This story is also posted in the Harvard Independent.  A lot of this you may already know, but if you're like me you never get tired of hearing it.

We are all taught in school, when we’re very young that history repeats itself, unless we do something about it.  In sports the history tends to go on repeating itself unchecked, since there are no real catastrophes to avert.  Sure there are travesties, like a Cubs fan providing the perfect metaphor for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but the very fact that we can find irony in the situation prevents us from taking it seriously enough to try and avert it the next time around.

Beyond the inevitable, inexorable historical principle, sport tends to repeat itself in a much shorter cycle, since, unlike in our world, the rules and situations never change enough to have a serious effect on history’s cycles.  Witness, therefore, one of the inevitable déjà vu moments that comes from watching sports religiously.

Two years and about a month ago, Pete Carroll’s USC Trojans were driving for what they were referring to as a three-peat (or three-pete to be cute).  Many of those who didn’t live at the mercy of that particular team’s success or failure, would continually doubt the championshipness (championshipity?) of their first claimed championship, since they hadn’t actually played in the National Championship Game (always a bit of a barrier) and were chosen as champions by the AP in an act of almost pure contrarianism (even if they had deserved a shot at LSU or Oklahoma in said championship game, LSU’s convincing win over Oklahoma gave them the more impressive championship resume).

It was the year where Matt Leinart came into the season as the defending Heisman winner, and a budding sports agent would buy the Heisman for his teammate Reggie Bush (conveniently voted on before what would be a convincing display of how wrongly the voters had chosen in the National Championship Game).  What cannot be disputed is that they were riding an impressive 34 game win-streak coming into that game.  ESPN would spend hours of TV time on its legion of networks playing out imaginary match-ups between the Trojans of that year and great teams of the past (is the story starting to seem familiar?  Stop me any time).

As for the game itself, the 2006 Rose Bowl, USC vs. Texas, the game stayed close in the first half before USC started to pull away, as everyone seemed to expect.  The Trojans pulled their lead to 12 with 6:42 left in the game, and everyone who lived outside the biggest state in the lower 48 (for you geography buffs, that’s Texas), believed that the game was over, the dubious three-pete was imminent, but those people obviously hadn’t seen enough of a young fellow with a heavy accent, a student-athlete from inner-city Houston, Vincent Paul Young.  Indeed if they had seen more of him he may not have ended up second in the Heisman voting to the player, who earned the highest percentage of Heisman votes ever.  Had they known Young as any more than an elusive and strong runner playing quarterback, they would have seen a strongly repeating pattern (some historical cycles come by coincidence, this one was driven by the pure will of one of the best athletes ever to play the college game), the pattern that his biggest victories were invariably snatched from the jaws of defeat.

So it was on that mild January night in Southern California.  Vince drove the Longhorns down the field twice with a controlled passing game, which pundits (and evidently the Trojan coaches) doubted he had the patience to maintain, and, of course, his electrifying runs.  In between the two drives, came a magical defensive stand, where the Trojans, consistently successful earlier in the game at pounding the bowling ball, Lendale White, up the middle, tried to run out the clock with headfirst runs up the middle.  It came down to fourth down with a yard and a half to go.  Pete Carroll, knowing that putting the ball back in Young’s hands, no matter what yard-line he was on, was a dangerous situation, having watched Young cut through his defense like the proverbial hot-knife through butter, and possessing what many would call a propensity to gamble, decided to stake the game on that fourth down.

In one of the most beautiful scenes one can see in a football game, the Longhorn defense played immovable object to Lendale White’s unstoppable force, stopping him cold behind the line to gain.  Even before chains were brought out and an official ruling was made, a sense of jubilation permeated the Texas sideline, victory was considered almost inevitable, despite the five point deficit that still remained.  Young’s last touchdown run on a fourth-and-five seemed almost an afterthought, and the resulting Longhorn victory left the USC sideline, and thousands of Californians, who had caught on to the Trojan craze, in a sense of shock.  Trojan players, who lived the lives of Hollywood stars, had felt they were entitled to this victory.

Matt Leinart, who had stayed in school for his senior year, which many draft experts believe cost him ten spots in the draft, since he would have been a favorite for the #1 pick in the previous spring’s draft had he come out, though as it turned out he seems to have benefited by being drafted to Arizona with such great offensive weapons as Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin rather than to San Francisco, where Alex Smith, who was taken #1 in that draft still struggles, went so far as to claim that the better team had not won the game, as though there were any other way to determine which team was better.

