Posted November 19th, 2013 by Ross
Filed under: Football

WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from Texas’ matchup with West Virginia.

Pregame WTH Helmet?! Again, I am fan of the alternative uniforms and helmets. I would like for the Longhorns to offer up an alternative. The WVU helmet looked horrible. The Mountaineers came out to warm up wearing their normal helmets then went back into the locker room and pulled out some white looking mess. It looked like there was an oil stain on it.

1st Quarter (13:45) WTH Daje?! The biggest play of the game was the touch that did not happen. Daje Johnson had a brain freeze and almost touched the punt that would have given the Mountaineers the ball in the red zone. The 58,570 moonshine fans would have wrecked the stadium if they who have gotten the ball.

1st Quarter (12:11) WTH Up Men?! You are big. You are placed in the middle of the formation to keep rushers from getting to the kicker. The kicker is backed up in the end zone. You may want to block the defender that is going right between both of you. Safety for WVU… Sheesh!

1st Quarter (2:31) WTH Big D?! The defense sacked WVU quarterbacks six times which included 2 fumbles. Crazy as it seems but the WVU backup QB Millard was better than the starting QB that they knocked silly on this play. Defense stepped it up in the first half while the offense took over in the second.

Halftime (:00) WTH Luck?! The Mountaineers had the mojo going into halftime with a field goal to put them up by 6 points. Wondering if WVU AD Oliver Luck was feeling a little better at this time since he didn’t impress the UT Regents as much on his interview? How weird would it have been if Luck was the UT AD and he would’ve been walking around the stadium at his alma mater as the enemy?

3rd Quarter (11:34) WTH Spark?! I have been critical of UT senior safety Adrian Phillips. I need to give him a shout out for an interception that helped kick start the frantic scoring that would occur in the second half. Seven out of the next 8 offensive drives for both teams would result in scores.

4th Quarter (:59) WTH Horseshoe?! You have to admit that this nickname for Case McCoy fits perfectly. Facing a fourth and seven at midfield Case hits his buddy Jaxon Shipley for a first down. The drive results in a tying field goal by the real hero of the game which is the consistent Anthony Fera (4 for 4 on FG).

OT WTH Brown?! This was the first overtime for a Mack Brown led team. Mack gets credit for hiring the play caller and recruiting the player. The play call by Major Applewhite to hit De La Torre out of the back field was something that made all UT fans smile. Great call Major! Then to have the recruit Steve Edmond that has been criticized most of the season come up not only on a third down tip, but to come through again with a pick to seal the win on fourth down!

Next up for the Longhorns are the Cowboys from Stillwater in Austin on November 16th.

Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at @40AcresSports or follow me at @Horns1991. HOOK EM!!

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WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas game against the Mountaineers.

Texas' Carrington Byndom beat for the touchdown

Texas and Carrington Byndom couldn't make the big 4th down or red zone plays. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Pre-Game WTH Fans?! Wow. A record crowd of 101,851 fans were amped up for this contest. Fans were comparing the electricity in the stadium to when Cougar High came to Austin in 1990. Great job by the fans!

1st Quarter (15:00) WTH JY?! Vince Young was in person and on the giant video board to let the fans know that the “Eyes of Texas are Upon You.” Even his son Jordan got in on the act by getting caught on the video board pointing at the screen saying that’s my daddy.

1st Quarter (9:09) WTH Special Teams?! The kickoff coverage team gave the UT fans heart attacks when Tavon Austin touched the ball. It’s pretty bad when the stat sheet says kickoff of 64 yards and the return is 67 yards. Squib quicks were the order of the day after this long return.

1st Quarter (2:05) WTH Akina?! WVU was setting up for a fourth down play when Coach Akina did not think his secondary was set so he called a costly timeout. Costly? Because the Horns defense stepped up and held the offense on downs. Instead the Mountaineers went on to score on the very next play and subsequently succeed on every fourth down play the rest of the night.

2nd Quarter (15:00) WTH Southwest?! We can understand the need to promote oneself by setting up a stupid human trick by making fans throw a football into an inflatable receptacle. The problem is when you have the inflatables highlighted in Mountaineer school colors which are blue and gold. Bad omen.

