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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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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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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Tempting, but premature....

The outcome was: So Far, So Good. Setting aside what last night's game told us about next week, the outcome itself--a 24-point road win over a not awful conference opponent--was just dandy. Much more on both below, but as we head into The Stretch (OU, Mizzou, OSU, at Tech), it's impossible to ignore the fact that any meaning we temporarily attach to the season story so far is about to be wholly superseded by what's ahead.

Making coffee this morning, I couldn't help but compare the first five games to a series of dates with a girl who has so outperformed your initial expectations that you're almost ready to reconsider your steadfast commitment to bachelorhood, except you're reserving final judgment for after the coming month, during which you're going to (1) meet her mother, (2) go on a week-long vacation together in a car, (3) face a trying financial crisis, and (4) spend time with her over-sharing ex-boyfriend of five years.

If she comes out the other side of all that looking like gold, you might just put a big rock on her finger, but... probably best to hold off any down payments until then, yes?

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Following up from my mid-August conversation with an equally Texas-obsessed friend in Austin, we had a long chat about Texas football. Here in Part 1: Blake Gideon’s surprising role as the secondary’s anchor… My Guys are slow out of the gates… and a reminder that Mack Brown should be focused on titles and titles alone.

SEE? I TOLD YOU SO. (SORT OF.) ((NOT REALLY.))

PB: Looking back at our earlier conversation, do you know what stands out as funny?

TS: Blake Gideon?

PB: Exactly! We both said, essentially, "I doubt he plays much this year, but, you know, I really kinda like him."

TS: Earl Thomas got all the hype, but Gideon's been the freshman godsend back there.

PB: Nothing flashy, but he clearly gets what's going on and what he's supposed to do. I can see why Muschamp went with him as a starter.

TS: I wonder if Muschamp sees some of himself in Blake.

PB: Maybe, but I'd wager Gideon's a significantly better athlete than Muschamp was when he walked on at UGA.

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Starting defensive tackle Lamarr Houston's suspension ends at one game and he will return to play against Arkansas this Saturday. Readers of this site know how I feel about him both as a player and upstanding young man, so I'm especially pleased to see him handle this mistake the way he has. From the Statesman:

Houston asked to attend Monday’s news conference to address the media and to offer a public apology. “First and foremost, I thank God that I’m alive. … I’d like to apologize for making a bad decision …. I’m very remorseful. It’s not how I was raised.”

Houston teared up as he recounted how he had apologized for his actions to his 9-year-old nephew, someone who looks up to the Longhorn defender. Houston addressed his teammates the day after the arrest. “That was the toughest thing,” he said.

He said he will undergo counseling, work with homeless people and work with the Mitchie Mitchell Foundation, an anti-drunken-driving group.

How you handle mistakes is as sure a sign as any of what kind of man you are. A ten-gallon hat tip to Lamarr for accepting responsibility for his actions. Apology accepted.

About this summer...  After I sent The Eyes of Texas 2008 to press in late May one week after finishing my first year law exams, I exhaustedly started thinking about what topics I'd try to cover this summer to kill that horrible dead stretch for college sports that is June and July. As things turned out, I hardly had time to write anything I planned. Between the full time job, seeing family, and meeting a dream girl, the summer was gone as quickly as it began.

Fortunately, I missed nothing; Texas sports simply weren't in the news. After last summer's disaster, seeing these columns from the local papers are precisely what Mack Brown had in mind when he reassigned Ken Rucker to full time player relations duties.

So here we are. Summer's gone, we're 11 days from kickoff, BON is full time again, and I'm markedly more excited about the 2008 season than I expected to be as recently as three months ago.

Speaking of fired up...  Florida Atlantic thinks it can beat the 'Horns a week from Saturday. (A week from Saturday! I love my life.) FAU head coach Howard Schnellenberger has been jawing to the press, while a Florida journalist contact of mine reports that at practice today the defensive coordinator told him they mean what they say. The whole staff and team is believing in the upset.

