In the ongoing saga of will-he-stay-or-will-he-go, surely to continue over the following days and possibly stretching until the mid-January deadline for underclassmen to declare, an NFL source has indicated that Kindle projects as a low-second round draft pick ($), too low for Kindle, who has said he would leave only with a first round guarantee. The evaluations were supposed to have already arrived or arrive in the very near future, so it's unclear whether the speculation about a low-second round grade is still in the realm of informed speculation, or whether Kindle has the evaluation in hand.

Such evaluations can't factor in possible performances at the combine, where Kindle would no doubt wow scouts with his combination of size and speed--he still runs a 4.55 despite having grown to 6-5 and 240 pounds. An incredible workout may not be enough for Kindle, as teams have only a year of film on him as a situational rusher and only seven teams with first round picks this year run the 3-4. Another mitigating factor is that Kindle struggled to reach the quarterback ($) when matched against Baylor's Jason Smith, a highly regarded left tackle. NFL scouts will surely view that match up with unfavorable interest in terms of Kindle.

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Too small and not fast enough. Putting aside the infamous dropped interception in a certain West Texas town, true freshman safety Blake Gideon came out of nowhere (or Leander, whichever you prefer) to earn a starting safety position this season. Cerebral, and the coaches son, Gideon generally covered his physical deficiencies by understanding the scheme and putting himself in a position to make plays. What Gideon isn't, though, is physically gifted enough to start at safety for Texas over the next three years. With undersized Earl Thomas lining up alongside Gideon in the secondary, the Longhorns lack the size and the ability to lay any serious wood on receivers wanting to catch the ball over the middle. In other words, the Longhorns need a Craig Loston or a Kevin Brent, both big, fast, physical safeties who escaped the Lone Star State.

Ohio State exposed Gideon's lateral quickness and explosiveness, of which he seems to possess neither. Basically, Gideon is fine reading and reacting downhill, but has absolutely no ability to change direction. The greatest attribute for a safety is range, not just in one direction but also laterally. The play against Pryor in the end zone was just an unacceptable effort. Lacking time to turn and find the ball, Gideon should have relied on Pryor's eyes to see when the ball was coming and attempt to get a hand or two up in his face. Didn't happen and Gideon looked pathetic.

Christian Scott needs to learn the scheme this offseason and overcome whatever mental obstacles have kept him off the field because the Longhorns will need him next year as a physical presence in the secondary to complement Earl Thomas. In a concession to inexperience, the defensive coaches simplified their schemes to left and right safety, instead of the usual strong and free definitions--expect that to change and for Scott to find his way onto the field.

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Enemy of the Nation McGee to possibly start. Games against A&M during Stephen McGee's career have been painful affears for Longhorn denizens. Any shot at a Heisman Trophy slipped out of an uncharacteristically subdued (by illness, Texas fans later learned) Vince Young's hands as McGee took on any Longhorn tackler in his vicinity on his way to 108 yards rushing (42.5% of his season total) and his only two rushing touchdowns on the season.

Hit by the Longhorn defense so hard the following year that he was throwing up, McGee and the Aggie triple option marched 88 yards in 16 plays and 8:56, with McGee finishing the drive himself from seven yards out. Of course, that set the stage for two McCoy interceptions and two hits by Aggie defenders that left McCoy unaware of his surroundings for quite some time. Spawning as well questions about McCoy's toughness and his derogatory nickname, Cart McCoy.

And yes, there is more. McGee hadn't yet gashed the Longhorns in the passing game, the talent that helped he and Jordan Shipley break Texas high school aerial records. McGee did so for 362 yards and three touchdowns on 69% accuracy. For McGee that season it was his highest completion percentage (only one other time did he crack 60%), most touchdowns, most yards, and most yards per attempt. This is the long way of saying that McGee performs well against the Longhorns...and anyway from mediocre to poor against everyone else. Despite his lost senior season to injuries and Jerrod Johnson's emergence as the future at quarterback for A&M, the fact that McGee is listed as co-starter against the Longhorns is enough to dredge up a lot of negative memories for UT fans.

