Cursed With Ambition

Is Texas Really This Good?

The answer is YES.  Coming into the season no one, and I mean no one, had Texas sniffing No. 1 or the National Championship.  Everyone figured that the other Big XII schools were more talented and Texas' schedule was just too tough for them to get through conference play with less than two losses.  Think again.  Texas is 7-0 and playing better than any team in the country right now.

So how did this happen?

The big question marks coming into the season were at running back and defensive back.  Although no running back emerged as the next in the succession of Cedric Benson, Selvin Young and Jamaal Charles, which is what the coaches were hoping for, what did happen is they put in their smartest and most consistent back - Chris Ogbannaya.  Not tabbed as the most athletic or the biggest or the fastest of the stable of Texas' back, Ogbannaya took his opportunity and made the most of it in the Colorado game and built on that in the OU game.  Now, he's locked down the starting tailback position.  Analysts will tell you that it's because he is the best of the bunch at picking up blocks - the unsung trait of running backs.  From what I've seen, his biggest asset is his plain football savvy.  His running has been much better than expected as has his pass-catching ability.  But what he brings to the table more than anything is a chemistry with the other moving parts in the offense.

If I had to sum up the success of this years' Longhorns I would use the word "chemistry."  Start with Colt McCoy, of whom Kirk Herbstreit said "I want my son to grow up to be like him."  (Kirk Herbstreit is the guy that 90% of American males between the ages of 18-34 say they want to be - so by extension that's a pretty huge compliment to Colt.)  Gym rat, coach's kid, film room bum - he's all of those things.  How can you say too much about him.  He's the biggest piece of the puzzle, by far.  But he's humble and all about team and says all of the right things while being smack-dab in the middle of the Nat'l Title hunt and at the top of everyone's Heisman ballot.  He's two years removed from his magical redshirt freshman season where he broke out on the scene and made a bunch of spectacular plays, exceeded all expectations, beat out current Ole Miss starter Jevan Snead for the succession to VY's shadow.  Last season he had a down year.  And the coaches, especially Greg Davis, have admitted that they put too much on him.  Classic mistake.  This year they've corrected that and he's playing like the mature version of the quarterback he was his first season as a starter.

Next, take Colt's roommate and good friend Jordan Shipley.  Finally unleashed from a series of injuries, Ship has turned into the automatic that his counterpart, Quan Cosby has been for what seems like forever.  At the beginning of the season I said that I'm not sure you would want your offense to run through Quan and Shipley, but that's exactly what's happened and it's worked out.  Physically, these two don't compare with the Roy Williamses or Limas Swedes of the world, but what they lack in size and speed they make up with good hands, runs after the catch, good route running and chemistry with the QB.  There's that word again, "chemistry."

I want to resist the urge to gush about every single squad on the team, but they've all played better than expected.  It's hard to imagine a more talented or deeper offensive line than what we've got.  I couldn't name another young secondary that has matured so quickly or a front defensive seven that is anywhere close to what we've got.

The bottom line is that the table is set.  The Big XII and the National Championship are ours to lose.  We're halfway through the murderer's row part of our schedule and we won't play another team all season that is as good as OU until the National Championship game.  The coaches and players are all saying exactly the right things.  They are playing so well and there's no reason to think that won't continue.  Odds favor some letdown game or hiccup, but with these guys and their chemistry, that seems like a longshot.

Texas OU Weekend

It's only Tuesday and I really can't think about much else.  Going to this game has become somewhat of a family tradition.  I don't know how many years running or how many times I've been altogether, but this year has to rank up there as one of the most exciting because both teams are undefeated and highly ranked.  Winner of this game has an open track to the Big XII title (Texas Tech, OSU and Missouri notwithstanding) and to the National Championship.  This is big.

So here's my Texas/OU preview:

The Hatred

For those not associated with either team, you may not understand this rivalry.  It has all of the ingredients of any of the great rivalries of college football - long traditions, both programs are good almost every year, close geographically, compete for recruits, etc.  But with TX/OU there is also The Anomaly.  The Anomaly is how a place like Norman, Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma can compete at all with Austin, Texas and The University of Texas.  When you think of Oklahoma, as a state, you should think of trailer park ghettoes, toothless rednecks with overlapping family trees, drunk Indians and dusty prairies.  Texas, on the other hand, is the greatest state in the Union with miles of pristine coastline, the Hill Country, clear running rivers and the most beautiful women in the world.  By any measure, Texas, and especially Austin, is just a much, much better place to live than Oklahoma.  So why would any recruit choose OU and Norman over UT and Austin?  That is precisely the question.  The unfortunate fact may just be that the game of football lends itself to the low brow, where the people of Oklahoma easily out grade Texans.  My theory for a long time has been that because there ain't shit in Oklahoma, in order for them to keep from killing themselves out of despair of where they live they have to have something and that one thing that they have is Sooner football.  They've thrown everything they've got (which isn't much) into it.  Texas, on the other hand, has a lot of other stuff going on.  We're winning national championships in other sports and sending our athletes to the Olympics.  We're enjoying the grandeur of the state and all of the metropolitan fancies of our cities.  So we're distracted.  For us, even though we love our football, we're a more genteel and sophisticated culture and so we don't need a victory on the gridiron for our very survival like they do.