Let us now draw some parallels with this previous Sunday’s Super Bowl, where the ballyhooed New England Patriots (that’s right I wrote ballyhooed) tarnished an otherwise perfect record by losing to a team they had beaten only a month earlier, quarterbacked by a man, who despite his string of success in the playoffs, is but a poor reflection of his older brother (not all aspects can be parallel).  Like the Trojans, the Patriots were compared on numerous ESPN broadcasts to their great predecessors.  Bradshaw’s Steelers, Ditka’s Bears, Walsh’s and Montana’s 49ers, Jimmy Johnson’s and Barry Switzer’s Cowboys all took their turn to face of with the Pats in a purely hypothetical exercise that served as filler when there was nothing more interesting to report during SportsCenter.

Though Boston is about as geographically removed as you can get from Hollywood without crossing international borders, Patriots players, like their USC counterparts took on all-star personae.  Tom Brady, though not as shameless in his list of endorsements as his rival Peyton Manning, took on a public face by dating supermodels and being followed by tabloid photographers daily.  Randy Moss, delighted at finally playing for a winner, quieted the loquacious comments that had plagued him with some of his other teams, but even he had the chance to revel in his celebrity in a post-game press conference, saying "I mean hell, I’m Randy Moss, what do you expect."

While commentators at sports networks were arguing over what Patriot would win the MVP of the Super Bowl, the Giants were preparing revenge for their Week 17 loss.  They shocked the world and the Patriots’ bench with their two fourth-quarter touchdowns, and their constant pressure on pressure on Tom Brady.  The much debated MVP went to Eli Manning, though it probably should have gone to a defender, since they held a Patriots offense that had scored under 30 points only three times previously this season and had never scored less than 21, any of which numbers would have been enough to beat the Giants’ meager 17, to only 14 points.  Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, or Michael Strahan all deserved recognition for turning Tom Brady’s pocket into a shooting gallery.  Also deserving would be rookie Cornerbacks Aaron Ross and Kevin Dockery, who held Randy Moss to only 62 yards and 1 touchdown.  If the defense as a whole could receive the MVP, I have no doubt they would have, for holding the Patriot’s to only 7 points for three quarters while they waited for Eli Manning to get his act together and actually score.

But apart from the specific details, the lesson remains, sports history repeats itself more than regular history.  Pride always comes before the fall, and ESPN can predict the fall of dynasties by comparing them to previous great teams.  Let this be a warning to all you aspiring sports dynasts and future ESPN executives, who happen to be reading.  Beware.

--AR--

I think beating OU is completely within the realm of possibility, if the team in fact pulls together instead of breaking apart, yet I am a creature of eternal optimism.

Under what conditions would you believe that the Longhorns could win the game this Saturday despite our troubles?

--AR--

We're all a little angry with Greg Davis, so here's the question.  Take one play out of his playbook and add one play in.

I'll bet the Bubble Screen makes it into about %80 of the comments.

--AR--

I meant to post this yesterday, but we don't always get what we want and I'm over it.

Some of the questions in yesterday's Mack Brown press conference included

Along with softball questions about Rice and the like.

Now the question

If you got your hands a press pass and had one question, how would you use it?

--AR--

For new readers, the Two Cents segment is a dailyish thing where I ask a question and you readers discuss it, and call me an idiot.  --AR--

In PB's offensive review of the TCU game he writes:

There's no doubt that Colt is clutch, but he hasn't looked as sharp in general since the beginning of the season.  The question then is:

Has Colt McCoy taken a step back, either because of his injury or some other unforseen reason, or is he about to come out of his shell?

The Washington Huskies

Now I don't think we can tell too much from a shellacking of Syracuse.  Even I have been known on occasion to drive to upstate New York and run over and around Greg Robinson's squad, but Washington did look much improved while doing it.  New quarterback Jake Locker, though he I wouldn't say he's a white Vince Young as the ESPN commentator did, looked great running and passable from the pocket.  Willingham's squad has a chance to make it to the level of a bad Oregon season, giving scares to the better Pac-10 teams and losing to one lower level team a year.

Colorado...

