We all agree the defense won the game. We heart Muschamp, we heart Earl, and so on. As I re-watched the game I decided to focus on the beautiful things, which is to say I almost exclusively watched our defensive plays. Here's what I saw. I am not trying to rip on particular players where I note apparent failures. The group as a whole played outstanding and more than a few guys had good moments to counter their mistakes. I highlighted some of the best plays as well as biggest mistake.

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At the beginning of the 2008 season the jury was still very much out on Colt McCoy. You worried he would struggle again with turnovers and Texas could expect another very solid but ultimately disappointing season. You know the team needed a big year from him to contend. Suddenly, your 2009 self appears and hands you a piece of paper, then disappears. It show glorious numbers, 3800 yds, 77% completion rate, 45 total TDs vs. 8 picks. You crumple the paper and walk away saying "Texas is winning a lot of games this year."

Cut to the present. Texas is a consensus top 3 team, with many of us expecting a national title. If you could phone your friends at the 2010 Elias Sports Bureau, what stat are you asking for (other than Wins-Losses you clever fellow) to predict if we won the BCS title or not? Even though Colt is still our most important player, his stat line probably won't give us the insight we want. Fairly or not, we expect a similarly outrageous year from him statistically regardless of how the season ends. The stats of "lesser" teammates, however, might reveal more details of the season. If I knew Malcolm Williams finished 2009 with say, 60 rec/960 yds/9 TDs I might reasonably infer that the offense successfully added a downfield component. Given how well I expect the short and mid-range passing game with Shipley and Collins to function, I would be even more confident about the season than I am now. Now some may think that's too low a prediction for Malcolm, others too high. But the point being that either way it tells us something significant about the 2009 offense.

This exercise is most interesting to me at the player level, because it's much easier to predict outcomes using team stats. To win a title we need further defensive improvement, so obviously PPG Against would largely answer our questions. But cutting deeper, we know that with a weakened pass rush the secondary needs to produce more turnovers. We know that our opponents are going to throw the ball a LOT. And as of now we expect Chykie Brown to be our shutdown corner. Given those facts, if Chykie Brown had 7 interceptions in 2009 I would feel pretty good. If he had 2 INTs, I would worry the defense hadn't made enough strides from last year to win a title. Now it's possible that Chykie only had 2 picks b/c teams just stopped throwing at him. Or maybe Curtis Brown made the leap and became the shutdown guy, getting 7 INTs himself. In either case the defense could have become elite without my chosen statistic revealing it. But if I've got the Elias guy on the phone, I'm rolling the dice with Chykie.

Some other telling stats might include Sam Acho sacks (We all expect Kindle to get his. Someone else needs to provide a pass rush when he gets doubled), DJ Grant receptions, and so on. Which stats do you think will tell us if Texas lives the dream again?

The announcing tonight was as awful as we have come to expect from Fox. But I was impressed Brennaman actually DARED to comment that Bobby Stoops would be criticized tomorrow morning (really? after three double digit losses in four years to Texas and five straight BCS losses he will take some heat?). Of course Charles Davis countered that it was impossible to rip a guy who had gone to 4 title games in 9 years.

I had to concede that while he has been a big-game disaster for years, 4 for 9 is an impressive streak. Oh wait, actually since I have moderate ability to recall something called "history" it took me no time at all to conclude this admittedly impressive feat is more the result of luck+chance than a coaching affirmation. Obviously you need to do well to even position your team to contend for 4 title games. However, let's take a closer look....

2000- OU completes a remarkable season by spanking Florida State. Arguably Miami should have been the opponent by virtue of their head to head victory over FSU, but the Okie victory was thorough and convincing. Little do we know that this is the perhaps the height of the Bob Stoops era. Verdict: Miami may have been more deserving than FSU, but by all appearances OU was the best team in the land.

2003- OU is hailed as perhaps the best team in CFB history while destroying everyone to reach the Big 12 title game. Going in a substantial favorite, they lose to an unheralded KSU team by a whopping 35-7 margin. Despite this shellacking they are sent to the title game over USC who is ranked #1 by both the AP and Coaches. Somehow they are still a touchdown favorite over LSU, but are dominated in a 21-14 loss that was not nearly as close as the score. USC by contrast plays very well in a Rose Bowl victory to gain the AP title. Verdict: USC should have gone over OU.

2004- OU adds freshman phenom Adrian "Plays For Titles" Peterson to an already excellent passing offense, presumably adding the dominant rushing player they previously lacked. OU again rolls to 12-0 with a slightly less dominant, but perhaps more complete squad than the 2003 unit. Auburn fights through the Best Conference Evah undefeated but gets squeezed out of the big game. OU rewards their supporters by going on the receiving end of one of the biggest beatdowns in the history of college football with a national title on the line. Auburn finishes 13-0. Verdict: Auburn should have gone over OU.

