40 Acres Sports

Saturday afternoon Texas will face [tag]Arkansas[/tag] in a game rescheduled by Hurricane Ike. The 7th ranked Longhorns are 3-0 but will be facing their first BCS conference opponent of the season in the 2-1 Razorbacks. They barely won their first two games against bad competition and got blown out by Alabama, but that doesn’t mean they’ll roll over for the Horns.

Read below for the Longhorns’ keys to beat the Arkansas Razorbacks:

1. Match their intensity/hatred.

The Texas/Arkansas rivalry isn’t what it used to be back in the days of the Southwest Conference, but the hatred for the Longhorns in Fayettenam hasn’t waned. On the field the Horns can’t let the Razorbacks ride that energy to a quick start. The talent Mack Brown will be putting on the field Saturday easily overmatches that of new Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino, if the Horns come out and score early they should be able to pull away and win easily.

2. Keep an eye on RB Michael Smith.

5-foot-7 junior running back is leading the Razorbacks in rushing and is also on of Casey Dick’s top receiving options. He’s averaging nearly 125 yards per game on the ground and has also chipped in 10 catches for 90 yards. The Horns have problems in the secondary so they need to be able to bottle up Smith and make Arkansas one-dimensional. [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] needs to introduce himself Mr. Smith early and often.

3. Get one of the Texas running backs rolling.

The top two rushers for the Longhorns against [tag]Rice[/tag] were the starting and backup quarterbacks. [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] is leading the team with 194 rushing yards through three games and while he needs to keep running he’ll need one of his running backs to step up behind him. Speedy [tag]Foswhitt Whittaker[/tag] is likely out for the game so it’ll be up to [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] and big [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] to provide ground support. Alabama ran all over the Razorbacks last week (328 yards rushing) and the Horns need to do the same, even if it takes 30 carries from Johnson to get there.

I wouldn’t say that I ever thought the game against [tag]UTEP[/tag] was in jeopardy, but I will admit I was a little worried and/or disappointed that we only carried a 15 point lead going into the 4th quarter. It seemed pretty obvious that Texas was dominating the game, but they just couldn’t put it away until late in the game. And once again we showed our weakness lies in the young secondary, which didn’t really show much improvement from the previous game against [tag]Florida Atlantic[/tag]. Luckily we still have some time before we have to face OU.

Now let’s see how each position fared.

Quarterback – Overall Grade: A-

[tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] had another outstanding game, throwing for 282 yards and 4 touchdowns. Colt’s one interception came in the 3rd quarter when wide receiver Dan Buckner was not able to get off the line against the smaller cornerback. I can’t really blame Colt on that one. Colt spread the ball around well, completing passes to 7 different receivers. I really like the confidence Colt is playing with so far this year and it doesn’t look he will be slowing down anytime soon.

Backup quarterback [tag]John Chiles[/tag] did make a brief appearance in the game, but did not attempt any passes. He did run twice for a measly 5 yards. He was a total non-factor. [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] needs to get him more involved.

Running Backs – Overall Grade: B+

The highlight of the running back group is the emergence of a possible future star, [tag]Fozzy Whittaker[/tag]. Fozzy missed the first game with a knee injury but showed no signs of that against UTEP. Fozzy showed off his great lateral speed and ability to get around the corner in a hurry. He is the perfect compliment to the downhill slasher, [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag]. Fozzy ended up with 72 yards on 12 carries for an impressive 6.0 yards per rush average. Vondrell ended up with only 6 carriers and 18 yards. He better watch out, the way Fozzy ran Saturday, he better improve his production if he wants to see more action on the field.

Receivers – Overall Grade: A-

If you remember last week I was a little disappointed with [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag]’s performance. Well you can throw all of that away, because this week he had the game of his life against UTEP. Quan caught 8 passes for 154 yards, including one where he completely burned the cornerback for an easy touchdown. Tight end [tag]Blaine Irby[/tag] found the end zone again with a nice leaping touchdown up the middle in the second quarter. [tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] also scored a nice touchdown off of a Colt scramble, but his inability to get a push off of a much smaller corner ended up with Colt’s only interception. Dan has the size, he just needs to learn to be more physical around the goal line. [tag]Chris Ogbonnaya[/tag] continued to show he is always a threat coming out of the backfield and is definitely a nice luxury to have on 3rd downs.