Now has a quarterback with their coach's balls.  It's hereditary.  A gutty comeback win against their in-state rival Colorado State almost insures that the Buffs won't be losing to any more Championship Subdivision teams any time soon.  They'll leave that to certain other teams...like Rice.

Presence of Mind

Something I've never seen before happened in Washington State's loss to Wisconsin.  On WSU's first scoring drive their punter saw his punt blocked, then picked it up and ran for a first down.  Heads up play.

Nebraska 52-Nevada 10

Something almost immediately evident, Nebraska has some kicker.  I believe he cleared the end zone 6 times, while kicking from the 30.  To compare, Hunter Lawrence landed the ball between the goal line and 5 yard line every kick against Arkansas State.  As for the rest of the game, Marlon Lucky was great, and as for the passing game...well...Marlon Lucky was great.  It seems like Callahan put a damper on the passing game after Keller threw an early pick six.  I would have assumed it'd be hard to run a West Coast offence without having a lot of confidence in one's quarterback.  Well, Callahan's the genius.

Andre Ware strikes again

Tommy Tuberville's lucky that our least favorite system quarterback didn't get assigned to the Kansas State/Auburn game, because if he was he would have willed the Wildcats to hold on for the win and called Tuberville Tooberville most likely.  As it turned out.  Ware drew the Mizzou/Illinois game, where SMQ has this to say:

I will only add that it's Chase Daniel, not Chase Daniels.  He's a man with two first names, not the heir to a whiskey fortune.

--AR--

With Brad Lester out does Kansas State have a chance at the upset?  I will cite the Georgia game last year as evidence that relying on Brandon Cox's arm is not an optimal situation for Auburn.  Does that give "uber-QB," Josh Freeman, and Kansas State a chance?

Editor's Note: AR returns! Welcome back, sir. For those new to the site, Andrew is our esteemed intern and the source of every great BON-produced video you've seen around here.

In any season opener against a Sun Belt cupcake you're going to end up with your fair share of rushing yards.  For the 'Horns since 2002, rushing in the opening game has been somewhat indicative of future success.  

In 2002, North Texas shut down Cedric Benson and the 'Horns to the tune of 42 total rushing yards and in 2003 the 'Horns only rushed for 168 yards, a fairly decent sum against a top shelf team, but pretty lame against New Mexico State, whereas the 2006 team, which was a weaker rushing team, broke 200 going for 212 against the Mean Green.

But in the two most successful seasons in that span, 2004 and 2005, they rushed for 513 and 418, respectively, presaging great things.

Now I'm completely on board with the idea that the Texas offense in 2007 should use the pass to set up the run, but in the first game the benefits of rushing the hell out it are easy to enumerate.

1. It's fun

No one would argue that LSU's win last night was fun, but Arkansas State can't defend the run like a bottom of the pack SEC team.  Passing causes a lot of anxiety, a couple errant passes can stall a drive, not to mention interceptions.  If you can run with impunity, there's really no reason to pass.  It's also fun for your linemen.  Ask any lineman, attacking, mauling, pancaky run blocking is tons more fun than back-em-off pass blocking that is  only a stall no matter how good it is.  I'm sure these green linemen are excited to get out and maul some overmatched defenders.

2. It's a great way to break in the revamped run game

The passing game is pretty good.  We get our key guys back, and we should be fine for the rest of the season.  What's still a question mark is the run game, and Arkansas State is the perfect opponent to build confidence against.  The more big runs JC breaks the better.  It'll be great!

3.  Running the clock faster: It's just classy

There are definite benefits to being classy.  Other teams respect you.  Everybody likes you more.  Isn't that what you want?

So here's to a season where the offense thrives on tossing the ball around, and an opening game in which we rush for more than 300 yards.

--AR--

...And it's even longer and harder for Henry Melton.  We might call the state in which Melton currently resides as Longhorn Football purgatory, but for a player at such a high profile program, that's probably worse than hell.

It wasn't too long ago when everyone was in love with Henry Melton.  They called him "Hank the Tank" and other endearing nicknames.  No one could sweep up a ULaLa or a North Texas like Henry, but multiple key failures in short yardage, including two in games that ended as disappointing losses, relegated him to hell in our minds.

