Morning Coffee

Kirk Bohls has a great column on Mack Brown's angry outburst on the sidelines last Saturday. I've got very little, if anything, to add.

Longhorn bowl speculation has begun, with pundits predicting trips all over the map - Holiday Bowl, Gator Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl. As always, my first choice remains the Rose Bowl, however unrealistic it might be.

We'll get into the speculation game a bit more after this weekend - if Texas can't get by Tech, BCS dreaming is over.

The Statesman also has a nice notebook on Jamaal Charles, Texas' no-huddle, and improved rushing from McCoy. Charles claims to be seeing holes better and, on a friend's suggestion, trying to hit them much harder; McCoy's 106 yards rushing against Pokie State was career high; and the team believes the no-huddle offense wears opponents out by the fourth quarter. Given the Longhorns' general success at the end of games this year, they might be right.

I didn't want to have a negative week here after the team delivered such an exciting, courageous come-from-behind win, so we sort of glossed over the defense's terrible performance last week. Chip Brown notes that the tackling left a lot to be desired. Duane Akina couldn't explain it either, and hypothesized that the 'Horns improvement in the final quarter came about from a "sense of urgency." I think the theory of Barking Carnival's ChrisApplewhite is closer to the truth: Mike Gundy pulled a choke job.

Switching gears now, the #3 ranked Gregory Gazelles swept Kansas in Lawrence last night, picking up their fifteenth straight win and school-record ninth straight sweep. Texas outblocked KU 15-3, while Destinee Hooker and Brandy Magee each recorded double-digit kills. The Gazelles return to action tomorrow night in Austin against Texas A&M.

It's also not too early to start thinking about the hoops team, who take the floor for their season opener on Monday evening against UT-San Antonio. Tip is at 7:00 p.m. at the Erwin Center. The game will be televised locally on the Longhorn Sports Network.

--PB--