Texas and the Top Ten: A Love/Hate Relationship

by Horn Brain on Jun 10, 2008 11:25 AM CDT in Football Comment 18 comments

So I just picked up the first preseason mag that I've seen this summer yesterday at CVS - The Lindy's Big 12 2008 Preview. Brought it home, read the whole thing on the toilet, and now my new puppy is chewing on the spine and I'm not going to stop her. I'm going to tell you that it's garbage, and don't waste your money, but I know it won't help, because I got it last year, it was garbage, and I knew that when I bought it. I just can't leave all that optimism sitting on a shelf, but I also can't read it without laughing.

It was sweet at first: Texas is their number 8 team, they've picked us to finish 2nd in the South (to You Know Who... not David Hernandez), and third overall in the Big 12. Not bad, says I, we just need to beat OU, like always, and that's first in the South.

One in a million...

But then they didn't give us a single All American, first or second team, they didn't rank any of our units (LBs, DL, OL, QB, RB, etc.) in the top ten in the nation, and our Big 12 unit rankings go like this:

QB - 6th
Receivers - 4th
RB - 7th*
OL - 6th*
DL - 5th*
Secondary - 9th
LBs - 7th*******
ST - 9th

* I'll argue to the death that these are too low, but still...

Does that look like the #8 team in the country? Granted, the Big 12 looks like the SEC right now, but the third best team in the SEC is LSU (with Perrilloux, in this mag. LOL @ press deadlines.), who didn't look half bad before Ryan found Osama hiding in that restaurant. Why don't they at least lie convincingly?

So now I've gone full circle. You love being in the Top Ten every June. You know you do. Every season is the season that won't be so frustrating as the season before this season. You hate being in the Top Ten every June, you know you do. Even if you won't say it, you know that it's just another opportunity to be disappointed. We've been talking about the fact that we aren't supposed to be good until next year, but you just wait. You're bound to believe one of those magazines, or one of those drunk guys, before Florida Atlantic comes to town. Don't worry, though, we all do it. Well... except Wells, but he went to Colorado...

My point is, Texas is a Top Ten team again because no one can find more than one or two games that Texas (the name) should lose. Just like we should have beaten everyone last preseason. Then Arkansas State happened. Followed by UCF. Followed by Kansas State. Every year most of us will eventually succumb to the repeated insistence by the media that Texas is reloading, not rebuilding, despite the fact that that imagery doesn't make any more sense than an Oklahoma graduate thesis. (What are we reloading that takes three years? A cannon on a ship in a bottle? Plus, if we are reloading, we certainly can't shoot you right now, can we?)

Aside from the preseason magazine "reloading" madness, people are talking gibberish in the newspapers as well. Check out this AAS article that I found buried in one of their email updates:

First, a disclaimer: Considering the depleted numbers on defense last fall, Mack Brown did the best coaching job of his career by getting 10 wins out of the Longhorns.

Excuse me, but what the hell? I thought all along that we couldn't defend the pass worth a Stephen McGee deep ball, but we were just injured? Well in that case I guess we owe Duane Akina an apology and a re-promotion. Who needs Muschamp anyway?

The culprits: Recruits who haven't panned out. Players such as all-world linebacker Sergio Kindle and five-star defensive end Eddie Jones.

Oh, right, so when a bunch of recruits don't fulfill their potential, we should blame them for losing to abominable teams like KSU and A&M. Damnit, Eddie Jones, why didn't you play more this year? When you destroyed Adarius Bowman and he had to be carried off the field, why didn't you play more after that? Where were the sacks? It's not like it's someone else's decision whether your freak self gets to rush the passer or if you have to play contain to funnel the ball away from Killebrew. Come on, Eddie.

If Mack's best coaching job of his career includes a 20 point loss to 5th in the North KSU and a blowout by the Aggies, then maybe I should be even more pessimistic. More likely, though, some people are just crazy.

So. Overhyped preseason rankings. Just like 54b, love 'em or hate 'em, you can't help but believe 'em. Thoughts and prognostications wanted below.