The problem was that big Henry is Jamaal Charles trapped in Ron Dayne's body.  I'll confess I'd never seen a 270 pound running back try to make the corner on fourth and inches, but big Henry, he went for it and failed miserably.  With luck, though, rock bottom is far from the end of the story.

Luckily for Henry there are two positions suited for a 270 pounder who's "fast for his size."  Short yardage running back didn't work out, but guess what you're a defensive end now.  The coaches say he's showing improvement, but they said that last spring too, and we all know how that turned out.  Everyone that doesn't get hurt in Spring football is showing improvement, but there's definitely a chance for playing time with Crowder and Robison off to the big leagues.  Orakpo has one starting spot locked up, but Melton, Eddie Jones, and Aaron Lewis are all in the mix for the other end.

I for one, want to believe in him, because I want to believe in second chances, and I want to root for Henry again.

--AR--

Earlier in the season AW listed 4 stats that would most accurately chart The Horns' success througout the season.  They were Free Throw Attempts, Rebounding Margin, Assist/Turnover Ratio, and Field Goal Percentage Defense.  I want to follow up on this statistical thread in a string of posts about statistical trends for this squad.  Today statistical trends in losses.

Texas has lost 5 games (Michigan State, Gonzaga, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, and Villanova) and won 15.  8 of those 15 wins were played against legitimate opponents, and I've decided to stick with those, because I don't think this squad could have had a bad enough shooting percentage to lose to Texas State.  Here are some statistics that seem to be particularly worse in our losses than in our wins (stats from all overtime games have been normalized to reflect the extra minutes played):

In every loss, the Horns have shot below 41%.  In fact the Horns have only beaten Centenary when shooting below that mark.  Two of UT's worst wins have come close to 41%; we shot 42.37% against Baylor and 42.31% against Nebraska.

The correlation is fairly obvious here.  The better you shoot, the better you play.  This is compounded by our weakness down low, which denies us second chances at the basket, and our less than stellar defense, which forces us to shoot well to keep up with our opponents.

Rebounding in general is important, but offensive rebounds in particular show a stronger correlation to success for this squad.  Probably the three worst losses for the 'Horns (Gonzaga, Tennessee, and Villanova) were also the only three games where they had less than ten offensive rebounds.

Common failures to hold teams on the defensive end make each Texas possession that more important, so offensive rebounds are twice as important.

In every loss the Horns have failed to reach 12 assists, though they also didn't make 12 against Arkansas (11) and LSU (8).

I think assists are a sign of the offense clicking.  DJ Augustin is always a great distributor, but assists tend to go up when one player has particular offensive success, because the defensive will tend to shift toward him leaving open teammates for him to feed.

PB and AW have pointed out before that this team often lives and dies by the three, and it's reflected in the stats.  In 4 out of our 5 losses (OSU excepted) we've attempted 26 or more three pointers, whereas only against Nebraska and Baylor in our wins over legitimate opponents have we even reached 26 three point attempts.  On the other hand all of our losses have come when we've shot less than 37% from three, while LSU alone of the legitmate opponents we've defeated have held us below that mark.

When our opponents have more than 37 rebounds and shoot better than 36% from three they tend to beat us as well.

In every loss, the Horns have attempted at least 61 field goals, while they've only attempted 61 or more in two wins over legitimate opponents (Colorado and St. Johns).

I'm at a loss for why that is.  Anyone have any idea?

These are just some raw statistical trends.  I'll keep you updated as they play out in our future contests.  I hope this has been more exhaustive than exhausting

--AR--

That's right.  It's Rose Bowl Day.  This very day in 2006 of the common era.  The Texas Longhorns won the game of the century to take home it's first national title in a generation, beating the "best team ever" as reported by the fair and balanced sports commentators at the World Wide Leader in Sports.

And, not a small part of this day was one Vincent Paul Young, whose physical genius and refusal to lose created an attitude in the 2005 Longhorns that made a national championship all but inevitable.  Douglas Adams once wrote:

So it is with Vince for us.  Don't you think the 60s were pretty good for Texas football?  Three championships and all?  If I had to choose one or the other though, I'd take this hands down.  No Texas fan could knowingly pass on the wonder that is Vince Young.

The whole career of Vince Young will be and is spectacular, but January 4th, 2006 will always be that one special day, where a superhuman athlete put in a superhuman performance to lead a college team to victory over what can only be described as the "secret" professional football franchise in LA and two heisman winners, who were hardly worth comparing to him.

