All the Big 12-2 Conference news that is and isn't fit to read...
And some other stuff.
The Horns have a running back for every occasion. [San Antonio Express-News]
"The running game we were building in steps last year we know is going to be great this year," guard Trey Hopkins said. "We have some stallions back there."
And the styles are diverse enough to take advantage of just about any kind of track. If UT needs to pound the ball between the tackles, Bergeron, with his barrel chest and enormous thighs, is the man. If the Longhorns want a runner who can get wide before turning upfield, Gray has shown that ability.
Alex Okafor and Jackson Jeffcoat are two reasons everyone is so high on the Texas D. [San Antonio Express-News]
High praise from Manny Diaz. [Inside Texas]
"What scares me about our offense?" Diaz repeated when asked. "Well, the first thing you hate, as a defensive coach, is having the ball fed down your throat. What keeps you up at night is that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. So when they hand the ball off to the backs that we have, and we're talking (Joe) Bergeron and (Malcolm) Brown and some of the strides that (Johnathan) Gray has made in the last week…and someone you shouldn't sleep on is Jeremy Hills, who is playing better, in my opinion than at any point in his career. If you can't stop the run, you can't stop anything. And when they can run when they want to, then they can throw when they want to. It all starts there."
Bryan Harsin knows Mackspeak. [Inside Texas]
Who's starting at tight end?
Harsin didn't answer any of those questions Monday. "Addressed" would be a more accurate way to describe the way Harsin handled the questions.
Some great runs have started with a Holiday Bowl win. [ESPN]
How does the schedule look this year? [ESPN]
The Texas coach had a whole summer to dissect his 2012 schedule and the order in which his Longhorns must face its Big 12 foes. He's still not thrilled.
"It's a bit of a concern, because after 14 years, every time the Big 12 sends us a schedule it's always the last option that we get," Brown said. "I think what I'm going to do next year is put the one that I like least first, and maybe they'll give us the other one. But it sounds like nobody is happy."
Here is your five minute guide to the 2012 Land Thieves. [NewsOK]
Another player gets the hell out of Norman. [NewsOK]
The Red Raiders have hope. [Ft. Worth Star-Telegram]
Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville begins his third season at the helm and he's leading the positive charge into the 2012 season.
And there's reason for Red Raiders fans to have hope. Texas Tech returns 18 starters -- nine on each side of the ball -- and the depth issues that plagued Tech in 2011 have been addressed.
The Big 12 is healthy. [ESPN]
Bowlsby said Tuesday that one of the Big 12's biggest immediate challenges is in changing the minds of those who saw the league brought to the brink of extinction more than once and still look at it as a shaky alliance of disjointed institutions.
"The private reality is much more stable and much more strong and much more forward-looking than the public perception is. I think we're still recovering from some of the tumultuous times over the last two years," Bowlsby said. "We're still moving in the direction that we'd like to eventually reside, but I feel very good about the reality of the conference at the present time."
And finally...
It is time for some payback.
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