40 Acres Sports

Part 2 discusses strengths and weaknesses, future expectations, and Mack Brown.

Part 1 discusses traveling to Lincoln and the development of Colt McCoy.

For the first time in the history of Wheaties, General Mills is going to feature a rivalry between two college football teams, the Lone Star Showdown with Texas vs. Texas A&M. The Texas Longhorns will be on one side (what should be the front) and the Texas A&M Aggies will be on the other side (the back). Each side will feature an old school looking helment as well as an image of each team’s stadium.

Is it just me or does it seem quite ironic to have “Breakfast of Champions” and Texas A&M in the same graphic? What exactly are they champions of?

You should be able to pick up your box of Wheaties today, so head to the stores get one.

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Our Thoughts

Brian – The SEC is screwing up my top 25. All sorts of movement thanks to Florida and Georgia losing, and because what I thought was a good Iowa team losing to freaking Indiana. I had real trouble with my top 5. The only spot I’m sure of is Ohio State at #1 and then I’ve got no clue. USC was impressive early in the year against Arkansas and Nebraska but has looked pretty beatable the last few weeks. West Virginia at #3 is a crime but at the same time I had trouble putting them behind one-loss Texas. All I know is that I’m praying that the national title somehow doesn’t feature either WVU or Louisville.

Matt – Unfortunately Texas did not fare so well in the first BCS poll. Being 9th means that we have a lot of ground to make up, and a lot of teams ahead of us have to lose. Texas has a big matchup against Nebraska this weekend, which will hopefully add to their strength of schedule. I am not really impressed with my #2 and #3 teams, but I feel that is the only logical place you can put them right now. I am still not convinced about West Virginia and Louisiville, but it is hard to place them any lower than I already have them.

Related Links

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

Thankfully [tag]Limas Sweed[/tag] will not be receiving a suspension from [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] or the Big 12 from the punch he threw in the first half of this past weekend’s Baylor game. The incident came when Limas got tangled up with Baylor cornerback Anthony Arline, the two argued, and Limas fired back with a punch. Sweed did receive a personal foul 15 yard penalty, but that is all he will face.

“There was a lot of mouthing and a lot of pushing, and I didn’t like the way he responded at all,” Brown said of Sweed’s actions, which resulted in a personal foul. “I thought the call was fair, and I told him that’s not who we are and we’re not going to put up with it.”

It seems Mack has learned a lesson after suspending Tarell Brown before the Ohio State game. Don’t sit down your best player before a big game against a Top 25 ranked opponent. Besides, there is plenty of time to lecture him during the offseason.

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The Big 12 this year makes the Big 12 last season look like a juggernaut. Texas Tech spanked by winless Colorado, undefeated Missouri repeatedly throws the game away against the Aggies, and Oklahoma just lost Adrian Peterson for the year. The Longhorns will have to continue to win and win convincingly this year if they plan on holding off any one-loss teams from the SEC or an average Notre Dame team.

Today against [tag]Baylor[/tag] the Horns will have to battle through some injuries and beat an improving Baylor team. If the Horns play solid football and protect the football they should be able to beat the Bears on talent and depth alone.

First Quarter

• Selvin Young running down the field looking back at Quan Cosby instead of blocking on the kickoff return. Horns start off with bad field position.
• Apparently the Baylor coaches watched some Texas game film this year. Every single time a team makes a play action fake our safeties bite hard. Good fake by Baylor’s QB and the receiver runs wide open for a long TD on their first offensive play. They beat the two backups in the secondary that are starting in Deon Beasley and Matt Melton.

Baylor 7, Texas 0

• On the replay it looks like Melton didn’t bite on the play fake but just didn’t get enough depth. He flinched a little when he saw another receiver but it wasn’t the play fake.
• Longhorns getting their ass kicked right now. No fire from the offensive line at all. A three and out on the second offensive series.
• Finally a solid play for Texas. Both defensive ends got into the pocket quickly and Tim Crowder comes up with a sack.
• Looks like Baylor’s picking on Beasley. He needs to make smart plays.
• Nice call by the ref 200 yards away. Probably the right call but was way late and not from anywhere around the play.
• Huge early play for the Texas defense. 3rd and 4 for Baylor inside the 20. Texas needs to force a field goal.
• Brian Robison on the coverage as we bring a big zone blitz brings up 4th down.

Baylor 10, Texas 0

• Let’s get under center and run it down their throats.
• I don’t hate Greg Davis as much as most people, but that stat TBS just threw out there is probably a little misleading. I think the last ten years has probably been the weakest schedules Texas has ever played and they play more games and scoring is up all over the country.
• Just like the first half of the OU game, Davis is trying to be too smart in my opinion. We just came and ran three straight pass plays when our strength is clearly our running game.
• That may be the worst personal foul call I’ve ever seen. The Baylor punt returner drops the football and they call us for diving on the pile.
• Beasley looked like he was in trouble there. He made a good play on the receiver but he never turned around and looked for the football.
• It wasn’t exactly pretty but the Texas defense forces a three and out and gets the ball back. Let’s hope the offense figures out what the hell they’re doing quick.
• Good block by Neale Tweedie but the Horns are probably lucky holding wasn’t called. Texas’ tight ends have been called for a ton of those this season and that was a close one.
• Hey look what happens when we run the football?! First downs!
• And we get cute again and McCoy throws an interception. Baylor football. We need a turnover and some momentum.

(more …)

Adrian Peterson’s dad was able to watch his son play in person today for the first time since he was 12 years old. It looks like it may have been the first and last time to see Adrian play for the [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] Sooners. With about six minutes to go in the game Peterson broke a 53 yard touchdown run and when he stretched for the end zone he landed awkwardly and broke his collarbone.

Peterson is an incredibly tough runner and yet at the same time he seems to a little fragile. I don’t know if he’s a player that is always going to be hurt, if it’s overuse, or just plain bad luck but he has spent much of his OU career banged up. There’s a slim chance he could be back in time for a bowl game but the chances of him returning to Oklahoma for his senior season are close to zero.

Despite his choice to attend OU, Peterson seems like a pretty decent kid who probably had every opportunity to follow down his father’s path but chose not to. A tough way for an incredible running back to end his career, but even with the injury he’s likely a top three NFL draft pick and destined for a great pro career.

Colt McCoy, protect the football, and secondary depth.

Three starters out on defense for the Baylor game.

One big matchup in the SEC and not much else. The Florida Gators go on the road to Auburn for one of several tough SEC tests they’ll have to pass if they want to reach the BCS championship game in January. That’s this week’s only game between two ranked teams. Michigan also has an important game in Happy Valley, while most people believe Ohio State will be the team to come out of the Big 10 the Wolverines are still undefeated and climbing the rankings.

Here’s how this Saturday’s games will go down:

Related Links

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