Wow. What an exciting Over/Under contest that came down to the final tiebreaker. David Frink, Wade Wallace, Dan Adams, David Bergstrom, Clayton Frink, and Greg Swan tied for first with 7 correct answers. That’s a 6-way tie folks.
Wade Wallace, Dan Adams, and David Bergstrom were eliminated by picking Baylor and North Carolina against the Spread. Baylor was right, Carolina was wrong. David Frink, Clayton Frink, and Greg Swan got both picks right. David and Greg both predicted a Texas win by 38-20. Clayton Frink predicted a Texas win by 33-18. Obviously, Greg, David, and Clayton were way off the mark on their score predictions, but someone has to win and that someone was Clayton who was slightly more measured in his optimism gets the W.
There were 10 money ball players so Clayton bags 50 big ones for his effort. I might actually pay him. 😊.
The contest took a big turn on question #8 which was 40.5 yards for the longest run by Bijan. His longest run was 40 yards. If Bijan had gone for 41 on that run, David and Wade would have finished in tie for first all by themselves with 8 correct answers and David would have won because Wade picked North Carolina. In the infamous words of Maxwell Smart, David missed it by that much.
There were 18 entrants in all. Only two players predicted that largest lead of the game would be under 12.5. Only 3 players picked Tech to score first. The average score was 5.7.
I will give you my reactions to the game probably tomorrow evening. To quote Lyndon Johnson on his reaction to Robert Kennedy entering the primaries for the Democratic nomination for president. “You might not want to hear all my reactions this morning.”
Without reading further, do you know what and when was described as “Era of Good Feelings.”?
Give up? Here’s the Wikipedia description. “The Era of Good Feelings” marked a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812.
This week, hearing the good feelings of Texas fans and sports writers and commentators ranging from Kirk Bohls to Joel Klatt, I thought, we are in a time of good feelings about Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Football team. The phrase “Era of Good Feelings” was specifically what came to my mind. I knew the phrase from somewhere, so I used the Google machine to research it and voila there it was. I think I learned it in my sixth-grade history class. Sixth grade was one of my favorite years. Avid readers of this blog know this, but I digress.
It’s been a while since good feelings have surrounded Texas Football.
In August of 1998 a few weeks before Mack Brown’s debut, I ran into and old fraternity brother Mike Barragan. He remarked ironically something to the affect that there sure is a positive vibe about Mack Brown, but we haven’t played a game.
In this current era of the positive vibe, Texas has beaten two teams with about 10% of UT money and resources and played a tantalizingly close game against Nick Saban’s Alabama dynasty. I might be the only Texas fan who took that close loss with a grain of salt. But I’m always the cynic.
The Texas Tech game this afternoon in Lubbock presents Sarkisian and his Longhorns a chance to validate this current era of good feelings. It’s the first road game of the year for Texas and the sellout crowd will be loud and hostile. Texas has won six in a row in Lubbock, the last loss was that game that we don’t talk about here. So, if we’re to believe that this 2022 version of Texas is better than past teams the Horns should roll against this Tech turnover machine. Two Texas Tech quarterbacks have combined for seven interceptions, (two of them pick sixes).
Tech’s defense has been statistically good giving up only 294 yards a game but are really kind of a paper tiger when you consider their opponents so far: Murray State an FCS team, Houston a 1-2 team that is sputtering on offense and North Carolina State, the 12th ranked team in the country attributable mostly to their defense which is 16th in the country giving up only 12 points per game.
So, it’s put up or shut up time for Steve Sarkisian and his Longhorns. Sarkisian hasn’t been shy this past year about touting this team’s leadership and culture. If he’s right about that, combined with Texas’s overwhelming advantage in talent and depth versus Texas Tech, his team should take the tortilla flinging crowd out of the game early and cruise to a 34-16 win.
Lose, and this era of good feelings could be the shortest era on record.
Follow up
Last week I mentioned that I was getting the feeling that Quinn Ewers would start the Tech game. Now I’m thinking the news that Ewers has practiced this week and is making the trip to Lubbock might just be a feint by Sarkisian to make the Texas Tech coaches think a little more about game planning. We’ll see.
Hook ‘Em,
W.E.
Willie Earl’s Song of the Week
The Boz. Reminds me of hanging out at the Sig Ep house in the fall of 1976
We had quite an exciting contest this week that included the first week of Over/Under Money Ball. 9 players wagered this week. Wade Wallace, Helen Frink, and Zach Moorhead-Rosenberg tied for second with seven correct answers. Seven was an exceptional score this week because the staff had to throw out the question on the second leading receiver by receptions for Texas because two players had 5 catches. Bad on us for formulating a flawed question.