--AR--

For the latter half of the season I dutifully brought you reports from the other games around the Big XII.  Now the Big XII's season is over.  Let's take a look at the conference that went 3-5 in bowls this year.

Oklahoma

Ah yes, supposedly the best the Big XII had to offer this season, the Sooners ended up 11-3 with their meltdown against a well-prepared Boise State team in the Fiesta Bowl.  Some of the wackiest things came out of Oklahoma this season.  The Sooners went 7-0 without Adrian Peterson and 4-3 with him, and they averaged 5.6 more rushes and 24 more rushing yards without him.  Clearly Bob should have just kept Peterson out because he was hurting the team...  Oklahoma made sure the Big XII ended up with a losing bowl record this season, losing a game everyone expected them to win.

The Future?  Oklahoma loses starting QB Paul Thompson and, most likely, Adrian Peterson, but the only other member of the offense that's leaving is little used receiver Jason Carter, so if Heupel can groom a passable quarterback, the offense might not suffer too much, but I would look for another down year from the Sooners like last year as they will most likely be breaking in a freshman quarterback.  The defense will still be solid though.

Nebraska

This year's second pick out of the Big XII fell in a tough game to Auburn in the Cotton Bowl.  The Huskers had a season of close games that they sometimes won, enough at least to make it to the Big XII championship game.  Senior Quarterback Zac Taylor won Big XII Offensive Player of the Year honors and ended with 3197 yards with 26 TDs to just 8 INTs.  Nebraska still has a ways to go until they reach their goal of a return to national relevance, but this season was a good start.

The Future?  Departures on the defensive side are worrisome.  The Huskers lose both their starting defense ends, who were a serious force.  I don't know the status of the men replacing them, but if the nice fellow from Corn Nation wants to fill us in, it would be awesome.  The offense, on the other hand, despite losing Taylor, will be in good hands with Sam Keller who will do at least as well as Taylor, if not better, and be much cockier about it (though he will lose out on Big XII Offensive Player of the Year to Colt McCoy), throwing to a mostly intact receiving corps.

Texas A&M

Who didn't see that Holiday Bowl coming?  Brazos?  Great season Aggies; it should keep Fran around a while longer, which is something that we all want.

The Future?  I'm tempted to predict a fall back into mediocrity, but A&M returns all three of its running backs Lane, Goodson, and McGee, so I don't see any reason they couldn't have another season like this one, minus the win over Texas.

Missouri

There's definitely talent at Missouri.  Chase Daniel looked good all season and Tony Temple just torched Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, though it's hard to tell whether that was just a symptom of a week Pac-10 defense collapsing or of a strong running back having a breakout game.

The Future?  The Tigers know how to play.  Now they just have to learn how to win, and there's about a 50-50 chance they will, but Gary Pinkell's coaching, so all bets are off.

Texas Tech

Awe inspiring comeback to beat Minnesota leaving Mike Leach in tears.  My only question is how did Texas Tech get down by 31 to Minnesota in the first place?

The Future?  The way this season ended is a great starting point for a good season next year.  It's entirely possible that these Raiders could reach another Cotton Bowl next season.

Oklahoma State

The Cowboys picked up the pieces of last year's disastrous season to net a respectable win over Alabama in the Independence Bowl.  Well done Cowboys.

The Future?  Bobby Reid's only a sophomore...need I say more?

Kansas State

Not even uber-frosh Josh Freeman could halt the fury of a Rutgers team that beat the Orange Bowl champion, but still got relegated to the Texas Bowl.  Another example of a team building well for next season.

The Future?  Their not ready to compete for the Big XII North yet, but look for at least eight wins for Ron Prince in his second season.

Kansas

Passable season for the fighting Manginoes, but didn't make a bowl despite being eligible.

The Future?  Many other teams in the North seem to be on the upswing, so next season might see a dip for Kansas, who can play steadily but not spectacularly with little talent.

Baylor

This was their year.  If Enemy of the Nation, Shawn Bell, hadn't been injured, the Bears could well have made it to a bowl for the first time in a long long time.  On Guy Moriss' wish list are a quarterback a Taurean Hendersonesque running back and a defense.

The Future?  The Bears missed their chance.  Next season will consist of a trial by fire for some poor quarterback, which could set them up for a good season in '08.