2nd Quarter (10:01) WTH Dallas?! The Godzillatron feels it necessary to take us behind the scenes of certain players and cheerleaders because the fans clamor so much to be interrupted with this nonsense. One such interruption was to let us know that a pom squad member felt she looked like the villain from Monsters Inc.

2nd Quarter (7:37) WTH Alex the Great?! Alex Okafor was named Big XII defensive player of the week for his game changing plays. One of those moments was when he stripped Geno Smith and Jackson Jeffcoat recovered the fumble in the end zone to tie up the game.

2nd Quarter (4:51) WTH Dana?! No one can hold a candle to WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen when he throws a fit. Geno Smith was sacked by Desmond Jackson, one of four sacks for the UT defense, which eventually led to a Mountaineers field goal. Dana was so upset that he threw his headset down numerous times to let everyone on the sidelines know his disgust.

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When I first heard that the team motto was going to be RISE, I was wondering if they were using this to mean rising up from the ashes or even the dead. Next I thought of a boxing analogy about rising up from the canvas where many of your opponents knocked you out. This year’s motto means: Relentless, Intensity, Sacrifice, Emotion (Check out the 2012 Longhorn Football RISE 2012)

It has been a wild roller coaster ride when just a little over two years ago the Longhorns were playing for a National Championship. The Longhorns are a few years away from even been mentioned as title contenders. So, I am going to set the record straight and tell you what the Horns record is going to be game by game. I am even going to give you the record of the opponent when they play Texas. Here goes… nothing.

Wyoming (0-0) at Texas (0-0) Sept. 1st

This will be the easiest prediction of the season. I got both teams record correct going into this game. Texas is at home so the Horns have to win this one. Or the rest of this article is bunk. Horns WIN

New Mexico (1-0) at Texas (1-0) Sept. 8th

I have friends that went to New Mexico. They are just looking to come into Austin to have a good time. Not even the Lobos expect to win this one. Horns WIN

Texas (2-0) at Mississippi (2-0) Sept. 15th

Yes it’s a team from the big bad SEC. You know that they were the worst team in the SEC last year. They have a head coach that sounds like a character from a Spiderman movie, Hugh Freeze. New coach and wild expectations by the fan base will make this a tight game, but eventually the Horns wear down Ole Miss with their running game. Horns WIN

Texas (3-0) at Oklahoma State (3-0) Sept. 29th

Both teams have bye weeks before they face off which is a plus for the offensive sides of the ball. The Cowboys have a new quarterback, but OSU has a ton of confidence as well as playing this game at home. Will the Texas quarterback shuffle be settled by the fourth game of the season? This one is a toss-up. Let me get out a quarter. Tails Texas – Heads Cowboys. Horns WIN

West Virginia (4-0) at Texas (4-0) October 6th

The Mountaineers have four straight home games to start the season before their first road test in Austin. It’s still hot in October…right?! The West Virginia defense is horrible which should allow for a lot of UT running yards. The UT defense, lead by coach Manny Diaz, needs to keep the explosive Geno Smith in check. I hope everyone realizes that Manny will be a head coach next year somewhere else if Mack does not step down. Horns WIN

Texas (5-0) at OU (4-0) October 13th

I would like to think that sweet revenge will be the elixir that every Longhorn will enjoy after this game. But the better quarterback play and the team that doesn’t turn the ball over wins this game. Texas will come up short again. Horns LOSE

Baylor (3-2) at Texas (5-1) October 20th

Baylor will be coming off two straight losses to WVU and TCU. There is going to be a hangover effect after losing arguably the greatest Baylor athlete of all time. OK…I will give you Michael Johnson. Baylor fans will day dream of last year’s trouncing of the Horns while Texas fans will want to lay the hammer down with defense and a strong running game. Horns WIN

Texas (6-1) at Kansas (2-5) October 27th

I do not see a lot of waving the wheat at this game. The Jayhawk fans will be looking forward to the start of the basketball season when they will face Emporia State just three days after having to host Texas at a football game. Horns WIN

Texas (7-1) at Texas Tech (4-4) November 3rd

Yes. You guessed it. Here is my trap game. It will be at night. TBS loves the Red Raiders and Craig Sager will be wearing an electric red blazer. You know this team beat the Sooners last year. In the Mack Brown era, the Horns have lost only three times to Tech. All three losses were on the road and in November. Horns LOSE