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Credit to Texas Tech. First of all, Texas Tech deserves a lot of credit for winning the football game. Because make no mistake, Tech won the game. Graham Harrell threw a number of passes into good coverage that had to be perfectly thrown to find the hands of the Tech receiver. And they did. Repeatedly. Many observes nationally and in Texas still wondered before the game if Harrell was just another in a long line of "system" quarterbacks at Texas. He's not. Want evidence? Do system quarterbacks lead the Heisman race late in the season? It's also no coincidence that Harrell completed that final pass to Crabtree. According Ruffin McNeil, Crabtree and Harrell work on that throw often, including for at least an hour one day during the summer. 

Many observers wondered if Mike Leach would abandon the running game, as he is known for doing. He didn't, as the Red Raiders picked up 105 yards against the Longhorns, as the two running backs averaged 4.7 (Woods) and 5.1 (Batch) yards per carry, respectively. He's also answered questions about a commitment to defense, promoting Ruffin McNeil, who has done an impressive job with the unit in about a year. Here's a prediction: A major program will finally offer Leach a first tier coaching job (it's overdue) and he will leave Lubbock.

It wasn't just the offense, however. The Tech defensive line was more talented by far than any other Tech line this century. The triumvirate of Colby Whitlock, Brandon Williams, and McKinner Dixon spent most of the game in the Texas backfield harassing Colt McCoy. The defense isn't among the handful of best defensive teams nationally, but it is one of the three best in the Big 12 (Texas, OSU, Tech, in no particular order). 

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With each Texas win comes more and more email to my inbox. As always, I try to respond to everyone's email individually or on the site. I will never use anyone's full name unless you explicitly authorize me to.

Where is your game recap?!?!

--Lots of you

Largely for the same reason there was no EDSBS LIVE yesterday, I whiffed on getting up a timely Postgame React this week. After putting together two late night posts on Saturday, my plan to write more on Sunday was derailed by prep work for my week long vacation in California. At this point, it's time to start looking forward to OSU; if you're craving more Mizzou Beat Down coverage, Scipio Tex has his usual excellent post-mortem up at BC.

Note: I will still put together a Big 12 Report at some point this week.

PB I thought you'd be interested to know Colt McCoy is on pace to set the NCAA record for completion percentage in a season. Can you say Heisman??

--Kevin R.

The beauty of BON is that you don't have to wait for one of the front page authors to cover something; you can do so yourself, as Boddicker Is Clutch did on just this topic.

As for the Heisman, I'm still lukewarm on the award, both because of its politics and the lack of satisfaction a Longhorn winning it would provide relative to, say, the team winning the Big 12 or national championship. With that said, it's damn exciting to see McCoy and the team receive this kind of attention, and I certainly can't say anyone deserves it more than Colt does right now. That he's such a good kid makes it easier to appreciate, as well. He'd be a worthy honoree.

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Mythical Fozzy creature returns. Overshadowed by the emergence of Chris Ogbonnaya, who has secured the starting tailback role, was the return on Saturday of the mythical Fozzy creature, oft-rumored but rarely seen. To the chagrin of many, he did not sprout wings and fly over the Missouri defenders, but did pick up 20 yards on his first carry. When the running game struggled early in the season, Whittaker's return was of paramount importance to jump start the ground game. Now, with Ogbonnaya firmly entrenched, running behind his pads with power, making quick, decisive cuts, and with the offense clicking, a healthy Whittaker deepens the running back corps to provide a change of pace back.

With the precision passing game wearing down opponents with its efficiency and an increasingly effective offensive line, Whittaker can provide the depth to take advantage of worn-out defenders. And that makes this team beyond scary. Add in an increasingly healthy Vondrell McGee breaking long runs against Missouri and the Longhorns have clearly established their identity as a team that passes to soften up the defense enough to run the ball.