Defense – Overall Grade: C+

So how do you give up only 13 points and still get a C+? By letting a team move the ball on you the whole game. Well ok, maybe not the whole game, but at times UTEP moved the ball down the field with ease. Texas allowed 3 drives over 65 yards, 4 field goal attempts, and 1 touchdown. The young secondary again looked average at best. [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] is supposed to be the one all of the coaches were impressed with in practice. Well somehow he needs to figure out to translate his success in practice to the field.

The defensive played a decent game, but only started to dominate late in the game when they had finally worn out the UTEP offensive line. [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] did end up with 2 sacks, but with their size and speed they should have dominated the whole game. Linebacker [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] had a ridiculous game, racking up 14 tackles and returning a fumble 26 yards for a touchdown. Overall the linebackers played pretty decent.

Special Teams – Overall Grade: B+

Quan Cosby had an impressive game at the wide receiver position, but he also made an outstanding play on special teams. Quan caught a missed field goal right on the edge of the endzone and alertly returned the ball all the way to the UTEP 35 yard line. Texas scored easily and basically put away the game right there. The kick-offs were much improved from last week, but that is probably due to the high altitude in El Paso. We’ll see how that goes next week.

Overall – Overall Grade: B+

I give Texas the same rating as last week. Not too great, not too bad. They definitely need to sure up some things in the secondary, but luckily there is some time for them to improve. And besides, right now Colt is on fire and the offense is rolling, so let’s save the worrying for a few more weeks.

Follow along below with our live thoughts and analysis during tonight’s game versus [tag]UTEP[/tag]. 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!

Update: Game is over, use the viewer below to read through the entire game or view a plain HTML version here.

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Comments now open.

Position Rating: C+
Starters: Rashad Bobino, Roddrick Muckelroy, Sergio Kindle
Reserves: Jared Norton, Keenan Robinson, Emmanuel Acho

Linebacker has been a position of much consternation for the Longhorns since Derrick Johnson left the 40 Acres. A good way to ruin a perfectly good time last season was to bring up linebacker play around a bunch of Texas fans. This year might be different as there are guys all over the depth chart that have fans excited.

Probably the player the Texas fanbase is most excited about is starting strongside linebacker [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag]. Fans have been awaiting his arrival since the moment he committed to the Horns back in 2005. Injuries have slowed down his career so far but now as a junior he may be ready to explode on the scene. Backing him up is [tag]Keenan Robinson[/tag], a redshirt freshman who coaches are incredibly high on.

At middle linebacker [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] is entering his fourth year starting for the Horns. Bobino isn’t the biggest or most athletic guy but he’s smart and plays well in space. Despite Bobino’s experience he’s being pushed hard by his backup, sophomore [tag]Jared Norton[/tag]. Officially listed as a co-starter, Norton is the prototypical middle linebacker who had to lighten up to be able to run with the many spread offenses in the Big 12. Norton will knock your block off and may play more than Bobino against certain teams and in certain situations.

Starting on the weakside is [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag]. Muckelroy was a starter back in his redshirt freshman season and has finally earned his spot back late last season in the Holiday Bowl. He moves well but also isn’t afraid to knock your lights out. His athletic potential had Texas fans screaming that he should be in there all last season. Behind Muckelroy is true freshman [tag]Emmanuel Acho[/tag]. Some questioned his recruitment but Sam’s little bro definitely is making the jump from TAPPS to the big leagues look easy.

If I was grading purely on potential this group would be much higher. Bobino is the only player we truly know what he’s capable of, but the talent is most definitely there and if Muck and Kindle come on like they should this unit could actually be a team strength by midseason. This has been a position of weakness for years and a big improvement here would solidify the Horns against both the run and the pass.

Related Links

• Quarterbacks preview
• Running backs preview
• Wide Receivers preview
• Tight ends preview
• Offensive line preview
• Defensive tackles preview
• Defensive ends preview
• Cornerbacks preview
• Safeties preview

Football season is so close you can smell it. Less than a week from now the Longhorns will finally take the field for the 2008 season against FAU and today [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] and Co. released the first official depth chart of the year. We wouldn’t be true Texas fans if the first thing we did wasn’t overanalyze and complain about it, so of course we’ve done that below:

General Thoughts

• Lots of OR‘s all over the place like every year. Harder to complain this year because there’s a ton of youngsters on at least one side of the conjunctions.
• Looks like there will also be a lot of situational players as well. There are several places where players (e.g., [tag]Aaron Lewis[/tag]) are listed as co-starters with very different complementary players.
• Lots of youth in general, including several true freshmen. There may be some games this year where you’re yelling at the television set because of the mistakes but 2008 and 2009 should be exciting.

