Don’t tell Jordan Shipley, but Texas QB Colt McCoy has a new roomie. As he prepares for the upcoming NFL Draft, Colt is rooming with Stanford running back (and Doak Walker Award winner) Toby Gerhart for workouts out in California. Funny Photoshops on EDSBS ensue.
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.
The Texas Longhorns dropped their first game of the season over the weekend, but managed to take the series in Palo Alto over [tag]Stanford[/tag] two games to one.
The series win moved Texas to No. 1 in the new Baseball America poll. Right now three of the top five teams in the nation come from the Big 12 South and five of the top 12 teams come from the state of Texas.
Pitching continues to be the anchor for this year’s team. The Longhorns have five legitimate weekend starters with only three slots open. Through 13 games Texas sits at 12-1 with a team ERA of 1.35. Each starter is capable of going seven innings plus, and with closer Austin Wood manning the back end of tight games the Texas bullpen has been untested thus far. [tag]Chance Ruffin[/tag] is the ace and will get Friday starts, it looks like [tag]Brandon Workman[/tag] and [tag]Cole Green[/tag] will get the Saturday and Sunday nods with [tag]Taylor Jungmann[/tag] starting the mid-week games and playing the role of long reliever on the weekend. Jungmann would be the Friday starter on the majority of college baseball teams.
Texas is also receiving great play from their defense. Errors were the Achilles’ heel of last year’s ball club, and so far the work the team put into the offseason has paid off in spades. With the pitching staff on such a role it is imperative opponents aren’t given free base runners because of poor plays in the field. Outside of [tag]David Hernandez[/tag] who has seven errors, no one on Texas’ team has more than one. Texas is fielding .978 as a team.
The weak link so far has been at the plate. Texas is only hitting .296 with five homeruns through 13 games. Texas is going old school with their approach at the plate. The Longhorns will look to manufacture runs throughout the season because the lineup just doesn’t have anybody who is going to strike fear in opponent’s hearts. Hernandez has struggled in the field of late, but is leading the team in hitting at .395. Texas has only four other batters hitting over .300 and no UT batters have double digit RBIs.
Luckily it is early in the year and the pitching staff has not yet needed much run support. When Texas was winning championships it was behind stellar starting pitcher, shutdown bullpen work, good play in the field, and timely hitting. The Longhorns have never been confused with the mash brothers with Augie Garrido at the helm.
Texas faces [tag]Baylor[/tag] in an out of conference matchup on Wednesday March 11th before hosting [tag]Missouri[/tag] and top pitching prospect Kyle Gibson to start the Big 12 season this coming up weekend.
The University of Texas volleyball team fell in the National semifinals to the Stanford Cardinal. Stanford won the final game 15-13 in the final set. For the first time in 27 years a team overcame a 0-2 deficit to reach the NCAA title game. It will be the third title game appearance in a row for Stanford.
The Longhorns looked good early with superstar [tag]Destinee Hooker[/tag] leading the way. No team in the nation has an answer for Hooker’s ability to get up in the air. Throughout the night Stanford put up to three people up for the block only to see Hooker go over the top for the kill.
Stanford was off early, but caught fire in the last three sets. Texas struggled with communication on sets and on defense. The experience of the Stanford squad proved to be too much for the young Longhorns. Texas only has two seniors in their rotation so expect another long run next year.
Stanford will now play the winner of [tag]Penn State[/tag] versus [tag]Nebraska[/tag]. Penn State won the title against Stanford last year 3-2. Penn State has swept every game since.
The Longhorns controlled the first half and dominated the last ten minutes in route to a 20 point win over [tag]Stanford[/tag] Friday night. Texas used a 20-3 run to turn a 1-point game into a 82-62 victory.
[tag]DJ Augustin[/tag] was the player of the game for the Horns, leading the team in scoring with 23 points and dishing out 7 assists. When he took over the game and the tempo in the middle of the second half is when Texas went on their run. But equal credit for reversing the momentum should go to [tag]Rick Barnes[/tag], [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag], and the other bigs playing defense down inside. The switch to a 2-3 zone defense and Pittman’s big body frustrated Stanford star Brook Lopez, and without him the Cardinal had no offensive threat.
The team now advances to the Elite 8 where they will face the Memphis Tigers Sunday at 1:20pm on CBS.
Related Links
- Men’s Basketball advances with 82-62 win over Stanford
- D.J. Augustin’s the best I’ve seen
- Texas a win away from Final Four
- Texas takes its place among Elite Eight
- Augustin has UT pointed toward Final Four
- Rick Barnes credits Justin Mason
- Longhorns’ second-half spurt propels them into Elite company
- Instant Analysis: Second-half run dooms the Cardinal
- How Texas Took Down Stanford: An Inside Look
- Stanford calls its shot: Texas just plain better
- There’s more to UT than D.J. Augustin
- Where in the world are Robin and Brook? Definitely not Houston…
- Postgame notes
- Photo gallery
- Video highlights
The NCAA is trying a new set up for tournament games in football arenas and the games in Houston and Detroit this weekend will be fans’ first look at it. In order to get more fans in the stadiums, the courts will be set up at the fifty-yard line instead of tucked away to one side like the normal football stadium set up. When the Longhorns face off against the [tag]Stanford[/tag] Cardinal Friday evening at Reliant Stadium they’ll also do it from 27 inches off the ground.
The set up will allow them to sell more tickets and will look good on TV, but seems far from optimal for the players and coaches in the games. Both the location and elevation could actually affect the outcomes of these very important games. It could change things for shooters and on loose balls near the sideline.
The big drop just a few feet out of bounds is incredibly dangerous. Players are definitely worried about hustling after the basketball and falling off the edge, as evidenced by quotes like this one from Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds: “What if we go for the loose ball and dive off the court? I mean, that’s the thing I was scared about.” It seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
The large empty space behind each basket also may cause depth perception issues for shooters, something that would be a very bad for the guard-oriented Longhorns. There will be very few fans behind each basket, and each will be backdropped by large black curtains. On how the shooters would cope, our own [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] said, “There’s going to be an obvious depth perception [problem] just from the goals, but nothing you can’t handle. Just go out and get a couple shots up and get the feel of it and that’s what it’s all about.”
Hopefully AJ can get comfortable during warm-ups and comes out firing during showtime. And maybe that homecourt advantage means we’ll have Texas fans lining the court to catch any Longhorns that go flying off the ledge. The best outcome is that nobody will get hurt and the final score of the games won’t be affected. We’ll find out Friday evening.
Related Links
After playing well in hostile territory in the first two rounds, the Longhorns come home to Texas for the Sweet 16. On Friday the Horns will take on [tag]Stanford[/tag] in a 2 vs. 3 match-up in Houston. The Cardinal pose the biggest challenge in the tourney yet for Texas, particularly the giant Lopez twins down inside.
The 14 feet of Lopezes in the paint means the Longhorns need a big game defensively from the likes of [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag], [tag]Damion James[/tag], [tag]Gary Johnson[/tag], [tag]Alexis Wangmene[/tag], and big [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag]. On the offensive end Texas needs another hot shooting night out of junior guard [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag], but open looks won’t come as easily as they did in the previous two games.
Watch the SI.com video preview of Stanford below:
Men’s NCAA Tournament: Texas-Stanford preview. The Dallas Morning News gives a slight edge to the Horns.