Vindication about Daniel, et al. In the dark days after losing Vince Young early to the NFL, many fans and media members questioned Mack Brown's decision to pursue Ryan Perrilloux and Colt McCoy. I think it's apparent how lucky Texas is that Perrilloux never set foot on campus. Any lingering remnants of those questions were buried at DKR on Saturday like the Longhorns buried the OU game ball last week. Mack Brown was right in pursuing Perrilloux and McCoy instead of the pint-sized Daniel, who has never led a second half comeback in his career. Being Texas means you only have to offer the prototypes, and Daniel wasn't. Neither were Stryker Sulak and Sean Witherspoon, who were simply blown off the field by the immensely superior Texas offense. Brown made the right decisions in each case and came away with the real Heisman contender.

I love this football team. It was a perfect, cool October night for Texas football on Saturday. And the Longhorns responded by playing the perfect half, leaving stunned Texas and Missouri fans alike. Walking around the concourses during halftime, Texas fans moved around in a stunned euphoria, attempting to contemplate the destruction they had just witnessed, unlike anything they could have hoped for or imagined. It was a raucous crowd, more than answering calls for a true home field advantage in the new stadium.

More than anything else, though, it was a day to believe. A day to accept that this football team has not only the talent to win, but the intangibles to win. The chemistry, the desire. Many mocked the team's motto for the season: "Consistently good to be great." Understandable, certainly, but it might be the best way to summarize the season so far and where it will lead. If the team continues their consistently good play, they will be a great football team. I'm ready to live the dream again. And I believe in this football team. Deeply. The best news in all this? According to Roy Miller, the Longhorns are still looking to play their best game. You can find me next to the cooler of Burnt Orange Kool-Aid drinking my fill. Then maybe a little more.

Stats are for losers. I don't help myself and neither can BRAGGonUT. We just can't quit those stats. Even if we are losers. He has some interesting ones up over at Barking Carnival. Of note are the measly 10 turnovers forced, for an average of 1.43, good for 10th in the Big 12 conference. Last year's team averaged 2.07 a game, but the numbers this season don't account for the 12 turnovers on downs forced. Several of which have come deep in Longhorn territory. Add in the inexperienced secondary and some dropped interceptions and it's easy to understand why the raw numbers don't support a ballhawking defense. Earl Thomas has been close on some balls (did you see Chase Coffman rip that ball away from him in the second half?) and I think as he gains more experience he will find himself in a better position by the half step that he needs to start picking off more balls.

Dez sez, "Gimme the rock!" A significant amount of ink will be spilled this week talking  about the strength of the OSU running game, which is legitimate considering it poses the biggest threat yet to the Texas front seven, which may or may not have injured Jared Norton available (please, please, no kamikaze Bobino). But HenryJames breaks down why Dez Bryant is so scary. How about representing a significant majority of Zac Robinson's completions (48%), yards (54%), and touchdown passes (78%)? Guy's a stud. The million dollar question is whether Muschamp can devise a scheme to slow down Bryant without allowing the OSU running backs and tight end Brandon Pettigrew to run free. My thoughts? In Muschamp I Trust.

Gregory Gazelles Gig Aggies. What, there are other sports going on right now besides football? What's that you say, baseball? Never heard of it. Oh, and volleyball, too? Wow. Quite an education I'm receiving here. Well, big ups to the Gregory Gazelles, the fine ladies of the Texas volleyball squad, who beat the Aggies in College Station last night, 3-1. The win pushes their record to 7-1 in Big 12 play and was highlighted by 20 kills from viciously swinging vixen Destinee Hooker and the absolutely perfect Lauren Paolini, who had an error-free performance for the fourth time on the season. You go girls.

No "I" in team. However, there is a "me" in team. Which has always make me hate that particular cliche. But hey, the bold leads in Morning Coffee are for cutesy cliches. Onward to the point: This iteration of Texas football is a team. I ended the last Morning Coffee by saying that it's time to believe. My reasoning? Like I said, this is a team, with everything that entails. Senior leaders like Brian Orakpo have pulled the team together and worked to foster camaraderie between upperclassmen and younger players.