Iowa State

Incredibly disappointing season for Dan McCarney and the Cyclones.  People saw the 'Clones as a darkhorse for the Big XII North title before the season.  At least now they get a new, shiny coach to play with.

The Future?  It all depends on how fast Chizik can take root in the program.

Colorado

No one really expected magic in Dan Hawkins' first year, but they did expect a victory over Montana State.  Some wins at the end of the season helped the Buffs save a little face.

The Future?  Nowhere to go but up.

--AR--

Those of us in withdrawal from the regular season undoubtedly tuned into the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl last night before losing interest around halftime when TCU led 16-0.  For those who didn't get a chance to check the paper for the boxscore this morning, the final was 37-7 (NIU's sole score was a blocked punt returned for a TD) and Garrett Wolfe ended with 28 yards on 20 carries.

Some Things We Learned

1. One of the most awkward sentences in college football:  The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl is brought to you by San Diego County Credit Union.
2. TCU really got the shaft when the SWC broke up.  They should be laboring in the bottom third of the Big XII instead of coasting at the top of the Mountain West.
3. It looks like Garrett Wolfe couldn't handle a whole 12-13 game season.  A late spike against Central and Eastern Michigan was all but negated by a poor bowl performance.  Perhaps his best chance in the NFL is as a complimentary back, who can come out of the backfield and catch the ball, not as a featured back.

NIU coach Joe Novak after the game on what halftime adjustments he made:  "We tried to get a first down.  We didn't do very well at that."

--AR--

These are the dog days.  The days when the college football on TV kind of makes you die inside, but while you're dying inside, remember there's always a way to extrapolate a rooting interest out of a seemingly meaningless football game.

The Poinsettia Bowl tonight pitts Garrett Wolfe and Northern Illinois against the TCU Horned Frogs...and we should all be rooting for TCU.

When we play TCU next season it will be important that they enjoy that vaunted momentum that they could gain from a Poinsettia Bowl win.  Just look at the winner of last year's Poinsettia winner...Navy...they did okay this year...

So if you thought there was no way that you could care about every insignificant bowl game, think again.

--AR--

This one's PB's idea.  You can tell because it's a well thought out question.

How important is a win in the Alamo Bowl?  Mack has already declared that it's not important enough to burn Sherrod Harris' redshirt, no matter what.  Is it important enough to play Colt at %80?  How bout %60?

Discuss.

--AR--

I don't know about y'all, but, as soon as the clock hits 0 at the Alamo Bowl, I'll be ready for next football season.  Don't get me wrong; basketball and baseball are great and all, but football's the money sport.

So in anticipation of PB's season preview for next season.  What do y'all think will be the biggest problem area coming into the season.  Will it be the O-line that will lose three starters?  Will it be the Secondary that also loses three starters?  You decide.

--AR--

Big victory last night for the Horns in Houston.  I was unfortunately unable to see it, because I was busy tearing my hair out over a devastating loss by the Cowboys, and, unlike burntorangenance, I only have one TV.

This brings up an interesting point that AW alluded to in his initial thoughts.  The tension between a justly decided champion and an exciting regular season.  I'm now aware that I should have been watching the Horns game, judging from your comments on the open thread, but how was I supposed to know?  And furthermore, though the game was exciting, the prospect of the game, to many fans, is mediocre.

Many will question what effect this win will actually have on the Horns' chances at the Final Four.  The seeding in the tourney depends more on recent play, and, while one could argue that it gives the young team valuable experience, that would probably have been true even in a loss.

Now I certainly would have watched the game had there not been another one of my teams playing, but that's not the case for everyone.  I'm a lazy college student, who can afford to spend a Sunday night watching a basketball game the outcome of which probably won't have a quantitative effect on my team's championship hopes, but surely Texas has fans out there with better things to do.  They probably also don't have time to read this blog, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

I don't think anyone will argue that this game was anywhere near as important as an early season football game, so the question becomes:  how much excitement in the early regular season are fans willing to give up for the sake of a playoff in football?  Personally I'd be willing to sacrifice the tiniest bit to get a 4-team playoff, but some might be willing to go further, and though there are many calls for playoffs few agree on what the format should be.

Just a thought.

--AR--

Before the season, PB turned us on to a concept in college football called "the Narrative" wherein ESPN and other media outlets try to script the season so as to maximize profits by creating predictability.