I said that it was an exciting contest, and it came down to the tiebreaker. Dan Yoxall and Mark Adams tied with eight correct answers which means they only missed one question. Mark Adams nosed out Dan by an eyelash by picking Miami and OU which were both winners against the line. Dan picked A&M and Oklahoma. Dan, I know you’re a levelheaded guy, but how could you pick the Aggies. 😊
Congratulations to Dan and Mark.
Mark takes home $45 for his win this week. Mark, please stay your humble self.
A few more thoughts on the Longhorns from my fertile football mind
1. It’s not breaking news and it doesn’t take a lot of expert knowledge to see that Quinn Ewers might just live up to his five-star hype. I’m not a recruiting expert so correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Ewers was the nation’s highest rated quarterback recruit since Vince Young.
Steve Sarkisian is going to have to find a way with Texas’s inexperienced offensive line to protect Ewers from the kind of shot he took that knocked him out of the Alabama game.
Reading between the lines on the reporting on the quarterback situation going into the UTSA game, I’m thinking Ewer’s injury may not be as serious as initially feared. I’ll go out on a limb and predict he’ll be back for the Texas Tech game next week.
2. Running against the grain of all the good feelings coming out of the Alabama game as I did yesterday, I’ll point out that Texas failed to make a few critical plays that would have turned the tide and scored them the victory.
Xavier Worthy failed to make a very makeable catch on a beautifully thrown ball from Ewers in the endzone in the first quarter.
You’ll need to help me here but either D’Shawn Jamison or Ryan Watts muffed an easy interception that may have resulted in a pick six for the Horns.
Ryan Watts had a clear path to sack Bryce Young for a sizable loss that probably would have derailed Alabama’s game winning drive and secured the win for Texas. This kind of missed opportunity has haunted Texas for the last 12 years. To have a breakout season, Texas needs to make these plays.
3. What the hell were Sarkisian and his defensive coaching staff thinking on conceding Alabama underneath pass routes at the beginning of their game winning drive. From my perspective, Texas basically let Alabama get to the Texas 40-yard line playing your basic prevent defense. This was a glaring strategic failure by Sarkisian and his coaching staff. You know the saying about the prevent defense, it prevents victory. It also gave Sarkisian his sixth one-loss game during his brief tenure in Austin.
Theoretically, Texas is still in the playoff race. The rule of thumb is losing a game early in the season to a quality opponent doesn’t eliminate you from contention for one of the four playoff berths for the national championship.
Further, Texas is still undefeated in the Big 12. 😊
Come on Horns, make some plays!
Hook “Em,
Willie Earl
For easy reference if you haven’t submitted your Over/Under guesses.
I went to Austin Shoe Hospital this week to see if they had burnt orange/bronze shoe polish for a pair of my golf shoes that are only about a year old but have faded quite dramatically in Texas sun. The clerk assumed that I was so excited about the Longhorns performance that I was looking for burnt orange shoe polish for general purposes. I wasn’t. It was totally coincidental that I was in the neighborhood of this location a couple of days after the Alabama game. I had needed some special polish for these shoes for some time now. The clerk went on about how great Texas was now yada, yada, yada.
A longtime friend of mine and reader of the blog called me to discuss the Over/Under results and wanted to know why I hadn’t made it a money game yet. He also went on to gush over how great Texas’s line play was on both sides of the ball was versus Alabama. My friend and the Shoe Hospital clerk are a pretty accurate reflection of where the Longhorn fan base is right now.
I’m thinking, let’s all calm down a little bit and reflect a little bit more coolly about the where the Longhorns are after the Alabama game. Here are a few facts about the game that we should all take under advisement.
1. Alabama committed 17 penalties. This was not normal for them by a long shot and certainly was a big factor in keeping the game close.
2. Alabama rarely plays on the road in September and coming into Austin and playing in a hostile environment was a new experience for them.
3. My friend gushed over Texas’s line play, but our offensive line got their first and second team quarterbacks injured. Also, Texas rushed for only 79 yards and averaged just 2.9 yards per rush.
4. Texas scored only one touchdown on five trips to the redzone. That’s just like the Texas offense for the past oh, I don’t know, 12 years?
I will elaborate more on this Friday evening or Saturday morning when my work and family obligations have calmed down a bit.
Until then,
Hook “Em,
W.E.
I finally got some feedback on making the Over/Under a money game. This is what the staff at Willie Earl has decided. There will be two options for players.
1.Enter the money game with a $5 entry fee. Winner takes all.
2. Enter just for fun. No entry fee required. This type of entry is ineligible to win the pot.
3. Helen Frink is not eligible for the money game. She’s just too good and it wouldn’t be fair. 🙂
To enter the money game, send $5 via Venmo to me @Bill-Frink. If you don’t have a Venmo account get one. It’s free. If you’re too old and tired to learn Venmo, contact me via email and we’ll work out a payment option for you.