Accountability became the buzzword leading up to the Holiday Bowl and during spring practice precisely because there hadn't been any in 2007. Orakpo recalls that the older players didn't identify with the younger ones, and what's worse, didn't try. Recalling as well the close-knit group in 2005, Orakpo and other seniors like Roy Miller demanded teamwork, taking it on themselves to police their teammates on and off the field. It wasn't all tough love, though, as seniors organized team social activities to foster team unity. The results are apparent on the football field, and even though the OU game is the only real adversity the team has faced this season, responding to every OU score with one of their own gives a serious glimpse into the inner workings of this team. It is one in every sense of the word.

What if Daniel was one of us? That's the game played by Columbia Tribune writer Dave Matter, who wonders what would have been had Chase Daniel de-committed from Missouri and come to Texas. I find that type of speculation irritating and pointless, particularly with the incredible play of Colt McCoy this year. Mack Brown talks about it a lot: With 350 Division I players coming out of Texas every year, the vast majority of them go to other schools. Some of them are mad at Texas because they weren't offered. Some of those mad players happen to be excellent football players. To channel my inner Donald Rumsfeld here (didn't know it existed), "You play with the football team that you have, not the football team that you wish you had, or the football team that you may have in the future." 

Offensive scheme against Missouri. Perusing the team defensive rankings on cfbstats.com reveals some weaknesses in the Missouri defense. They rank 81st in the country in opponent third down conversions, allowing just over 40%. Even worse is the pass defense, ranking 114th, right behind (gasp) SMU and four spots lower than Texas. What does that mean for Texas? Well, the obvious answer is that Texas will likely come out throwing early and often, no real surprise since that's the offensive identity of this football team. It seems likely as well that the four wide receiver set will be the base formation moving forward.

Missouri has had major trouble with receivers running free deep down the sidelines (especially against Illinois), so look for more balls thrown down the field. How Missouri choses to defend the Texas passing attack will dictate where the ball goes, but it will be interesting to see if Colt is willing to stand in the pocket and look for the deep ball, since he has preferred the quick short passes he completes with such regularity, which allows for third and short opportunities that Missouri doesn't seem likely to be able to stop. If I called the plays, I would consistently send one wide receiver deep down the sideline and another deep down the seam on the same side and run crossing routes into that vacated space. I expect numerous explosive plays through the passing game.

More Gideon love. Tuesday's Morning Coffee noted that Mack Brown called Blake Gideon the "biggest surprise of the season." The Statesman followed that up with a feature article today chronicling Gideon's recovery from a broken back his sophomore year in high school (he played four games after breaking it). I watched the Rice game with some friends of friends from Leander, who characterized Gideon as being one hard hit from re-injuring his back, before I had heard anything about his old injury. Maybe someone who knows more about medicine than I can weigh in on the potential for re-injury. Whatever the case may be, I'm going to enjoy watching Blake Gideon play football and prove to recruiting services that he deserved more than two stars next to his name.

Smaller, quicker beats bigger, slower. I told PB last week that I was concerned about the size of the OU offensive line and wondered how our undersized defensive tackles would handle their assignments. Consider my worries unfounded and chalk up a victory for PB there. I guess I should add doubting Muschamp even for a moment to the Tuesday night sin purging thread. Shame on me.

Tim Griffin chronicles the rise of the Texas defense, led by Brian Orakpo, on whom Morning Coffee has quite the man-crush. And why not? The man has 10 tfl, 7.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 2 passes broken up. Incredible numbers considering he could have nearly twice as many sacks if opposing offensive linemen weren't forced to hold him multiple times per game. Despite the gaudy sack numbers, Orakpo isn't just a rush end. The 10 tackles for loss are a testament to his ability to keep contain when necessary, with more than a couple of those being open field tackles on smaller, quicker players.

It isn't just Orakpo making the defensive line tick, as Lamarr Houston, Aaron Lewis, and particularly Roy Miller have clogged the middle, vaunting Texas to third in the country in rush defense at barely over 50 yards per game. With the young safety gaining experience by the minute, expect this defense to be even better when the bowl season rolls around.