1 recs | Comment 18 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Read More: overrated, preseason, lindy's, Texas Longhorns, AAS: Texas is Overrated(Austin American Statesman)

Comments

Hmm..

Who was drunker? Horn Brain or 54b?

Nice write-up, though. I’ll stick with Phil Steele’s Texas at 15, kthx.

by jc25 on Jun 10, 2008 11:42 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Notre Dame and Florida State will take their rankings, too.

I wonder if last year was just a fluke or if it’s going to stay crazy in football from now on.

by Horn Brain on Jun 10, 2008 12:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think last year was a special kind of crazy. If you look at all of the surprising results, most of them had a key injury nearby. Chad Henne got hurt against App State, Pat White against USF and Pitt, Sam Bradford against Texas Tech, and so on and so forth.

Of all of the conference champs with 2 losses, there were key injuries there too: Glenn Dorsey after the Auburn chop block for LSU, White at West Virginia, Bradford at OU, JD Booty at USC, and Tyrod Taylor at VT. Only Ohio State avoided any major injuries. Plus, we all saw what Dennis Dixon’s injury did to an awfully good-looking Oregon team.

I’m not saying that these injuries caused all those losses, but they probably kept anyone from dominating like we normally see a couple of teams do every season. Most years we don’t see that many key players going down or being slowed by pain. It will be an awfully long time before we get another 2-loss champion out of the BCS.

by Year2 on Jun 10, 2008 2:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Looking through the wrong end of the telescope...

That’s what Lindy’s and many of the pre-season mags come across as…poor sense of depth about pre-season events…the outside-in look at the stats, little detailed knowledge…and obviously they don’t read you or PB or much here or on SB blogs.

It’s a good year for dissing the Horns. We don’t appear “loaded” and there are lowered expectations, especially if you saw the spring game, nothing devastatingly good there. And that’s all just fine…normally Texas sucks up the ink by buckets and projects hype by the cannon-load. After losing two in a row to the aggies, maybe it is good to hunker down and tend to business.

I agree with jc25, 15th or even lower is just fine. Let the Horns work their way up the ladder. The defense is going to have to prove itself…and there is the implicit understanding that the most of the DBs are inexperienced although we know the front seven will probably go a long way to helping them out this year.

I predict a banner year for sacks, say, at least 35, maybe 50. But only the most prescient will see that coming their way. Lindy’s and a few other mags will be struck from the blindside and they’d wish the hell you piss-ant little puppy was chewing on their spine.

Colt and the offense will be a function of the OL. If it matures and has some depth – the real missing ingredient last year – we’ll get Colt vintage ‘06. Otherwise we’ll be ragged and beleaguered, about as exciting as College Station on Saturday night on the beergut late-hour puking tour (dry heaves are extra).

The question on offense is not whether we have assets and experience, the real question is how we’re going to deploy them. Until we know John Chiles’ role, nothing serious can be divined. If Lindy’s et. al. want to ignore Major and Muschamp, we’ll just keep our M&Ms to ourselves and not share with the football illiterati.

Besides, we had an extra servings of optimism last year and it choked us up pretty bad. We ate shit on several occasions, and even on some games we won late, we still ate shit most of the time. Let’s be a little more clear-eyed this year. Stand away from the Fabulous Individuals and deceptive fawning – look for the overall team play, the antithesis of those who churn out the words for a living. We can take the telescope and look to the future, but that’s always a fuzzy view. Even August is hazy in the heat.

The Horns will be good. Let greatness beckon in its own time. Gabriel hasn’t laid a lip on a horn in 2008.

by whills on Jun 10, 2008 12:59 PM CDT reply actions 6 recs

Best comment ever. .nt whills

by Horn Brain on Jun 10, 2008 8:05 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, HB. Sometimes I scare myself. nt

by whills on Jun 10, 2008 8:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bravo!

