pleaseplaykindle

On the last possible day that it is justifiably okay to review last season, I present to you the ranking of 2011 offenses by drive outcomes. Happy Football Eve, everyone. Some thoughts of mine (yours welcome): 1. SPOILER ALERT: Texas is ranked 63rd, amongst titans of offense Fresno St. and Vanderbilt. Yikes. 2. Although Stanford scored on an absurd 60% of their drives, they don't take the top spot from Wisconsin, which has a slight edge in TDs. 3. Alabama is ninth on the list. Given their #1 overall ranking on the defensive side, a case can be made for them being the national champion. You just might have to spot them a mulligan. 4. Texas sets up for an absurdly easy opening three games, playing no team better than #81 Wyoming on offense. Manny Diaz is going to go to town. And Kenny Vaccaro might actually kill someone. 5. New Mexico has managed the distinction of being ranked dead last on defense and second-to-last on offense. Week two should be fun folks. 6. What did I miss? Thoughts?

Excellent read, as usual.

After months of plugging away at my abacus, I've ranked 118 NCAA defenses by how drives ended against them. Think of this like a batting average for college football defenses. No surprises, Alabama and LSU are #1 and #2 in terms of stopping scores, Kansas is by far the worst (allowing a score 60% of the time!), and Texas is middle of the road at #31 #29. Note: I haven't corrected for opponent quality, so its probably just best to look within a conference. Also, the attached image is biiiiig. And lastly, I'll be writing this up in a bigger analysis post of Texas' defense, but I thought I'd get your input on this. Plus its a neat looking picture. Final Note: I should have also mentioned that the teams are ranked by fraction of drives ending in a score, with a greater weighting given to touchdowns than field goals.

99 overall with 99 defense (accurate) and 91 offense (not accurate).

Lots of interesting stuff to say about this. Powers makes $667k/year which is 17th in the country. Other Notables: Mike McKinney (ex A&M president): $1.9 million Gordon Gee (tOSU): $1.9 million Kent Hance (Texas Tech, general douchebag): $757k Also interesting to note that last year Powers oversaw $353 million in fundraising which is 4th in the country. I imagine fundraising is where a university president can make the biggest impact, so I think this is to his credit. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Plenty more to say about this; it's a worth a look.

Our defensive coordinator understands sample size issues, advanced defensive statistics, arbitrariness of recovering fumbles, and calls Kenny Vaccaro "a pack of rattlesnakes". My love affair continues. Must read for rabid Manny Diaz fans like myself. Do yourself a favor.

News: North Carolina now to be in the SEC. Texas and Mizzou nowhere in sight.

After reading this on EDSBS, I thought I'd take a look to see what our old friend D.J. Monroe was averaging for his career. At 8.5 yards per rush in 2010, it is absolutely criminal we didn't get D.J. more than 23(!) rushes all season. I hope we can find use for him in the running game this season -- a 7 yard per rush career average is nothing to sneeze at, but I recall that there are already some rumors about moving him to WR.

Dear Sirs, I humbly request this glorious, glorious piece of undercover journalism be returned to its rightful place in the Texas pantheon. What gives?

See title. Then click. Then laugh.

Saw this in a comment thread (can't remember who posted it) and thought it deserved a fanshot.

Jeff Fisher was mic'ed during the game against the Redskins. Its astonishing to me that he calls for a rookie to replace Vince immediately, without even asking if Vince can throw. edit: Upon a second/third viewing, maybe Fisher did the right thing here. Thoughts?

The new ESPN college GameDay commercial.

30 year old ex-college football player wants to give it another shot. Decides to take on the identity of a JUCO transfer, and winds up at Texas. Interesting story.

Bringing a little Burnt Orange to the west coast. Hook 'Em!