40 Acres Sports

There should be more great non-coference games every year.

Some great games this weekend, including the biggest game of the year with #2 Texas at #4 Ohio State. This one is definitely a tough one to call and should be a great game to watch. #20 Notre Dame at #3 Michigan and #5 LSU at #15 Arizona St are also worth watching. Here is how we think things will shake out this weekend:

Can Texas contain Ted Ginn? Can OSU stop Ramonce Taylor?

VY, Ted Ginn Jr., and AJ Hawk profiled.

Our Thoughts

Brian – I think Vince Young proves to the nation this weekend against Ohio State that he deserves the Heisman. Play a game Saturday like he did against Michigan in the Rose Bowl and the trophy will be his to lose. Chris Leak sure looked good in his first game in Urban Meyer’s system (26 of 34 for 320 yards and 3 TDs), but will he be able to keep it up without more help from his running game?

Matt – I think Vince Young has a good shot at winning the Heisman mainly because I think Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart will split some votes, letting Vince slip into the top spot. Plus, like Brian said, if he has a great game against Ohio State, I think that cements him for the top spot (unless he folds against OU). I had DeAngelo Williams as my dark horse coming into the year, but man did he tank against a weak Ole Miss D. With Memphis’ QB issues, everyone will just load up to stop the run.

OSU vs. Texas matchup deserves the attention, can VY get the job done?

The Horns have won 21 of their last 22 road games.

65% of College Pick’em users predict Texas will win the game.

Where will he overrank Nebraska and talk trash about Texas at now?

In a nutshell, Texas had their way with Louisiana Lafayette, which is indicated by the 60-3 score. Texas did pretty much anything they wanted to on offense, including rushing for 418 yards. The defense was also stout, and you could tell right from the start that Louisiana Lafayette was going to have trouble doing anything. I guess the only real down spot is Saturday’s game is the special teams, who missed 3 extra points! Now let’s move on to a position-by-position look at how the Longhorns graded out on Saturday.

Quarterback – Overall Grade: A

After [tag]Vince Young[/tag]’s 5 touchdown performance in the Rose Bowl, there is no surprise that he entered this season as one of the top contenders for the Heisman Trophy. With all of that pressure, I was interested to see how he would perform. I think it is safe to say that Young did not disappoint. Young finished the game with an efficient 13-17 for 173 yards. He looked to be very comfortable throwing the ball and you could tell he has gained a lot of confindence this past off-season. [tag]Matt Nordgren[/tag] played for most of the second half but did not attempt a single pass attempt. He did scramble a few times, showing off an interesting technique of gaining more yards when going out of bounds.

Running Backs – Overall Grade: A+

Texas appears to have a full stable of speedy and powerful tailbacks to compliment quarterback Vince Young this year. Freshman running backs [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] and [tag]Henry Melton[/tag] had a huge impact on the game, with Charles running for 135 yards and 1 score and Melton running for 65 yards and 2 scores. I swear it looked like Melton couldn’t be tackled. A bigger and quicker [tag]Selvin Young[/tag] added 65 yards and speedster [tag]Ramonce Taylor[/tag] also added 65 yards. With a total of 418 yards, I would say things are definitely looking good for the Texas running game.

Receivers / Tight Ends – Overall Grade: B

[tag]David Thomas[/tag] was up to his usual self, making big plays and scored 2 touchdowns on 3 catches. With his 2 touchdowns, David Thomas moved into fifth place all-time at Texas for a tight end with his 51th career reception. Senior [tag]Brian Carter[/tag] also help out by setting a career high with three receptions against the Ragin’ Cajuns for 65 yards, matching his previous career total of three receptions in only the first half. [tag]Nate Jones[/tag], [tag]Limas Sweed[/tag], and [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] also performed well, with Nate Jones scoring his first career touchdown. It was nice to see some consistency in this group and I look forward to seeing them improve this year.

Offensive Line – Overall Grade: A+

Considering that Selvin Young, Jamaal Charles, Henry Melton, Ramonce Taylor and Vince Young averaged 9.5 yards per carry, I would say that the offensive line did pretty well on Saturday. [tag]Justin Blalock[/tag] (fellow Plano East grad) led the offensive line who just totally dominated Louisana Lafayette. Hopefully they keep the same aggressiveness next Saturday against OSU.

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