40 Acres Sports

Another solid Saturday of games to watch. There’s a couple of good SEC matchups, which means a return of CBS’s great coverage and great high def picture. Texas plays in the afternoon and there’s another big chance for the Big 12 to prove itself tonight as Nebraska faces off against USC. Don’t leave your couch.

Illinois at Syracuse – 11 am on ESPNU. If former Texas defensive coordinator Greg Robinson’s Syracuse team doesn’t win today he’ll likely start the year 0 – 4 and won’t make it till the end of the season.

Iowa at Iowa State – 12:30 pm on Versus. Speaking of former Texas defensive coordinators… Gene Chizik is just in his first year but after losing to Northern Iowa last week the Cyclones are just hoping they’re not laughed off the field today against the Hawkeyes.

(22) Tennessee at (5) Florida – 2:30 pm on CBS. Good SEC matchup today in HD on CBS. I’m not completely sold on Florida yet this year but they should be able to handle Tennessee in the Swamp.

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A few more exciting games on today’s schedule than last week, including a big matchup for Texas against the TCU Horned Frogs. Two ranked teams and the game is on freaking FSN. The Big 12 desperately needs a better television contract if it wants to be thought of as an equal to the SEC and Big 10.

Miami at (5) Oklahoma – 11 am on ABC. Texas fans will be rooting for the Hurricanes but if OU blows this one it’s going to be tough for the Big 12 to get any respect this season nationally. Can the Sooners’ offense move the ball against Miami the way the did against UNT?

(16) Nebraska at Wake Forest – 11 am on ESPN. Wake Forest played well against Boston College last week but the Cornhuskers should be able to run away with this one. Marlon Lucky is a stud.

Fresno State at (23) Texas A&M – 2:30 pm on FSN. Could be a trap game for the Aggies. This isn’t the same top 25 caliber Fresno State team that was hanging with USC a few years back but if A&M comes out flat they’re good enough to pull off the upset.

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Not exactly the biggest game of the season this week for the Longhorns, but it’s the first week of the year of college football so there’s plenty to keep Longhorn fans glued to the TV all day. The Longhorns take on [tag]Arkansas State[/tag] tonight at 6pm on FSN pay-per-view, here’s the rest of the games you should be watching:

Colorado State vs. Colorado – Noon on FSN. Always a good rivalry game to watch. Can Dan Hawkins team realize this is intramural football and rebound from an abysmal 2006 season.

Georgia Tech at Notre Dame – 2:30 pm on NBC. A rough season could be getting underway today for the Irish. No idea how good GT is but Notre Dame lost a lot on offense and will be breaking in a new QB against a tough early season schedule.

Baylor at (22) TCU – 5 pm on CSTV. I don’t know how many people get CSTV but if you do this game is of special interest to Texas fans. Can Baylor continue to improve? Just how good is TCU? Interesting match-up.

Oklahoma State at (13) Georgia – 5:45 pm on ESPN2. A big chance for Bobby Reid and OSU to prove what they’re made of right off the bat. If the Cowboys can play like the team I think they are, they’ve got a good chance to show the nation something. Big game for Big 12 respectability.

North Texas at (8) Oklahoma – 6 pm on FSN. The Todd Dodge era begins with a trip to Norman where even just a good showing against Oklahoma would mean UNT is headed in the right direction. I definitely want to see how Dodge’s offense works against OU’s defense. Also our first chance to see OU quarterback Sam Bradford lead the Sooners.

(15) Tennessee at (12) California – 7 pm on ABC. Best game of the day. If Cal rolls over again to Tennessee like they did last season it’ll be a while before the Pac 10 can convince people it’s not just USC and a bunch of scrubs.

Kirk Bohls’ predictions for the 2007 football season. Pretty positive outlook for once.

ESPN to air 25-hour college football pregame show, which will allow them to air 18+ hours of Notre Dame and USC coverage.

ESPN is again running their ESPNU Championship Series where their “experts” go week by week predicting who will win all the big games and ranking the teams. Check out the video below of Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, and Mark May discussing week six, including the Red River Rivalry:

I’m not sure why Holtz and May think Texas winning would be an upset. If Texas and [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] both reach October undefeated as they expect, since Texas is ranked higher in both the preseason AP and Coaches poll Texas would likely be favored to win this game. The idea that it would be an upset bothers me more than May and Davis picking the Sooners. Of course earlier this week Davis predicted Texas would win the Big 12 and appear in the BCS title game. I’m not sure how that would work. Stuff like this is why I have to put “experts” in quotes.

The main reason I posted this is to point out ESPN’s new video site. It’s a surprisingly nice, YouTube-y embeddable flash site that is still in beta. They’re putting a ton of quality videos up there featuring highlights from SportsCenter and obviously their features as well. You can even comment on and rate videos. Looks like a nice start from their new editor-in-chief.

(via)

Listen carefully during the technical difficutlies for some NSFW fun:

I’m not sure exactly why but I found that incredibly funny. I used to kind of like Lee Corso but his act has really beat me down the last few years and his incident on The Ticket made him look like a gigantic jerk.

The expletive just comes out of nowhere with no warning. I can’t stop watching and laughing, and laughing and watching. The apology at the end from Karl Ravech Chris Fowler is a nice touch, it totally makes up for the the way they violated my virgin ears.

I did actually like Desmond Howard Rocket Ismail better that way. He seemed more intelligent than when you can actually hear what he’s saying. Maybe this year I’ll watch all of College GameDay on mute.

(via FanHouse)

Media picks Horns to win Big 12 South. Unless Mizzou or Nebraska turns it on this year looks like the North will be mediocre once again.

I won’t mention his name and give him what he wants, but how can you call Vince Young overrated? (via)

Athlon has released their preseason All-Big 12 team and there’s of course several Longhorns on it. Not too many complaints, though I do think receiver [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] deserves some third team love especially since Nebraska’s Maurice Purify might not even be on the team next year.

I hope they’re right about [tag]Tony Hills[/tag] and [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag]. Hills gets a lot of hype but didn’t perform consistently last year, he has a lot to prove to me before he’s mentioned in the same breath as other recent Texas linemen. If Muck and the other linebackers can step up their game this year the defense will be vastly improved.

Check out all the Longhorns on their list below:

First Team Offense

QB Colt McCoy 6-foot-3 205 So.
RB Jamaal Charles 6-foot-1 200 Jr.
OL Tony Hills 6-foot-6 305 Sr.

First Team Defense

DL Derek Lokey 6-foot-2 280 Sr.
DL Frank Okam 6-foot-5 320 Sr.

Second Team Offense

WR Limas Sweed 6-foot-5 219 Sr.

Second Team Defense

LB Roddrick Muckelroy 6-foot-2 230 So.
S Marcus Griffin 6-foot-0 202 Sr.

Third Team Defense

DL Brian Orakpo 6-foot-4 248 Jr.
LB Robert Killebrew 6-foot-2 230 Sr.