40 Acres Sports

Not like this should really be any surprise. All of the coaches hate it.

ESPN.com is reporting that [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] has decided to sit out both [tag]Tarell Brown[/tag] and [tag]Tyrell Gatewood[/tag] for Saturday’s matchup against Ohio State. As devastating as this news is, it is probably the right thing for Mack Brown to do. With all the looking-the-other-way that goes on in college football these days, I applaud Mack for making the tough decision. Even though legally Brown may have been able to play, there is just too much uncertainty around the whole situation.

“As a head coach, No. 1 you have to look at the legal system and cooperate with the authorities completely,” Brown said. “No. 2, you must go through the university because that’s who we work for. No. 3, you are concerned about distractions for your football team. We want to move forward because it’s No. 1 playing No. 2 and it’s such an exciting game for all of us.

“No. 4, you care about the three young men involved and their families. We will try to help the families individually and move forward with our team for the ballgame on Saturday.”

Mack did not say whether or not the suspensions would last past Saturday’s game, but if they are going to miss one game we can probably stand for them to miss a few more.

Hopefully now we can all put this situation behind us and start focusing on the game.

Source

Urban Meyer over Mack Brown? HA! Seven coaches rated higher than the winningest coach in college football?

Brown turned around the University of North Carolina, guiding a historically woeful team to three 10 win seasons in the tough (compared to Utah’s Mountain West) ACC. Since his departure UNC has quickly returned to losing 10 games per year and getting beat by Duke. Brown then tookover a Texas program that had fallen on very mediocre times and since then has won more games than any other coach in the nation. Consistently great teams, top national recruiting, a clean program with kids that (for the most part) keep out of trouble and represent the University well, two Rose Bowl wins, and of course a national title.

Meyer is a good coach (that I’m not particularly fond of) and will have success at Florida, but he has proven absolutely nothing yet. It’s also a bit of a joke for Charlie Weis to be that high on the list after a single season at Notre Dame. Would you have ranked Tyrone Willingham this high after his initial success for the Irish? Mark Richt and Jim Tressel are also both a little overrated. Look at their schools’ records before they took over compared to after, there’s not a ton of improvement there. Plus Tressel and Ohio State are constantly making news for the wrong reasons.

[tag]Mack Brown[/tag], Pete Carroll, and Bob Stoops are the top three coaches in football and in my opinion it’s not even close.

Tom Hicks and the Texas Rangers honored the 2005 National Champion Texas Longhorn football team today at the season opener in Arlington. Coach [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] threw out the first pitch and Longhorn coaching legend [tag]Darrell Royal[/tag] was also recognized. Royal and Hicks were influential in bringing Brown to Texas from North Carolina almost nine years ago. Always coaching, Mack didn’t let next season or our quarterback situation slip his mind for even a minute:

“If I put one in the dirt, which I’m not planning on, it will not change my life any, except (the media) will have more fun with it,” Brown joked before the toss. “If one of our young quarterbacks puts one in the dirt, it changes my life. I’m a lot more focused on the throws next fall than the throw today.”

I can handle a few in the dirt Mack, it’s the ones that hit the defenders that worry me.

Roger Clemens was also at the game, which threw the national media and Rangers fans into a frenzy thinking he was interested in joining the Rangers if he decides to pitch this season. I’m still fairly certain that if Clemens pitches this year it’ll be for the Houston Astros.

In an exclusive interview earlier today on SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket, Texas Rangers’ owner Tom Hicks announced that on opening day the Texas Rangers will honor the 2005 National Champion Texas Longhorns, with [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] and [tag]Darrell Royal[/tag] throwing out the first pitches.

This comes on the heels of the Rangers going after Roger Clemens, a former Texas Longhorn himself. I wonder if this is just one more tactic in trying to lure the indecisive Roger Clemens to the Rangers?

