This week's edition of TWIQ is brought to you by football prophets 40AS, who remind you that OU still sucks.
"After watching that game and listening to the coaches afterward, it was clear that the true winners on Saturday were fans of college football." -- Josh Zerkle of Deadspin fame. While we're sure all BON readers would agree that the "real" winners were the Texas Football Longhorns, we do have to agree with the sentiment here. It's been written several times by now, but that doesn't make it less true: this ballgame was an absolute classic, and it was hard to even recognize that until the very end. It had everything you need for a great football game: big plays, roller-coaster emotions, occasional defensive stops, crazy special teams plays, a Texas win, and an Oklahoma loss.
"I had the opportunity to play against some guys I went to high school with, but it's never fun to lose this game in this environment." -- OU Senior WR Manuel Jones on playing in his home state of Texas. One of the consistent storylines about the Texas-OU game is the "Texas natives All-Star Game" feel that it has for those who follow recruiting and/or Texas high school ball. Both squads rely heavily on talent from the Lone Star State, with OU throwinh in a very few OKlahomans for flavor. It feels great that Mack has now managed to punish the ones who didn't stay home in three of the last four meetings. Guys in Johnson's class will graduate only having beaten the 'Horns once.
"It's a shame that those two teams are in the same league, much less the same division, because we have to play this game early in the season. Those are two of the best football teams in the country." -- Texas Head Coach Mack Brown. Well said, Coach. Wouldn't it be cool if it was a possibility for that game to have happened in January?
"He's really good. He's very impressive." -- Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel on playing against Brian Orakpo this weekend. Pinkel may want to ask Phil Loadholt if he's curious why this quote is our Understatement of the Week. Loadholt is considered one of the top offensive linemen in America, and Rak had him backpedaling for much of the game Saturday. We're excited to see if he can follow that performance up against the Tigers and stay in Chase Daniel's face Saturday night. (To be fair to Coach Pinkel, he did end the paragraph with: "He's a great player, not a good player, a great player.")
"You tell me. I don't know why I said it. It was after the game. I just wanted to get things in focus, try to make sure that we didn't walk out of there with our heads in the clouds. Just said, "Hey..." I forget exactly how I did it. I think we haven't beaten them in nine years or something like that probably. Is it nine years? I'm not even sure I'm right on that." -- Penn State Head Coach/Deity Joe Paterno in response to a question about why he brought up the Lions' losing streak to Michigan in the locker room immeditaely following his team's drubbing of Wisconsin.
This is a perfect example of why we love JoePa. You can just tell from reading this quote that he can't freaking believe he has to answer to a reporter asking why he said something to his own football team. Then he starts to ramble a little...then brings it back home. Greatest. Coach. Ever.
And, your quote of the week:
"We’re bowl-eligible, baby!" -- Texas WR Quan Cosby at yesterday's press conference. The Texan called this one an understatement, but we disagree. We actually love the attitude Cosby portrays here. Yes, he was probably just trying to get a laugh--but in the end, becoming bowl-eliible is all the Longhorns have accomplished at this point. As fans, we are allowed and even encouraged to look forward several weeks and dream about walking into Kansas City as the undefeated South Division champs. But we won't get there if the players share our lack of focus on the next one; hopefully Quan's statement is indicative that they do not.