It is Garrett Gilbert's turn.
The sophomore should be ready after being pressed into action in the BCS National Championship game against Alabama after McCoy was injured. The former national high school player of the year and son of a former NFL quarterback tossed two second-half touchdowns before the Crimson Tide pulled away. He returned this year to throw three TDs in the spring game and showed he could make a variety of throws, displaying accuracy and poise in the pocket. The 6-4, 215-pounder has a cannon of an arm but will need help from a refocused rushing attack and a reloaded offensive line.
Barking Carnival has put out their way-too-early top 25 rankings.
4. Texas Longhorns
What I know about first year starters at quarterback is that they will have at least one game in which they throw three interceptions. What I know about this offense is that we will drop 40+ on a number of softies and play in the teens or low twenties against quality defenses. Our defense will be very good, but situationally vulnerable. We can’t have three and outs from our goalline or quick change turnovers. Common sense tells me that spells two losses after the full season plays out. Does that get you to #4?
The Longhorn baseball team got win No. 21.
While the winning streak has continued, the Longhorns (39-7) haven't scored as many runs during the last couple of games . Garrido isn't worried.
"When you get it going like we had it going there for a while and then it goes away, you have to be careful that you don't start trying," Garrido said. "You can't get frustrated with the fact of thinking, 'Oh, where'd it go? I lost my swing. Can I find it somewhere? Look under the bed and in the closet. Can I find it there?' "
The key is the Longhorns keep winning. They could wrap up the Big 12 conference title this weekend with one victory over Kansas State, but even more key would be remaining toward the top of the RPI list.
Deloss Dodds = Warren Buffet.
Von Miller has been named to the 2010 Lombardi Award Watch List.
FoxSports Southwest interviews Mike Sherman.
"This past spring, one of our major emphases was to take the next step. Last year was "one step at a time;" the first year was "get in the boat." And so this is "take the next step."
Defensive coordinator Brent Venables is very, very pleased.
"I've been really, really pleased overall with the attitude of our guys, the improvement that we've made, the competition that we've had," OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables said after the Red/White Game. "Without reservation, we got a lot better in the areas that we needed to."
Rivals thinks OU will have a 11,000-yard rusher, a 3,000-yard passer and a 1,000-yard receiver this season.
Money well spent? The Sooners get to see their donations at work.
Wiseacre Texas fans would tell you it's nothing different, but Saturday a bunch of babies really were in the Oklahoma football locker room.
Actually, this was a lucky day for hundreds of OU season ticket holders invited to Saturday's three-hour open house, a free tour of the Sooner football grounds including Memorial Stadium, the Switzer Center and the Everest Indoor Facility. The event launched OU's "Year of the Fan" promotion that will stretch into the 2010-11 sports season.
"This is something I'd come back and do every spring," said Dustin Hamburg of Oklahoma City. "You come to the games and you see the success on the field. But then you do all this, you get a feel for the whole program. It's amazing."
Lots of new Land Thieves next season. Jeff Capel has signed more recruits.
Point guard Calvin Newell and center Abdi Ahmed have signed to play basketball at Oklahoma, giving the Sooners eight new players for next season.
Discuss among yourselves. Crimson & Cream Machine asks a monumental question.
Are you prepared to have the Big 12 title game in JerryWorld every year?
Bo Pelini doesn't think anyone really knows what is going on.
"But I know coach (Tom) Osborne and Chancellor (Harvey) Perlman and the rest of the administration will make the decision that's best for Nebraska," he said. "I think there are a lot of unknowns right now. I think there's a lot of speculation, but I don't think a lot of people really know what's going on."
What will happen to Kansas and Kansas State if the other teams leave the Big 12?
The more you hear the more you see a rapidly approaching doomsday for the Big 12 that could hit Kansas and Kansas State the hardest, forever changing the face of Kansas City’s sports scene in the process.
Rock M Nation surmises what might have happened if Missouri had already joined the Big 10.
The Missouri Tigers went hunting.
The Kansas State Collegian is very high on their football prospects for next fall. Big Red Network doesn't agree with their assessment.
