Bevo's Roundup - October 26, 2010

Mack Brown isn't taking any prisoners.

Brown called out his players and assistant coaches on Monday.

"I do think there's some entitlement with this team. They sit around thinking it's just going to happen," Brown said. "They played hard, but I mean (play) with passion, fun and excitement. It's all about confidence and passion .... I can handle a loss if we are playing with passion. I can't if we're not. "

"I told them if one of your guys is playing bad, I can change them. If three of your guys are playing bad, I change you," Brown said. "I am ready to play each week."

The defense needs more turnovers.

A big reason Texas owns a shocking 4-3 record is because its defense is failing to convert game-changing turnover opportunities, like the one presented Saturday by Arnaud's high fly ball.

A year after leading the Big 12 with a plus-9 turnover margin (nine more takeaways than giveaways), the Longhorns are now 11th in the league with a minus-7 margin. The only time in Brown's 13-year tenure that Texas finished with a negative margin was in 1998, his first year.

After seven games, the Longhorns have managed to force only nine turnovers — five fumble recoveries and four interceptions.

They are saying all the right things, but...

It's Monday afternoon at a very subdued Bellmont Hall, and Sam Acho is talking about the "opportunity" his Texas football team has to play a nationally ranked Baylor team this weekend.

We'll pause for a second to allow you to regain equilibrium. …

It's Monday, and nothing has been remotely fixed. Maybe nothing can be fixed. If it were that easy, wouldn't Mack Brown & Associates have fixed it after the UCLA disaster?

It is an entitlement issue.

"We've got some entitlement on this team," Brown said. "We have guys who are looking at what the 2009 team did, winning all its games and making it to the national championship game, and what the 2008 team did. You know, I was worried about that 2008 team, and it came to play every single game."

There were signs back in August?

Mack Brown says he could see the warning signs back in August.

After the Texas Longhorns' first training camp scrimmage, the coach privately noted a lack of passion among his players - and it worried him.

Another comparison to 2007.

You need to know the question before you can start to search for an answer.

After Saturday's 28-21 loss to Iowa State, coach Mack Brown is dealing with a team in more disarray than any he's had in his 13 years at Texas. The unranked Longhorns, fifth in the preseason Associated Press poll, are 4-3 and coming off consecutive home losses for the first time since 1997. Those losses were to UCLA and the Cyclones, teams with a combined record of 5-8 in their other games.

Asked what's missing, Blake Gideon unintentionally provided a reply that best sums up the feeling of the Longhorns - players and coaches.

"I don't know," the junior safety said. "We're going to look at that in film tomorrow. I don't know. I don't know what's going on."

For those counting, that's three "I don't knows" in a four-sentence response.

They're back. Give a great big Texas welcome to John Chiles and Tre Newton.

Never fear. Mack Brown feels your pain.

ESPN and Fox are competing for the Longhorn Network.

ESPN has countered a bid by Fox Sports to operate a University of Texas channel and is now viewed by industry insiders as a legitimate competitor to partner with the school on a Longhorns network.

Need some ideas for Christmas gifts for your favorite Longhorn fan? Here's one.

Welcome to the Bear den. Art Briles press conference and some quotes.

Here's some great bulletin board material for the Bears.

Yeah, Texas did recruit Griffin, who was a standout high school quarterback up the road from Austin in Copperas Cove. But somebody at Texas ultimately dropped the ball when Griffin said the Longhorns didn't believe he could continue that success and become a polished college quarterback.

The Bears are going bowling so what else can they possibly want?

Now that the Baylor Bears have reached their goal of becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 1995, they want to pull up a couple of chairs and eat some more from the college football table.

Still, despite being atop the Big 12 South standings with a 3-1 record midway through conference play, Baylor coach Art Briles doesn't believe his team has arrived.

"We have the feeling of accomplishment, but not of our destiny having been determined," Briles said Monday. "We are still rolling, we are going to roll, we are going to play and we are going to play extremely hard this weekend.

"That is a deal where we are certainly proud of where we are at this point. But that is not the end of the road for us."

Revenge. The Cornhuskers want payback.

An attempt at Revenge of the Cornhuskers will be on Nebraska’s mind during the 2:30 p.m., Nov. 6 game at Jack Trice Stadium that ABC regional television will air.

"Sure, we remember what happened last year,’ Nebraska receiver Niles Paul said during Big 12 Conference media days in July.

The Cyclones forced eight turnovers and won at Nebraska for the first time since 1977, 9-7.

There is a lot of optimism over at Clone Chronicles.

Warning: Rampant speculation and unbridled optimism incoming.

Everyone likes to play the "What If..." game. As of today, there's a chance (albeit an extremely slim one) that the Cyclones could go to the Big 12 Championship Game at Jerry-World. "How?" you say? Three things need to happen:

1. ISU does not lose another game
2. Missouri loses to Nebraska
3. KSU must lose one more conference game

This isn't good. Dan Hawkins has to rely on his son to keep his job.

That leaves Cody Hawkins, the coach's son, behind center this week with Oklahoma coming to town. After the Sooners, there are winnable games against Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State that could get them the six wins needed for postseason play.

But that might not be enough to save Hawkins. The coach is due a $2 million buyout if he is fired. The school may be willing to swallow the payment as it gets ready to move to the Pac-12 next season.

Watching football is like watching pornography. Rock Chalk Talk looks back at the A&M game.

Who will be the starting Aggie QB? Mike Sherman isn't talking.

Condolences to Missouri defensive back Trey Hobson.

It's not easy being No. 1.

Boise's title dreams are no longer a pipedream.

A Boise State title shot is becoming more plausible and less pipe dream. The demise of Ohio State, Alabama and Nebraska has greatly helped. Virginia Tech's five-game winning streak doesn't hurt the Broncos in their strength of schedule ratings. One SEC unbeaten is sure to go this week when Auburn plays LSU. The other remaining seven perfect teams all have perfectly losable games to come, in a season where the bluest of bloods are not safe.

TCU head coach Gary Patterson is used to hard work.

The Patterson Brothers Co. of Western Kansas was always long on work and short on labor. It leveled land for irrigation, a hard, hot, mundane task that required endless hours and left, in its wake, nothing but pancake flat topography. A glamour business it’s not.

Gary Patterson, like every other Patterson, began working in those fields for his grandfather’s company at a tender age, in his case not long after turning 7. If he wasn’t attending school or playing football, he was alongside his father or his uncles or his cousins.

And finally...

Checking in on Red Raider Barron Batch. He does not like buffalo smells.

I love the state of Colorado, but do not love the smell of Raphie the buffalo. Ralphie smells like Lubbock when the wind blows south from the cattle yards (all my fellow Lubbockites understand what I mean).  My first year in Lubbock I would skip class on the days that the cattle yard smell would blow in. I quickly learned that skipping class because of the manure smell permeating in the air is not an acceptable excuse for the majority of professors.

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