Offense

• No [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag] anywhere at wide receiver. Not in the top 3 at either flanker or split end. True freshman [tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] right behind [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] is encouraging but overall no Williams seems like bigger story. Let’s hope the light comes on.
• Former tackle [tag]Greg Smith[/tag] has been back at the position for less than two weeks but he’s already listed ahead of [tag]Peter Ullman[/tag] as the blocking tight end.
• [tag]Michael Huey[/tag] vs. [tag]Cedric Dockery[/tag] vs. [tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag] at guard. Everyone has been raving about Huey throughout fall camp but most believed he’d be cutting into Tanner’s reps not Dockery’s. The general opinion (and we all know that’s never wrong) is that Dockery is the better of the returning guards but Huey is listed behind him. Is there a strategic reason the coaches believe Huey should stay at right guard?
• The 12 names and 5 OR‘s confuse me at running back. What exactly is going on there?

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Update: Download named rosters for NCAA Football 10. (7/23/2009)

NCAA Football 09 is less than a month away, the demo is up on Xbox Live and the Playstation Network, and player ratings are starting to make their way on to the Internet. EA Sports released the team top 25 and player ratings for all those teams.

I went through the list and put the players’ real names in where possible. I had trouble with a lot of the true freshmen in the game so if you know who any of the blank names are or if I made any mistakes please let me know in the comments. It really looks like EA did a poor job this year on the roster and depth chart. Hopefully it’s a little more accurate when the game is released.

You can download Excel files of the player ratings at the bottom of this post or check out the overall ratings for the Texas team below:

Real Name	Name	Year	Position	Rating
[tag]Buck Burnette[/tag]	C #66	Soph(RS)	C	78
	C #60	Fresh	C	72
[tag]Deon Beasley[/tag]	CB #7	Junior	CB	85
[tag]Ryan Palmer[/tag]	CB #13	Senior(RS)	CB	84
[tag]Curtis Brown[/tag]	CB #3	Soph	CB	83
[tag]Aaron Williams[/tag]	CB #26	Fresh	CB	80
[tag]Chykie Brown[/tag]	CB #8	Soph(RS)	CB	80
[tag]Earl Thomas[/tag]	CB #12	Fresh(RS)	CB	78
[tag]DJ Monroe[/tag]	CB #27	Fresh	CB	76
[tag]Roy Miller[/tag]	DT #99	Senior	DT	90
[tag]Jarvis Humphrey[/tag]	DT #96	Fresh	DT	80
[tag]Brian Ellis[/tag]	DT #90	Soph(RS)	DT	78
[tag]Ben Alexander[/tag]	DT #92	Junior	DT	76
[tag]Kheeston Randall[/tag]	DT #88	Fresh	DT	76
[tag]Chris Ogbonnayya[/tag]	FB #3	Senior(RS)	FB	93
[tag]Cody Johnson[/tag]	FB #31	Fresh(RS)	FB	72
[tag]Ben Wells[/tag]	FS #5	Fresh(RS)	FS	84
[tag]Christian Scott[/tag]	FS #6	Fresh(RS)	FS	77
[tag]Blake Gideon[/tag]	FS #21	Fresh	FS	77
[tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag]	HB #2	Soph(RS)	HB	85
[tag]DeSean Hales[/tag]	HB #30	Fresh	HB	80
[tag]Antwan Cobb[/tag]	HB #24	Soph(RS)	HB	79
[tag]Fozzy Whittaker[/tag]	HB #22	Fresh(RS)	HB	78
[tag]Jeremy Hills[/tag]	HB #32	Fresh	HB	76
[tag]Tre Newton[/tag]	HB #23	Fresh	HB	73
[tag]Hunter Lawrence[/tag]	K #15	Junior	K	82
[tag]Justin Tucker[/tag]	K #9	Fresh	K	69
[tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag]	LE #33	Junior	LE	91
[tag]Aaron Lewis[/tag]	LE #95	Senior	LE	85
[tag]Henry Melton[/tag]	LE #37	Senior	LE	80
[tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag]	LG #52	Junior(RS)	LG	86
[tag]Tray Allen[/tag]	LG #70	Soph	LG	82
[tag]Chris Hall[/tag]	LG #71	Junior(RS)	LG	81
[tag]Aundre McGaskey[/tag]	LG #76	Fresh(RS)	LG	74
[tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag]	LOLB #2	Junior	LOLB	85
	LOLB #16	Fresh	LOLB	80
	LOLB #57	Fresh	LOLB	76
[tag]David Snow[/tag]	LT #78	Fresh	LT	78
[tag]Britt Mitchell[/tag]	LT #72	Soph(RS)	LT	78
[tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag]	MLB #44	Senior(RS)	MLB	90
[tag]Jared Norton[/tag]	MLB #11	Junior	MLB	85
[tag]Trevor Gerland[/tag]	P #17	Junior(RS)	P	83
[tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]	QB #12	Junior(RS)	QB	89
[tag]Sherrod Harris[/tag]	QB #17	Soph(RS)	QB	81
[tag]John Chiles[/tag]	QB #7	Soph	QB	79
[tag]Eddie Jones[/tag]	RE #32	Soph(RS)	RE	92
[tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag]	RE #98	Senior(RS)	RE	90
[tag]Russell Carter[/tag]	RE #97	Fresh(RS)	RE	77
[tag]Cedric Dockery[/tag]	RG #55	Senior(RS)	RG	89
[tag]Michael Huey[/tag]	RG #63	Soph	RG	81
[tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag]	ROLB #38	Junior(RS)	ROLB	87
[tag]Keenan Robinson[/tag]	ROLB #53	Fresh(RS)	ROLB	82
	ROLB #4	Fresh	ROLB	75
[tag]Adam Ulatoski[/tag]	RT #74	Junior(RS)	RT	85
[tag]Mark Buchanan[/tag]	RT #54	Fresh	RT	74
[tag]Ishie Oduegwu[/tag]	SS #19	Junior(RS)	SS	88
[tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag]	SS #36	Fresh	SS	79
[tag]Peter Ullman[/tag]	TE #86	Senior(RS)	TE	81
[tag]Ahmard Howard[/tag]	TE #13	Fresh(RS)	TE	74
[tag]Blaine Irby[/tag]	TE #19	Soph	TE	73
[tag]Quan Cosby[/tag]	WR #6	Senior	WR	89
[tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag]	WR #8	Senior(RS)	WR	84
[tag]Montre Webber[/tag]	WR #14	Soph(RS)	WR	83
[tag]Dan Buckner[/tag]	WR #4	Fresh	WR	79
[tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag]	WR #9	Fresh(RS)	WR	78
[tag]DJ Grant[/tag]	WR #80	Fresh	WR	75
[tag]Antoine Hicks[/tag]	WR #81	Fresh	WR	75
[tag]James Kirkendoll[/tag]	WR #87	Soph	WR	74

Downloads

• Texas player ratings
• Full top 25 player ratings

I’ll be posting periodic updates, comments, and vulgarity as the game goes on. It’s kickoff time and I’m as fired up as I’ve been since early on in the season. Let’s see how the Horns respond to a little adversity.

First Quarter

• 2 seconds in to the game and it’s clear Brent Musberger didn’t do any preparation. Brutally mispronounces [tag]Chris Ogbonnaya[/tag]’s name and then calls [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] the name of some random walk on. Houston takes the very short pooch kick off and the Horns start the game off with the ball out at the 50.
• Looked like a bad read by [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] on the zone read. Picks up close to 10 yards though and the Horns have a 3rd and 3. Big play as the team really needs to get going early.
• 3rd and short run that the line did a terrible job blocking on but [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] breaks it for a 15 yard game.
• [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] is right. Charles was hit out of bounds down low and that should have been a penalty.
• Bad awareness by [tag]Nate Jones[/tag]. He was wide open but let himself drift out of the back of the end zone. Announcers have good comment though about how the design of the end zone in the stadium could be confusing.
• [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] is a gosh damn genius!!!!!!! WoooOoo! Touchdown [tag]Derek Lokey[/tag] for the touchdown!!! That a boy! Bill Belichick would be proud.

