Ok, put on your thinking caps. I want some realignment brainstorming. The Big 12 is in a position to add some teams. The favored configuration that we're hearing about is a 10 team conference. 10 teams is nice and neat, you get 9 conference games a year, everyone plays everyone, and the best record moves on.

However, critics claim that you're leaving money on the table by not having enough teams to implement a conference championship... so, what is the ideal conference configuration?

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The silence from the UT administration regarding conference realignment is deafening. Every conference imaginable has been posited by fans and opponents as a potential landing ground for our beloved Longhorns. Let's move to the PAC-16! No, the ACC! No, we'll rebuild the Big 12.

Has A&M finally stuck it to us? Has OU's sudden initiative caught UT off guard? Has UT "gotten got"?

Feeling comfortable for years that Dodds has been managing the national realignment scene, developing contingencies for contingencies, UT fans have assumed that we have the drivers seat. To our surpise, we now find ourselves waiting for news of A&M, OU, OSU, TT and anything else that will feed us something to assuage our realignment hunger.

Up until now I've considered the prospect of Texas Independence as a pipe dream. We know the administration has considered it, but in my fan heart I was too attached to our conference rivals to consider it viable. However, today I find myself warming to the idea, and I'll attempt to explain to you why.

Link

For Texas, it is looking more and more like the Longhorns' most likely long-term option is independence, at least in football. The Texas brand is strong enough, and the pockets deep enough, that it could survive quite comfortably as an independent, while still retaining the autonomy to run (and independently profit from) its own television station, and customize its schedule to keep rivalries intact. Texas has insisted, at least so far, that it does not want independence, but my guess is that privately Texas is much more open to the idea than they've yet let on. Notre Dame is still going strong as an independent (financially, anyway), and there is plenty of reason to believe that Texas would have better competitive success than  Notre Dame as an independent, with its superior recruiting reach, and without Notre Dame's tough admission standards.

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Ok, got my hands on some posted video from the game and thought I would bring up some highlights for discussion. First, let's talk about the Case McCoy to Jaxon Shipley connection.

Down by 6, Case knows he needs a TD to win this game. Gilbert has had his meltdown and Ash only has a selection of 5 plays that he can run that BYU is already starting to lock onto.

Luckily, he's got a playmaker downfield named Jaxon Shipley.

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Just finished re-watching last night's game, and thought that I would post some things that I saw that looked really positive. The defense struggled on the edges and in coverage in the first half, but they really were lights out in the second. Just exceptional. On the offensive side of the ball, a few guys really stood out as the people who made it happen.

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Loftin said that Texas A&M was making a 'hundred year decision' when A&M started exploring the options of other conferences. The overriding sentiment here in the Longhorn Nation is that the Aggies may have been being petty. Things aren't working out, so they're taking their ball and heading elsewhere.

However, in imagining the scenarios that could unfold as this plays out, I'm starting to think that what we've been being fed is not the whole story.

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For the first time in years, I've lost faith in our Jumbo Package. The only time I can remember it being stuffed since its inception after Colt's injury on a goal-line QB sneak against K-State, whose line we outweighed by 50 lbs per person, was on a 4th down try against Oklahoma last year when they put in their own Jumbo set against ours.

Rice stuffed us twice on the Jumbo. Rice. What does that mean? Are we not drilling it as hard as the other running sets? After the jump I break down all of the 3rd and shorts I could find.

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Some production that I noticed at the game yesterday was the speed/motion package that looked like the one that Mack Brown mentioned putting in for our burners. He didn't want to let the defense key in on Monroe/Goodwin on the field, so they've put together a package that can take advantage of their big play ability, but also leverages some constraint plays.

The package starts from a formation with 2 WR and a TE on one side, and 1 WR on the other. The RB is deep and GG is under center.

The package leverages a fast WR in motion ( Kirkendoll/Goodwin/etc... ), who is the outside WR. That reciever goes in motion and moves inside the other receiver on their side. They then can either stay there, which we did once during the game, or more often they motion into a reverse as GG hikes the ball.

After the snap, there are 3 possible options:

1. Hand off to the RB for an inside run, then fake the reverse.

2. Fake to the RB and hand off to the WR in motion for the reverse.

3. Fake to both the RB and WR, and roll out in the direction the WR came from, looking downfield for a pass.

Instances of this package being used and its outcome after the jump.

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Not to beat the realignment horse to death, but I think Utah's joining the PAC-10 might make for one of the most interesting upcoming storylines in college football.

Link to ESPN

Utah is coming off a 10-3 season last year, with losses to #11 Oregon ( 34-24 ), #6 TCU ( 55-28! ), and #12 BYU ( 26-23 ). They capped the season with a bowl win against an unranked Cal, ( 37-27 ).

If Utah succeeds in its first season in the PAC-10, will Boise State, TCU, and BYU become more attractive targets? Will undefeated MWC teams have a shot at a national title matchup?

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