We lost. The Horns play TCU on Monday.
TCU’s victory sets up a winner-take-all super regional Game 3 at 6 p.m. Monday at Disch-Falk. The survivor will advance to the College World Series, a place the Horned Frogs have never reached and one where the Longhorns haven’t been since winning the 2005 national championship.
"They dominated the game," UT coach Augie Garrido said. "That’s what good pitching does."
One bright spot for the Longhorns is that they will be sending freshman Taylor Jungmann, who had their best ERA by a starter this season, to the mound today, with experienced standouts Brandon Workman and Austin Wood available in relief. TCU will counter with Tyler Lockwood, who struggled during the regular season but started last week’s regional-clinching victory against Oregon State.
It will be the Longhorns’ first elimination game of the postseason, but they say they’re not shaken.
Austin Wood has recovered.
"It's always been a goal of mine to be remembered at the University of Texas," Wood said this week as Texas prepared for the NCAA super regional against TCU beginning today.
He's there already.
Some in the Big League question the use of what they call excessive pitching usage.
When the college playoffs meet the Draft season, it can be seen as two worlds colliding and pitching usage often serves as the catalyst for such a collision. When painting with a broad stroke, one side has a "win at all costs right now" philosophy while the other will cry "abuse" at the very sign of inflated pitch counts or throwing on short rest.
"Yeah, we have concerns," Twins vice president of player personnel Mike Radcliff said. "There are examples in history that those types of events have caused harm to the eventual potential career of a player. It's pitching, guys who have thrown way past normal workload. There's a lot of science involved now. I don't think there's any possible way anyone can believe that's good for an arm. That falls under abuse."
Since the USA Today college football coaches’ poll is such a point of contention, can't we just get rid of the darn thing?
Nobody asked me, but I advocate replacing the coaches’ poll with a "blue-ribbon" panel of, say, a dozen former coaches, with emphasis on former. "Former" presumably would mean the select voters would have much more time to spend on their ballots. Seek out ambassadors, men like Terry Donahue, Fisher DeBerry, Tommy Bowden and Mike Gottfried, to name a few. Tom Osborne would be an ideal candidate once he retires.
How has recruiting changed?
Though Texas coach Mack Brown is the steward for one of the nation's most prestigious football programs, all that rich history has its limits on the recruiting trail.
He could brag to a 17- or 18-year-old about all the accomplishments of Earl Campbell and Tommy Nobis, but all he'd likely get in return would be a blank stare. But mention Vince Young, and ears would perk up.
"I would think most of them are focused on their formative years, from eighth grade on up," Brown says. "Unless a young man is in a coaching family or so passionate about the history of football that he goes back through history, [I don't think] he'd be aware of all the things that happened."
UT vs. UTEP will be televised.
Imagine that. Former Davidson and USC kicker Brad Smith has started a College Football Performance Awards web site. The site tracks on field performance and does not tally final counts until the season ends. Dennis Dodd, CBSSports, likes the idea.
Smith's idea is both simple and radical. He wants to reward players for what happens on the field. No hype. No campaigns signed, sealed and delivered on College GameDay. No semifinalists announced in October. Consider this: Smith actually wants to wait until all the games are played to pick the best performer in 14 categories..
His methodology -- it's all there on the website -- seeks to do away with bias and explains why ballot-based awards are faulty. That's the bias that might or might not exist with the Bednarik Award (best defensive player) going to a Penn State player in four of the last 10 years. The Bednarik offices are located in Pennsylvania.
It's not just the Bednarik, but all the postseason awards have a, shall we say, human element.
Reminiscing about 1969...
There is trouble north of the Red River. Boone Pickens picked the Sooners as the front runner for the BCS.
"OU's got to be the front-runner for the BCS."
Maybe Pickens was just being realistic since the rival Sooners have won the past six Bedlam games and bring back Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford from the team that lost the BCS championship game to Florida in January. Or maybe he was trying to put the pressure on Oklahoma while his Cowboys enter a season with their highest expectations in years.