Iowa State (3-6) at Texas (7-2) November 10th

Texas will want to get the bad taste out of their mouths from losing on the Plains. Perfect timing since the Cyclones will be reeling when they come off a major loss to the Sooners the week before. Look for the Horns defense to have a fumble, interception and punt return for touchdowns. This one will get ugly. Horns WIN

TCU (9-1) at Texas (8-2) November 22nd (Thanksgiving Day)

This will be the battle for second place in the Big 12. WVU will have lost to OU the week before this game. This will not equal the hype of an A&M rivalry, but it sure will be close. Both teams should be clicking offensively and the magnitude of the night may be similar to an OU game, best quarterback and no turnovers. Texas will win with a last minute field goal by the PSU transfer to give the ESPN network a ratings bump. Horns WIN

Texas (9-2) at Kansas State (7-4) December 1st

Kryptonite. Bill Snyder. The Little Apple. Take your pick. We do not beat this team. Why? I don’t know. Last time the Horns won was when Steve Jobs came out with ITunes (2003). Horns LOSE

I am predicting a 9-3 year for the Horns. I was way off with my predictions in 2010 with 10 wins (5-7) but I nailed it in 2011 with 7 regular season wins. Anybody can predict the future; just make sure you do not write it down ahead of time.

Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter @40AcresSports or follow me @Horns1991. HOOK EM!!

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Texas’ loss to last week to [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] didn’t knock them completely out of the national title race but it certainly shook things up. Texas fans spent the next 72 hours crunching numbers and running scenarios that could result in the Longhorns still making it to the title game. That may make math and stats nerds happy but its just another sign of just how ridiculous the NCAA Division I FBS not having a playoff really is.

ESPN’s Pat Forde makes a(nother) strong case for a playoff in college football:

No less a voice than Barack Obama’s called on Monday night for a playoff in college football. To which The Dash says hallelujah, it’s time for some pressure on the ossified system from the top down. Once upon a time, the Tide wooed Butch Davis to be their coach. The first round of The Dash’s eight-team playoff would shape up as follows today: Top seed and SEC champion Alabama versus eighth-seeded ACC titlist [tag]North Carolina[/tag] in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The backstory would make this interesting, since the Crimson Tide were interested in current Tar Heels.

The first round of The Dash’s eight-team playoff would shape up as follows today:

Top seed and SEC champion [tag]Alabama[/tag] versus eighth-seeded ACC titlist [tag]North Carolina[/tag] in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The backstory would make this interesting, since the Crimson Tide were interested in current Tar Heels coach Butch Davis as far back as 2000, when he was the coach at Miami. That was before Mike Price, before Dennis Franchione and before Mike Shula. Then Bama got it right — royal-flush right — with Nick Saban.

Second seed and Big Ten champion [tag]Penn State[/tag] versus seventh-seeded Big East winner [tag]West Virginia[/tag] in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. Just for fun they could award the old Lambert Trophy for the best school in the East to the winner.

Third seed and Big 12 champion [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] versus sixth-seeded Pacific-10 champ USC in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Would anyone enjoy seeing the Red Raiders’ O (first nationally in passing offense, second in total offense, third in scoring) against the Trojans’ D (first nationally in pass defense, first in total defense, first in scoring defense)?

Fourth seed at-large selection Texas versus fifth seed at-large selection [tag]Florida[/tag] in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] and Tim Tebow on the same field might be a little fun.

(Dash apologies to [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] and Utah for being the best teams left out. Y’all can console each other in, say, the Alamo Bowl.)

After that: semifinals at the Orange and Fiesta Bowls. National title in the Rose Bowl. Championship trophy presented by Dashette Irina Shayk.

Decide for yourself whether that playoff would generate any interest. After you’ve thought it over for five seconds, call the president of your favorite university and scream into the phone that you want a playoff. Do not stop screaming until you are out of breath or they have hung up on you — and then redial and scream again.

Maybe it will come to pass by the time Tebow’s kids are in college.

Or maybe it happens a little faster depending on Tuesday’s election results.