Arizona State 0, Texas 7

• The team really looks fired up. Let’s hope that results in some inspired play, and no let down once that energy wears off.
• [tag]Jared Norton[/tag], [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag], and [tag]Scott Derry[/tag] are the starters at linebacker. That might shut some Internet coaches up (for a few minutes.)
• And Norton is already hurt. Damnit.
• Defensive package on 3rd and long includes only 3 down lineman, [tag]Drew Kelson[/tag] and [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] in there as extra pass defenders. Nice new look.
• Designed QB draw play. I don’t mind McCoy scrambling (in fact he’s been darn good at it this season) but not sure we should be calling too many first quarter QB runs in the huddle.
• As Musberger talks about [tag]Chris Hall[/tag] I just noticed that freshman [tag]Kyle Hix[/tag] is getting the start at right tackle and they’ve moved [tag]Adam Ulatoski[/tag] to the left side.
• [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] on the reverse pass. Not really anybody open and Cosby does the smart thing and just throws it away. Or maybe it twas just a terrible throw. The play wasn’t blocked well and the receivers were all covered as well.
• [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] in there on this series. Norton back in there as well.
• Fumble! Maybe. They called it a fumble on the field at least as corner [tag]Brandon Foster[/tag] appears to rip the ball out as the ASU running back falls to the ground. Looks like he had it out before his knee was down and doesn’t look like there’s 100% evidence of the contrary. Replay confirms, Texas ball!
• Hot damn! Hey there [tag]John Chiles[/tag], I vaguely remember you buddy. The young dual threat QB is in there and on the first play Charles takes the zone read hand off close to 50 yards. On the very Next play Chiles keeps it on the same play off the left end for the touchdown! (Psst… where has this been all year?)

Arizona State 0, Texas 14

• In case you hadn’t noticed, yes I’m about 5 minutes behind live on the DVR. I’ll be caught up after one or two commercial breaks.
• Wonder what the wind situation is like. [tag]Hunter Lawrence[/tag]’s kickoffs have all been pretty short.
• Has Roger Clemens hired investigator to “discredit Brian McNamee” or two prove that he didn’t take steroids? Those are two very different things.
• Not only did senior [tag]Robert Killebrew[/tag] not get the start at linebacker but I haven’t seen him in on defense at all yet tonight. Two series in a row where it’s nothing but the young guys and Derry is off the field as well.
• [tag]Erick Jackson[/tag] got really burned on a deep pass but gets back just in time because of the underthrown ball (and maybe a little early) and the ball is tipped up and safety [tag]Marcus Griffin[/tag] has the ball come right to him for the interception.
• I like the fair catch trash talk by the ASU punt returner. “Did you see the way I waved my arm and caught the ball. You can’t handle this!”
• Killebrew, Derry, and [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] in there for this series.
• Can Musberger get anyone’s name right? It’s Dick Tomey, not Toomey. Dufus.
• Finally. McCoy scrambles and throws deep on the run and get its to his open receiver Cosby for a huge 55 yard gain. That a boy Colt.
• And Charles runs tough and right through the Sun Devils’ defense for the 15-yard TD run. Heck of a run and refusal to get tackled by one guy. The Horns are now up 3 scores and it’s still the first quarter. Come on guys keep this up, don’t let an ASU score or anything swing this momentum.

Arizona State 0, Texas 21

• Veteran linebackers in for second series in a row. [tag]Henry Melton[/tag] getting some early playing time at defensive end.
• Bobino shaken up. Now both middle linebackers have needed to be helped up by the medical staff but both were able to walk off on their own power.
• We’re bring multiple linebackers on every play and if we don’t start getting to Carpenter a step quicker we could be in trouble.

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The Texas Longhorns held their annual football banquet Friday night (photos) where they honored team members for their accomplishments on and off the field. Though fans and recruits do attend, the event is definitely a night for the players to look back on the season and to honor the careers of the outgoing seniors.

Quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] and running back [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] were deservedly named the team MVPs. McCoy didn’t have as good of a season as he did his freshman year but he definitely is the player that made this team go (when it went anywhere). Charles was also named Darrell K. Royal Most Valuable Offensive Player while the Mike Campbell Most Valuable Defensive Players were [tag]Brandon Foster[/tag] and [tag]Marcus Griffin[/tag].