How do you think "the Narrative" worked this season?  Did it have any effect?  Would it have if something different had happened (say...USC beats UCLA)?

--AR--

Juniors coming out early hasn't really affected Texas much until last season.  We have a lot of talented juniors on the squad that could be looking to jump after a disappointing season.  Do you think any juniors will leave early for the draft this season?

--AR--

Just another reason to care about the upcoming Alamo Bowl.  Texas has several streaks to look after, and they're pretty much our only streaks now because we lost our last home and road and conference games.

6 straight wins at neutral sites (2 at the Rose Bowl, 2 at the Cotton Bowl, and 2 at Reliant assuming that the game vs. Rice at Reliant counts)

2 straight bowl wins

Texas hasn't lost to a team that didn't have a winning record at the time since September 16th 2000, when we lost in Palo Alto to 0-1 Stanford.

11 straight years with a 1,000 yard rusher - Jamaal Charles currently has 805 yards on the season.  I think we all remember a superhuman effort in last year's bowl to keep this streak alive.

5 straight seasons with at least 10 wins

Texas hasn't lost 3 straight games since 1999 when we lost to A&M, Nebraska, and Arkansas to end the year.

Update [2006-12-7 13:49:45 by aorist9]: Thanks to the help of GoHorns we're ready to report that it's been about 107 straight weeks that Texas has been ranked in the top 25.

Just something to think about.

--AR--

For so long a time there was Vince and there was Hoge, each living separate lives, the one as the next coming of Jesus, the other as a washed up player turned ESPN analyst, but, as Vince opted to enter the fraternity of professional quarterbacks, Merrill Hoge lodged his formal complaint against the whole thing...and it was on.

Now for the first time that I'm aware of... I bring Vince and Hoge together to settle this once and for all. Enjoy.

[A Vince sized hat tip is owed to Matt at BevoSports for having the forsight to tape Merrill Hoge's pre-season comments, or else knowing someone with the aforementioned forsight. Also thanks to utexasclan.com for the game film. I couldn't have done this without their assistance.]

Merrill Hoge is now the most recent victim of Blatant Vinceyoungery

--AR--

The Alamo Bowl may be a disappointing send off for this year's seniors, so perhaps it's necessary to spread some more love on them.

Who's your favorite senior of this year?

--AR--

If Joe Kines is grandpa, then Jon Tenuta is the drill sergeant.

Just itching to get back into his fatigues

I know VanGorder's the hot name, but we've already talked about him and his mustache, so let's talk about Tenuta for a second.

Tenuta is somewhat known for his fiery demeanor and his opportunistic defenses.  Tenuta's Georgia Tech defenses have thrived on exotic blitzes drawn up by Tenuta each week and have dampened the negative effects of Reggie Ball by stiffening after every interception.  Tenuta started his coaching career in '81 as a graduate assistant at his alma mater UVA and has coached at Maryland ('83), Vanderbilt ('84-'5), Marshall ('86-'7), Kansas State ('88), SMU ('89-'94), Oklahoma ('95), and finally Ohio State ('96-'99) before going to Georgia Tech.  At both SMU and Ohio State Tenuta started as the defensive backs coach and was promoted to defensive coordinator.  Expertise in the secondary seems to be what some people are wishing for, but, as long as Akina is here, we already have a secondary guru.

Pros:  Greg Robinson and Gene Chizik have benefitted the defense with their fire, and Tenuta has no lack thereof, but is it too much?  Is he not cuddly enough for recruiting?  Opportunism in blitzing might help out a young secondary in his first year.

Cons:  I don't know if we want to touch anything thats been near Chan Gailey for that long.  Mediocrity could rub off on us.  Sure his defense is the bright spot at GT, but you never know.

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Hey guys,

Y'all undoubtedly all know by now about the Merrill Hoge video bashing Vince Young after the draft.

If any of you have a video file of it, or know where I can find it (I need a file not just a YouTube link) I would be eternally grateful and will repay the kindness with a video mixing Hoge's comments with Vince's responses.

--AR--

Texas has reported that they will not break Sherrod Harris' redshirt for a bowl game, so now the rub. We've already asked if we should play Colt or not, but assuming Colt can't play, who should play quarterback in the Alamo Bowl?

