40 Acres Sports

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.

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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.

Our Thoughts

Brian – I’m finally with Berg on this one, Texas is the number one team in the country. I’m not ready to drop them out of my poll like he is, but they’ve looked very average against every half-decent team they played this year and have used up all their returning champs mojo. They haven’t played like the best team in the country this year, so there’s no reason they should be up there.

I have to admit I didn’t get to watch too many games on Saturday since I was at the Texas-OU game. I did catch a little of the Tech-Nebraska game and UCLA vs. Cal (both games were on TBS, who does a much better job than ABC) between Texas’ big victory and partying like it’s 1999. (1999, get it? The last year we beat OU, I crack myself up.) Tech is definitely worrying me. I’m not worried they’ll beat Texas, I’m worried they’re not very good and might blow it against a very average Kansas State team and not come into Austin on the 22nd ranked in the top 10.

Matt –This was one of the greatest weekends of football that I have been apart of in a long time. I was at the Texas/OU game, and man did it feel good to put a whoopin’ on ole Stoops and the Sooners. The only real down note was the fact that Ohio State lost, which could definitely hurt Texas in the long run. We really need Ohio State to run the table now.

Surprisingly, USC again looked almost ordinary, which is why I am leaving them in the 4th spot. Penn State may be the real deal, so I am moving them up a bit, and did you see that section of all white at Happy Valley? Craziness. UCLA was also pretty impressive and I think deserves the Top 10 ranking I have given them. These next few weekends will be big as usual, and I really hope that Va. Tech and Florida St. each figure out a way to lose. I am going with the scenario that Miami will beat Va. Tech and then FSU will beat Va. Tech in the ACC Championship. Hook ’em.

Related Links

• Last week’s rankings
• Harris Interactive Poll (PDF, 28 KB)
• Master Coaches Survey

Are you telling me we couldn’t find a non-corporate source of funds for the renovations?

Every single writer has Texas in the Rose Bowl.

I can’t tell you how good recapping a Texas victory over OU feels. The last time we beat OU, I was a freshman in college, which seems ages ago. I was lucky enough to be at the game, which made the victory even more special. But even with this win, we still have a lot left to do this season if we want any hopes of returning back to the Rose Bowl. I really hope Texas doesn’t fall into their own hype and focuses on Colorado this weekend. Back to the game though, here is how I graded the performances.

Quarterback – Overall Grade: A
Vince led Texas all the way through this win, and while I wouldn’t really say he played spectular, it was definitely a special performance. He controlled the tempo very well and made touch passes like I have never seen him make before. There were a few instances where he missed some wide open receivers, but that is expected over the course of a game. He made the big throws when he had to, and started off the opening drive with a nice touchdown pass to Taylor. His deep touchdown pass to Pittman right before the end of the first half really felt like it sealed the deal in the game. I will take 3 touchdown passes and 45 rushing yards almost any weekend out of the year.

Running Backs – Overall Grade: A-
Jamaal Charles was just nuts. He did exactly what Brian had predicted, and broke a long touchdown over 50 yards. He ended up with 116 yards on just 9 carries and added a score before he was taken out with a minor injury. Selvin did most of the relief, and I must say that it scares me every time he runs the ball. Is it just me, or has he fumbled in every game he has played? Melton wasn’t really that big of a factor, but he wasn’t really needed.

Wide Receivers – Overall Grade: A+
Very Impressive performance out of this group. They seemed to run great routes and were wide open several times. Taylor seemed to run by everyone like they were standing still. Pittman has been Vince’s goto man, and he proved that yet again grabbing 4 catches for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. And again, that touchdown before the half basically sealed the deal.

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I think they should. USC has had 3 straight unimpressive weeks.