Look no further for evidence that my pet theory is true than in the respective symbols of our two universities.  The Longhorn and the Sooner.  The Longhorn is a majestic symbol of the tough and independent nature shared by all Texans.  While a Sooner is, quite literally, a cheater.  You see, when the federal government was giving away all of the land in Oklahoma (even the Indians didn't want it), poor people from the slums of northern cities, who were duped into believing that the land was actually worth having, came in droves.  At an appointed time these people were supposed to run out on the prairie and post a flag on the plot of land they were claiming.  Well, the worst of these degenerates left the line early to place their flags before anyone else - leaving the line sooner than those more given to fair play.  Thus, a Sooner is really just a cheater, though any fan of OU would probably rationalize it as being resourceful, if they were smart enough to think of it.

So the hatred really springs from the fact that, by all rights, UT should dominate this series and OU shouldn't be viewed as a rival at all.  They should be viewed as what they are - our poor defeated neighbors to the north who don't have many teeth and even fewer homegrown football players who are any good.  Instead, we are forced to treat them as near-equals because of their successful football program and to deny all other evidence of their inferiority to the contrary.

The Teams

By all accounts, including my own observations, the teams are very well matched this year.  Both QB's are playing out of their minds.  Bradford is probably a smidge better passer who takes fewer chances but McCoy is a much better runner.  Both teams have very solid offensive lines, with OU having a slight edge in experience and UT having a slight edge in talent.  OU has better running backs; UT has better receivers, but neither squad clearly outclasses the other.  Both defenses are steller with UT having a better front seven and more depth, while OU has more experienced defensive backs.  In games like this, between two evenly matched teams who play solid football, it usually comes down to turnovers.  The second thing that most often determines the outcomes of games like this are big plays.  Turnovers and big plays shift the momentum of the game and give one team a serious advantage over the other to score, at least on that series.  Turnovers, especially, put the smell of blood in the water and if a team can seize on that the game can get out of hand in a hurry.  Third most important would be penalties.  A well- (or poorly, depending on who you root for) timed penalty can change the outcome of the game, but these two teams are well-coached and the odds of it coming down to a yellow hankie are small.  If it did, that would be a shame.

The Horns

So far, I'd grade the team out as an A-.  They haven't faced any good teams though, so it's hard to tell.  They have dominated inferior competition, which is the mark of a really good team.  Their latest win, over Colorado, was unconventional and that makes me a little nervous.  But I think we are in a good place coming into this game.  The bad news is that we really miss Irby (Did you see the interception that bounced off Greg Smith's hands against CU?).  We also haven't had any of the running backs separate themselves.  This has surprised me.  I expected Vondrell to come off of his Mad-Dog inspired offseason and be the man and put any of the questions to bed.  But that hasn't happened.  What has shown itself is that we have a stable of decent backs who all have something slightly different to offer, but none of them are great or can do it all.  Mack said exactly what I'd like to hear going into the OU game regarding this group of backs.  He said that they were going to study film of the last five games and figure out what each guy does best.  Presumably, they will rotate them in and out with plays and in situations that suit their respective talents.  I do worry that because Major is the running backs coach that Davis and/or Brown has been limited in their decisionmaking ability to make a call on a particular guy, but that's probably just me overanalyzing.

The most pleasant surprise of the season has been the defensive backfield.  Those guys are making big hits and deflecting passes.  They've been giving up a lot of yards and they are ranked low nationally as a squad, but they are well beyond where I thought they'd be.  Put it this way, they aren't the liability that a Joe Walker-led group would be, for sure.  Gideon may be my new favorite player.

The Game

Whatever happens, it's going to be exciting.  I'd really like to see Muschamp have many occasions to yell, "Boom, motherfucker!"  I think if we get pressure on Bradford that we will certainly win the game.  That's going to be hard because of their quick counts and good offensive line, but we've got the manimals.  I really hope they don't look at the Colorado game and say, "Okay, Ogbannaya is the guy."  He had a great game, but it was flukey.  He's not an every down back in my opinion.  If they start him and give hime five or more carries in the first quarter they are going to waste time again looking for "the guy."  I really hope our young DB's get off to a good start.  They are playing with confidence right now, as they should be, but if Bradford gets to them early, look out.

The Prediction

Horns 30, Cheaters 20

You heard it here first.