Tag: Texas Longhorns (Page 14 of 18)

      Week 12 College Football Primer

      November 15, 2008 /

      Top 25 vs. Top 25
      Tim TebowNo. 25 South Carolina at. No. 4 Florida, 3:30 PM ET CBS
      After they were shocked by Ole’ Miss and turned in a lackluster performance in a win over Arkansas, the Gators trounced LSU, Kentucky, Georgia and Vanderbilt in convincing fashion. Nothing against the three teams ranked higher, but Florida might be the best team in college football right now. Tim Tebow has resurrected his Heisman candidacy after rushing for five touchdowns and accounting for 424 total yards in the Gators’ 51-31 win over the Gamecocks last year. But Steve Spurrier’s squad has been one of the hottest teams in the nation over the past couple of weeks. The rotation of Stephen Garcia and Chris Smelley at quarterback has lifted South Carolina and the defense has played inspired. This is a better matchup than most think, although it’s highly possibly that Florida could roll with how well they’ve played over the past month. Expect the Gators to use this as another statement game leading up to their huge battle with Alabama in the SEC Championship Game December 6.

      Upset Watch:
      Maryland TerpsNo. 16 North Carolina at Maryland, 3:30 PM ET ABC
      The Terps have clearly been a different team at home than on the road where they’re 4-0 and averaging 25.5 points per game as opposed to 1-3 and 11.75 PPG on the road. Maryland has also won five straight against ranked opponents the past two years and still control their own destiny in the ACC Atlantic. Three wins in their final three games would send the Terps to the ACC title game, which is amazing considering this was the same team that got drubbed 31-0 by Virginia. If Maryland is going to pull off the upset they’ll need to get Da’Rel Scott and Davin Meggett going in the running game because putting the ball in the air against the Tar Heels is a risky proposition. UNC has one of the best ball hawking defenses in the nation and has forced opponents into mistakes all season. If the Terps play things close to the vest offensively and rely on their defense to win the game, an upset could be in the making.

      Other notable games:
      Mississippi State at No. 1 Alabama, 7:45 PM ET
      It’s highly unlikely the Tide lose focus against a 3-6 Mississippi State team, but the Bulldogs did pull off one of the better upsets of the year when they crushed previously No. 13 Vanderbilt 34-3.

      No. 3 Texas at Kansas, 12:30 PM ET
      The Longhorns try to keep in the national title hunt while the Jayhawks look to end the season as quickly as possible.

      No. 10 Georgia at Auburn, 12:30 PM ET
      This is one of the more underrated rivalries in the SEC.

      College Football

      Texas to get its own 24/7 sports network?

      November 12, 2008 /

      The University of Texas could get its own 24/7 sports network in the near future.

      Texas LonghornsIn what would be a first for college sports on television, the University of Texas is planning to launch its own 24/7 sports network, signaling a further move toward niche programming on cable and satellite.

      Officials from the University of Texas have teamed up with the college sports unit of IMG Worldwide, a talent agency and licensing company, to negotiate distribution on Time Warner Cable (TWC), Comcast (CMCSA), and AT&T (T) in Texas and possibly in bordering states, says Pat Battle, a senior vice-president at IMG College. IMG has an agreement with the Austin (Tex.) school, which is part of the Big 12 Conference, to oversee its trademark licensing, marketing, and multimedia rights.

      If the channel, tentatively named the Longhorn Sports Network, gets off the ground, it would be the first time a university has created its own sports network seeking broad distribution. “Texas has such an incredible fan base and such great content through all its sports programs,” says Battle, “that we feel a network like this will have a real following.” A spokesman for DeLoss Dodds, the UT athletics director, said he was unavailable for comment.

      Hey, I’d rather have Texas jammed down my throat than Notre Dame, which is shown exclusively on NBC every Saturday. I don’t know if I need all-Longhorns, all the time…

      College Football

      The college football regular season is not a playoff

      November 7, 2008 /

      Phil Guidry of SI.com is my hero:

      The regular season is a playoff
      Of all the absolute nonsense network sportscasters and BCS apologists spew during the season, this might be the most galling. If the regular season is a playoff, it’s the most asinine, unfulfilling playoff ever devised. If this is a playoff, it’s missing one teeny, tiny, possibly useful ingredient for the big picture: the actual “playing” part.