It's a Horns' world. Even Aggies play hoops with a burnt orange ball.
Is it football season YET?

by Speedway on Jun 11, 2008 7:39 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Most sportswriters are dumb

I’ve come to that conclusion. Magazines are fun to read but ultimately the only things they seem to get right is common knowledge; other than that, their “deep” stuff is almost always way off.

Those position rankings are pretty funny. We don’t have any unit ranked in the top 3 in our own conference yet we’re #8 in the country? Wow. I guess we have absolutely perfect teamwork and coaching.

by TheElusiveShadow on Jun 10, 2008 1:46 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

I was going to post a review of the preseason mags

last night, but was distracted by something else.

1. Phil Steele
2. Athlon
3. Lindy’s
4. Sporting News and everything else

I’ll post more thorough thoughts later—because I think a few of the magazines make some interesting observations and miss a few obvious bits of reality, too.

Cats and dogs sleeping together.

by EYESofBEVO on Jun 10, 2008 1:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Please do

I’ve only got a copy of Phil Steele’s, which I’ll be writing about at some point, but I’m looking forward to your write-up.

--PB--

by PB @ BON on Jun 10, 2008 2:05 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Looking forward to those

and I’ll review the Texags Rivalries board and let you know how we’re really going to do!

by horndude on Jun 10, 2008 4:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That would be awesome!

You writing the reviews that is!

In Mack Brown We Trust!

by Cyrus on Jun 10, 2008 5:47 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

poll, all americans, etc.

I’m glad that they don’t have any of our players on the lists. They had several players on lists last year (Charles, McCoy, Sweed), and only bad things happened! I think some people actually had McCoy on the heisman watch.

The polls are pointless right now. Texas started at #4 last year. I wanna see Texas prove everyone wrong this year.

by Longhorns84 on Jun 10, 2008 2:32 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Matt Hayes

Matt usually does not give Texas the respect we deserve… I remember him whining about Cal in 2004 when we, in his opinion, usurped the Rose Bowl from them. Ever since then I rarely see him say anything objective about Texas.

It’s all just glowing crud from these writers until Opening Day… at that point then we’ll see what we have on our hands. I think Texas can finish in the top ten by the end of the year if we do well with our schedule… but starting out as top ten is a bit out there.

1 Peter 2:17

by HornsFan87 on Jun 10, 2008 5:46 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Polls, etc.

The polls are a basic combination of beauty pageant, pedigree, where you finsihed last year (which is never really indicative of who is actually returning the next season), and sportswriter bias. Texas will be probably around #10 and should probably start somewhere around #15-#20. But in reality, what other 20 teams would you put higher? We can all name maybe 8-10 “locks” (usc, ohio state, ou, georgia, mizzou, lsu, west vagina, florida) but after that it is really tight. Like last year it will likely be several (5-6) teams who are in hte race until the end.

We haven’t won over 10 games for 7 years in a row for nothing. We do have good players returning, hopefully good new recruits, and the Muschamp running the D. Barring catastophic injuries, I think we will hold our own in the Big XII.

by 91horn on Jun 10, 2008 9:17 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sportswriters

Most sportswriters cover football like People Magazine. It’s all about the stars and the coaches.

Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you're a mile away AND you have their shoes.

by Caradoc on Jun 11, 2008 10:26 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

considering their performance last season

that is a generous ranking for your secondary

by Beergut on Jun 12, 2008 4:15 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Lindy's

Phil Steele proclaims to be the most accurate magazine in last 9 years. A closer look reveals that Lindy’s has beat him in 5 of the last 9 years – 2007, 2005, 2003, 2002, and 2000.

That said, Lindy’s is garbage and Phil is not much better. I like the Power Rankings and his Power plays, although I think he is off on his prediction that the 2008 Texas pass defense wil give up 272 yards and 85 rush yards per game. Look @ Muschamp’s defensives and they are more balanced. Look towards a 225 pass yards and 100 rush yards per game type average. Scoring defense will see the biggest improvement – look for about 19 points per game compared to the 25.3 we gave up last year.

by whereisouseeded on Jun 14, 2008 9:34 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs