What happened to the cool Longhorn logo Morning Coffee always uses? I dunno,it seems to have been lost from the archives as well, but the show must go on...Just imagine it's there, people.   Liar. --PB--

Beware the Rak. According to my source embedded deep within the Arkansas football program (we'll call him Squealing Piggy), LT Ray Dominguez is a psychological wreck this week. He only managed several hours of sleep Saturday night before awaking in a cold sweat suffering from night terrors. He reportedly hasn't slept since. The cause? Well, Brian Orakpo, of course, the Defensive Player of the Week. Orakpo spent Saturday afternoon running around Dominguez, knocking Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick out of the game with one particularly vicious hit. To Dominguez's credit, he was able to tackle Orakpo several times, the only issue being the illegality of the move. Orakpo wasn't just rushing the quarterback, however, maintaining his contain and stopping  a reverse on the second play and stretching one running play to the sideline. This is the season that Longhorn fans expected from Orakpo last year before the illegal chop block against Arkansas State in the first game.

Buffs panties still twisted. It appears the Buffaloes haven't gotten over the 70-3 beatdown Vince Young and the Longhorns laid on them in the 2005 Big 12 Championship Game. Which is understandable. The extent to which they haven't gotten over it, however, is not. CU coach Darian Hagan explains:

I remember warming up and those guys were laughing and joking over there. They didn't respect us. We thought we could go in there and hang with them. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be 70-3. And then in the fourth quarter, blitzing and piling it on, I didn't think that would happen, but it did.

What they did was pretty much try to clown us on a national stage, but you can't carry that. We have to let it roll off our back, but it's going to be in the back of our minds, I can tell you that.

Cry me a river, dude, seriously. Let me break this down by points: 1) Vince Young and his teammates always joked before games--because it's just how they stayed loose and because mediocre teams like the Buffs weren't a threat, 2) Joel Klatt was knocked out of the game in the third quarter, if you don't like that, run the ball or take him out, 3) actually, I believe the Buffs did get clowned on a national stage since there isn't anything else to call 70-3, and 4) Mack Brown called off the dogs--the Longhorns scored all 70 points in the first 36 minutes of the game. Texas could have dropped 100 in that game, but didn't because Mack Brown is no Steve Spurrier. Sorry you got clowned, Hagan, maybe you should move past it.

Death of the Q Package? After an unsuccessful game for the Q Package (about the only thing that went wrong in the 52-10 demolition), Longhorn coaches wondered out loud about its future.  According to the coaches, the reasoning is twofold: the young wide receivers are playing well and Chiles needs to develop at quarterback. I don't think many Longhorn fans will disagree with that assessment since many have been saying the same thing. James Kirkendoll and Brandon Collins have both shown flashes of elusiveness that suggest they need the ball in their hands more often. Elusiveness that Chiles did not show Saturday. Chiles also didn't run the correct route on the first series he was in, forcing McCoy to pull the ball down and run. A triple option play killed a drive later in the game. Since the offense is operating on every cylinder but the Q Package, the coaches need to determine if Chiles has a future at Texas as a quarterback or make a serious commitment to developing complimentary plays for the package.

Why the Buffs don't scare me. While OU's stunning loss last season in Boulder is all the argument necessary to establish to difficulty of winning at CU, the game on Saturday just doesn't scare me. Sure, there are a lot of things that could go wrong, like turnovers and poor special teams play, but besides a couple decent returns by Arkansas, neither of those potential problems scare me. Neither do the players on the CU team. I wrote a while back that I wasn't impressed by Cody Hawkins, who won't have much success, if any, throwing from the pocket against the Longhorns. Considering that the team is missing three offensive linemen, there probably won't be a pocket most of the game. They don't have any receivers other than Josh Smith, who is a threat, but the only player who scares me is little Rodney Stewart, the redshirt freshman running back who torched West Virginia. He will be the first serious challenge for the Texas run defense and, at 5-6, will test the Longhorns' ability to tackle. Scipio Tex has a good analysis of the game up at Barking Carnival, expounding on basically the same points I just made.

Carl Spackler admires the groundskeeping. Bill Murray stopped by the office of Mack Brown on Friday to get a look at the football field before attending the Arkansas game on Saturday. Always the comedian, the transcript of his interview on MB-TF is quite funny. He mentions that he had only been to Austin once before, driving through with Dan Akroyd headed across country. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. It's worth reading, but this is the best quote:

I was in Manhattan last year, I think it was the day Texas lost to Kansas State, and they just about tore the whole city apart. Kansas State beating Texas, that's bigger than the wheat coming in. That's big.

He also mentioned that the Texas staff made him a customized Texas jersey with his name on it "in about 90 seconds," expressing amazement they could do it that quickly. Interesting stuff. Hopefully, he came away from the weekend something of a fan of Austin and UT football.

Remember that running back who keeps on getting in trouble? Unemployed and waiting like by the phone like the desperate girl on Friday night, Cedric Benson cleared time on his apparently busy drinking calendar to talk with the Statesman this week (full story tomorrow). The Lions took him on a date, said they'd call (don't they all), but never did. So did the Saints, but they didn't want to make a commitment, just fool around. "I never would have thought there'd be a day like this," says the artist formerly known as C-Benz. Of course you didn't, Cedric. Maybe that's the problem. How long have people around him talked about him being an NFL star? Around a decade, perhaps, dating back to his days matriculating in football-obsessed Midland. The result: a guy his defensive teammates tried to injure and a poor work ethic. Benson is still optimistic, however, claiming, "I truly believe the light is going to shine brighter than it's ever shined before." Seems unlikely considering the significant and public damage to his reputation. I wonder if he understands how far from grace he seems to have fallen with NFL teams. Maybe not. To be fair, Benson was probably stoned when he made the comment (something like this).