On the one hand, we have walk-on Matt McCoy who, though he shares a last name with Colt, has none of the talent/experience. On the other there's flanker Quan Cosby, and to a lesser extent Billy Pittman. Both were high school quarterbacks and would suffice in a pinch.

Two questions: Who should play and who will play?

For my Two Cents I'm for using a base formation of 3 wides (Sweed on one side, Pittman and Shipley on the other) with Quan in the shotgun and JC/SY offset slightly behind him, then we can experiment with the Arkansas craziness of having Pittman and Shipley coming end around where Cosby could hit Sweed or hand off to Shipley who can run and Pittman who can run and throw, and then experiment with direct snaps to JC/SY to keep the running fairly vertical, but that's just crazy.

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Fiesta:  Oklahoma vs. Boise State
Cotton:  Nebraska vs. Auburn
Holiday:  A&M vs. Cal
Alamo:  Texas vs. Iowa
Sun:  Missouri vs. Oregon State
Insight:  Texas Tech vs. Minnesota
Independence:  Oklahoma State vs. Alabama
Texas:  Kansas State vs. Rutgers

That's right folks.  Once high and mighty Rutgers must travel to beautiful Houston, Texas to face uber-frosh, Josh Freeman.  Andre Ware will undoubtedly call the game and Kansas State will win by 30, but if for some reason Ware can't call the game (perhaps because it's on NFL network) the Wildcats will surely lose.

Kansas, though eligible was left out because there were no other spots left open for them.

Also of interest, Rice will meet Troy in the New Orleans Bowl.

Mackovic to coach Team USA.

Deadspin assures us that this is for real real and not, in fact, for play play.

Everybody, Joe Kines...Joe Kines, everybody.

image courtesy of rolltide.com

Kines is probably the oldest guy you will hear mentinoned for this job.  Born in 1944, Kines attended Jacksonville State and began his coaching career there.  He's also coached linebackers at Clemson, Florida, and with the Tampa Bay Bucs, and has been defensive coordinator at Florida, Arkansas, and Georgia, before his current job as defensive coordinator and interim head coach at Alabama.

We start with Kines because We've been doing our homework.

Pros:  Kines has a wealth of experience, and his Tide defenses have been outstanding in every measure.  Remember the Alabama '05 post-Prothro offense?  He's the reason they only lost two despite being unable to score more than 17 points in a game.  It is rumored that, during last year's game with Tennessee, Kines yelled, "What you're only giving us 6 points?  Hell y'all can't score more than 3 on me, Fulmer."  Also, Kines has expertise with linebackers, which is good if we keep Akina on staff, because Duane already has the secondary coaching down...to an extent.

Cons:  Kines isn't the young up-and-comer type that the last two hires were.  This could turn out to be an advantage if it means a great D coordinator that will stay more than two seasons, but, on the other side of the coin, he can't have too too many years of coaching left in him.  I mean the dude's 62, and he could be crazy, but it's not often that you find someone who's "Paterno" crazy.

Scheme could also be an issue.  Kines runs a 4-2-5 at Alabama, and he's had great success with it, but, at least immediately, that will be a problem because of our lack of depth and experience in the secondary.  Imagine Dion Beasley, Brandon Foster, Ryan Palmer, and Robert Joseph all out on the field at the same time with Marcus Griffin as the sole returning starter with them.  Obviously Kines can adapt his scheme to fit the people, but a lot of Kines' success has come with the 4-2-5, and it might be harder for him to succeed in a more traditional alignment.

This whole discussion could be moot if the new Alabama coach decides to keep Kines, either voluntarily or at the behest of Mal Moore.

Stay tuned for more looks at D coordinator prospects.

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With the imminent transfer of Jevan Snead, we have a bowl game to look forward to that may feature our hobbled starter Colt McCoy or...What do y'all think?
Who starts?

--AR--

As PB mentioned below, Mack has yet to hold his press conference that he usually holds on Mondays after a game.  After the K State loss he held it on Tuesday, but it's now Wednesday and there's been no conference.

Obviously a lot has gone on, what with the loss and Chizik leaving, but reader "LonghornForLife" suggested it could be that he's waiting until he can announce a new defensive coordinator.  I figured they'd wait to make a decision until after the bowl game, but do y'all think there's any chance this is the case?

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