In a team vote [tag]Dallas Griffin[/tag], [tag]Tony Hills[/tag], and [tag]Derek Lokey[/tag] were honored with the D. Harold Byrd Leadership Award. Also, in a shocking development quarterback McCoy was given the Outstanding Quarterback Award.

In a move that infuriated Internet Coaching and Motivational Experts [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag], [tag]Scott Derry[/tag], and [tag]Robert Killebrew[/tag] shared the honor of being the team’s Outstanding Linebackers. I’m not sure what else you can really do though as no linebacker really deserved the honor and it would be pretty embarrassing to not hand out an award for the position.

A list of all the award winners is after the jump.

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Today’s matchup for the Longhorns against [tag]Iowa State[/tag] should be a rout, but there’s been lots of games like that this season and Texas only took care of business against Rice. The Horns need to continue the solid play from last week against Oklahoma and if they can they should be able to come home with a comfortable win.

Follow with me and my random thoughts during the game below:

First Quarter

• I wonder when FSN Southwest will be in high definition on DirecTV? It looks like the game is being shot in HD and if I had FSNMW I could be watching it in HD. Oh well.
• Ryan Bailey kicking off, is Hunter Lawrence hurt?
• Same starting lineup on defense that we’ve seen all year.
• Texas is only 7th in the Big 12 in punt returns? [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] is solid back there so I don’t really blame him for that number. With Limas Sweed out for the year it might be time to protect Cosby and put one of the young WR/DB’s back there.
• Long bomb from [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] to [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] on Texas’ first offensive play. McCoy does nice job buying time in a collapsing pocket and finds Shipley wide open. 58-yard touchdown for the Horns.

Texas 7, Iowa State 0

• FSN’s wonderful coverage continues. They take a TV timeout and miss both the kickoff and the first ISU play after it. Sad.
• FSN announcers are apparently using an OU roster instead of Texas.
• On third down play it looks like defensive line slants to the field and [tag]Robert Killebrew[/tag] lets the ISU runner get wide for the first down. Might have been Lamarr Houston’s fault. Terrible defensive fundamentals.
• I was just going to complain about the lack of pressure from the Texas defense then [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] comes untouched off the end for the sack.
• Face raped? Yikes. Not sure you should say that on TV. That was a definite face mask but the reason the helmet comes off is that it’s not fitted correctly. Your helmet should never come off that easy. He said face rape again.
• Is our defense really this poorly coached? We’ve got guys flying inside to avoid blockers on every play. If you’re a defensive end and have a linebacker blitzing to your inside you can’t try to get in the same gap. Ugh.
• [tag]Derek Lokey[/tag] playing defensive end on that play. He got whipped man on man and gave up a big run.
• Texas holds on third down and forces a field goal. Field goal is wide right. Break for Texas as Iowa State had put together a very solid drive.
• Mental mistake by wide receiver covered up Jermichael Finley. FSN announcers are morons.
• Looks like [tag]Chris Ogbonnaya[/tag] is seeing increased playing time already over Jamaal Charles. If we’re going with the wide open offense that’s a good idea since he’s a better blocker and pass catcher than Charles.
• Looks like McCoy is growing a sweet mustache. Couple more weeks and that might be thick enough to show up on camera.
• Ogbonnaya and [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] get the two Texas redzone rushing attempts. Hope Charles can keep his head up, figure out the issue, and earn these attempts back.
• Not sure that was a well advised throw by McCoy but man did Cosby get up and get that one. No good camera angle but I think that might have come out a little when he hit the ground. Another good scramble to buy time and find a receiver by Colt.

Texas 14, Iowa State 0

• Hunter Lawrence kicking off on this one. Wonder why it wasn’t him in there on the first one?
• Young linebackers in there for this series.

