It’s Hard to Believe

It’s hard to believe that what might have been is might have been because of a missed extra point.

It’s hard to believe that Texas’ future opponents won’t be coming hard at Nick Rose from his right side.

It’s hard to believe, but when I went to bed early Sunday morning, I was over this loss.

It’s hard to believe after five long years that Texas has its next great quarterback.

It’s hard to believe that in his second game as a starter Jerrod Heard broke the Longhorn record for most total yards in a game, eclipsing Vince Young’s record performance against Oklahoma St. in 2005.

It’s hard to believe how much the defensive line misses Malcolm Brown.

In addition to his game-breaking running, Jerrod Heard’s pocket presence is so confident and patient that it’s hard to believe  Charlie Strong and Shawn Watson didn’t recognize it until he played in a real game.

It’s hard to believe that Shawn Watson will be on the Texas coaching staff in 2016. But then again, it’s hard to believe that Charlie Strong let him insist on sticking with Tyrone Swoopes at the beginning of 2015.

It’s hard for me to believe that I’m 60.

It’s hard to believe but this week I think Texas will win at least seven games this year when last week I thought they would be lucky to win five. If I had to declare today which remaining games Texas is going to win here’s that list: Oklahoma St., Oklahoma, Kansas St., Kansas, Iowa St, and Texas Tech.

To go for two or not to go for two

I had a modestly long text engagement with a friend—whose knowledge of football and expertise with metrics of any kind I respect—about whether or not Charlie Strong should have gone for two points after Texas’ last touchdown.

Anticipating Texas’ last touchdown I was thinking about whether or not they should go for two when they scored.  I decided that they should take the one because Texas had the momentum, they had stopped California on their last three possessions, and I thought Jerrod Heard was unstoppable that night so I liked Texas’ chances in overtime.

My friend, who tends to be aggressive in any kind of competition, took the position that Texas should have gone for two because that gave them a better chance of winning than did a serve and volley game in overtime with California and their NFL style passing attack.

I can definitely see my friend’s side of the argument. It’s a very subjective question with no absolute right or wrong answer.

I’m glad I don’t have to make those kinds of decisions for a living.

*************

It could be worse.

Happy Feller could have missed. 🙂

HooK ‘eM

W.E.

Over/Under Results

It came down to the tiebreaker this week. If Wade Wallace could have just picked either Northwestern or Texas Tech to win he would have had an unprecedented three game winning streak.  He didn’t. Neither did Mike Frank who tied Wade for first with eight correct answers this week,but his bad score predictions in the tiebreaker weren’t quite as bad as Wade’s so Mike is the winner this week.

Mike’s son Zach was a winner last year but I think this is Mike’s first win which is probably a surprise to many of us. Mike always the innovator and iconoclast, several times in past years went with the old UOUOUOUOUO. Yes Mike, I noticed. He also tried the old all under and the old all over methodologies.

Maybe Mike consulted with his dog this time.

A reader suggested that I publish the correct answers for Over/Under each week.  We here at Willie Earl’s Longhorn Blog we listen to our loyal readers. Enjoy this new weekly feature.

W.E.