2008- We're all well aware of the facts here, no need to rehash. Suffice it to say that the Sooners play for the national title when at least three other teams - Texas, Utah, and USC - are equally or better qualified for a title shot. They play respectably but lose by 10 going away, while all three comparable teams win their bowls, with USC and Utah doing so in particularly impressive fashion. Verdict: Texas, USC, or Utah should have gone over OU.

There is no doubt that Bob Stoops has had an impressive run at Oklahoma, but he has struggled mightily against euqally talented teams in recent years. And his greatest accomplishment, 4 title game appearances is largely the result of poor voter decisions (2004, 2008) and quirky computer algorithms (2003, 2008).

I know we're hopelessly focused on ludicrous computer algorithms and the endless rooting scenarios we may have before us, but temporarily avert your eyes and notice  that Kansas State has now officially brought Bill Snyder back from a 3-year retirement to coach their team. It was not that long ago this was considered by some to be an up and coming position, now the 69 year old Snyder will attempt to re-enter the modern college game amid the most competitive conference in the country.

Now Snyder deserves tremendous credit for building a respectable national program. He was rightfully criticized for scheduling one of the nation's lightest and fluffiest schedules on an annual basis; however the fact remains that he took an atrocious program and turned it into a top 25 regular. The moderately high expectations he set are part of the reason Ron Prince was briskly ushered aside. However, there are multiple problems with this hire. Football coaches rarely return to their former digs and light things up (e.g. John Robinson) as the pressure to match prior success in considerable. Second, coaches rarely come out of retirement and adapt to their new environments properly (Joe Gibbs, Parcells in Dallas). If Snyder found his passion to coach too low or the demands of the job too high for a man in his late 60's it's hard to see how his situation would be improved now. Regardless of the reasons, it must be noted his last two teams went 9-13. The game has evolved much since he last took the field, and the Big 12 is better than ever.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/ncaa/11/23/snyder.kansasstate/index.html

http://store.texassports.com/catalog/

has anyone ordered old vids from them, do you recommend them or not? anything i should be aware of before i plunk down a good chunk of change etc.

thanks

i know the overwhelming majority of people here already want muck and norton (and to a lesser extent kindle) on the field more so i don't mean to pile on, but i noticed two particular failings in the LB play today.

1. FOU's second TE pass for touchdown came when derry was matched against Gresham, tried and failed to jam him at the line and then was way to slow to recover on the coverage. result = easy TD pass

2. on murray's painful TD stroll bobino had a quality shot at murray for a 3 yard loss but whiffs the tackle. murray makes a nice play to hurdle the defense and run away barely touched.

personally i wouldn't say the LB play cost us the game per se, but i noticed these two plays for TDs and couldn't help but feel muckelroy and norton might've stopped them.

i haven't seen anything about this either here or in the MSM, so if true it's been kept pretty well under wraps. but now Rivals is reporting that vince will be at saturday's game where they will forever hang up #10.

It will be his first visit to Austin for a football game since he left school. Word has it that Young, who will be featured in a 60 Minutes segment Sunday, will have his jersey retired. He would be the third Texas football player to be so honored, joining Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams.

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/co...

while vince has always been a target for criticism, i find the pile on mentality in his 2nd year a bit much. his practice punch and pre-season benching were given considerable attention as well as a perceived lack of passing development. the ante seems raised when wilbon can ad-hom vince without rebuttal.

matt leinart has edge, boldin, and fitzgerald supporting him but has a lower rating, completion percentage, and yards per attempt. leinart was pulled from yesterday's game for kurt warner. according to the arizona republic "after a poor performance in Week 1 he had to be prodded by the coaching staff to put in extra preparation time."

now vince deserves some criticism and i don't hate leinart now that he's in the NFL (i'm sure others do not feel likewise). but we hear plenty of talk that vince is struggling but little about leinart when he's playing worse. the lack of preparation comment is especially damning. you're telling me vince would have to be "prodded" into the film room after a loss? it will be interesting to see leinart's coverage if he can't right the ship, and also what comments wilbon has at tonight's game.

tyrell gatewood busted for drugs. diary requirements insist i write more to post, but is there really anything further to say at this point?
       
http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/fron...

ESPN reports Moody will either transfer to UNC or Florida. Not surprising given Butch Davis and Urban Meyer's respective reputations for wooing. UNC makes sense for playing time, but despite loads of talent UF has struggled to have a star (or even a sole starter) at RB. He could get to carry the load there too.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/s...