I think it’s kind of refreshing… there are so many media outlets today that want to talk/write about sports all day, and often it seems like they are so desperate to latch on to some controversy, however mundane and irrelevant, and run with it. (i.e. Favre, T.O., OchoCinco).

We are spoiled here at BON with the great writing, commentary, analysis, and community interaction. The rest of the sports-reporting world could take a few lessons.

Also I believe the notion that 2009 is a “boring” season arises partially from the contrast to the last couple of seasons. In 2007 everybody was talking about the year of the upset, and every week there was some major drama or shake-up in the polls when the latest #2 team got defeated, or an FCS school pulled off a major upset. That also carried over somewhat to 2008, and people began to expect that was the new state of college football (“the era of parity”).

This coincided with a general increase in the sheer volume of sports media outlets (blogs, radio shows, tv shows, tv coverage, etc…). As a result, with all these people wanting to say something but lacking the compelling or dramatic content, there is a perception that nothing interesting is happening.

I disagree. There is plenty of drama out on the field(s) for me every Saturday (and sometimes Thursday/Friday). It’s about the thrill of victory, the competition, and the agony of defeat.

…clock-wise? Counter? Discuss.

Every other year (except 2005), we’d lost a game, or more, and that was plenty of reason to keep the angst and frustration and criticism turned up to a rolling boil. (Last year, it was a loss AND the Big 12 tiebreaker.) This proves it’s easier to get stirred up by something negative than by something positive, words that radio call-in shows and TV all-news stations include in their mission statements.

As to the doldrums — that’s the fear. That’s Iowa taking out Penn State at this time last year. It’s Oregon State biting USC in September of 2008. It’s the f-ing Aggies getting us in 2006. It’s Pittsburgh denying West Virginia a spot in the 2007 MNC (and Ohio State, not LSU, would have been the opponent).

I think there’s lots of villains out there. I’ll start with Baylor, Kansas, Aggie, Nebraska/K-State. If we leave those villains muttering, “Curses, foiled again,” I’ll come up with a new villain.

Baylor’s replacement QB looked great in win at Mizzou but Baylor had zero running game. I predict that UT forces at least 3 picks and/or fumbles by the Baylor QB.

One reason that UT’s running game looked bad vs CFU was that CFU was selling out to stop the run and CFU is quite good at stopping the run anyway. They stopped the run but got shredded by passes. The CFU game does not say that much about the UT run game.

Realistically, you have to provide safety support for both Malcolm and Ship, which means 5 DBs covering 3 UT WRs. UT should be able to run OK against anyone who is defending UT with a nickel or dime while UT plays a TB, TE, and 3 WRs (because 8 UT guys are defended by only 6 defenders).

Making Malcolm a starter has had a huge impact on the O.

If Malcolm is not doubled, then the CB defending Malcolm has to give him a big buffer. This makes throwing the short pass to Malcolm easy but makes tackling Malcolm difficult. Until the D plays press coverage on Malcolm, you might as well throw every pass his way. These short passes to Malcolm are like a one down vacation for the OL and QB.

Running off the fake of the throw to Malcolm (basically a quick draw play) gets much easier because the fake pass sets up the blocks for the OL. Anytime the ball is thrown short to Malcolm, the D will be scrambling to get out there and contain Malcolm because he is so likely to get past the CB defending him.

Malcolm is a triple threat at WR. He can take take the short pass and get YAC with his explosiveness and strength. He can win the 50-50 deep ball with his size and jumping ability. He can separate from a defender with his his speed on an intermediate route. Because of his physique, he can go across the middle and take the heavy contact. He is an excellent blocker who can block an LB so he makes running outside on his side effective.

OK, he is a quintuple treat. The point is, you can construct a huge chunk of your offense around Malcolm.

With Malcolm at WR, it makes it easy to isolate Cody on a CB. This is terrible news for the CB and easy yards for the horns. The mechanism is that Cody goes out for a short pass in the flat on the same side as Malcolm. Malcolm blocks the LB covering Cody which leaves the CB who initially covered Malcolm left with the daunting task of tackling Cody. Since Cody does not waste time faking but istead accelerates and hits the CB straight on, this is a quick developing play (i.e. less time for help from other defenders). This is a very quick and easy pass so it is another 1 play vacation for the OL and QB. You should be able to run this play quite a few times a game.

I just don’t get it. Texas hasn’t played THAT well this year. There is only one currently ranked team that you have beat: Oklahome State. And all of your out of conference teams were weak: Louisiana-Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP, UCF? You won’t schedule hard teams anymore.

Texas isn’t even the best team in the state, much less the nation.

I’ve joined with other Texas alumni and fans here in Denver to watch Longhorn football with the official alumni group for as long as I’ve lived in the Rocky Mountains. We’ve done headcounts of all attendees for all the games for quite awhile now.

In the 2005 season the smallest turnout we had was over 100, with a few games (tOSU, OU, TTU, Big 12 Championship v. CU) over 300, and the NC game with almost 600 in attendance. The other games were pretty consistently around 150.

This season we’ve had also had three games with over 300 (ULM because PPV, TTU, OU). But we’ve already had two games with only 60-70 show up. And this Saturday we’ll probably make that three. I have no doubt that we’ll be back up over 300 for the Big 12 Championship game and in that same 500-600 range for the NC if we don’t trip ourselves up.

Now, granted, it could be the economy taking its toll here as a factor that is impacting us unrelated to fan apathy. But if there’s a way to quantify the vibe in the Longhorn nation you write about this is about as good a measure as any.

We were basically cheated out of a shots at the Big XII title, the Heisman, and the NC last year.

So the fact that we’re rolling along unhindered this year does not bother me deeply.

In fact, it seems basically fair.

you want drama, try breaking Colt McCoy’s arm, or taking a significant deficit into the 4th quarter against a lame team. Heck, lose a game.

Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

age. If only we could all stay in our 20s forever. Oh well. I welcome you to the 30+ club next week so enjoy 29 for as long as humanly possible.