40 Acres Sports

2008 Big 12 Champs?

Yesterday’s spring game was the first chance for many fans to see the team since the Fiesta Bowl, but it was also a chance for the media to wander the halls of Moncrief-Neuhaus. Statesman writer Kirk Bohls noticed something interesting about the team’s updated trophy area, namely a “2008*” under the list of Big 12 conference championships.

Read Bohls’ update from today below:

Trying to defuse a controversy over claiming credit for a championship they didn’t win, the Texas Longhorns are removing “2008*” from a list of Big 12 titles posted in a team meeting room.

A team official said today that coach Mack Brown had not been aware of the asterisked claim and wanted it taken down.

After online posts here and elsewhere Sunday, the Longhorns’ decoration quickly drew fire – especially in Oklahoma, where Sooner fans have taken to the radio airwaves and Internet boards to scoff at the Longhorns’ claim to a share of the Sooners’ tie-broken title.

Personally, it doesn’t upset me too much though I understand the University needs to handle itself a little differently than us as fans. I’m still ticked off about how last year went down. Reportedly (according to @suzhalliburton) the asterisk was supposed to only be under the Big 12 South area to denote last year’s division tie. Yesterday was the first time it was brought to Mack Brown’s attention and now it’s coming down.

Hey, at least we didn’t claim a spring game victory.

Follow along below with our live thoughts and analysis during this afternoon’s Spring Game that will take place at 2:30pm on ESPN360.com and then 8:30pm on ESPNU. You can catch our live thoughts here at 2:30pm.

We’ll also be embedding Twitter posts from @40AcresSports and with the hashtag #UT right in with the other notes. Feel free to leave comments and questions using the live tool, but not all comments will be published. Read below for more notes on comments and how the live blog will work. Hook ’em!

Notes: Comments on the article itself will be turned off till after the game. The Writer can view all comments sent to them but only they can publish your comments for everyone to see. The “autoscroll” feature ensures you’re always shown the newest content without having to refresh or scroll your screen. Subtle sound effects alert you to new content as the writer publishes it. You can turn these features on or off by using the controls at the bottom of the Live Blog.

Lots of [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] news this week that we’re just now catching up on. When the Horns were coming back to practice earlier this week from Spring Break word was out that he was working hard and impressing the coaches and had risen to the top of the running back depth chart. His performance on the field also had the Texas coaches worrying less about his weight:

Johnson’s personal battle of the bulge has dogged him throughout his college career. But [Mack] Brown is learning to gauge other factors than merely the scales when looking at the 5-foot-11, 255-pound Johnson and his productivity and value for the Longhorns.

“We’ve quit trying to get Cody to lose weight, we’re working with body fat and we think that’s the key to it,” Brown said. “He looks like he’s in good shape. He came back in good shape after the break. We feel like that he’s doing a really good job.”

But then on Wednesday Johnson tweaked his hamstring and threw the whole thing back in the air. The injury isn’t too serious but he will miss the next two weeks of practice including the spring scrimmage on April 5th. This will open things up for [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] and Fozzy Whittaker to get more practice reps and impress the coaching staff, and also possibly may make it even less likely that incoming true freshman [tag]Chris Whaley[/tag] will redshirt.

Mack Brown’s 2010 Texas football recruiting class just keeps getting better. Top defensive end [tag]Reggie Wilson[/tag] made a surprise visit to Austin Thursday and yesterday word trickled out that Wilson had committed to the Longhorns. He is the 21st commit for the 2010 class.

Wilson is a 6-foot-4, 240 pound pass rushing defensive end from Haltom City, TX. He hasn’t been around football his entire life but he is an incredible talent with one of the biggest upsides in the entire country. He is one of the top players in the entire state, ranked number 4 in the LSR and number 1 by Inside Texas. He has a very good chance to end the season as a 5-star recruit if he puts up a strong senior season.

Wilson’s personal story is an incredible one, an excerpt from InsideTexas.com:

Wilson’s parents fled Liberia at the start of the country’s Civil War while Reggie’s mother was pregnant with him. The family moved to The Ivory Coast to a compound where Reggie’s parents cared for their seven children and other children that had were affected by the war.

When Reggie was seven, his parents, amid financial difficulties, moved to the United States with the hopes of making a better life for their children. Needing the older children to stay and take care of the younger children that could otherwise not take care of themselves, seven year old Reggie Wilson lived without his parents on the Ivory Coast for three years.

When Wilson was 10 his parents had saved enough money to bring him to the United States and after a short stay in New York with some relatives, Reggie was reunited with his parents in Fort Worth.

Congrats to Reggie and welcome to the 40 Acres. Make sure to check out all the commits and stay tuned to the site for all the latest recruiting news.

The Longhorns are one of the first teams in the country (love that Texas weather) back on the practice fields and preparing for the 2009 season. Before last season’s run at a national title, [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] and Texas fans were actually pointing at this year as the one the team’s best chance to win it all. Texas quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] did an interview with ESPN and talked about the team building on their successful 2008 season and making another run in 2009, check it out:

College coaches are not allowed by NCAA rules to talk about potential recruits or commits until National Signing Day. With signatures from all 20 commits this morning, Texas head coach [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] finally has a chance to talk about each of the future Longhorns and breaks down each one on film. Mack sits down in front of reporters and talks to reporters for nearly 30 minutes and it is definitely worth your time to sit down and watch.

Watch Mack talking about the class and discussing each of the recruits below:

Many thanks to Statesman.com for again providing embeddable video of Mack’s press conferences.

ESPN analyst Rod Gilmore does a good job breaking down the [tag]Fiesta Bowl[/tag] and the gamewinning drive led by [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] and [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag]. Watch Gilmore and Scott Van Pelt break down the game below:

The one thing I don’t get is how they take that game and make it a case that the [tag]Big 12[/tag] isn’t physical. Beanie Wells ran all over the Horns in the first half due to out of position linebackers and poor tackling by the secondary, not due to getting beat in the trenches. On the other side of the ball the offensive line didn’t play any worse than they had during conference play this season, it’s nothing new for Colt to be under constant pressure. It would be a thing of beauty to see what he could do in 2009 with better running game and blocking, hopefully we get to find out.

Our live stream of consciousness posted from @40acressports on Twitter from during the Fiesta Bowl is posted below:

• It was cool when they let blind guys sing the national anthem, but wasn’t letting a blind man design the Fiesta Bowl trophy enough? #UT 25 minutes ago
• @springnet 77 is Luke Poehlmann, a very promising true freshman lineman. He deserves to start in 09 just due to his sweet mullet. 31 minutes ago
• @HookEmSarah as Mack said this week, gatorade baths are for 7-5 coaches. 😉 plus I’m sure there nothing but whining on #UT msg boards. 37 minutes ago
• What a game. Congrats Horns on the big tough win. Congrats to the seniors. #UT 40 minutes ago
• I heart Quan and Brian Orakpo. Huge sack (and good job tackling QB too.) #UT 42 minutes ago
• ANnouncers are acting like this thing is over. #UT 44 minutes ago
• Unsportsmanlike could be huge. OSU kicker has big leg. Come on kickoff team. #UT 45 minutes ago
• Tressel’s challenge gives #UT much needed timeout. Horns should actually gain yards with review. 49 minutes ago
• That was a terrible initial spot. Clearly got first down. Replay will give it to #UT if spot doesn’t. 51 minutes ago
• #UT needs to be in bigger hurry. 56 minutes ago
• Not sure who #77 for #UT is but that mullet deserves playing time. 57 minutes ago
• There’s no such thing as double pass interference, whoevere initiated contact deserves the flag. #UT 58 minutes ago
• @joneke defense has been fantastic all game long. about an hour ago
• Absolutely terrible pass interference call. Beasley has right to ball and ball was way short. F***! #UT about an hour ago
• Well defended? Malcolm Williams was wide open and Colt just put it too wide. #UT about an hour ago
• 4th quarter! Wrap this thing up boys. #UT about an hour ago
• Attaboy Colt! You too Coach Davis. All three drives this half have been good ones (sans 20 yd sack.) #UT about an hour ago
• Matt Hasselback is the NFL qb you reference? Weird. Is Tim announcing the game? #UT about an hour ago
• When do you think we’ll see screen and go to Shipley? Looks set up well. #UT about an hour ago
• 4th and 36 and we can’t even punt for first down yardage. Momentum squandered. #UT about an hour ago
• Terrible play by Colt. Has to expect pressure on RB screen call. Drive killer. #UT about an hour ago
• Dear Greg Davis, finally a designed run for Colt and you get a beauty of a TD run for #UT. Let’s go defense!! about 2 hours ago
• #90 for Ohio St is dirty POS. 2nd time he clearly and intentionly went high with his hands on Colt. Hit was fine, hands to helmet isn’t. #UT about 2 hours ago
• Very good effort by R Bobino to get first down when there wasn’t much room on fake punt. #UT about 2 hours ago
• Fiesta Bowl trophy is one of the ugliest things on the planet. #UT about 2 hours ago
• Crap. Holding call turns 2nd and inches into 2nd and long. #UT about 2 hours ago
• Set your feet Colt. #UT about 2 hours ago
• @kbohls you have to be able to trust you junior QB not to take bad risk. That one is on Colt. #UT about 2 hours ago
• Bad underthrow by Colt costs #UT chance at at least tying FG. Huge mistake and momentum killer into halftime. about 2 hours ago
• False starts on wide receivers drive me bats***. #UT about 3 hours ago
• @kbohls blame out of position linebackers (due to play and blitzes) more than D-line for long runs. Agree about QB contain. #UT about 3 hours ago
• Getting the awful feeling opposing fans felt when VY was at quarterback. Glad Pryor has no clue about watching for 1st down markers. #UT about 3 hours ago
• 2nd and goal from 17 and we run a draw to Chris O? WTF? #UT about 3 hours ago
• Speaking of running, where’s Fozzy? #UT about 3 hours ago
• No attempts to get Colt McCoy running yet. Turn him loose Greg! #UT about 3 hours ago
• Better drive by #UT offense but inability to get positive yards on 2nd & short is killing us. about 3 hours ago
• Apparently that was a token holding call earlier, some pretty blatant ones on this series but we get pressure and S Kindle gets sack. #UT about 3 hours ago
• 1st freshman mistake for Pryor. Good run but stepped out before first down with no one about to hit him. Melton rushing out of control. #UT about 4 hours ago
• Woot!!!! Apparently holding still exists outside the Big 12! Good sign for Rak! #UT about 4 hours ago
• Chris Hall is playing. Retweeting @suzhalliburton: @40acressports They used the depth chart from A&M about 4 hours ago
• Chris Hall wasn’t on official depth chart for the game but #71 is in uniform at least for the Horns. Hope he’s 100% and starting. #UT about 4 hours ago
• RT @CedGolden: Is it me or is Barry Switzer wearing a burnt orange tie with a matching hanky? #UT about 4 hours ago
• Score predictions for #UT vs Ohio State: http://is.gd/eEb5 All three of us have the Horns winning a pretty close game. about 4 hours ago
• RT @bevobeat: Blaine Irby up and about. Horns’ injured tight end was out tossing the ball around in pregame. http://twitpic.com/100fd about 4 hours ago
• Ah oh: No Chris Hall on the 3 deep at center for Fiesta Bowl depth chart: http://is.gd/eDRj True frosh D Snow gets start. about 5 hours ago

