50 days until the Louisiana-Monroe game.

Colt McCoy talks about the summer and the season ahead.

I’m just excited about my senior season. Not very many guys get to play for four years anywhere. I’ve been blessed and lucky enough to play at a place like Texas with all the tradition and excellence that this program has produced. I’m excited about this fourth year. I’m excited about how hard we’re working. I set personal goals, but my main focus is to win every game. That’s why I came back. I feel like we have an opportunity to be really good. I know right now we’re doing what we can. Obviously, we haven’t played a game yet, but we’re working to be the best that we can be.

At least they aren't roommates. Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy have developed quite a friendship.

Despite their differences on the field, Bradford and McCoy have one major thing in common. They have a strong bond off the field.

"We talk a lot about football, but we are really good friends off the field," McCoy said at last week’s Manning Passing Academy at Nicholls State University. "We can talk about anything. We are enjoying each other and having a good time, but we know that once we step on the field to play each other, it’s a competition and it’s a game."

ESPN's Tim Griffin got 10 minutes with Roderick Muckleroy.

As you guys go through summer practice, how much confidence do you have in the returning defensive unit?

RM: I think we'll be ready to have a good year. Really, we just lost a few guys on our defensive line, but the young guys are really coming along there. As far as our linebackers, the safeties and the corners, we've all been there and have faith because we've been there before. I think we have a chance to be a great defense if we all work together.

Rice wants to move their 2010 game with Texas to Reliant Stadium.

Some Texas football history. We thought about joining the Pac-10. No really, it's true.

Flashback - Texas vs. Nebraska 1998

From Mack Brown - Texas Football:

GREAT GAME
Texas 20, #7 Nebraska 16
Saturday, October 31, 1998
Memorial Stadium/Tom Osborne Field (Lincoln, Neb.)
Texas faced a daunting task in playing their third Top 10 opponent of the season and facing Nebraska's national-leading 47-game home winning streak. However, on the back of their future Heisman Trophy winning running back, the arm of their redshirt freshman quarterback and the heels of their top defensive effort of the year, the Longhorns took a major step toward respectability in a stunning 20-16 upset of No. 7 Nebraska in Lincoln. "The key thing that we did was come in here to win the ballgame," Ricky Williams said. "We didn't come to get a moral victory or to play a good game. We came to win and we believed that we would win. That's the reason we beat them." UT pulled a rare feat in Lincoln, jumping out to a 7-0 lead on its first possession and controlling the game with a 10-3 halftime lead. The Huskers responded by claiming a 13-10 lead in the third quarter, but the Longhorns didn't crater. On the UT's first possession of the final period and facing a third-and-10 play from its own 19-yard-line, Major Applewhite connected with little-used WR Bryan White on a 76-yard pass play. The throw set up Kris Stockton's 19-yard field goal that knotted the game at 13. Nebraska claimed a 16-13 advantage with 8:33 remaining in the game. Facing one of the nation's top defenses, Texas took over at its own 15-yard-line and White again made the big play. On third-and-21 from the UT 35-yard-line, White skirted the sidelines in catching a 37-yard pass that gave the Longhorns a first-and-10 at the Huskers 28. Williams rushed five consecutive times to move the ball to the Nebraska 2-yard-line, where on third-and-goal, Applewhite found Wane McGarity working his way back across the end zone on a 2-yard TD pass with 2:47 remaining. The play was tabbed the College Football Play of the Week. The game served as a significant mark in Ricky Williams run for the Heisman Trophy as he rushed 37 times for 150 yards against Nebraska's vaunted "Black Shirt" defense, which entered the game ranked 17th nationally (106.5 ypg) against the run. Applewhite completed 14-of-26 passes for 269 yards and two TDs, but possibly the most surprising effort came from the Longhorns defense, which behind a 13-tackle, two-sack, five TFLs effort from LB Anthony Hicks held Nebraska to 311 yards of offense, more than 100 yards below its season average (412.5 ypg).

First Half

Second Half

Mike Sherman has a new video this week. Aggie Values.

The Aggies have a special logo for their series rivalry game (whatever) with Arkansas. Barking Carnival isn't going to let this go by without comment.

And there is a new Texas A&M license plate.

Oklahoma State

ESPN's Bruce Feldman has 10 players to watch this season and Dez Bryant takes the No. 1 spot.

Bryant was somewhat overlooked last season. His numbers were impressive (87 catches, 19 touchdowns), but I didn't begin to grasp his talent until I started hearing from rival players and coaches this summer. The guy is big and fast but not freakishly so (although Bryant is said to have the biggest hands in college football). His ball skills and ability to operate in traffic are what separate him. One player I spoke to who has covered both Crabtree and Bryant many times says there is no comparison: Bryant is the superior receiver. If that's really the case, I can't wait to see more of him, especially when the Cowboys play a big SEC team such as Georgia in the opener.

Dr. Saturday looks at the meteoric rise of Boone Pickens U.

Oklahoma

 Over the past nine seasons (Yes, Bob has been around that long...), Stoops has won 102 games.

While the 2009 Sooners are primed to keep him atop the elite, Stoops said he’s not taking part in the counting.

"I don’t much pay attention to that," Stoops said. "Counting things up just doesn’t matter to me. I enjoy the process. I enjoy the games. I enjoy the competition. Love seeing the players every day. You get to be in a challenging situation every week.

The Sooners have a lot of assets this year. The most important? Leadership.

The Sooners have that, too, perhaps in abundance, with 14 players entering at least their third seasons as major contributors.

Several carry major clout. Bradford. Gerald McCoy. Jermaine Gresham. Trent Williams.

Sooner Sports is previewing the season and this week they are are looking at the showdown.

High praise? Barry Switzer expects Bob Stoops to eclipse his record at OU.