Just imagine adding the Texas Rose Bowl win over USC, plus the brutal four game stretch the team just finished, plus even more on the line than ever before. How fun would that be?

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Posted September 16th, 2008 by Matt
Filed under: Feature, Football

My Top 8 remains unchanged this week as a few teams didn’t play and the rest won easily. The story of the weekend was the Cremation in the Coliseum – USC’s dismantling of the over-hyped Ohio State. Ohio State has pretty much become a joke, getting shallacked whenever they play on the big stage. I am starting to think if I should allow any teams in the Big 10 in the Top 25 at all? Hmm….

Agree or disagree? Please let us know in the comments.

  1. [tag]USC[/tag]
    USC
    LW: 1

    Was there really anyone surprised in their thrashing of Ohio State? USC looks unbeatable right now but they usually suck-up one game during the regular season, so we will see.

  2. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]
    Oklahoma
    LW: 2

    Offense, offense, offense. Oklahoma probably won’t score less than 40 points all season long. Right now Oklahoma and USC are separating themselves from the rest of the teams in college football.

  3. [tag]Florida[/tag]
    Florida
    LW: 3

    Bye week

  4. [tag]Missouri[/tag]
    Missouri
    LW: 4

    Chase Daniel has the offense rolling right now, though it does help when you play a high school team like Nevada. And 6 catches, 172 yards, and 3 touchdowns for Maclin? Ridiculous.

  5. [tag]LSU[/tag]
    LSU
    LW: 5

    LSU finally got to play a game and just toyed with UNT. Not really fair. Let’s see how they do against their first real test, Auburn.

  6. [tag]Texas[/tag]
    Texas
    LW: 6

    Game against Arkansas postponed.

  7. [tag]Georgia[/tag]
    Georgia
    LW: 7

    This team is so overrated it is ridiculous. But since they still haven’t lost, I will wait for them to lose so I can drop them down. That will likely happen in two weeks against Alabama.

  8. [tag]Alabama[/tag]
    Alabama
    LW: 8

    Alabama’s balanced offensive attack looks impressive. Not much to dislike with this team. They have a pretty good shot to do goods things in the SEC West.

  9. [tag]South Florida[/tag]
    South Florida
    LW: 19

    What a game Friday night against Kansas. Big lead changes both ways and South Florida pulls out the crazy victory. Now hopefully they won’t have a letdown after this big win.

  10. [tag]Wisconsin[/tag]
    Wisconsin
    LW: 15

    Wisconsin just continues their boring football that wins games. But hey, whatever works.

  11. [tag]Auburn[/tag]
    Auburn
    LW: 9

    3-2 victory against Mississippi State? Are you serious? Their defense is great, but they will have to actually score touchdowns to beat LSU.

  12. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]
    Texas Tech
    LW: 13

    Their offense looks good so far, but hard not to against the caliber of opponents they have been playing. I guess we will have to wait until Big 12 play to see how they really are.

  13. [tag]BYU[/tag]
    BYU
    LW: 17

    Absolutely smoked UCLA. 7 passing touchdowns will usually get it done. Might have to start paying attention to this team.

  14. [tag]Wake Forest[/tag]
    Wake Forest
    LW: 18

    Bye week

  15. [tag]East Carolina[/tag]
    East Carolina
    LW: 12

    Barely sneaked by a weak Tulane team. Maybe they aren’t as good as we thought. They will need some more convincing wins if they want to challenge for the Top 10.

  16. [tag]Oregon[/tag]
    Oregon
    LW: 16

    Probably should have lost to Purdue, but their impressive rushing attack led the charge in their comeback win against Purdue. Blount had 132 yards on 12 carries. Not a bad average.

  17. [tag]Penn State[/tag]
    Penn State
    LW: 21

    Penn State racked up 560 total yards and held Syracuse to 159 yards. We will have to see how they face adversity, because so far they have breezed through this season.

  18. [tag]Kansas[/tag]
    Kansas
    LW: 11

    Heartbreaking loss against a good South Florida team. I bet Reesing is wanting that one poor throw back late in the 4th quarter. Kansas is still a good football team that will probably climb back up in the rankings.

  19. [tag]Ohio State[/tag]
    Ohio State
    LW: 10

    Now can we please stop thinking Ohio State is any good? Lately anytime they are the national stage they get blown out. Needless to say they will not be playing for the national championship this year.

