Tony Brackens tackles the Texas Tech kicker.

Brown vs. Mackovic. Orangebloods compares defensive ends playing for Brown and Mackovic.

Congratulations to the Sooners. Sooner AD Joe Castiglione was named Athletics Director of the Year and Barry Switzer recieved a community service award.

Dr. Saturday dilates on the value of preseason polls.

Eliminating the preseason poll, though, is something else. I'm not as much of a critic as preseason ballots as some people -- overwhelmingly, they shake out accordingly over the course of the season -- but I'm not too dense to recognize that the initial pecking order can make a difference: If you don't think so, ask Auburn if starting the season 16 spots behind USC and Oklahoma made any difference in the end in 2004, or how much beginning the season unranked cost Utah last year, or Boise State in 2004 and 2008, when BCS snubs kept BSU from earning millions after undefeated regular seasons. Beginning the voting four or six weeks into the season can give teams like the Broncos a chance to make their case as a top-10 or 15 team without the burden of hopping anyone in the line.

OU’s talent at wide receiver have kept Brandon Caleb and Adron Tennell watching from the sideline. This year, the Sooners expect some big plays from the two.

Said Tennell, “It’s been a while waiting to get on the field. Me and Brandon every time, we know what to do — go out there and ‘eat,’ which means go out there and make plays every time on the field.”

Said Caleb, “Everybody that comes in here wants to play immediately and sometimes there are setbacks. As far as waiting, you have to be patient and realize when you’re presented with an opportunity. I feel like we can come on and make the plays that show the coaches that we’re reliable. You have to know whenever you get the opportunity, you have to make something happen. That’s what we’re hoping to do.”

According to the Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany, President Obama does not understand the complexity of the (BCS) issue. Former Baylor coach and present executive director of the American Football Coaches Association Grant Teaff just sent out his latest contribution to the BCS: Coaches do not have to make their final poll vote public.

"It is important that we make the coaches poll the best that it can be," Teaff said in a release. "And putting in place the recommendations coming out of the Gallup study will ensure that."

TulsaWorld writer Dave Sittler summed it up:

Speaking of messes, excuse me while I throw up in my mouth. It's either that or die laughing at this joker's comments.

Why didn't Teaff just come out and say the AFCA used the Gullible World Poll? After all, the coaches apparently believe the college fan base is so naive that it can't see that the AFCA found the perfect scapegoat in the firm it hired for its self-serving poll.

ESPN's Tim Griffin has some thoughts on the coaches poll vote.

This is why I think the American Football Coaches Association's decision to keep their final votes private is so wrong.

Horribly wrong, in fact.

Not making the votes public robs the poll of its greatest attribute -- its credibility. When that is stripped away, the poll loses its relevance.

What do you do to find out who is on the short list to be your school's new head coach? Track flights, of course.

Ambinder used the popular flight-tracking website FlightAware to piece together this information and to display the plane's flight path on a map of the country. He's not the only one using FlightAware for reasons that have nothing to do with aviation, either. When the Alabama Crimson Tide were looking for a new football coach back in 2007, FlightAware was the tool of choice for tracking the school's private plane and the private planes of other schools around the country.

The New York Times took a look at the rabid fan speculation fueled by such flight scrutiny. "Was South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier flying into Tuscaloosa Regional Airport?" fans wondered. "Was a plane owned by the University of Alabama departing for Norman, Okla., perhaps with university officials on their way to court Sooners Coach Bob Stoops?"

What else is going on during the off season? The BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship is on Lewisville lake.

Fifteen Texas schools are in the mix with teams from as far away as Oregon and Wisconsin. At stake is a national title and thousands of dollars in scholarships, but anglers like Flower Mound's Justin Rackley also view this relatively new collegiate competition as a steppingstone to professional fishing.

Rackley and his fishing partner, Trevor Knight, won the 2007 championship for Texas A&M. Both anglers have since graduated and are competing in pro-level tournaments. Rackley doubles as a Lake Fork fishing guide.

And finally...

Former Longhorn tight end William Harris has Lou Gehrig’s disease. Our thoughts go out to William and and his family. There is a special account set up at Chase Bank (The William Harris Trust Fund, account No. 2923721415) by Timothy McCray.