40 Acres Sports

Maybe it was the refs’ fault.

What is apparently a very nearsighted Texas Tech fan has created two videos as “evidence” that Texas Tech lost the game to Texas last week because of the officials. The narration is hilarious as the guy has very little grasp on the NCAA rule book and half the things he thinks are penalties are perfectly legal plays. Pretty funny stuff. I like how he says “clearly” every three seconds despite the video rarely backing up what he’s saying. The conspiracy theory at the very end is hilarious.

Obviously not every call was correct but anyone who actually watched the game saw that it was an evenly called game. You could show a replay of every single play in a college football game and find something somewhere. I could make a video of the fact that Texas Tech held on every play or the several times the Texas receivers were hit early, but then I’d be as dumb as this guy. The biggest thing he needs to learns that the fact that the TBS announcers agree with you is usually a sign you’re really wrong. Those guys were terrible all night.

Check out the videos (found thanks to the Wiz) and a few responses from me after the jump. Videos removed by YouTube because they don’t like it when people actually like their site.

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Finally we get some good match-ups this week. West Virginia and Louisville face off in what has been a pretty anticipated battle. The winner of this game will probably get to determine their own destiny when it comes to the BCS National Championship.

There are some solid Big 12 match-ups as well. Texas of course plays Okie Lite, on TBS, which could spell trouble if you remember the last 2 games against them. Aggy is going heads up with Oklahoma, their second biggest rival to Baylor. And finally Missouri and Nebraska square off in a battle for the Big 12 North.

Here’s our picks for the games this weekend:

Related Links

• Last week’s winners
• SI.com Top 25 Scoreboard
• SI.com Big 12 Scoreboard

In a head to head match up Sunday we saw exactly why the Texans will always be the Texans. They passed on Vince Young back in April because they had David Carr at quarterback, and Sunday against the Titans he was benched after turning the ball over three more times. The guy that made the Texans’ front office decide they didn’t need Young was riding the pine while the guy that could’ve been their QB and a hometown hero was on the opposite sideline leading the Tennessee Titans to their first back to back wins since 2003.

David Carr had the arm and the numbers coming out of Fresno State, but he’ll never have the intangibles that made Vince a legend at Texas and have already been on display in his brief NFL career. He’s a leader. His attitude us infectious with his teammates. When the game is on the line, he puts the team on his back. And as Houston Chronicle writer Richard Justice puts it, Vince has “it” and Carr certainly doesn’t:

Quarterbacks can’t be evaluated solely by the strength of their arms. They can’t be evaluated by their footwork or intelligence or toughness, either. Quarterbacks must always be measured by some things that can’t be measured. Like their leadership skills. And their will to win.

It’s these intangibles that made Vince Young special. Any NFL team that had bothered to ask the players and coaches at the University of Texas would have understood. Vince Young wasn’t special because he was a great runner and thrower. He is a great runner and thrower, but what made him special were things you’d know about only if you’d coached him or played with him.

Right now Vince is clearly still developing as an NFL player, but he’s out there doing what he does best and that’s win football games. He’s not lighting up the scoreboard with his passing, but he’s making plays and doing a good job not making critical mistakes. He’s only going to get better, and while he’s doing that he’s going to make the players around him better as well. It’s just what he does.

Our Thoughts

Brian – When Texas started the season everyone thought the running game would carry them and the QB situation would be the team’s weak point. Redshirt freshman quarterback Colt McCoy went from question mark to seriously deserving Heisman consideration. He’s just a freshman won’t win it but you’re starting to hear his name pop up every now and then, he’s currently climbed up to ninth of SI’s Heisman Watch. It’ll be interesting to see if he can play well enough through Texas’ last three (or four) games to earn a trip to New York. Not bad for somebody who still looks like he’s about twelve.

Matt – Well, with Ray Rice not doing much against UConn, he is basically out of the running for the Heisman. Troy Smith continues to dominate, although that isn’t too hard when you are playing the worst of the Big 10. And I don’t really see why everyone has Mike Hart in the Heisman race. He doesn’t put up great numbers and he is playing on an offense that struggled to score 17 points against Northwestern. He has to be the most overrated player in the hunt.

Related Links

• Last week’s poll
• ESPN Experts Poll
• SI.com Heisman Watch

Man I wish this game was going to be on ABC.

Our Thoughts

Brian – USC has flirted with disaster all year and it finally caught up to them. Their loss helps clear up the murky BCS picture (that abomination always seems to manage to clear up by the end of the year) and is one less obstacle in Texas’ path on the way to a chance to repeat as national champions. Of course Texas is going to have to play a lot better than they have the last two weeks against Nebraska and Texas Tech if they plan on their slow climb up the rankings.

Matt – Man, what an embarrassing loss for USC, who go into Oregon State and just get throttled. Yeah, they came back and made it close, but they were getting dominated through almost 3 quarters. I think this was a long time coming though, as they were eeking out wins before this loss. Texas narrowly escaped the same disaster, with Colt McCoy leading the Horns to a tremendous comeback. I am still in shock when I think about some of the plays he made. Hook ’em.

Related Links

• Last week’s rankings
• AP Top 25
• USA Today Coaches Top 25
• Master Coaches Survey

Sounds like Vince’s early playing time could get him bigger bucks.

2 year ban from Greek pro league.

USC understandably caused some shifting in the top of the BCS, though there were a couple of changes that I really don’t understand. Why does an idle Louisville jump all the way from 8 to 5. Why does Florida jump ahead of Auburn with Auburn holding a win against Florida? Doesn’t make much sense if you ask me, but luckily we still have a few weeks ahead to narrow things down a bit more. Your thoughts?