(more …)

Looks like we’re definitely headed towards another situation where the early FSN game is going to interfere with the start of the Texas vs. [tag]Rice[/tag] game. Texas Tech and Oklahoma State have decided to forego defense and play a 9-hour offensive shootout. All is not lost however, if you’re a DirecTV customer the game will start on schedule on channel 667 and you can check out FSN Southwest’s contingency plan for the telecast over on the official UT football site. Plus I’ll post frequent updates on the game here on this post. Stay tuned…

First Quarter

• Rice won the toss and will kick off.
• Good deep kick and [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] takes a knee.
• Chris Hall starting at right tackle again. Limas Sweed is healthy enough to make the start at receiver.
• Colt McCoy misses Cosby on a 12 yard out.
• [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] may never touch the football again. Another damn fumble. Rice football.
• No surprises starting at linebacker. Same three veterans: Derry, Bobino, Killebrew.
• Great penetration on the blitz by [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] results in a loss of yards.
• [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] got the start at cornerback over Brandon Foster.
• How is that not grounding? Rice OL forgets to block Frank Okam and he gets a free run at the QB.
• There’s a flag, they called it after all. Rice lining up for 50-yard field goal attempt.
• Rice kicker misses wide left. My former coworker and former Rice kicker Derek Crabtree would’ve made that one. Or so he’d tell me.
• Charles is still the running back. McCoy hits Jermichael Finley on a quick out for a 9 yard game.
• Charles reverses field and gets a good gain. Kid has tons of talent, hold on to the ball and I’ll be your best friend.
• Ugly option play and McCoy gets brought down hard. Guard Cedric Dockery got his ass kicked.
• Great catch on a hitch by Cosby. Colt tried to get him killed. Short of the first down and Texas has to punt.
• Texas sends out [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] with the rest of the punting team in some sort of likely fake but we screw it up and have to blow a timeout.
• After the timeout we’ve got the regular offense out there for 4th and 2.
• Lead dive out by Charles behind FB Atwan Cobb gets the first down.
• Completion from McCoy to Nate Jones on a slant. 7 yard gain.
• McCoy fumbles the shotgun snap but he rolls to his left and finds Cosby alone for a completion and a first down.
• Terrible looking play where two Texas linemen are running laterally 3 yards deep in the backfield and Charles has to fight his way through them on the counter before he can get a couple of yards. Yikes.
• Tony Hills with an obvious hold made more obvious by the fact that he threw his hands up in the air trying to claim innocence. Costs the Horns a first and goal opportunity.
• McCoy and Cosby bail out Hills. Great pass and catch for the touchdown on 3rd and long. The inside receiver was even more open on the play.

Rice 0, Texas 7

• About 1:30 left in the Tech/OSU game and OSU just scored to go up by four on a 54 yard TD catch.
• Didn’t know Texas was using the Bill Bates air conditioned shoulder pads. Great technology.
• Great job by Aaron Lewis to string out the play, Bobino flies to the ball and blows up the blocker, and Lewis is able to make the tackle.
• The Rice receiver might have been bobbling that ball. Rice thinks so too and is running the no huddle.
• Rice’s line is getting whipped right now. They’re doubling the two defensive tackles and that allowed the end to come and make the tackle untouched.
• As I’ve said over and over again, that spread punt formation is the dumbest thing in college football. Texas gets the ball at their 33.
• Colt is holding the ball a tick too long on the deep ball. Another underthrown bomb and another incompletion. He’s got a good enough arm if he gets rid of it a little quicker he’d be a lot more successful.
• Long run by Charles on the single back counter.
• Another ill advised deep ball. Come on Colt. Be smart. Interception but there’s flag on the play.
• McCoy bailed out by the pass interference call. That could have gone either way. First down Texas.
• John Chiles in the game. McCoy motioned left and Chiles ran the zone read. Nice idea but center Dallas Griffin got his ass beat and a Rice lineman blew up the play.
• Two incompletions and Texas will have to attempt a field goal.
• Ryan Bailey’s 44-yard field goal goes right down the middle.

Rice 0, Texas 10

• If our corners are going to give 15 yard cushion they can’t miss freaking tackles. Beasley whiffs and there’s a good gain for Rice.
• Ryan Palmer shows Beasley how to do it.
• Sergio Kindle in the game. Texas defensive line is blowing up the zone read every time.
• Looked like all the young linebackers might have been out there on that series. Rice has to punt.
• Cosby fair catches a line drive punt at the 10 and Texas starts this possession with bad field position.
• Charles lined up at wideout and McCoy puts a beautiful pass in his hands and Charles drops it. Would have been an easy 6.
• Colt is leaving all these short passes up high. Doesn’t seem to have the zip on it he did last season.
• The game is on regular FSN Southwest now so I’ll be doing less play by play and make more witty comments.

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