Barry Tramel, NewsOK, ranks the Big 12 games, 1-96. No.1? 1. Oklahoma vs. Texas at Dallas, Oct. 17: As much anticipation and bad blood as any Trinity River shootout since 1976.
Was this an easy task for Tramel?
Ranking the best Big 12 football games of the 2009 season is easy. Not as easy as ranking the worst Big 12 games of the 2009, but easy.
You take the games matching OU, Texas and OSU, the three teams picked among the top 12 or so nationally; add in the relatively few non-conference games worth beans; and then look for the marquee teams playing snakepit road games.
This is one list we didn't make, but the Sooners are there. The Orlando Sentinel has a list of the teams people love to hate.
Oklahoma – Barry Switzer bred this hatred with his success in Norman in the 70s and 80s, and Bob Stoops has carried on the tradition. Texas fans can help you come up with a lot more reasons.
You bet we can.
Texas A&M receiver Ryan Tannehill is talented and smart.
I Am The 12th Man reviews the preseason magazines picks.
3. tu
The sips are still whining about how they should have been in the MNC game. Get over it! Your team overachieved bigtime last year, and has ridden that finish to a top 5 ranking this year. Quan Cosby made TD catches while laying on his back in the endzone last year. I think that is going to be missed a little. tu won last year because of their chemistry and their senior leadership. I think they will miss those departed senior leaders this season. The lack of a running game and porous secondary is concerning. Their DL does not impress on paper but my feeling is that Coach Boom MFer will get them to play at a high level. tu alwas finds a way to win 10 games so I expect them to win 10 this year. I expect them to be a top 10 team but not a top 5 team. On the other hand, Malcolm Williams could finally realize he is a freak of nature and the sips rule the land.
Well, at least the whiny Teasips know how to make money. And win. Aggie athletics has not been faring too well.
Apparently, when Robert Gates was still the University President, he authorized a $16 million line of credit to the athletic department. Despite all the media coverage claiming otherwise, and despite all the claims from DollarBill Byrne otherwise, the athletic department has not been financially healthy these last few years.
Have a few extra dollars? Boone Pickens University could use it right about now.
Eleven months ago, OSU had $407 million in a facilities fund managed by T. Boone Pickens' BP Capital investment firm.
A few weeks later, because of the stock-market crisis, a lot of that money was gone.
"Things were great from Jan. 1, 2006, until July of 2008, and then we hit a slight bump in the road," Holder says. "We lost ($282 million) in three months.
"(Pickens) was within a day or two of pulling the plug (moving the money and beginning the Athletic Village projects). Before (the stock market) ever started going down, he talked about getting out of it. You can't do anything about it now, except to start over. The really bad part is that we had to cash out of our investments, so we don't have anything earningnow. There's nothing making money for us right now. The economy is coming back and the market is going to come back, but, as of now, we don't have any investments. We're totally dependent on fund-raising. If anyone out there wants to build a track or a tennis stadium or a baseball stadium, call me."
Everyone is looking forward to Robert Griffin's sophomore year. ABC/ESPN thinks enough of him to showcase the Baylor-Wake Forest game the opening week of the season.
Men with hands. Who are the best receivers in the Big 12?
ESPN's College Football Live will be heading to Oklahoma. Be sure to go vote for the best Sooner team. (Yea, I know. Just go vote anyway. Have fun skewing the numbers...)
The tour swings through Oklahoma on Friday where the "College Football Live 50 States Tour" will feature live interviews related to the state, including with prominent football figures, current coaches, and local writers. It will be shown on ESPN at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday.
The show will also include debate between analysts and an online component for fans to pick each state's best coach, player and team. The featured guest on Friday's show will be 1988 Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State.
Before overtime, there was the tie. Ties can make for great football. Really, they can.
And finally...
Condolences to the Sooners. Former Sooner Jim Owens has died. He played under the legendary Bud Wilkinson and coached at the University of Washington for 18 seasons.
Owens, who coached Huskies from 1957-74, was one of the school's enduring icons, a larger-than-life figure whose accomplishments were reflected in the placement of a statue in 2003 near the UW athletic offices on Montlake Boulevard.