Go play intramurals, brother. Er, son. My little football addiction problem compelled me to watch the entirety of the WVU-CU game last night, which turned out to be quite entertaining. Even though CU won, I wasn't impressed by Little Hawk. He's just doesn't have the skills to be a good college quarterback. His size is a huge problem in the pocket, where he struggles to get off throws, as is the limp rag he calls his throwing arm. He makes Colt McCoy look positively Cutler-esque. He's most effective on roll outs (you almost have to move the pocket for him), but the arm strength hurts him even there. He would dominate intramurals, though.

Mack Brown Curse, any, D-Scott? The biggest epiphany in the game was the play of diminutive Rodney Stewart, who carried 28 times for 186 yards and repeatedly showed why Darrell Scott hasn't played much. Guy had incredible feet, repeatedly changing direction and fitting into small spaces. Sounds like Fozzy Whittaker, huh? Except with execution instead of potential. Compared to Stewart, Scott looked leaden-footed and slow. And in an homage to the obsession of the Texas coaches over blitz pick-ups, CU almost cost themselves the game on one late play in the red zone. Little Hawk, spotting a defender showing blitz on the outside right, shifted Scott from his left to his right side. Either Scott or the tight end missed their assignment, as Scott went left and the tight end failed to block the blitzer. Staring down the left side, Hawkins never saw the defender and fumbled the ball as he was hit. WVU recovered and a major scoring chance went by the wayside. Game changing. It wasn't the first time that Scott didn't look like he knew what he was doing either.

Avery Bradley love. Good Fran (not Frannypants) has nothing but positive things to say about recent Texas commit Avery Bradley. While the first comparison coming out about Bradley was Russell Westbrook because of a shared defensive prowess, Fraschilla made the comparison to former Arizona stud Jerryd Bayless. With that skill set, it's unlikely the Longhorns will get Bradley for anything more than two seasons, possibly looking at a one-and-done. But for 2009, Bradley could be the catalyst (at the 1 or 2) for a team that will have all the pieces (if Hamilton signs) to compete for a national title. It will be interesting to watch the offensive development of that team because it may or may not have an established point guard (depending on the emergence of Dogus Balbay), but an extremely deep frontcourt. Will the Longhorns channel the fun-and-gun Suns or the current no-run Suns? Hey, at least Rick Barnes is adaptable. Easy to be that way when you don't have run a particular offensive system.

About that Mack. Something of a disagreement broke out in the comment thread to my Morning Coffee report yesterday concerning the treatment of Mack Brown by HornChamps. While I criticized Mack Brown about his comment concerning the running backs, called out Nice Mack, and wonder how much he is to blame (note: that post is not a manifesto, nor is it required reading) for the issues Texas fans have with the offense, I want to make it very clear that I do not dislike Mack Brown. In fact, I really like Mack Brown. It's easy for Horns fans with short-term memories to forget the position of the program when Mack Brown took over. The combination of his coaching and recruiting returned Texas to its rightful place among the nation's elite, which, as numerous Texas coaches proved, is hardly guaranteed. He reached out to Darrell Royal and embraced the program's traditions. He reached out to former players, trying to keep them close to the program. Without his success and the related boost to the athletic department coffers, the beautiful north end zone wouldn't exist. Listening to him talk with Bob and Bucky reminded me how much I like him as a person. Along with Rick Barnes and Augie Garrido, I can't imagine Texas coaches better representing the values I believe in as a sports fan of the University of Texas. Kudos to DeLoss Dodds. They are all excellent coaches, but more importantly, excellent people. Mack Brown is a class act, self-deprecating and always quick to praise Texas high school coaches, which I find amusing. This Afternoon Brewsky is tipped back for Mack Brown. Take a second to think what he has meant to the Texas football program.

We are the Joneses. 54b's excellent post today about his trip to El Paso got me all riled up again. Ironic considering how much I laughed out loud reading it. Note to 54b: you are the shit. Back to my point--We are the Joneses. Do you hear that, UTEP? Let me speak to both UTEP fans here. You are not Texas. The University of Texas at Austin is Texas. We're Texas. UT. You are a system school, like UT-Arlington, UT-San Antonio, UT-Pan American even. You don't see them get uppity do you? I can understand having an identity crisis seeing how you've changed your name four times. I can see how you have an inferiority complex, Aggy does, too. You have a stupid looking mascot called Paydirt Pete. That must be painful. You adopted "Eyes of Texas" as your fight song in the early 1920s. You copied it. That must make you feel small. Like the little brother no one cares about. All that's okay. But this is fundamentally a problem of recognition. You need to recognize. The University of Texas at Austin is, has been, and always will be UT. Always will the Texas. Ignorance and dementia does not change who you are, so let's leave fantasy land and take up residence in the real world. UT=UT-Austin. UTEP=UTEP. End rant. At least you have Jack Handey going for you.

If you spend some time looking closely at last year's stat sheets for Texas' 2008 opponents, you may well find yourself entertaining the same two thoughts that I did:

1. Holy crap the pressure on our redshirt freshmen safeties with zero game experience is going to be intense.

2. Will Muschamp is arriving not a moment too soon.

On the latter point, BZ's chapter in The Eyes of Texas 2008 will provide some relief: each of Muschamp's first years at LSU and Auburn resulted in significant improvement in the teams' pass defenses. While we thank our lucky stars Muschamp is taking over, click through the jump for a look at the challenge he faces.

Continue reading this post »