Both are fan favorites, and for good reason.  The number of clutch catches Cosby has come up with is ridiculous.  We can always count on Quan to get that first down if a pass comes his way.  He even returns kicks pretty well.  As for explosiveness, Quan doesn't have much of that.  The 4.4 speed of his youth is a bit diminished I guess, but that doesn't take away from what he does best.  He even has somewhat of a baseball career in the waiting perhaps.  Will Cosby be drafted though?  A slow, short receiver doesn't open talent-scouts' eyes.  But his body of work is very strong.  Will it be enough?

As for Shipley, he's just had a ton of bad luck with injuries.  He has nice hands, and is pretty fast, although, not anything jaw-dropping.  He's finally a senior, and this could be his break out year.  Some have said that he might be our "deep-threat" this year.  Not trying to hate on him, but I'm skeptical.  It seems we still haven't seem his true potential unleashed.

In short, both are great college players, especially Cosby but will a team at the next level take either?

There's no denying the impressive number of wins Mack Brown has brought to Texas.  His win percentage is well over 70%, and he's had 10+ wins for seven consecutive seasons.  Year in and year out, Texas is probably viewed by most fans as a "good" team.

However, despite the numbers, the trophy case is not exactly full.  One NC and one conference championship (with 2 CCG appearances) are all Texas has to show for its achievements.  

But Texas is still percieved as a good, sometimes elite team.  It's hard for me to rank Texas as far as its achievements go.  What other teams do ya'll place comparable to Texas?  The criteria would be: 

-A team that wins consistently

-A team thats viewed as "good"

-A team that has little or nothing to show for a good season other than its wins, year after year.

Off the top of my head, Wisconsin comes to mind.  Others?

ESPN has another list up, this time about college football's most ridiculous athletes.  Our our Brian Orakpo comes in at numero uno.  Not surprising look at some stats:

Bench:  515 lb

Clean:  380 lb

40 time:  4.6 s

vertical:  42 in

 Hopefully he'll be destroying some QB's next season!  This year is gonna be huge for him, I know it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=feldman_bruce&id=3420212

A lot of us have criticized Chiles passing ability (or lack there of) as a true freshman.  VY had a whole year to get into the system, Chiles didn't.  How much does a redshirt year help as far as quarterbacking I wonder.  Also, did Chiles have a strong arm in HS and just hasn't shown it, or is he too raw for anyone to know yet? 

Also, we talk a lot about how bad a passer Chiles is, but we tend to forget how mediocre the passing game was as a whole (receivers, O-line, playcalling) in 2007.  Would VY have torn it up like he did when he debuted had he been given a shaky O-line, and decent but not explosive receivers?

VY had Benson, Roy williams, Limas Sweed, a veteran O-line throughout his career.  All Chiles has gotten to work with is Mcgee (good, but unproven), freshman and true freshman receivers, a lousy o-line and every other play called is a draw or handoff.

I guess what I'm asking for, aside from general comments is your current opinion regarding Chiles.  Can he be good, great, dare I say Vince Young-esque?  okay, forget the last part, nobody will ever be VY.

The better team is....

2006 offered a surprisingly efficient offense through most of the season.  However there were several stalled 3rd downs and enough goalline frustration to last a lifetime, (and cost us 1, maybe 2 games).  The 2006 defense was top 5 against the run and decent through the air except for a tendency to get burned deep or on trick plays.

2007 offered a wildly inconsistent team on offense, yet notably more explosive than in 2006.  The run game steadily improved, QB play stayed about the same except for more turnovers.  The defense remained strong against the run, top 15-ish, and  Texas didnt improve upon last year's pass defense, but it also wasn't horrible. 

Now obviously, on talent alone, 2006 takes this one easily, but the talent didn't seem to make a huge difference.  10-3 in 2006, 10-3 in 2007.

What do you think, now that both seasons are in the rearview mirror?

Going in to any football season, typically we have anaylzed and reanalyzed both the strengths and weaknesses of the team, trying to get a better idea of what to expect.  However, every year there have been supposed weaknesses that never really had a big impact, and in addition our proported strengths turned out not to be so strong.

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I've been thinking a lot about next year's game against the ags.  As backwards as it sounds, I like Texas's chances against a Mike Sherman team over any Franchoine team.

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