Mack Brown was a master yesterday putting on an amazing press conference performance, where as the Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice put it, he was “part gospel preacher, part CEO, part coach.” Watch the whole 30+ minute question and answer session below:
Very nice interview from Austin’s KXAN with [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] from yesterday talking about of course the BCS National Championship Game, coaching in general, and the stress that is on coaches these days…
Citi BCS National Championship |
||
---|---|---|
#1 Alabama (13-0) vs. #2 Texas (13-0)Jan. 7, 7:00 p.m. (ABC) |
The 2009 season will come to an end Thursday, January 7th when the Texas Longhorns take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS national title game. For all the marbles the number one and two teams face off in what has become a rare MNC matchup between two undefeated teams. Texas is looking to repeat what [tag]Vince Young[/tag] did just a four years ago while Alabama is looking for their first championship since 1992.
Players to Watch
Texas: QB Colt McCoy, WR Jordan Shipley, LB Sergio Kindle, S Earl Thomas
Alabama: RB Mark Ingram, WR Julio Jones, DT Terrence Cody, LB Rolando McClain
40 Acres Fiesta Bowl Coverage
- BCS Title Keys to Victory: Texas vs. Alabama
- Video: Mack Brown BCS Title game press conference
- Video: Mack Brown talks the day before the big game
- ESPN talks to Earl Thomas, Acho brothers, other Horns about playing in BCS title game
- The only Crimson Tide we fear…
- Four New Year’s resolutions for the Horns at the Rose Bowl
- It’s Official: Texas vs. Alabama in the BCS National Championship
Other Related Stories
Excellent set of video interviews from ESPN with several Texas players yesterday at BCS title game media day. Good questions and comments from [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] and particularly Emmanuel and [tag]Sam Acho[/tag]. Watch below to get a feel for what the players are thinking with just a couple days left before the biggest game of their lives…
The official UT site has up some more photos from the Longhorns trip in Pasadena for the national championship game. They’ve got shots of the players at practice, dealing with the media, and out on the town.
Link: Horns in Pasadena, Day 3
A resolution in this article will be “a formal expression or opinion made” to win a football game. The Texas Longhorns will be playing for a national championship against Alabama on January 7th at the Rose Bowl. I have four resolutions that the Longhorns should follow in order to win this game. We are not going to make the obvious statements that the winner will be the one that can hold on to the ball, establish the running game, control the line of scrimmage, TOP, or have the ball last. Here they are:
1. To Be First
The Longhorn’s offense all season is based on tempo. The Longhorns need to rack up first downs in this game. If you remember the Fiesta Bowl last year the offense needed a full half to get going. You will notice that [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] and [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] like to run the hurry up offense after a made first down. The Bama defense will need to pick it up and mismatches play a huge role in Texas moving the ball. The Longhorns for this entire season had 114 more first downs over their opponents.
2. To Add Wrinkles
No… we are not hoping the Longhorns age us during this game. Greg Davis needs to add some different play combinations to keep the Alabama defense guessing. We know that conventional running will not work. Greg introduced the double cross receiver run during the OU game and the shovel pass against UCF. Auburn pulled out a few rabbits to start the game against Bama. I am not suggesting trick plays but a change of pace to keep them guessing. Please Greg install the wheel route to [tag]Tre Newton[/tag] at the right time which would be fun to see. [tag]Chris Hall[/tag] and teammates please give Colt just a little time to execute a few of these plays.
3. To Have a Big Middle
The middle that I am referring to is [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] and [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag]. These two men need to step up big time to make Alabama one dimensional. The two closes games (biggest I would argue) of the season where we saw the Sooners rush for -16 yards and the Huskers run for 67 yards. Alabama will want to impose their will with Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson running the ball. The “Goonies” (nicknamed by Lamarr) need to have the defensive effort that we all talk about when we speak of the 2006 National Championship game.
4. To Not Be Offensive
We need to get back to the non-offensive touchdown results that we had for most of the season. The timeliness of the 2 non-offensive TD’s that we had versus Oklahoma State would suffice (I can wish?!). We need the special teams to come up with a game changing punt return, punt block or kick return to electrify the crowd. The defense stepping up with an interception or fumble return for a touchdown can make the other team question their offensive decisions which affect play calling and team confidence. We do not have to win the turnover battle – just do something with it!
Not that you should really be surprised, but the BCS has officially put Texas and Alabama in the National Championship game at the Rose Bowl on January 7, 2010. Alabama was the unanimous #1, finishing at the top of both human polls and the computer poll. Texas finished #2 in both human polls and finished #3 in the computer poll behind Cincinnati, who interestingly enough looks like they would have been in the title game if Texas lost to Nebraska.
I have been reading quite a bit of talk about how Alabama is going to roll over Texas. Everyone needs to relax. Maybe those people should go back and watch game film of the Alabama vs Tennessee game and the Alabama vs Auburn. Alabama is just as lucky (if not luckier) than Texas to be playing for the National Championship.
And just so you know, Texas has a 7-0-1 record against Alabama, dating back to the days of Darrell Royal and Bear Bryant. Hook ’em. See you in California!
Can other candidates such as Tim Tebow, Mark Ingram, Toby Gerhart, and Ndamukong Suh catch Texas QB [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] in the Heisman race? Nah….
(via The Sporting Blog)
Thanksgiving night, the Heisman race looked like it might be over with after Texas quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] put up an incredible show passing and running to a primetime win over Texas A&M. But there were still games to play on a long, wonderful rivalry weekend of college football. Friday and Saturday’s games saw one candidate fall out of the race (Alabama’s Mark Ingram) and two others (Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and Florida’s Tim Tebow) put up buzzworthy performances.
So what does it all mean? Well there’s still one weekend of football remaining, but the Heisman Pundit has almost called the race for the good guy:
The weekend’s games are done and here’s how I think the Heisman race looks right now:
1. With one week to go, Colt McCoy is the current front runner and likely winner. Pending a status report on the health of Mark Ingram, I am close to calling the race in his favor.
2. With his monster game against Notre Dame, Stanford’s Toby Gerhart has assured himself of a trip to New York and he has a shot to finish a strong second in the race.
3. Ingram is fading fast, but he could rebound with a heroic performance against the Gators. As it stands, he had his least-productive game of the season at the worst possible time: When Heisman ballots had gone out and many voters were seeing him up close for the first time.
4. With his emotionally-driven performance against Florida State, Tim Tebow might’ve solidified his place at the Heisman ceremony. He won’t win, but he’ll get one last go-around in the Big Apple.
He won’t win, but he’ll get one last go-around in the Big Apple.
If Colt goes out and puts up his typical performance and the Horns win the Big 12 title, the trophy is likely his. Tim Tebow would have to put up incredible numbers (300+ yards, 3 TDs) in an exciting SEC Championship game to win his second Heisman. Colt is likely to get a lot of first places votes across the country, but more importantly he’ll probably snag no worst than second place on most ballots and those votes should carry him over the other competitors.