Some Texas fans have taken offense to the big talk, but I can't see this as anything but a good thing for the Longhorns. I am by nature always a bit wary of investing too heavily in intangibles, but I'll say it again: I think they matter in football more so than any other team sport I care about.

In the present case, I like two things about Schnellenberger's comments. For one, Texas is going to out-athlete Florida Atlantic, a tangible advantage most likely negated if the team comes out of the gates flat/underestimating the Owls. More importantly in my mind, though, is that Schnellenberger's comments merely add more fuel to what I have seen as a steadily growing wildfire of post-A&M momentum. First it was the discarding of the depth charts. Then the boot camp practices. Then the new defensive coordinator hire. Then Major. A clean, focused summer season. Inspiring, Muschamp-esque fall workouts...

And now? Schnellenberger's mouthing off, all but guaranteeing Texas' players prepare for war precisely the way Will Muschamp wants.

It's going to be a rowdy Saturday night in Austin when Vince Young's number is retired and the Longhorns wax Florida Atlantic. Bet on it.

Silly little brother. If you're wondering what it's costing Texas to bring Florida Atlantic to Austin, the athletics department reports the figure is $900,000. Texas A&M athletic director, meanwhile, confirms that Little Brother can't keep up:

"It means we're always going to have a I-AA (team) on the schedule because you can get them for $300,000," [Athletic Director Bill Byrne] said. "Everybody is doing it, and fiscally we've got to do it as well."

Au contraire, Mssr. Byrne. Texas has vowed not to schedule any 1-AA opponents in the future.

That sound you hear, Bill? That's Reebok telling you "Thanks, but no thanks" when you ask for a Texas-sized partnership deal.

Notes from the Wire:  Chip Brown 's got notes on Fozzy Whittaker (looking not injured), Lamarr Houston/Roy Miller (hard to block), party at the McCombs' ranch (team chemistry improved), Roddrick Muckelroy dreaming about Muschamp yelling at him not to screw up (literally), and David Snow (teacher's pet).

OHMYGODWHAT? Sorry, I'm sitting here at Buffalo Wild Wings (my internet's out) and just looked up in time to see some sort of trampoline competition in the Olympics, in which this girl just did like 17 straight twisty-jump-flips in succession. Totally mesmerizing.

Right. About that ranking thing. I told Horn Brain that I wasn't much interested in preseason power polling because it's such an exercise in futility. And yet, here I am, submitting my preseason BlogPoll ballot like a dutiful waterboy. Have a peek at it here; justifications to follow in the coming days.

Good to be home.  I'd have just as soon my summer continued ad infinitum, so good was it, but now that I'm here and writing up this post, with football season right around the corner... I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge a surge of energy rushing through my veins.

College. Football. Is. Back.

One of my favorite columns of any kind each year was MLB columnist Joe Sheehan's "My Guys" piece, which he used to run prior to each season, highlighting a handful of players he loves to have great, high-impact seasons but who aren't receiving sufficient hype. This year, he tweaked the format to "Breakout Players," but the concept is about the same.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Right. My Guys for 2008:

Lamarr Houston, DT - If there's a Lamarr Houston Hype Parade, I suppose I've been the guy with the funny hat, elongated wand, and whistle. I've seen others here and elsewhere start to come around, but judging by the poll in the right sidebar... I'm not exactly leading a revolution. As I keep saying during each of this summer's radio appearances, I think he's the best player on the team.

Deon Beasley, CB - I'm not exactly on an island here, but as far as I can tell, my opinion of Deon Beasley's potential this season is well ahead of most. Not only is he a shining example of proper player development - a credit to the coaches - but the end result is a player who's as mentally confident as he is physically gifted. Playing elite cornerback requires that kind of mental confidence - if you're thinking, you're finished - and if all goes well, Texas has one of the conference's best cornerbacks and the coaches get as strong a reinforcer as is imaginable that the Beasley Way is the Proper Way to develop a player. He's not the team's most gifted defensive back - just the best developed. With so much young talent in the DB Cupboard, a championship-level secondary can be had sooner rather than later.