      Things would be fine if everyone played the same balanced schedule and the best teams got the chance to pick each other off during the season until a true champion emerged. But if there’s one thing college football fans can agree on, it’s that conference schedules are not created equal…

      In reality, this alleged regular season playoff settles virtually nothing on the field, and that means at the end of the year we could have the following situation: Florida could get shut out of the title game even though it’s churning through SEC opponents by 30 points per game. Penn State could get shut out even with an undefeated season. USC could get shut out even though it’s, well, shutting people out (three times this season, and it hasn’t even faced UCLA yet). Texas could get shut out even though its only loss came against an unbeaten team, in the final seconds, thanks to the best play of the season. Oklahoma could get shut out even though Texas is the only team that beat it…

      Imagine a world where the NFL didn’t have playoffs. It just had a 17-Week regular season and at the end, the New York Giants played the Tennessee Titans because each team had the right combination of wins, common opponents and margin of victory points.

      I think I just threw up in my mouth. And that’s how I feel watching college football every Saturday knowing that there’s no true playoff system to tell me if Penn State is better than Texas Tech or Alabama is better than Florida.

      College Football

      A road map to the BCS title game

      November 4, 2008 /

      Graham HarrellHere is who the top six BCS teams currently have left to face:

      1. *ALABAMA: at Louisiana St.; Mississippi St.; Auburn
      2. *TEXAS TECH: Oklahoma State; at Oklahoma; Baylor
      3. PENN STATE: at Iowa; Indiana; Michigan State
      4. *TEXAS: Baylor; at Kansas; Texas A&M
      5. *FLORIDA: at Vanderbilt; South Carolina; The Citadel; at Florida St.
      6. *OKLAHOMA: at Texas A&M; Texas Tech; at Oklahoma State
      *-may also play in league championship

      Just based on the remaining schedule, it looks like the title game will probably come down to the league championship weekend, which only benefits Penn State since the Big Ten doesn’t have a championship game.

      But what’s interesting is that all six of these teams have potential pitfall games that could sink them before championship weekend. ‘Bama has the toughest road to travel with LSU and Auburn still left on its schedule, while Texas Tech has two dangerous games back to back in OK State and Oklahoma, while Florida-Florida State is always interesting. Penn State and Texas have arguably the easiest schedule, although Iowa and Michigan State could catch the Nittany Lions napping.

      Something I don’t want to hear this year his how championship week is essentially a playoff. That is the most exciting week in college football, but it’s not a true playoff system and it’s a joke when BCS supporters try to pedal it as such.

      College Football

      Texas Tech upsets Texas – ‘Bama top team in the nation?

      November 1, 2008 /

      Texas Tech-TexasThe 2008 College Football Season just got a bit more interesting as No. 7 Texas Tech knocked off top-ranked Texas 39-33 in Lubbock on Saturday night.

      Pundits noted all week how the Red Raiders don’t play defense and while they did give up 33 points, the final score wasn’t a true indication of how well they shut down Colt McCoy and the Longhorn offense. Tech did a fantastic job of taking away what Texas does best – moving the ball with underneath routes and racking up the yards after the catch. Of course it didn’t hurt that Longhorn wideouts couldn’t hang onto the ball either. UT just couldn’t match Tech’s intensity the entire night and pressured McCoy with four, five and even three-man rushes.

      Texas didn’t match Tech’s emotion from the start. It’s clichéd to say that one team wanted a game more, but it really seemed like the Raiders went out and grabbed victory by the balls while Texas waited for things to happen. Even when they seized their first lead with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter, they couldn’t keep Tech out of the end zone when all they were after was a field goal.

      So Alabama has to move into the top spot, right? Where do the Red Raiders fit into the picture? Penn State was idle so they could move down, but it’s doubtful. Florida absolutely hammered Georgia so they can only move up. The same could be said for Oklahoma, which waxed Nebraska. It’ll be interesting to see how things fall in the BCS when the new polls are released Sunday.

      College Football

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