"Bob will someday break my record because he's a smart enough guy to know that you don't leave Oklahoma when you have Oklahoma," Switzer said Tuesday night while accepting a community service award from the Knights of Columbus. "There's no pro job out there worth a damn."

OU's Memorial Stadium renovation is just about complete. There are some nice, new features in the football locker room:

A 9,000 square-foot football locker room, which also includes grooming areas, cold plunge hydrotherapypools, and players' lounge.

Grooming areas?

What team is on everyone's mind this year as a possible spoiler? The Baylor Bears, of course.

The Jayhawks have a chip on their shoulder. There seems to be a size issue.

Details have faded with time. It was the fall of 2005. He recalls a weekend recruiting trip in Lawrence, Kan. A pregame luncheon. A lot of small talk. A handshake with Todd Reesing.

"I met Todd and kind of chuckled because he told me he was a quarterback," Jake Sharp recalls. "I was like, ‘This guy’s not much taller than me.’"

The thing is, "I think Todd was thinking the same thing. Here I am, this 170-pound kid from Salina, Kansas, thinking he was going to come play tailback in the Big 12."

Kansas has some big marketing ideas.

The idea: Pay for a giant billboard in the Dallas Metroplex area picturing three Kansas football players, wearing football jerseys but no helmet, under the heading, "Texas Men Play Kansas Football." No names, just numbers and faces, better to spark conversation in the Metroplex about the billboard, about Kansas football, about the players.

Maybe those accountability groups can help with his on-field issues? Colorado coach Dan Hawkins has a plan to solve all the off-field problems from the past few years.

The Nebraska game is not a pleasant memory for the Buffs.

“Missing out on a bowl game because of a 57-yard kick ... ” said the senior tight end, his voice trailing as he remembered Alex Henery’s dramatic field goal last November, a boot that changed the face of Nebraska’s season and bloodied the visage of Colorado’s.

“When it finally went through, it was pretty heartbreaking, devastating,” Devenny said recently from Boulder, Colo.

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder wants to rebuild trust with all the donors and fans.

Snyder began his resurrection of Kansas State's long-moribund program in 1989 and tickets that year cost $9. So, Currie announced, there will be 1,989 tickets go on sale for $9 for the Sept. 5 home opener against Massachusetts, a game Kansas State has dubbed a "K-State family reunion" in a drive to sell out Bill Snyder Family Stadium and welcome him back to the sidelines.

And the AD wants to rebuild trust, as well. He has pledged not to use donor money to pay for the Wildcats’ recent buyouts.

Luckily, it isn't this Kiffin. (As everyone in Nebraska breathes a HUGE sigh of relief.)

So, is this good news or bad news for Nebraska? There is a Kiffin on the Cornhusker coaching staff.

ESPN's Tim Griffin has five non-conference Big 12 games to fear. Needless to say, the Horns are not on the list.

And we didn't make SI's Stewart Mandel's best non-conference games list either.

Being the head coach of a major college football program is not easy.

Hey, at least (David) Cutcliffe got six years with the (Ole Miss) Rebels. These days, that’s an eternity, what with coaches getting canned after three seasons, and some hitting the bread lines before Homecoming. The state of coaching in major college football is more tenuous than ever. There are great rewards at the top, like Alabama coach Nick Saban’s $4 million annual salary, but there are greater expectations than ever, more crushing financial pressures and an ever-growing cacophony of “experts” capable of influencing decision-makers to execute a quick switch. Not that the coaches aren’t partly culpable. Many are searching constantly for their next job, partly out of self-preservation but also due to a constant hunger to climb the ladder of success.

“Because coaches have become so business-oriented, they tend to take on behaviors we often claim younger people get caught in — like instant gratification,” says 69-year old Bill Snyder, back for a second tour of duty at Kansas State. “We say it about 18-year-olds, but we’re seeing it in 38-40-year-olds.”

The bad economic times have hit college football and basketball especially hard. Teams may be traveling by bus instead of a plane. The horror.

Thus, Miami's football team is planning to bus (rather than fly) to Tampa for a game against South Florida in late November. West Virginia has a private booster fund to help finance private planes for recruiting, but it will bus this football season to Cincinnati -- with a stop for lunch with an alumni group in Zionsville, Ohio, along the way.

"We're going to use it as an opportunity to connect with some of our fans," Stewart said.

It's almost time... Everyone is marking their calendars for football season. The New York Times college football clog, The Quad, has the Thursday night schedule. And here is ABC-ESPN's complete broadcast lineup.

The Cotton Bowl wants to be part of the BCS action.

It took one 18-wheeler, two 20-foot moving trucks and 500 bright orange boxes to move 73 years of history from the old Cotton Bowl offices on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas to their new location at 925 N. Collins St.

There’s no need to MapQuest that address to find their new location, though. Simply go to the sixth floor of Cowboys Stadium; you can’t miss the entrance. By the time it’s completed, the reception area for the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic will look more like the front doors of a Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil production than anything else...

Unlike the halls, which are full of those orange boxes, the office of Cotton Bowl president Rick Baker seems to be complete. He, like the eight other full-time employees who also have offices, are eager to get the ball rolling and do what needs to be done to get this game in the BCS mix.

The National Championship Issue has some interesting stats on non-conference game attendance.

A BYU economics professor looks at the economic growth of the bowl industry since 1984.

In the 2008 bowl season, the SEC, Big 12, and Big 10 had bowl payout revenues of $143.2 million, which was 56% of all 2008 bowl revenue. Compare that to the $36.4 million earned in 2008 by all six non-BCS conferences and the independent teams (including Notre Dame) for a whopping 14.3% of 2008 bowl revenues. Note that 55 non-BCS teams took part in that $36.4 million, while 35 SEC, Big 12, and Big 10 teams took part in the $143 million.