Sam Acho, DE - Lamarr Houston? Is an NFL-caliber physical freak. Sam Acho... far less so. But it took me about three plays last season to do that thing where you sort of squint in at the TV, hit rewind, and ask yourself, "Wait, who was that?" The kid has absolutely phenomenal instincts, and if Brian Orakpo is the obvious star at end, Acho is the guy - more so than Eddie Jones, perhaps - that I look forward to seeing on the field opposite Orakpo. Especially given what Muschamp will be asking of his front four, I love what Acho brings to the table.

Malcolm Williams, WR - Though I sense more Kirkendoll and Buckner hype, I'm sticking with Williams as My Guy to be the breakthrough receiver for Texas this year. I remember 2004 well enough to be wary of expecting too much of any first-year receiver, but if there's a 2008 successor to Limas Sweed, I think it's Williams. I'm making him one of My Guys because he's a lot stronger than Sweed was in '04.

Michael Huey, G - I see absolutely no difference between Huey and Justin Blalock, a four-year starter at Texas and immediate starter for the Atlanta Falcons in the Sunday league. A product of the Kilgore football factory, Huey is an Absolutely Dependable starter waiting to happen.

Who are Your Guys heading into 2008? And more importantly.... why?

Especially at this time of year, it's nice when the content comes to you. Admittedly, I wasn't thinking about that when I jumped in this Phil Steele thread with a quick, unsubstantiated assertion that "Lamarr Houston is the best player on the team." But I'm glad I threw it in there, as it quickly led to a great topic for tonight's post.

Reader 'texasfan05' replied:

your kidding....

Right?

Lamarr Houston is a great player, and is a solid D lineman, but “best player on the team”??? I don’t think so. He’s not even the best player on the Defense. Kindle takes that slot. This should be Kindles year, I’ve watched him for 2 years now, and when he’s not hurt, everytime he’s on the field he makes a play. When we kick the ball off, me and my friends just watch Kindle because he always takes someone’s head off, whether it be the ball carrier or a blocker.

Soon thereafter, reader 'BMG' took the topic to its logical conclusion, proposing a discussion of the team's Top 10 players. A grand idea, which we'll run with for a couple of reasons. First, it'll be fun: there aren't any right answers (though maybe some wrong ones). And second, I think you'll find that if you sit down to put together a top 10, it's not so hard to see why this year is such a critical development season for the Longhorns.

TEXAS' TOP 10

In the mix: Apologies now to Jared Norton, Eddie Jones, Jordan Shipley, Ryan Palmer, and the dozen or so young kids oozing with talent who may well take this list by storm before the season's over. And to the offensive line, who I'm just not considering for this particular list. Feel free to do so in your own Top 10, but I'll save my line commentary for another post; it needs to be an integrated set of thoughts.

10. Sergio Kindle and John Chiles - I'll include these two at the back end of the list for their difference-making potential. We've seen flashes of sexy from both, but my own list weights production at least as much as raw talent, which is why I'm not in agreement with texaslonghornfan05's position. For Chiles, it was a fine true freshman debut, but (a) his action was very limited and (b) he wasn't allowed to pass (and when he was he missed).

And Kindle? I absolutely see the beast of a player texaslonghornfan05 so enjoys, but there's an enormous gulf between what we think he could become and what he's been. Even setting aside the DUI and the injuries, his production in 8 games last season wasn't anything special: 32 tackles, 4 tackles-for-loss, 0.5 sacks.

I will say this about these two, though: It might well be that no two players could do more to making 2008 a special season. A healthy, breakout season for Kindle would give Muschamp a truly great trio of linebackers to work with. And Chiles may represent Texas' best bet to give the offense an explosive dimension it's desperately going to need.

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