Sure am glad I didn’t actually try to watch this whole thing. Longhorns were only on for about a minute, but still some good PR for the Horns with the female/unemployed market segment. A little bit of video of Matthew McConaughey and the team before the Rose Bowl and celebrating the win, and then some short stuff from Mack Brown, Rashad Bobino, and Limas Sweed. Bobino seems like a fun kid.

Video including Craig Way saying “the Texas Longhorns are college football’s national champions” in front of ten million television viewers is below.

Video removed by YouTube. The DMCA is dumb.

[tag]Mack Brown[/tag] was hired in 1997 and brought early recruiting with him to the Big 12 from the ACC.

Recruiting early is one thing, but recruiting quality athletes and people early is a lot tougher. You can judge the measureables like size and speed, but how do you know a kid’s character and other intangibles in such a short amount of time?

Of course part of the reason for all of Texas’ early commits is the lack of competition from the in-state schools. With the Aggies down like they have been for a while now, if you’re a recruit in the state of Texas you better jump on a Longhorn offer quickly if you want to play for a top tier national team.

With a national title now on his resume, Big 12 schools and coaches across the country better watch out for the 2007 class Mack Brown is about to put together.

Let’s see how this goes. I’ll post as often as I can stand to. Horns and Trojans are about to get underway.

BIG FREAKING GAME!

Did we win the coin toss, defer, and USC chose to kick? Will we receive to start both halves? Nevermind, the official said it wrong.

First Quarter

• Great deep kick and good coverage on Reggie Bush. Great start to the game for the Horns.
• Bush stopped for a loss on the game’s first play. Now let’s do that 60+ more times.
• Texas’ defense in the backfield with great penetration on the first 3 plays.
• Holy crap! [tag]Aaron Ross[/tag] fumbled the punt. Crap crap crap. Come on defense step up. Crap.
• Reggie Bush has no class. Hand the ball to the ref instead of flicking it up in the air after a 5 yard run. Let’s hope he actually gets ejected if he punches someone again this game.
• Too bad helmet-to-helmet contact isn’t illegal in college football. Plus [tag]Cedric Griffin[/tag] hit him in the chest.
• Stupid penalty by [tag]Robert Killebrew[/tag]. He seems to get one per game, let’s hope this is it. Come on D!
• Turnover costs the Horns 7 points. Game started off fantastically and then suddenly went downhill from there.

Texas 0, USC 7

• Let’s go Vince, get fired up.
• Looks like no huddle for the offense to start things off again this week. I like it.
• Poor spot on 2nd down leads to 4th and 1. [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] elects to go for it and Horns get nowhere. Turnover on downs at midfield. All the momentum is going USC’s way now. Defense has to make a big play here and get things back going Texas’ way.
• Apparently guy in charge of the clock doesn’t realize it should stop after incomplete passes.
• Freaking Rose Bowl and national championship and the clock breaks?
• Horns go to 3 down linemen on a 3rd and long. Interesting look.
• Texas makes the stop but a face mask on Michael Huff gives USC the necessary yards for the first down.
• [tag]Drew Kelson[/tag] in the game early instead of [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] (I think that’s who isn’t in there.) [tag]Gene Chizik[/tag] getting more speed on the field.
• [tag]Tarell Brown[/tag] has a pick go in and out of his hands.
• Reggie Bush gets about an extra 2 yards thanks to the generous spot. These simple plays need to be reviewed as much as any others.
• Another generous spot for Matt Leinart on the 4th down QB sneak but I still think they’re short. Come on!
• Horns stop them and get the ball back. Let’s go let’s go!
• Meanwhile ABC is on commercial break #26 after like two minutes of football.
• Bad play design or something as [tag]Billy Pittman[/tag] and [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] end up next to each other on pass routes. Complete to Pittman for the first though.
• Another freaking fumble. Charles bumps into David Thomas and just drops it. Crap. Lost 5 yards. Kills the offense’s momentum.
• Bud Light commercial featuring the “daredevil” are dumb.
• Lost takes such long hiatuses that they have to have recap shows by the time they come back.
• Interesting counter play from USC. Kind of a WR and FB counter instead of a GT counter.

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