There was just too much today to confine the postgame reaction piece to the usual format. To the bullet points we go: 

Awards? Nu-uh. Not today. How could we fairly decide who was more valuable to the offense among Chris Ogbonnaya, Colt McCoy, Jordan Shipley, and Quan Cosby? Could we reasonably say Earl Thomas was more valuable than Roddrick Muckelroy? What about Roy Miller and Blake Gideon? Forget all that: This was the definition of a team effort, and every guy mentioned below (and those not covered) deserve to share in the glory. No way Texas wins this game unless this Team, capital T, isn't as cohesive and selflessly committed to excellence as it has proven itself to be.

3 out of 4... Wins in this series often come in bunches, and Texas has now won three of the last four. Though Mack Brown and his staff really need to corral this year's win into a Big XII Title Game appearance (at the least) to hammer the success home, Oklahoma remains the Longhorns' lone true rival. For any and all shortcomings that may accompany any given year, the Red River Shootout is the one game that can provide for fans the satisfaction normally reserved for accomplishing long term goals.

The legend of Colt McCoy grows... He's now 2-1 in the RRS, Texas is 6-0 in a year when the Longhorns were supposed to be rebuilding for '09, and based on what I heard watching 12 hours of football coverage today, a--if not the--Heisman front runner. Though neither he nor I could care less about any individual awards, the recognition he's receiving is deserved. And Barking Carnival's EOT is right: No QB in college football is playing better than McCoy right now.

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It's Texas-OU (sucks) week, so we're skipping the rest of the country and just focusing on this game.

"We won the game. Stats are for losers. I like winning games." -- Longhorns savior defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. What an incredible quote from our new favorite person. As PB points out, Texas might have an actual coaching advantage against the Sooners for the first time that we can remember with this guy roaming the sidelines.

"Will Rogers never met Barry Switzer." -- Texas Head Coach Darrell K. Royal, referring to Will Rogers' famous saying that he never met a man he didn't like. What isn't as well known is that Rogers was originally referring to Leo Trotsky. Intentionally or not, then, DKR was saying that Switzer was worse than Trotsky: double zing!

"I have no doubt that coach [Mack] Brown and the Longhorns will make it two in a row over the Sooners this Saturday in Dallas. Fortunately, OU's trip across the Red River won't be for nothing. They can get a look at the Longhorns' national championship trophy while they are in Texas." -- Texas Governor Rick Perry before the 2006 Texas-OU game. Yes, this one is outdated. But it illustrates the one beautiful thing about Texas politics, no matter which side of the aisle you fall on. In a time when the Longhorn athletic teams are far more relevant than those of Texas A&M (see: all eras except the 1980s), an Aggie governor is forced to talk smack on behalf of UT. He may also talk Aggie noise before their games, but we're not sure anyone cares.

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PB: Alright Big Roy. Think back to your summer expectations and compare with your thoughts now. What's changed?

Big Roy: Colt McCoy is better than expected. He looks incredibly strong and fast and he's making quick decisions with the ball. I'm less worried about the defense right now than I was because you can see they are playing with a "won't fail" attitude-particularly the defensive line. The secondary looks adequate, which was a huge question mark. I feel a little bit more confident about the upcoming schedule, but it still looks difficult.

PB: That's about where I am in terms of evaluations, but let's break this down starting with McCoy, because so much of any and all optimism where the next four weeks are concerned is founded on what we've seen from him so far.

True or False: McCoy can play at a high enough level in conference play to overcome Texas' lack of a rushing game from the tailback position.

Big Roy: True. I'm actually confident that Colt can run well in conference. We saw the quarterback draw for the first time against Arkansas and I like it. I was thinking about this yesterday: Colt is 30 pounds heavier than he was when he got here. At 180 pounds, he was the same size or smaller than every defensive player. Now, at 210 or so, he's closer in size to linebackers and bigger than most defensive backs. And he looks fast. I'm thinking that I want Colt running the ball 6-8 times against OU on designed plays. I think he can handle it. Name a big hitter on OU's defense.

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