  20. [tag]Vanderbilt[/tag]
    Vanderbilt
    LW: 23

    Another solid win against Rice. SEC teams better not overlook this Vanderbilt team. They might be the surprise of the SEC East this year.

  21. [tag]Utah[/tag]
    Utah
    LW: 25

    Utah is starting to play like they did in their 2004 unbeaten season. Though their big win against Michigan isn’t looking as impressive as it did in the beginning of the season.

  22. [tag]Florida State[/tag]
    Florida State
    LW: NR

    Lots of first timers making an appearance in my Top 25, and FSU is the first. They have a real test upcoming against Wake Forest, so we will see how long they stay here.

  23. [tag]TCU[/tag]
    TCU
    LW: NR

    TCU has started their season off with 3 impressive win, including a 31-14 win against Pac-10 Stanford. They virtually have no passing game, but their stable of running backs is impressive.

  24. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]
    Oklahoma State
    LW: NR

    Oklahoma State is chugging along basically unnoticed so far this season. Unfortunately for them they have an extremely tough schedule this year. But for now things are looking good.

  25. [tag]West Virginia[/tag]
    West Virginia
    LW: NR

    Even though they didn’t play, I am giving them another shot in the Top 25. They need to win convincingly if they want to stay here.

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Posted March 23rd, 2006 by Brian
Filed under: Basketball, Live

With Duke now out of the tournament, the road to the Final Four for whichever team wins this game just got a little easier. This game matches up two very different teams. While Texas needs the three to be dominant, [tag]West Virginia[/tag]’s entire game relies on the outside shot. Texas will spend much of the game in a man-to-man defense to attempt to give WVU’s shooters as few open looks as possible, while the Horns will attempt to dominate on the offensive and defensive boards.

Should be an entertaining game.

First Half
  • Good dish by LaMarcus Aldridge to find PJ Tucker underneath the basket. Good start and great to see the ball inside to Tucker early.
  • Kevin Pittsnogle‘s first three goes all the way around the rim before rattling out. A good sign?
  • I guess it wasn’t much of an omen. Pittsnogle’s next two threes go down easily to give WVU the lead.
West Virginia 9, Texas 6
  • Horns playing good defense and moving the ball nicely on offense. No wide open looks so far for WVU and several easy dunk/layups for the Horns.
  • We need to be a little more careful with the basketball. Not too bad, but a couple unforced turnovers so far. I wonder if/when the Mountaineers plan on playing any full court defense.
West Virginia 9, Texas 10
  • Darn, I thought we were going to be announcer-free for a second.
  • Ouch. PJ takes it to the hoop and hits the ground very hard.
  • Kenton Paulino had time and an opening to get rid of the ball on the trap but holds on to for too long. Luckily WVU gets called for the touch foul.
  • Big fast break dunk for Tucker. 9 points already for him.
  • Ahhhh! I hate playing good three point shooting teams. Good defense all around and Patrick Beilein nails the 3.
  • Pittsnogle flops and they call the foul on Aldridge. If they’re going to call that amount of contact then the whistle should blow on every possession.
West Virginia 15, Texas 19
  • Less than eight minutes to play and again the announcers are unaware we’re back from commercial.
  • Aldrige is stroking it from midrange.
  • Great steal by AJ Abrams. Shoot, he’s limping now. He said “f***” as he started to jog back up court and reached down towards his legs.
West Virginia 15, Texas 23
  • How much longer is Napolean Dynamite going to play Napolean Dynamite? Memo to actors in Hollywood: If you see Rob Schneider’s name associated with a movie run away! Bench Warmers looks awful.
  • West Virginia has yet to make a two-point shot and Texas has yet to hit a three.
  • Nevermind. Daniel Gibson nails one. Let’s hope he gets going, we’re up now but we’ll need outside shooters hitting to win this game.
  • How is that a foul on AJ Abrams? Yikes.
  • Great move and decision by Mike Williams. Passed up a long jumper and drives for the easy hoop. Exactly what Brad Buckman needs to do. His midrange shot is off, put the ball on the floor and look to pass or find an easier shot.

(more …)

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