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(Side note: This is the site’s 2,500th post. Kind of cool.)

This year’s success can ultimately be traced back to last year’s bowl game. [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] made a decision to work his team and open up competition at all positions. The result was a brand new football team than the one that lost to the Aggies. Out of the three BCS games that Texas has now been invited to, there is no doubt the 2009 [tag]Fiesta Bowl[/tag] has been greeted with the smallest fanfare.

However, Monday night’s game against [tag]Ohio State[/tag] is the biggest game of the year in many ways. Think about the two scenarios and the impact it will have on the program. Let’s say Texas wins. The Longhorns will finish the year 12-1 and likely the number two ranked team in the nation. And no matter what happens in the Orange Bowl the Longhorn nation will have months to lay claim to at least the chance to have played for the national title. The program will be 3-0 in BCS games and will not have lost a bowl game since many were talking about moving Vince Young to wide receiver.

If the Longhorns lose, and contrary to popular opinion it can happen, all the championship talk flies out the window. All the momentum the program built up over the last year will come to a halt and the national media will feel they made the right decision to put OU in Miami. One has to look no further than Texas Tech and Alabama.

Luckily, the Texas plays understand this better than the fan base. When talking to people in Phoenix it has amazed me how nonchalant the fans seem to be. Ohio State will be the second best team the Longhorns have been on the field with this season. Their young and ultra-talented [tag]Vince Young[/tag] clone of a quarterback has had six weeks to get better. The Buckeyes have a power run game that Texas’ hasn’t had to face and their tailback may be the best in the nation when he is healthy.

Yet, most feel the Longhorns will cruise. And hopefully they will, next year may hang in the balance.

Texas head coach [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] discussed bowl practices and other topics with the media at the first official press conference since the regular season ended on Thursday. The Statesman has posted the video, watch below:

Word from Orangebloods sources is that the coaches and players are fired up and practices are spirited and the team will be ready for [tag]Ohio State[/tag] in January. Could be bad news for the Buckeyes if the Horns are both prepared and pissed.