next few weeks Vince needs to get both his knee and his head healthy. He’ll get his chance again soon, he just needs to get back out there on the field and just play his game when it comes.

The latest top 25 polls are out and the Longhorns have moved up a spot without playing a game. They’re now number seven thanks to USC drubbing [tag]Ohio State[/tag] back to the Stone Age (and a #13 ranking). The Trojans certainly looked like a national title contender as did the Oklahoma Sooners in a lopsided victory over a Pac 10 opponent.

Check out this week’s rankings or view the top 10s below:

	AP Top 25		USA Today Poll
1	USC (61) 2-0 1,596		USC (57) 2-0 1,518
2	Oklahoma 3-0 1,485		Oklahoma (1) 3-0 1,423
3	Georgia (2) 3-0 1,437		Georgia (2) 3-0 1,393
4	Florida (1) 2-0 1,414		Florida (1) 2-0 1,335
5	Missouri 3-0 1,389		Missouri 3-0 1,294
6	LSU 2-0 1,274		LSU 2-0 1,233
7	Texas 2-0 1,140		Texas 2-0 1,128
8	Wisconsin 3-0 1,076		Wisconsin 3-0 1,027
9	Alabama 3-0 982		Auburn 3-0 955
10	Auburn 3-0 958		Texas Tech 3-0 887

Like most people, I have been waiting for this weekend for some time because we get to see two of the top teams in the nation square off during the regular season, #1 USC vs. #5 Ohio State. There is almost as much hype for this game as the National Championship. Unfortunately some of that excitement has diminished for me since it has been reported that Chris “Beanie” Wells will not play this Saturday against USC.

And now that we know Texas vs. Arkansas is postponed, we have to find something else to watch. Let’s see what is going on this weekend. (P.S. I went 2-0-1 last weekend with my picks)

Michigan at Notre Dame (+1) – 3:43 PM EST on NBC. Some of the luster of this game has worn off since both programs seem to be struggling. Even so, NBC’s broadcast of this game in HD looks great, and it will be good fun seeing Notre Dame get embarrassed at home. Notre Dame should have lost last weekend, and I just can’t see anyway they can pull off that same miracle against Michigan. I’m not a huge fan of Rich Rodriguez, but I seem them winning easily this weekend.

#3 Oklahoma at Washington (+20) – 7:45 PM EST on ESPN. I’m pretty curious to see how Washington responds to getting screwed last weekend against BYU. It will probably either be extremely good, or extremely bad. I am going to go with the latter. Oklahoma’s offense continues to improve and their young wide receivers are absolutely torching the opponents’ secondary. Oklahoma is averaging 55 points per game, Washington 19. You can do the math here. Expect Oklahoma to win by 30.

#5 Ohio State at #1 USC (-11) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. Like I said, this game isn’t as exciting since Ohio State isn’t bringing all of their weapons, but this will still probably be the biggest game in college football this year. So far this year USC has been more impressive than we thought, and Ohio State has been not nearly been as good as we expected. Without Chris Wells I don’t see them able to get the running game going against USC’s strong defense, which in turn puts more pressure on QB Todd Boeckman and freshman QB Terrelle Pryor. Boeckman is coming off one of the worst games of his career. Things are probably only going to get worse. And Pryor will most likely be a big-time quarterback soon in college football, but now is not that time.

USC on the other hand has a “stable” of 6 running backs on their team, probably all of whom would start on most teams in the country. Does 6 sound like a little too many? Yeah, sure does, but 5 of the 6 scored touchdowns against Virginia in their season opener. Talk about depth. Bottomline, Ohio State has no shot in this game and will probably lose by 20. Take USC here.

I know this doesn’t really have anything to do with Texas Longhorns sports, but this video reminded me of some of the embarrassing college raps songs we have shown in the past (Don’t Worry, Aggies Can Also Rap and Ohio State Rapper Reps His Countaaaay).

Two Georgia Tech players Josh Nesbitt and Jonathan Dwyer fans decided that their new option is so good that they felt the need to make a rap video. And they somehow talked some players into making cameos in the video.

It’s hard not to laugh pretty hard when watching this video, and yet I think some of their fans actually like it. I doubt the “perfect option” will prevent them from getting destroyed this weekend by Virginia Tech.

Check out the ridiculousness below. Thanks ESPN.

Officials at [tag]Texas[/tag] and [tag]Arkansas[/tag] are discussing their options now that it looks like [tag]Hurricane Ike[/tag] might be traveling through Central Texas. According to StormPulse.com, Hurricane Ike will hit the Texas coast Saturday morning around 7:00 AM near Corpus Christi. Ike is then projected to move north through Austin and push towards Dallas.

This doesn’t look good for the game against Arkansas on Saturday. With the scheduled kick-off at 2:30 PM, Ike could possibly be moving through Austin right around game-time. Luckily both teams have an off week on Sept. 27, so scheduling a make-up game in case of a postponement should not be a problem.

Update: A source from OrangeBloods.com says that there is a 90% chance the game will be postponed until Sept. 27.

Update #2: Brazoria County, Chambers County and Galveston officials have issued evacuation orders.

Update #3: Orangebloods is reporting that the game has officially been postponed till September 27th. Here’s a the official press release from the athletic department. The football schedule page has been updated. (8:50pm)

Source

After a second week of games the [tag]Big 12[/tag] pecking order is starting to clear up just a little. The conference won all 12 games last weekend but not every team played well. Even in victory, several teams (including Texas) were outgained by their opponents. There’s some shuffling in the rankings this week, including near the top as Mizzou hopped ahead of Texas.

Check out this week’s conference power rankings below:

1. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   
   LW: 1

   The Sooners looked nearly as good as in week one, this time against a much better opponent. It was close at halftime and for a while in the third quarter but QB Sam Bradford led a 24-0 run to put the game away. They face a Washington team this week who got screwed Saturday and might not be up for another top 25 opponent.

2. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   
   LW: 3

   After playing a tough opponent last week Mizzou had a virtual bye this week against Southeast Missouri State. The Tigers rolled to a 48-0 lead by halftime but did give up 334 yards. The FCS Redhawks put together three long, sustained drives in the first half but came away with no points. After two games the defense has to worry Tigers fans at least a little.

3. Texas

   
   LW: 2

   After two straight weeks of pass defense resembling 2007 the Longhorns drop behind Missouri this week. There’s time for the secondary to improve and I still have faith in [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag], but for now the Horns just aren’t playing as well as the Tigers. Texas is off this week after the Arkansas game was postponed.

4. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

   
   LW: 4

   Another win but another troubling game for Tech fans. The Red Raiders were outgained 488 to 421 by Nevada and QB Graham Harrell completed only 41% of his passes and threw two interceptions. I looked for a team to move ahead of them but despite the struggles no other Big 12 team really has earned this spot either.

5. [tag]Colorado[/tag]

   
   LW: 5

   The Buffaloes barely survived a scare at home versus Eastern Washington. They were down by 14 at halftime and down by a touchdown with only two minutes left in the fourth quarter. They scored with two minutes left and then less than 30 seconds later picked off a pass for the gamewinning score. Big game hosting West Virginia this week.

6. [tag]Kansas State[/tag]

   
   LW: 6

   A big blowout win for the Wildcats against FCS Montana State. I’m not sure exactly what they’ve proved in the first two weeks but both games have been incredibly easy for KSU. QB Josh Freeman was again impressive.

7. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

   
   LW: 8

   KU jumps Nebraska after a shutout win. The defense shut down the Louisiana Tech offense and QB Todd Reesing threw for a career high 412 yards. The Jayhawks get their first test of the season this coming Saturday when they face #19 South Florida on the road.

8. [tag]Nebraska[/tag]

   
   LW: 7

   As is a common theme this week in the conference, the Cornhuskers were underwhelming in a win and were outgained by their opponent. The score is deceiving but Nebraska was only up 14-12 in the fourth quarter before returning a kickoff for a touchdown and opening up the game.

9. [tag]Iowa State[/tag]

   
   LW: 9

   Another week and another solid win for the Cyclones as they made the most of turnovers and big plays. Iowa State had five scoring drives less than 25 yards, including three under 10 yards. Rivalry game up this week against [tag]Iowa[/tag] is their first real test.

10. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

    
    LW: 10

    Wide receiver Dez Bryant put up incredible numbers in a big shootout against Houston. He had nine catches, 236 yards, and three touchdowns and RB Kendall Hunter chipped in 210 yards rushing as Okie State put 56 on the board. The Cowboys have a couple of “easy” games before starting Big 12 play in October.

11. Texas A&M

    
    LW: 11

    There’s definitely a quarterback controversy brewing in College Station. After Stephen McGee went down with an injury sophomore Jerrod Johnson filled in and tossed three touchdown passes. It got sketchy for a while against New Mexico in the fourth quarter but they held on. The Aggies may be in for a world of hurt against Miami this week.

12. [tag]Baylor[/tag]

    
    LW: 12

    Coach Art Briles gets his first win as Baylor coach as true freshman QB Robert Griffin looked great in his first career start. Griffin completed 79% of his passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns against Northwestern State. He also rushed for 42 yards and another score. I’m feeling a big win coming this weekend against Washington State.

Last week’s rankings

Next time you catch a game at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium, make sure to make your way to the newly renovated north end and check out the new 13′ x 12′ mural done by renowned sports artist Mike Sullivan.

I must say I am pretty impressed with Mike Sullivan’s work. I think I might have to pick up a print of this once it is available.

Update: Tentatively postponed until Sept. 26th due to Hurricane Ike.

Check out the details below:

UT Head Coach Mack Brown to Dedicate Permanent Fixture At Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Friday, Sept. 12

AUSTIN, TX – Highly-regarded sports artist Mike Sullivan, known for his unique chiseled style featuring bright, contrasting colors on a black background, will dedicate a 13′ x 12′ mural honoring the history and achievements of The University of Texas football program on Friday, September 12, 2008 at 2 p.m. at the legendary Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. (Photo of mural on page 2)

A short presentation will begin at 2 p.m. Central. Hosted by Bill Little, the event will include a short speech by Sullivan before Texas head coach Mack Brown dedicates the mural in front of fans, alumni, university officials and former Longhorns players.

The painting pays tribute to the winning-tradition and success of The University of Texas football program, a program which, in its storied past has:

• Won four National Championships
• Been led by two Heisman Trophy winners
• Had three players selected No. 1 overall in the NFL draft
• Had 16 Longhorns players and coaches inducted into the Collegiate Football Hall of Fame

Featuring the national championship trophy, the Longhorns’ mascot Bevo, a hard-charging Texas running back, and members of the UT Spirit Squads running with flags, all against the backdrop of the orange-lit UT Tower, the mural captures these achievements and the passionate support Longhorns fans have given the program for more than a century.

“Texas football has such a rich history of on- and off-field success, outstanding student-athletes, legendary coaches and a winning strength that inspired me to pay tribute to the program,” said Sullivan. “It is truly an honor for me to have this mural at The University of Texas. I hope the mural will serve as a tribute to Longhorns past, present and future.”

This is the third in a large-scale series of permanent murals Sullivan is installing in professional stadiums and on college campuses across the country. His first, a tribute to Arizona State legend and American war hero Pat Tillman, is showcased at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ. Earlier this year, Sullivan garnered attention for his mural “Tradition,” installed at the Los Angeles Coliseum, home of the University of Southern California Trojans.