That seems far-fetched given that the Wildcats didn't even reach bowl eligibility a year ago. Not making a bowl game is the college football equivalent of not making the NBA playoffs - where you can lose 41 games and still play in the post-season. Only one team in fourteen years of Big 12 play ever won their division in the Big 12 after failing to make a bowl game the prior season. If those odds hold, that would give Kansas State less than a four percent chance of pulling off the feat.
A Colorado linebacker was suspended after he was cited for allegedly buying four kegs of beer for a Boulder High senior campout. And some bad news for the Wildcats.
Expansion, Superconferences, or just one more way for the BCS to dominate
No kidding. Conference expansion could change the BCS.
The SEC and Big 10 commissioners were the most popular guys at the BCS meetings.
By announcing their intentions, Delany and Scott have ushered in a period of high anxiety, forcing commissioners and ADs throughout Division I to prepare contingency plans for when the dominoes start falling. Many of the Scottsdale attendees "have known each other for 30 years," Mountain West Conference commish Craig Thompson said. "But now it feels like one of those cocktail parties where everyone's watching whom everyone else is talking to."
Notre Dame just wants to be left alone.
"Our priorities are to remain independent," Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick said. "The Big East is a great partner for us for a whole host of reasons and, in a dynamic industry, we're just doing what we have to do, but we're not changing our priorities."
Les Miles actually has a salient thought?
"I don’t know that the (Southeastern Conference) needs expansion in the fact that they have a pretty good format for a championship game," Miles said. "I think the teams we have are certainly very competitive and when you go to expanding a 12-team conference, what team are you going to bring in that will bring with it a strength, a financial package and a strength of following that will add to the conference?
"And really, you are looking at two teams you need to bring in and I think that’s going to be a difficult order for the SEC."
It could really mess up college basketball.
This expansion is driven by two things: money and football. Saturday afternoon football is, after all, where the majority of athletics department revenue comes from. Where money and football are concerned, Big Ten expansion is win-win.
But hey! Wait a second! College basketball is a pretty big part of the college sports scene, isn't it? Forget college football, and forget money -- what about fans who are more worried with how Big Ten expansion will remake the college hoops scene? Just what are we supposed to think of all this? Make no mistake: If the Big Ten expands, college basketball will be remade in a way that barely resembles what we've known for so long. Strap in, folks. College hoops is about to get weird.
Imagine life without the Sooners...And what if Georgetown no longer had Syracuse to hate?
There are few things Georgetown basketball fans hate more than losing to Syracuse. Surely among them: The prospect of no longer having Syracuse to hate.
That's among the scenarios that could result if the Big Ten conference expands, as expected, and does so, in part, by plucking Georgetown's most storied rival from the Big East.
Rush The Court has more on the impact on basketball.
Some other stuff
What does the 2010 college football season need? An underdog.
If there was any one aspect of 2009 that made it one of the dullest seasons in recent memory, it was the absence of any really compelling underdog story to break up the inevitable march to a Texas-Alabama/Florida championship game. Even with the unlikely runs to perfect regular seasons by Boise State, Cincinnati and TCU, there was never any threat to the hold of the "Big Three" on the top three spots, and for that matter, no notable upsets by the Broncos, Bearcats or Horned Frogs en route to their respective conference championships.
More rules. The NCAA wants to create a rule that would require college football players to earn nine academic credits in the fall term to be eligible for all of the following season. Eye-black has been banned.
UTSA is ready to start playing football.
UTSA announced Wednesday that it has agreed to a three-game series with Kansas State and also added contests against Northwestern Oklahoma State and Stephen F. Austin for the 2012 season.
The Roadrunners and Wildcats will meet on Sept. 27, 2014, and Sept. 15, 2018, both in Manhattan, Kan., and on Sept. 12, 2015, at the Alamodome.
Todd Reesing may be playing football in Canada.
After being bypassed in last month’s NFL Draft, Reesing has spent the past several days exploring his options elsewhere. The Saskatchewan Roughriders, of the Canadian Football League, own Reesing’s CFL rights and appear to have serious interest in signing the former KU quarterback.
This doesn't just happen to Longhorns.
Following the gravy train of college sports...money.
FedEx ends their Orange Bowl sponsorship.
"This was a difficult decision but one that allows us to focus and redirect our marketing efforts toward our other sports properties and marketing initiatives," the company said in a statement Monday.
The Supreme Court will not allow Delaware to expand sports betting in the state.
And finally...